Why do bike shops give crap advice

I was in Cycleways on Parnell Street at lunchtime today, buying a pair of pedals. If I’m in the city centre I always go to cycleways, as they have a good selection and are usually pretty helpful. Oh and they’re not cycleogical.

So the guy downstairs found me a suitable pair of pedals, and told me to go upstairs to pay for them. They were unusually short staffed today, so I was waiting at the counter for a while. I was waiting while the only staff member gave crap advice to an old man (probably 60+) buying a pump.

The advice was that on a bike like his (I didn’t hear the brand or type of bike), this man should really have clipless pedals.That they would give him a much more efficient pedalling position. That clipless pedals were the most important advance in the last 20 years, along with lightweight frames and wheels.

The man didn’t ask about clipless pedals… he was buying a pump.

Now all of those statements are misleading for a customer in their 30s never mind a customer in their 60s.

Before I explain why, let me make a couple of statements and assumptions about the customer in question. Firstly, he was about 6’2 and perhaps a stone overweight. He was healthy and obviously active, but I don’t think he was a racing cyclist, nor a long distance audax rider. He was like most of us – he cycles for fun.

Firstly, clipless pedals are useful and help with a more efficient pedalling action, and people that like them swear by them. I have used them exclusively for several years, and only recently started using old style clipped pedals on one of my bikes. People can have problems with them, especially knee problems, if they are not set up correctly.

More importantly for the leisure cyclist is that they require the use of a certain type of shoe. You can’t just hop on your bike, you have to get dressed up to go cycling. And with those shoes that have exposed cleats, you can’t just hop off and go shopping either. They have their place and they are popular, but touring style platform pedals, and pedals with toe clips are still popular, and very useful in many situations.

The shop assistant didn’t open his mind to the way that this customer might use his bike, or to the problems that he might have using clipless pedals. He just spouted the marketing bullsh*t that the main manufacturers try to feed to us all… that you must have clipless pedals or you’re not getting the most from your bike.

Regarding lightweight frames and wheels… this is even more erroneous that the clipless pedals statement. Lightweight frames are very very useful to racing cyclists, where the bikes and the riders are as light as they possibly can be. A tiny reduction in frame weight can yield a small performance benefit, but the edges in top level racing are tiny and every fraction of an improvement is important.

For the leisure cyclist, however, safety, comfort and longevity are important. Why would you spend an extra 1000 on a bike that weighs 500 grams less, and is less safe and less comfortable and won’t last as long as a bike that’s more suitable for it’s purpose.

I hate the car industry, but at least car manufacturers don’t try to sell formula one cars to housewives and commuters. They don’t even try to sell rally cars to these people. They sell cars that are more comfortable on the road, safer in the event of a collision, and useable in everyday situations like carrying passengers, carrying luggage, listening to the radio, etc. Oh and they have a roof and windows, etc.

They do sell performance cars to ordinary people, but they offer performance improvements for the real world… you still have all of the other benefits, such as luggage capacity, weather proofing, etc.

But the bike industry has convinced ordinary leisure cyclists that we should be riding Tour de France clones. Bikes that can’t carry luggage or any kind, can’t take mudguards, so they are awful in wet weather. Where our position on the bike gives us pains in our butts, back, shoulders and wrists.

The benefit of a lightweight frame or components is oversold on the consumer. Sure, a lighter frame is better than a heavier frame, but it’s not the most important priority.

And as for lightweight wheels… well that takes the biscuit. Paired spoke wheels look nice, and they are easy to manufacture by machine, but they are one broken spoke away from being unuseable.

This is fine in the tour de france, where you replace wheels every race, and if one breaks, your team mate will give you his, or your team car will replace it on the spot. But most of us need wheels that will last for years.

And again, the performance benefit is negligible for the average cyclist, never mind a man in his 60s.

So I decided that I had heard enough. I left the pedals on the counter, and left. I don’t know whether the old man left with any satisfaction, or even his pump.

I’m quite sure he wasn’t gullible enough to believe all that he was being told.

But I’m also sure that there are probably hundreds of ordinary cyclists who have received similar bad advice from lots of similar bike shops and made bad purchases based on that advice.

I’m sure there are lots of high quality bikes sitting in garages and sheds, not being used at all, or at least as often as a more appropriately chosen bike would.

~ by crankely on August 1, 2007.