I've been getting an increasing number of requests from random people for help deciding what bike to buy, whether to get a carbon wheelset, or whether they should use a longer stem. In short, people who want advice but don't want a bike from me.
Folks, this is my living. I enjoy my work but I don't have so much free time that I will happily answer your question about what size Kona to buy. If you live in Salt Lake and swing by with a 6 pack, you can probably pick my brain for half an hour and I won't complain, but if you're not a personal friend or a customer (or at least thinking about being a customer) I can't help you.
That said, I do have more experience fitting and designing mountain bikes than all but a handful of people, so if you really, really want my advice but don't want one of my bikes, you can hire me to do as much fit/design/componentry consulting as you'd like. But it's not free, so don't just email me with random questions and expect a useful response. It's not that I don't want to help you - it's that if I help everyone, I won't have time to ride, build bikes for paying customers, or hang out with my family. I wouldn't come to your workplace and ask you to help me for free - so please, extend me the same courtesy.
7 comments:
You've become the bicycle industry equivalent of "the computer guy", person expected to do anything vaguely computer related for friends, family and whatever for gratis. Congrats Walt! ;)
You'll want to update your Framebuilding Philosophy page - it's basically inviting people to call and talk about bikes :-)
You'll want to update your "Framebuilding Philosophy" page - it's basically inviting people to call about bike parts :-)
Good luck in Utah. I look forward to the day when I can buy a bike from you!
24yrs in the bike industry here........
any more of they say they don't want one of mine I tell them to pick one that is the color they like, unless they are little kid bikes, then I help out!
I dunno man. You're always asking me questions about semiconductor physics, so I don't know where you're coming from here
Totally agree Walt. Just one question, should I get carbon rims?
Love it I work at a small bike shop, I cant make a customer buy my bikes but I find it ironic when I spend half an hour talking to them answering there questions only to have them come back in a week later with a bike from some big city shop, only made possible by my free advice. Too true next time I'm going to ask them what they do and knock on their door to get free advice..I think NOT
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