BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Pretty sure I've seen them in stock at some point at pro bikes but I could be wrong. Any shop should be able to order them if you don't mind waiting a couple days.

Yeah, Pro Bikes definitely carries them. They have the little cross-section pieces of the Marathons with all of the tacks stuck in them at the front desk.

@johnwheffner yeah... I love to shop locally but I'll rarely order something through a bike shop that's going to charge me full retail when I can do the same online for less.

OFF TOPIC:

dmtroyer: I understand the economics of the situation but you need to support local businesses that owned buy local people (there are several shops in town that are not owned by local small businessmen). Let's say you can order online 90% of the time but 10% of the time you need a real bike shop to help you out. What is going to happen when that bike shop goes out of business is not there that 10% of the time. Additionally, if you buy from a local shop all of the time you probaly will start to get a discount. Don't be afraid to tell the shop you can get the tire for less online, be sure to include shipping costs. Be nice about it like"hey, I saw this tire online for $5 less, is there anything you can do?"

my local shop gives me a bpgh discount that typically covers the difference between online + shipping and local retail. Plus they explain stuff to me without making me feel like an idiot and install stuff for free (they're so much faster at it, it's really hard to turn it down even in favor of "learning" at home). In fact the dynamo pedals I bought from them were WAY cheaper in the store than online (including free instal), even though they had to order them.

But the topic at hand... I bought my marathons at Dirty Harry's, but had to order. They had some in the shop, just not the right size at the time. If you know exactly what you want, why not call around and see who carries it?

Points taken on shopping locally but we could easily start a new thread on that topic if yinz are so inclinced.

@ejwme I thought about calling around but thought the 20 seconds to post to the message board to see if anyone else has the knowledge was a bit more efficient!

doesn't kraynick's have wire bead marathons?

What shops are not owned by local business people?

I will swing by Kraynick's on the way home. now THAT is a local bike shoppe.

orionz - I think they're referring to the big chain stores... In my head, which is a disorganized often inaccurate place, there are three types of stores: 1) chain stores where you'll have a local manager but decisions and money are made elsewhere, 2) franchises where you'll have a local owner making some but not all decisions and paying a fee to license the name somewhere else, and 3) ma n pa stores (that may or may not be local/regional chains, if prosperous/ambitious/good).

dmtroyer, I'm sorry, it looks like your thread's been jacked (and I realized upon hitting "send" that you were probably saving time posting here - sorry! and I hope you find what you need!)

I don't know if there are any franchise bike stores in town, I'm fairly certain ProBikes is a national chain, and I know places like REI and LLBean are national chains (like Dicks and whatnot). Trek has me confused - their dealer locator has "Trek Store of Pittsburgh" in three locations, but also mentions DH's and others, maybe there's segregation between store and brand. I know the Cranberry Trek had a Kona for me to test out, so I don't know what their story is.

I'm pretty sure most big chains, and even franchises, started off as ma n pa shops. Big doesn't necessarily mean better or worse (by any metric), it just means big. Personally, I'll pay extra to the guy who lives down the street from me, 'cause I like rooting for my neighbors in that little way. Not everybody can do that, or is so inclined.

Do regional chains like Trek Pittsburgh count as local? I find it hard to distinguish between paying them or investors in big bike chainsAmazon.

PS. Don't ask Kraynick if you can get a lower price

I'm pretty sure ProBikes is locally owned. Bill gave out a couple of cancer jerseys from them last year and I believe the same owners (brothers?) own Dean's Food Supply in the Strip

pro bikes and trek of pittsburgh/trm are locally owned chains. the only non-local shops in town are performance, and the big box sporting goods stores (rei, bean, dicks, etc) although technically dicks is a locally owned chain.

We don't stock much, since we are usually hard at working making our own fenders and stands and such, but we are technically QBP, SBS and VO dealers, incase anyone ever does want to order in. Usually we send everyone down to nic at love bikes though, now that he is open.

I don't really consider Pro Bikes and Trek of Pittsburgh as locally owned because they are owned by competing commercial real estate developers, with personal wealth in the near billions of dollars, and decided that owning a bike shop would be a good hobby and another way to compete with each other.

And so the Pittsburgh cycling community gets greater availability and selection of bikes, gear, and service, along with the rides and events that happen out of those shops? Boy, that does suck.

Competing real estate developers are the reason I got some great deals on stuff in the past, I guess I am doing it wrong.

be that as it may, if you are trying to give your money to local proprietors who will keep it in the local economy, perhaps you might spend it elsewhere.

also: was gerry open, and did he have the schwalbes?

"PS. Don't ask Kraynick if you can get a lower price"

Yeah, but he's not exactly expensive and never asks me for my friggin' "zip code". A few weeks ago I went in needing downtube shifter boss cable guides. He said he felt guilty charging me $14 for them (same price or less than anywhere I found online) and threw in some other small bits I needed for free. Really, why would anybody want to nickel and dime Jerry? The games larger retailers play have distorted our understanding of cost and value.

I was looking for a front rack that matched the one I had on the back of my bike and I was finding the cost online to be about $110 on average.

When I went into Kraynick's I saw one laying close to the front door. When I told him that I had been looking for it he said that it was the only one in the store. He had only brought it down 2 days before I walked in. It was left over from a bundle of about 100 he bought at a great price 10 years (or so) ago. The price? The same as it was 10 years (or so) ago; $15. And, I think he was almost as excited as I was about it.

That's a local bike shop.

"...also: was gerry open,..."

Bullseye, always the question. I love Kraynick's, I buy crazy obscure crap there all the time. But when I need some stupid little replacement piece at 11:00 on a Sunday morning so I can go for a ride on the only day of the week I can get free, the big boys will take my money.

"be that as it may, if you are trying to give your money to local proprietors who will keep it in the local economy, perhaps you might spend it elsewhere."

I have not seen any games at the hated shops, but believe me, if they did the same antics that the smaller one did they would both be on the same list.

Maybe, but of a few of the shops listed, I know of one that did not make any effort to help because their buddies were hanging out and I know another that bent over backwards.

@HiddenVariable: Not exactly. One could argue that in the opening of these larger owned stores, the developers are actually doing more to grow the cycling community and getting people to money on bikes and gear and therefore contributing to the economy. I've never had anything but great service at any of the shops I've been to whether its Pro Bikes, BikeTek, ToP, Thick, Iron City or ever Performance. The intentions of the owners might be to build wealth but in my experience the people working there have a general interest in helping you find just what you need.

@Boostuv: 100% correct. There is not a single store out there that is not growing the community. My last bike purchase was the first time I was told to make sure I get the best bike for me, no matter where I got it. They also told me to check out many of the other stores, big and small. The gentlemen who helped me the most said "I hope it is from us, but it does neither of us any good to sell you the wrong bike".

How often have you heard that?

Back on topic: Gerry was open and the only schwalbes he had were some 700x25s. Unfortunately he didn't have a good alternative to the 32mm marathons I was looking for, either.

@dooftram

I meant that in an endearing way. If you ask him he'll tell you a higher price. I recognize most of his stuff is dirt cheap, especially when you consider he lets people use his shop and answers questions all day.

If you cant find and need one ASAP i have a

new one in the basement. Those tires are

amazing for touring.

Jason: Its funny that what you consider to

be "not local" pay salaries of a lot of my

friends and put TONS of money into local

cycling and advocacy... bike-pgh included.

Your assessment of "billions" is pretty

far fetched too.

Also: the "non local billionaire owned" pro

bikes supplied the summer youth cycling

program that I worked with for cost. like

150 bikes at no profit.

The "non local billionaire owned" Trek of

Pgh buys clothing that my wife makes and

puts money into our pockets... that is as

local as it gets. The owner also has been

supporting cycling in Pittsburgh for

over 20 years.

Put your money where you mouth is. What

have you done?

@orionz06, @boostuv, my only real claim was that if you want your money going to proprietors (which many people do), you should give it to proprietors. i'm not saying other shops are non-local or are bad or anything of that sort. just pointing out that for some people, a high priority is placed on patronizing proprietorships.

The consensus I get here is that Pro Bikes and Trek are evil, that is all.

For the record, when making purchases for bike related stuff I will go out of my way to get stuff from every shop, even the ones that don't welcome me as much as they welcome others.

oh... I think I was confusing Pro Bikes with Performance. They both start with a P. I really haven't had my thinking cap on in quite some time. Orionz - I wouldn't say there's a concensus that Pro Bikes and Trek are evil at all, I see too many views above to generalize into concensus personally (but I do seem off this week, who knows).

I go to Dirty Harry's because they have been so incredibly awesome to me it feels more like contributing to the grocery bill of friends than actually enabling profit. I also like to go to Gerry's because I likewise find him to just be an awesome force all his own (really the money and even the bicycles are secondary benefits to simply being in such a space with such a person - I fully expect nerdy little elves to come out when the last customer has gone and start tinkering on things, like he's Santa's bicycle obsessed nephew or something).

I don't so much avoid chains of any size so much as I REALLY prefer to patronize DH's and Kraynicks and the like. In my view, it's not like a choice between my local organic farmer (DH's) and Agribusiness Chemical Factory Farm, but like a choice between a local organic farmer and a big business organic farm. Both are trying to do good things AND make some money doing it, but sometimes I need some feature that only the bigger guys can provide. I've met a few local farmers, and none of them begrudge my buying organic brown rice shipped in from overseas - they can't supply it and don't see that as a reason I should avoid it. Same with sunday hours or the odd thing DH's doesn't have that I may need immediately (though I do prefer to simply wait).

Besides, every national chain started off as a guy who likes bikes and a cash register. The rest is time, luck, and preference.

The consensus I get here is that Pro Bikes and Trek are evil, that is all.

I think that's more a vocal minority than a consensus.

(I sometimes joke about Pro Bikes being the "evil empire" because they sponsor like 80% of the local racing teams... which ultimately isn't a bad thing for the community.)

There are cool people working at all the local shops. Some shops are owner-operated, some are not, if that matters to you. There aren't any local shops where I'd refuse to spend my money.

+1 to what John said.

My impression that Trek in Shadyside is generally pretty well-liked by folks on this board. I've never had a poor experience, and several employees have always been willing to "go above and beyond."

They both are doing a lot of good things for the community around here. Both of the stores have great employees for the most part.

I guess my problem stems from the fact that the owner of pro bikes got bored with commercial real estate development and decided he wanted start a competition with one of his competitors in commercial real estate. The bike shop business is just a game to him. He does not care about making money, he just wants to win.

Have you ever seen the movie "Rat Race"? It is kinda like that.

trek gave all the bikes (60?) to venture outdoors for their summer biking programs with no profit, for that i love them...

And the fact that I know both owners of TOP

and PRO bikes, know where they live, know

their wives... I really think that is the

definition of a local business.

Just because jason feels they are "not

local" for some arbitrary reason does not

mean that it is true. On the contrary,

I feel that all bike shops in Pittsburgh

are the definition of Local shops (sans

performance rei dicks) .... Also lets

not forget West Liberty cycles is in the

city and the owner works there daily.

I feel compelled to chime in on a few points, in addition to agreeing completely with Steevo and John Heffner. The owner of Trek ran the Mingo road races for years on end, probably with little personal gain and surely with great personal hassle. He made a substantial contribution to the local road racing scene. I am sure that I've left out numerous other examples. The owner of Pro Bikes, Craig Cozza, sponsors a lot of local bike racing teams, including my own. I am aware of him spending a considerable amount of his own limited time to drum up corporate support for local bike racing, as well as sponsoring more cycling events than I have the time to list. Admittedly, that means more to some than others, but it means a great deal to a lot of local racers whose racing is made more affordable by the substantial sponsorship that the shop provides.

I would also add that the numerous good shops and tight competition for cyclists' money in this town is part of why Mr. Heffner can say above, quite rightly, that "[t]here aren't any local shops where I'd refuse to spend my money." While some folks may have their favorite shops and decline to support others for various reasons, the fact of the matter is that they're all local businesses which employ local people and, to varying degrees, make very real contributions to the local cycling scene.