it's just something about going into my LBS and smelling fresh new and lubed bicycles. I love it. hell, my bedroom starting to smell like a bike shop w/ my bikes hanging by my bed.

I note the smell when I'm doing some work on my bike but I can't say that I've ever noticed any particular smell in an LBS.

Smells like tires and chain lube....mmmmmmmmm.......

it's the chemicals.
akin to sniffing glue.
i like it too.

love it.

Ya, I think you know what your talking about. Its nice. Of course, sometimes my garage smells like that too...

I love the smell of ProLink in the morning, it smells like..........VICTORY

There are different shop smells. Today, I went into a shop that smelled like someone had been smoking. Ugh, not pleasant. I left quickly after doing my business. Not exactly an aroma that induces browsing and impulse buying.

Some shops smell like stale lube and dryrotting tires. I don't like these shops so much. It tells me they've long neglected cleaning up shop. Who knows what else they don't do?

I like shops that smell like fresh lube, fresh rubber, and fresh apparel/accessories. Throw in a hint of citrus degreaser and I'm there.

Yeah, grease and rubber. Love it. But also, the noises, discussions. They seem to blend. But the smells last and last in the memory of smells, reminding me of by fave LBS.

i'm sure where i work doesn't smell much if any different than any of the shops you're describing, but it smells like work so i'm used to it/if i smelled it elsewhere i might not like it. i still like the smell of chainlube though.

love it too

Anyone ever notice that tri-Flow smells like banana candy? Not everyone smells it, but there are a select few...

This morning our shop smelled like gasoline. One of our mechanics rides an old bmw r-something... old like mid-70's. He said whenever he hits a bump the float in his left carb bounces and overfill the float bowl. The excess gas escapes out the overflow and spill on his boot. I made him put on some crocs and leave his boots outside.

I like the smell of our shop. i guess I'm pretty lucky.

I'm lucky to be able to work in two shops that both smell really good.

Perhpas I'm copping a buzz of the solvents.

:D

Hahaha, when I started out working on the floor at a certain humongous bike mfg in wisconsin, the smell of 5 thousand tires hanging fresh out of their packaging would singe your eyeballs and nose hairs and cause everyones sinuses to clamp down hard, stinging and burning. Even though I do know and love the smell of the LBS's citrus cleaners, fresh chain lube, etc... the faint whiff of fresh rubber cuts through all of it like a razor to this day. Not intolerable, but definitely makes its presence known.

Smell is a powerful sense. Once in a while, I'll get just the tiniest whiff of a scent that a girl I dated used to wear, and it knocks me right back to ten years ago like the last decade never happened. Strong memory links there.

Anyone ever notice that tri-Flow smells like banana candy? Not everyone smells it, but there are a select few...


Oh yeaaaaa! I love the smell of Tri Flow! Banana candy or the stuff dentists spray in your mouth before they jam a bunch of sharp object in your mouth.

The smell takes me back to the shops I used to work in. Good times. If only I could make the same salary I do now by only wrenching on bikes, I miss that :sad:

The only thing I really smell at my LBS is the smell of new tires.

I think the tires contribute more than anything. New tires smell so good.

It smells like tires. I can't smell it anymore, 'cause I work there now. But, my parents say I smell like it after work!

I like the smell too. When I worked in a tire store I would come home smelling like rubber without even touching one. Does leave a stank.

db

My LBS is adjacent to a head shop - it's an interesting melange of patchouli and Tri-Flow.

"Do you love the smell at your LBS or is it just me?"

Well, it could be you. Have you showered? ;)