Well, I've definitely had my run-in with the folks at Go-Ride...
I mean, I won't even go into the incident when they wouldn't warranty a tube I bought from another shop.
But since most of us are victims of A.D.D. and are only able to focus on the straight and narrow when it comes to much of anything, let me put things into perspective. And I must preface this by claiming that I am just as much as guilty as the next guy when it comes to this.
But here I am, trying to be a better person.
1. There are few shops in the valley who not only support an actual mtb race team, whether it be XC, DH or whatever and even fewer who support a national team and put up a ton of $$$ and time into a local race series. And by that, I mean the owner actually picking up a shovel and cutting trail to make the race (which the promotor directly profits from, not the shop) a better race.
Translated: What I'm saying here is you get what you pay for. What you pay for your bike can either all go into the owner's pocket
OR some can go into the owner's pocket and a bit can be used to develop up and coming talent.
2. There are even fewer shops who have been title sponsors on a number or films about our sport that are directly responsible for providing inspiration to a lot of the guys (Cam McCaul for example) to whom some try and mimick today. And who sponsor a pretty kickass website (no, not this POS. I'll give you a hint: it is formerly known as Littermag.)
3. There are even fewer than that number of shops where two of the employees provided the stoke in those films that now drive some of the top professionals in our sport.
4. There are even
fewer number of shops who don't cycle through a litany of High School graduates as their main source of customer service and who have the history and knowledge of the sport dating back a couple of decades.
I like a lot of shops around the valley for any number of reasons, even browsing the crap at REI can be entertaining. But it's rare to find one shop that can tell you why a particular suspension design is going to work differently than another, and then have a wall and floor full of highend bikes to show you. Other than just telling the customer that this is the new
whatever which is different than last year's model, but how it differentiates between a brand we don't sell, well then we just can't answer that for you because the
whatever Rep didn't go over it in his five minute sales pitch to the staff.
Late Addendum:
5. Then there is that one shop, with the one owner brave (
or dumb) enough to respond to people's questions and complaints on this POS Utah Forum. Opening himself up to a litany of written abuse from people hidning behind a stupid username.