Cheaper Carbon bikes

Well the blog was left for dead for a while, I am going to give it a little life support and see if we can get some life back in it. 

The last few years we see a growing number of customers ask about cheaper carbon bikes, I would normally say sure we got a 105 level bike for around 2500, and they would come back with so-and-so has a bike for 1800.  My normal answer to that is you would rather have a very good aluminum bike then a very bad carbon bike, and nothing has changed.
The industry is going to build what you ask for, there are companies offering bikes as low as 1500, how do they get carbon so cheap, well its cheaply made that is the answer.  Some very nice bikes have been showing up in the 2300 price range, and bianchi has come out with the vertigo at 2000 for this year.  We are excited to get this on the floor as it is a very well made bike at a price we before could not offer. 
So my point is this look at what you are really getting carbon does not always mean better, and often is worse.  Carbon is great in the right hands for the right usuage, but if the customer demands cheap carbon they will make it, we just try not to deal with that kind of stuff ourselves, but often someone is not going to be looking out for you, and who is going to tell you there stuff is crap.  Well they wont.

Bike Shop Lifers

Life in a bike shop. It can be a lot of fun, great people, good times. I hear from people time and time again how we have it made, we work on bikes, and get great discounts, and get to do what we love. Well that is all true.
What is also true, is that we make very little money. Work all the time so miss out on going out with friends and work every weekend, not to mention limited time to ride a bike. Our discounts dont make up for the loosy wages in the bike industry. And I know a few people who lost their love of the sport after working in a bike shop.
Most people work in a shop for a season or two, then get out. The got it out of their system, or could no longer afford it. Want a better employee in the bike shop you go to or better service, dont ask for a discount or expect free labor, real employees need real wages. But anyway most people dont last long.
It is the lifers you have to watch out for. The guys who 20 years later are still in a shop. Or the guy who opened a shop for the love of bikes, not he guy who wanted to open a business and just picked bikes. These tend to be the great people in the industry, they love all things bikes, they suffer for the sport, they often cant afford the best bike-but they sure can ride it. They always seem a little off their rocker, so watch out they might explode. You have to love the lifers, just keep an eye on them!!

frame materials part 3: Aluminum is it all its cracked up to be

Aluminum is a fickle material, in its basic form it has about half the tensil strength of 4130 steel and about half the weight. As already mentioned in the steel discussion this means that the strength to weight ratio of aluminum and steel is about the same, so aluminum is not always going to be lighter. But as mentioned in its "basic" form, we can use different materials mixed into the tubing to give different properties, now we can get the frame fairly lighter then steel, at least the basic steel frames. So what does this mean, well to me it means that when looking at a complete bike often in the sub 2000.00 price range aluminum can give us a fairly nice riding bike that is often lighter then the other materials. Things like hydroforming has opened the doors to shaping the materials, and some tuning of the frame for ride quality. Although not to the extent of the other materials when we start spending more money.
Aluminum back in the 80's looked like a steel frame, thinner tubes and they rode like noodles. Then in the 90's we went to beer can tubing, extra big and extra thin. Now we are in the middle, with some shaping thrown into the mix. So when someone tells you that aluminum rides stiff and harsh, remember it is not the material but what you do with it.
In my opinion aluminum is hard to beat for a road bike under 2000.00 and still dominates mtb frames across the board from the big companies. But if your throwing down some serious money steel, carbon and ti often are the materials of choice...
So is it all cracked up. Well the cracking problems that seemed to pop up in the 90's are gone like the 90's. We have refined the material and refined the production process, you still have to get the right frame for the right purpose but assuming you do it will last.
Next time lets talk about the space age material from" planet marketing department" titanium

We are ordering a shop jersey, orders must be in by june 14. reg. price 80.00, pre-order price 65.00 with 40.00 deposit. Come in and try one on, no discounts will be given after order is placed. Real jersey may differ slightly from picture this is our first draft.

Frame Materials Part 2 ( steel )

Is steel real, well I say it is the real deal. Steel has been used to make bicycles longer then any other material. And many say that if steel was NEW then everyone would want a steel bike, the problem is that steel is not new and many people think that it is a traditional and old material, but not at the cutting edge. Well they are wrong and right, steel is an older material and plain old 4130 might not be so cutting edge, but with materials like 859/953/platinum ox and the such the steel of today is not quite the same as the steel of the old. And here is a little thing, the tubing we are using in bikes is not even the most advanced steel out there we just dont have the demand to source the newest stuff, so if customer demand went the industry could afford to get the majical steels that are out there.
Some of the factors we look at when looking at materials are Stiffness, well steel is stiffer then aluminum and Ti. Density, Steel is more dense the aluminum or Ti. When we look at these to factor the stiffness to weight ratio is about the same between the 3 materials. Wait a miniute, the bike shop I went in said that this cheap hybrid was an upgrade because it is aluminum and it would be lighter, well I guess you should have went to a better bike shop.
One of the last things to look at is tensil strength, for the most part the minimum tube used in a good steel frame is aircraft 4130 which has a tensil stgrength of 90,000 ksi, strong enough for most applications, need more then just upgrade the tubeset for the needed strength.
lets not forget that steel rides nice, and last a lifetime. It can rust out, so take care of it and it wont. You can wreck it and it will usually hold up, if it dont you can have it repaired. and by choosing different tubes and having a custom build you can get it to do about anything you want.
Steel is a great option, next time lets look at Aluminum and see if its all its CRACKED up to be.

Frame material series PART 1

What is the importance of frame material, is carbon the only good thing. Why is it that when a customer comes into the shop looking at a more economical bike they ask if it is aluminum or steel, and why do they assume that aluminum is the better choice. If my frame says super high modulas carbon fiber does that mean I will win the Tour de France.
This will be a multi part series discussing different frame materials, there use, the marketing behind them, and what is tecnology and tradition in the bike world. And could you believe that most of the decisions in the bike world are based on the customers wants, desires, and beliefs. Even if the frame manufacture knows better, so next time you complain about the color, material, cost, etc. blame yourself-you are the reason they did it.
We will be looking at steel, aluminum, TI, and carbon fiber. Stay tuned for the next part of the series, Steel the real deal.

Holiday

Well the holiday's are almost here. I have the occasional christmas present sale in the shop, but december is still not a good month, I will just have to wait for the spring. Our spinning class is having a good turnout, so that is fun, I have a little company to talk to a couple nights a week. The weather has been hard to figure out, october was so wet and cold, november was pretty mild, and so far december has been all over the place, heck we had a big thunder storm the other night and it was in the 20's the night before, what is up with that.

SNOW

A little snow never hurt anyone. But if it scares you we are spinning at the shop tuesday and thursdays from 6-7pm. There is also a night ride tonight at bangert island 7-10pm if you are willing to brave the cold.
Things are slow at the shop right now with the first few days of really cold weather in st. louis. So stop by sometime and hang out

Funny Story

About 12 years ago I was working at another bike shop, when a lady came in. She had bought a bike a few months ago and needed some work done. It was the winter and we were slow, so several people were standing around the front counter just talking.
She say's, I need my wheels balanced. Owner replies, OK is one of them bent. She says no, they just need balanced. So we think what we call wheel trueing, is what she is calling balanced, and the owner goes into more detail of trueing a wheel. She gets a little miffed, and says NO, they do not need trued they need to be balanced.
So the owner walks around the counter and ask her to show him, she points at one air valve stem pointing at the floor, and one air valve stem pointing at the ceiling. He picks up the bike and spins one wheel till both stems are pointing in the same direction.
She gets red in face, almost cries, very embarrassed. We dont laugh till she leaves, but we laugh hard.
that was a funny day

Black Friday Sale

Big Sale this week in the store. From now till Nov. 28 everything is on sale. This will be some of the biggest discounts we have ever offered. Dont miss out

Online Sales

Had A guy come in the shop with a pile of parts. He say's, dont get mad but I bought this stuff online. Can you help me out, some of it does not seem to be working. He shows me a set of brake levers and says, I got these for 16 bucks I could not pass it up, so you can understand why I got them online.
Well I have the same set of brake levers on the shelf, and my regular price on them is 12 bucks. And I spent 30 minutes with him last week explaining everything he needed, and giving him sound advice, and I am getting ready to spend another 30 minutes again. And all that said and done he did not save a dime, so the only thing he accomplished was showing me that my time is not worth anything to him.
His stem would not fit on the bike, and his shifters would not fit on the new bars, and he ruined the shifters in the process of trying to force them on. He ended up buying a new stem and shifters from me, and throwing his new shifters he broke in the garbage. When it was all done he spent an extra 100.00 then he needed to.
When he was done, he said this is the 3rd time I have bought stuff online that did not work, when will I learn.

Well I doubt if he ever will. Im not trying to complain, I have bought some stuff online. Most of us have. But when there is a local business, that has competitive prices, and gives good service, I always try to support them. When you go to these places you get good service, advice, friendship, supporting the local economy, when you get to know them you usually get special treatment, meet people to ride with and so much more. In these times if you know someone who does not have a job, or is not making much money- remember every dollar spent locally will help them out, as it trickles through the community. 3 bike shops in st. louis have closed in the last 2 years that I know of, and I know of 5 that are on the fringe- the shops do so much to support cycling lets get everyone in cycling to support the shops!

Rainy Day

Well its raining again, what does that mean for a bike shop. That means we should have went into the boat business. If you can not ride your bike, then most people just dont think about going to a bike shop. Even though it seems this would be a good time to get some stuff, or a repair, it is an out of sight- out of mind mentality. Last month with all the rain we had, we might as well shut the doors for the month, so every day it rains now just gets my shorts all bunched up.

Hello, we just started this bolg, and this is the first post. We will try to keep a regular posting, and keep it interesting as well as inform you on what is going on in the shop, we will comment on cycling news in general. And what is going on in the bike business as well as the in's and out's of running a shop.

We are a smaller shop that thrives on service, repairs and fittings, the products that we carry we choose because we believe in them, not just because they have a name that sells well. If you have not been to the shop before stop by, and if you live elsewhere and just like our blog, then visit the shops website www.pelotoncyclery.com
So thanks for stopping by.