SOBs in Spandex

Jump to Comments

So, I’m in the market for a bike.

Seems like a reasonable thing to be in the market for. Much more reasonable than outrageously priced Toronto property or gas-guzzling cars, for example.

Unfortunately the bike shops of this fine city are apparently allied against me. There are plenty of them in this town. From cheapie operations selling used (read stolen) two-wheelers, to hipster urban biketerias and havens for road racer or mountain bike gear heads.

But entering these shops — especially the higher-end ones — is to be ignored, mocked or met with disdain. It appears that the market for expensive bicycles is so bullish, that the two-wheeled Nazis of the GTA can afford to scoff at anyone less than a millionaire triathelete in the market for a $5,000 road-rocket.

The first challenge is getting noticed. Even in some nearly-empty shops it appears hard for the staff to find me among the hanging bikes and Kryptonite u-locks in their stores. While standing around and browsing has failed to garner much response, I have developed a strategy of taking a bike from a rack, flipping it upside down and rotating the tires until someone wanders over.

Even then it’s hard to get more than a cursory “anything I can help you with?”

Once I explain the “lower end” $600-$700 price range I am interested in, any potential helpfulness seems to hiss out of the staff member like air from a punctured tube.

One interesting thing I’ve noticed about the bikes on display in today’s shops is that they all lack pedals. This is clearly to save space as they hang vertically on racks, but it also makes taking a bike for a test run pretty difficult. I have been considering bringing my own pedals and bike tools to avoid asking unhelpful apron-wearing shop staff to do it.

At one store, which I travelled 30 minutes on the Subway to visit, the owner gave me an overly high price on a last-year’s model bike then mocked me when I inquired whether the pedals would be included in that price. OK, I was kind of asking sarcastically — but still. Since when did the retailers motto become less “the customer is always right” and more “screw you, you sad shopper.”

I have also been surprised by how shocked these stores are by any suggestion that when spending $1,000 dollars on a bike, helmet, lock and assorted sundries, some kind of minor discount is in order. One shop girl, who was otherwise relatively friendly looked askance at me when I asked and said: “why would we do that?”

Buying bikes — good bikes, from good stores — in Winnipeg, there would always be at least SOME discussion of a discount, whether it was five or ten per cent. It still meant something, and was far from a bizarre question to ask.

I am aware of the facts. With the combined force of beautiful summer weather and a sudden transit strike, it is almost the perfect seller’s market. But it’s not just bikes.

I see this as a microcosm of the customer service ethic in Toronto. I have witnessed more apathetic, uninterested and downright rude behaviour by employeers to their customers in this city than in everywhere I have lived prior. Combined. Too bad, really, when the city has so much else to offer.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized