When he's not riding motorbikes my son spends most of his free time on his bicycle, firstly a mountain bike & now his newly acquired Mongoose dirt jumper.
Strike 1:
In December he buckled the rim on the mountain bike, so, like a good community spirited person my wife sent him off the the bicycle shop in the little rural type retail centre down the road from us in Crowthorne. He was told it cannot be fixed and he'd need a new one, as well as new spokes and for it to be assembled - at a cost of R750-00. I got home & looked at it, told him the chap at the shop was talking nonsense. The rim was merely "untrue", and after I spent half an hour recollecting bicycle repair memories (I used to race both on the road and track as a kid) it took me 20 minutes to set up a "balancing and trueing station" using the equipment I have to balance my superbike wheels and another 15 minutes to true his rim.
Strike 2:
He had saved up enough to purchase the dirt jumper, & so we bought a 2nd hand one. When we checked it at the time of purchasing it I saw it needed new front brake pads (it has hydraulic disc brakes front & rear). No problems, I sent him off to the little shop again, and he came back saying that the chap only had the genuine Shimano pads in stock, and they were R250-00. WTF? A set of SBS or EBC's for my superbike cost R600-00 for both sides! Each pad for the bicycle measures less than a square centimetre...... I phoned Cycle Tech, they are close by in BBQ Downs. Price: R80-00 a set. When I asked what make I was told they were genuine Shimano pads. We spent 5 minutes in the car each way & bought 2 sets.
Strike 3:
He picked up a puncture riding in Helderfontein on Tuesday. Again (yes, it seems we can be bloody stupid) off he went down the road. R60-00 for a tube. Out of curiosity I called Cycle Tech. R35-00 for a tube. I also called Cycle Lab in Fourways - R40-00.
Although I do not mind anyone making a living, I question the ethics of the pricing & am sorely tempted to phone myself to see what I would be charged? If shop "A" can make a profit selling an item at R80-00, how on earth can another shop, less than 5km's away charge 212,5% more for the same item? Judging from the tube and the brake pads they are anywhere between 70% to 212,5% more expensive than Cycle Tech.
Suffice to say we will no longer be going there, not even to hear how ludicrous their prices are!
#Rant over
Strike 1:
In December he buckled the rim on the mountain bike, so, like a good community spirited person my wife sent him off the the bicycle shop in the little rural type retail centre down the road from us in Crowthorne. He was told it cannot be fixed and he'd need a new one, as well as new spokes and for it to be assembled - at a cost of R750-00. I got home & looked at it, told him the chap at the shop was talking nonsense. The rim was merely "untrue", and after I spent half an hour recollecting bicycle repair memories (I used to race both on the road and track as a kid) it took me 20 minutes to set up a "balancing and trueing station" using the equipment I have to balance my superbike wheels and another 15 minutes to true his rim.
Strike 2:
He had saved up enough to purchase the dirt jumper, & so we bought a 2nd hand one. When we checked it at the time of purchasing it I saw it needed new front brake pads (it has hydraulic disc brakes front & rear). No problems, I sent him off to the little shop again, and he came back saying that the chap only had the genuine Shimano pads in stock, and they were R250-00. WTF? A set of SBS or EBC's for my superbike cost R600-00 for both sides! Each pad for the bicycle measures less than a square centimetre...... I phoned Cycle Tech, they are close by in BBQ Downs. Price: R80-00 a set. When I asked what make I was told they were genuine Shimano pads. We spent 5 minutes in the car each way & bought 2 sets.
Strike 3:
He picked up a puncture riding in Helderfontein on Tuesday. Again (yes, it seems we can be bloody stupid) off he went down the road. R60-00 for a tube. Out of curiosity I called Cycle Tech. R35-00 for a tube. I also called Cycle Lab in Fourways - R40-00.
Although I do not mind anyone making a living, I question the ethics of the pricing & am sorely tempted to phone myself to see what I would be charged? If shop "A" can make a profit selling an item at R80-00, how on earth can another shop, less than 5km's away charge 212,5% more for the same item? Judging from the tube and the brake pads they are anywhere between 70% to 212,5% more expensive than Cycle Tech.
Suffice to say we will no longer be going there, not even to hear how ludicrous their prices are!
#Rant over
