However what was only glanced on by other people is that you will have a bunch of maintenance in the 1st year (wheels need to be trued, derailer adjusted as the chain stretches, etc) which the bike shop usually does for free but you will also have some annual maintenance costs you will have to ante up for. Tires and especially for recumbents pricey chains will be in order. . .

Enjoy!

Second, having worked in a bike shop for a few years I would say that you were treated fairly and the price was probably fair. Recumbent bikes always present additional challenges for bike shops due to their size and configuration, and sometimes a brand new recumbent adjusted perfectly will perform as above, due to the manufactures selection of components (i.e. derailleur, brakes, headset..).

That being said, bike shops can be notorious for sinking money into bikes with little gain. I would recommend that you learn how to work on your own bike as you will develop a better relationship with it. If you have the desire, you can buy the tools you need to fix your own bike for cheaper than it costs for the bike shop to adjust it. Additionally, there is also the possibility of bike co-op, where you can get help to do the repairs and learn at the same time.

Good Luck!

B

A local bike shop isn’t a big box and can’t afford to give the store away to satisfy a person with higher expectations than they deserve.

That said. You get what you pay for. I read a comment from one person about never being willing to pay 2k for a bike. This person will never know what a beautiful ride like yours is. Catrike is a beautiful machine and if you are motivated to ride it then it is worth every penny.

PS – 2k is not an expensive cycle.

I really enjoy the thoughtful, intelligent conversations that happen on this blog. There seems to be an unusually high number of great posters around here, which I think is a reflection of the types of posts that get published.

Would the buyer be justified in wanting something more if it was not a demo bike, but a brand new one that had defaults in it? I’ve been on both sides both as a small business owner and a customer. My small business nature definitely puts me on the side of the shop, but I wonder if there isn’t a better solution to address it? (free gift card? Discount on accessories?)

I have to agree with what seems like just about every other commenter today! What they did for you seems fair given the fact that you bought the demo model.

I started skimming comments about 1/2way through so I don’t know if this was mentioned or not. The time and gas spent is really negligible since you would have had to make a trip to the store to pick up the new bike if you had ordered it anyway. It would have been a 1.5 or 3 hour round trip depending on the shop it was delivered to, and then there would have been time spent at the store inspecting it before taking it home, etc. Then the new bike could have just as easily had a problem and needed to be taken in for repair which would mean a second trip!

All in all, to me it sounds like you’re no worse (and possibly better!) off than if you had ordered the bike.

Regardless, pay with a credit card and when the shop doesn’t deliver a quality product dispute payment. Really, we’re making excuses for an expensive product that was functioning poorly within a few miles. Take it back, expect reasonable credits, if not dispute the charge. This is ridiculous!! I can’t believe that everyone is making excuses for a non functional bike with the first serious use. There are no excuses for such sloppy customer service!!

That’s the only way the cost will ever be justified!

All in all, I think the shop did you right and think your best course of action is to just ride it and enjoy.

If you got the best deal you could on it, and it brings YOU happiness, and YOU think it was worth the money, then there shouldn’t be any heartburn.

I think too many people out there spend too much time worrying about what other people think of them

All that being said, if you don’t want to waste $2k, make sure you ride the bike and don’t let it sit in your garage. My husband just bought a decent used mountain bike for $200 and is now trying to get ~60 round trips to work in so it pays for itself in savings on public transit. The added health benefits are harder to quantify though. Actually riding it will “save” you more than a free helmet.

You’ll be happier when you give in and justify having made that fantastic purchase, given that that’s the purchase you made. (As #77 suggests)

In my personal experience, I now know that I could have easily saved at least $500 on the $6000 bedroom set and Tempurpedic mattress we bought last year by simply negotiating, but I didn’t (last minute decision made with my hubby being Mr. Happy Pants in the background…bad situational combo and I lost my head).

I felt bad and now I’m over it. The set makes my husband very happy and the mattress has made his back problems disappear. I socked away the negoatiating advice for the future and just try to enjoy our bedroom more.

BTW, your side comments about a truck accident and funeral arrangements caught me off guard and had me laughing out loud in my cubicle. Thanks for the smile!

That said, I can’t believe the shop let you leave with a non-functional bike. That would be enough to have me looking for a different shop. Most cyclists I know are incredibly loyal to their chosen shop (I know a guy who drives to KC from St. Louis to shop where I also spend most of my money). Those shops earn that loyalty though. The free repair seems a given. It may have been a mistake but generally no shop owner would ever want you to leave in a manner that would cause your next trip in to be a repair.

I lost sleep over my first expensive bike and then again over a pricey television. I’ve learned to plan something big for shortly after making a huge purchase. It helps me see why the purchase is a good idea. I’d plan a nice, long, overnight tour on your new bike.

Would it have hurt the shop to give Mr. Brokamp a $50 ‘goodwill’ refund or gift certificate for his troubles? I know they may not be raking in the bucks, but the customer is #1. Without him, there would be no business.

You’re right, some people don’t want the latest and greatest, but many others do, and even among those that don’t care much, there might be a difference between having 3-5 year old technology and 10-20 year old technology.

It’s also not entirely about needs, Robert didn’t *need* a bicycle, he’d been getting by without one. He wanted his bicycle to be fun. In five years, he might be looking at the latest and greatest as a way to renew the fun that he used to get out of his now-aging bicycle (or maybe he won’t). He won’t *need* to replace it, but he might *want* to.

@Artist:
“I am curious: If the weather is less than ideal, rainy, recently rained so the path/street is still wet, windy, muddy, etc. don’t you end up a filthy mess riding your trike?”

Yes, but most people drive (or take public transit) when it rains, even if they usually would ride.

Robert, The bike shop treated your fairly. I suggest that now that you have the trike, become friends with the bike shop that is local to your work or home. Go on some organized group rides with others that have trikes. You learn alot about riding, bike care and you will become a savvy rider.

This weekend will be the first time I have my Trek Madone on the MS150 course from Houston to Austin. I can’t wait to see how it feels to ride the roads on a full carbon bike.

Ditto computers, ditto bicycles, ditto all kind of other expensiveish purchases (I’m sure new hiking books are nicer and lighter and more waterproof than mine–but mine are waterproof enough and light enough. Upgrading from steel-shanked boots was worth it to me, upgrading to whatever’s available now isn’t).

New features aren’t equally important to everyone. I scorched and slightly warped a ~$70 pan recently, and while it’s not pretty, I’m not going to replace it because it still works fine for its purpose (if it were a frying pan I’d replace it). A car or a bicycle is a much bigger investment.

It’s not about having the newest, most feature-rich thing–it’s about having a thing that meets your needs. If your needs don’t change, it could be the same thing you bought 20 years ago.

Otherwise, I agree with you.

I feel that the best route to follow when purchasing big ticket items that you expect to get regular and constant use from is to purchase the best quality that you can afford and if necessary delay the purchase until you can meet this criteria. In the now relatively high tech world of cycling, many of the best parts are expensive but in the end they are worth the extra money.

I think the bike shop stood behind their sale, were open about what you were getting and contributed their extra time and effort in an attempt to satisfy you. It sounds like you knew with in reason what you were getting and went ahead anyway. Buyer beware.

I am curious: If the weather is less than ideal, rainy, recently rained so the path/street is still wet, windy, muddy, etc. don’t you end up a filthy mess riding your trike?

I think the only mistake you made was purchasing from a shop so far away. You will have to go back for maintenance, it’s just a fact of life and does not reflect the quality of your bike.

My advice at this point is to let the purchase experience go and just have fun with your trike. I’ve found that because it’s so much more fun to ride, every time I go out on my trike, I end up going farther–often much farther–than I intended to at the outset, and I feel great afterward, not worn out as I did on my upright bike. I live in Eugene, so there are miles and miles of scenic bike paths to ride, and I can take them most of the way to where I want to go, thereby avoiding the hassle of busy downtown streets to a large extent.

The mere fact that I wake up *wanting* to get out there on my trike, and the fact that, yes, I’m already feeling my clothes getting looser, makes me feel like the money was well-spent, even though to the average person, it seems like a really pricey purchase.