Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:16:32 EDT
From: Anwar.Mohammed@GS135.SP.CS.CMU.EDU
To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Bike shops


My recent experiences buying a bike.

Ambridge bike shop was very helpful in terms of describing features,
but really standoffish when it came to discussing bike brands they
didn't carry.  Maybe it was the guy I talked to.  They have some
pretty good prices, though.

The folks at Pittsburgh Pro weren't nearly as nightmarish as the
prior postings in this database indicate.  The person I spoke
to (I forgot his name) was very pleasant and helpful.  Some of the
other guys there seemed cocky, but who cares, I got the service
I needed out of them.  Prices tend to be high.

Dirty Harry's is a little understaffed, so you're in for quite a wait
sometimes.  They were perfectly willing to (seemingly) objectively 
compare their bikes with lines they didn't carry.  Decent pricing.

The guys at Gatto were pretty BS-filled, *but* Gatto does have good
priced DURING SALES. If you engage one of them long enough, you can
usually find out when your bike will next go on sale.  Also, if you
missed a sale, you can easily talk them into giving you the sale price.
So, Gatto can be a good place to buy a bike, but not to shop or 
learn anything about the bikes. 

Ski north had reasonable prices...and compared favorably to Gatto
off-sale prices.  Not particularly knowledgable, although not quite
as full of hot air as the Gatto guys.  Decent pricing.

This one guy down at Shadyside Ski&Sport was really nice.  Helpful
and objective.  And I think they are the only place you can get
KHS's.  Pricing wasn't too bad for what you'd get (for the KHS's
anyways).

So, I can't really say that any one place was better than any
other in terms of getting informed, but ambridge had the best
pricing with a few seasonal exceptions.

As far as accessories go, I'm going mail-order or used.  Pricing
is my only criteria there:)

-anwar