What makes a good bike shop? In the past, we’ve noted some qualities, such as taking the time to learn your needs, treating you like a regular person rather than someone to sell something to, and knowledgeable mechanics.
A member of my bike club had one of the good experiences the other day, and let the rest of the club know about it. This particular bike shop is one of our club’s sponsors. We wear their logo on our jersey sleeves, and enjoy discounts at the shop. But it’s easy to take them for granted. My friend Buddy wrote that after about 12 to 14 miles on the bike, his foot went numb. Buddy picks up the story here:
“[It] has now progressed to foot pain anterior/superior to my arch. It was getting to the point where pain was not subsiding by the next day.
I finally decided I needed new cycling shoes. I took my current pair in to Bicycle Sports Shop this past Saturday expecting them to sell me a new pair, but I experienced quite the opposite. The sales assistant inspected my shoes and he quickly observed my insole was not optimal but there was still plenty of wear remaining on them.
He went into a full length discussion about the importance of proper fitting of shoes. He measured where my my instep was in relation to my shoe fit and marked it, he measured the type of arch I have using a thermal sensor, he measured how my feet pronated/supinated and whether their natural position was vargus or valgus.
Then he reset/repositioned my cleats, fitted and installed a proper Specialized arch insole according to my measurements, and inserted the proper wedge shim based on how my feet align under my knees. All this and the store was really busy. He could have easily just sold me a new pair of shoes and I never once mentioned that I was a member of [the club].
I figured it would take at least two or three cycling evolutions to see if I gained any benefit, but I tested them out today first time doing about 25 mi and OMG! Just experienced slight numbness in the foot, no pain, and the apposing chronic slight knee pain and nagging lower back pain that I thought were just age related did not even occur! I will definitely continue my patronage there for any future cycling needs. And I will not mention any other competitors by name, but the previous establishment I went to basically just told me to ‘Match my shoe size and leave a little extra room in case your feet swell.’ Glad I shopped around.”
When your bike shop goes the extra mile for you, don’t take them for granted. Take your return business to them.
I love my local shop–Blue’s Bike and Fitness. . . at least, that’s what I call them, even though they merged with another local bike shop and now call themselves The Bike Rack. 🙂