DogsBody

Though I would point out (having experience with the Xtracycle Free Radical) that the kit is very robust, and does the "Trick" nicely.
It is mounted in a very sensible way, and is as strong as Hercules.

longwave

Hi:

Yes you are right. We are getting hosed. Go to the REI outlet in Bellingham, buy a $20.00 membership and away you go. They have great touring stuff and at reasonable prices. The way to buy things down there is when you are vacationing south of the border and can take advantage of any customs exemptions as a result. Or the sneaky way is to have a cycle club member down in the states ride a bike you have purchased up here. You then pay his bus fare back across the line or drive him/her to the border yourself. When I know I'm getting ripped off I don't mind resorting to these tactics.

Cheers,
GregT

Abneycat

I've been very happy with my Xtracycle. Paired with a good frame, it is an excellent option. I've got mine on a Rocky Mountain Hammer and it has always felt solid, even with 150+ lb passengers.

I like the dummy quite a bit too though. In my opinion, I would just pick between the two based on whether or not I had a good bike to use the Xtracycle on or not.

idugboe

The separtists in Quebec are missing a source of support, as an Albertan, I for one would be all for cutting them loose, bonne chance. To clairify why I opened with a political comment, Cycles Lambert is based in Quebec. Canada, for all its self congratulary superior controls on its banking system, et all, is basically a monopolistic system of self-intrests whose primary concern is protecting their incomes, and it offends them if that monopoly is challenged.
Cycles Lambert provided the following quote to the Globe & Mail:“The importance of specialty retailers for Canadian cyclists is undeniable,” Lambert said. “Lambert remains firm in its commitment to channels avoiding an every-day low-price strategy, which brings down reasonable market pricing.” This was a response to MEC stocking & selling complete bicycles.
My question is : Who decides what is reasonable market pricing?
Cycles Lambert seems to feel that falls within their domain.
I deal with a couple of personnaly preferred shops in Edmonton, United; Revolution; Velocity, and they are all good, but I give them the choice of matching what I find online or passing. More often then not, they pass, because they are forced to play on a slanted field.
Don't be fooled by all the self-righteous protestations of groups only intersted in their own benefit.
The retail bicycle market in Canada is a very tightly controled group and we all suffer from the lack of inovation because of it. MEC selling complete bikes may be a crack in their wall.

longwave

I agree with you completely. I'm sorry but all the indignant whining just doesn't work for me.

antonyfhilliard

Well, the loonie is at $0.98US again, and it's almost new-bike season. A Big Dummy is $1620 in the USA... what do you think the Canadian price is?

BowCycle

Abneycat - I need to clear up a couple of misconceptions you have.
One - We don't say bad things about MEC, we have sent people there and had them refer people to us nor have we trash talked or "verbal discredit"ed the Goodlife Co-op.
Two - You might want to check around the bicycle co-op you work at, we did encourage and donate some bicycles (and let's face it, you are a competitor we did not have to!)
Three - I understand that you had a bad experience with Bow but to say our "goal is to meet sales goals" is incorrect. While some people have goals (it's part of business and managing employees), we want people riding and enjoying their ride because that helps us in the end.
Four - Bow Cycle's Bikes For Kids have kept thousands of bicycles out of landfills and got them into the hands of lots of kids and other people who need them.

Abneycat

I have to apologize on this point, because upon reviewing the post, it can be taken as such - and yes, it does quite look like it. I'm not going to name specific shops that did, but Bow Cycle was indeed not a shop that I received word of poor regard from. I understand that it may look like this as Bow Cycle was mentioned in the same post, but it was on a separate point, referring to being a source for affordable equipment. I wish to clarify for the record that to my knowledge, Bow has never been anything but good to the Good Life. Bow Cycle has probably been just about as supportive as MEC has, and you have my thanks for it. And personally, I used to commonly refer clients to Bow Cycle when they needed a specific component, as you easily have the best selection of replacement parts in the city.

Again, i'm sorry for the wording in the previous posting.

I am aware of this, it was quite a large amount in fact. I helped bring them in and organize the shop afterwards on one particular occasion, and there almost wasn't enough room in there for them all. That event was over a year before my posting, and i'd forgotten the event until your mention, but yes, I do recall.

I made this post 5 months before having my bad experience with Bow Cycle, that particular trouble wasn't a factor at the time of writing. In fact, I no longer directly work under the employ of the Good Life, and am working in a professional retail shop. And as we discussed, and as I updated in the thread that I made, Bow Cycle provided a good response and I personally feel as though amends have been made perfectly, i'd shop at Bow Cycle again without issue.

However, on a separate note, I wish to apologize for implying that for profit retail shops such as yours are driven by sales alone. But that does not change my implication that people are often turned off by the experiences that they can have at big, high end shops. Sales staff in professional retail can often sell based on convenience or opportunity, and one constant piece of feedback I receive from our members is that many of them feel intimidated and alienated by the way that staff in bike shops can often push the notion that you need X / Y parts on your bike, clips on your shoes, this brand, etc. This is something which is commonplace in most retail bike shops, and is not meant to implicate Bow in any way, but these are very common sentiments from the people that I have personally talked to, and I have also personally experienced such sales tactics in several shops throughout the city. Heck, it sometimes happens in the professional shop that I currently work at.

Working in professional bicycle retail, listening to your customers and making sure they're happy on their ride is the right way to go, and i'm happy to hear that you feel that way too.

Yes, I was aware of this program as well. I believe in fact, that Bow ended up giving the Good Life a few hefty truckloads of bikes from people who had brought Bow adult bikes instead of kids ones, and instead of landfilling those adult bikes not part of your program, your shop brought them in to the co-op.

I'm aware that there is a possibility you may have made this post in defence of Bow Cycle with the impression that I had made it in a disgruntled manner, which is not the truth. I did not wish to directly imply that Bow was some sort of co-op / NFP hating, soulless bike selling machine. While I feel as though there is complete validity to my point about how some people have had bad experiences with big bike shops, its not a sole case. I regret making the assumption that shops like Bow are only out to meet sales goals, its simply the way that some people can feel (Although still, I feel as though there are a few unnamed shops in this city that do indeed make the sale their sole goal). Heck, people have had bad experiences with the Good Life, feeling as though they are alienated from the GL's often perceived "radical" or "anarchist" ways, or they can feel belittled because they don't know how to do a repair and need to ask for help. Its one of the problems of having a community co-op, along with many other little complications along the way. In the end, even the best co-op can't stand on its own, to my knowledge. I am certainly not in the mindset that community shops and not for profits are the sole future of the industry, but they deserve validity. So do good professional bike shops.

On an ironic note, I was in MEC the other day, and one of the mechanics there was totally trash talking the Good Life

I'm actually glad that you've made this post, as I agree that the issue needed to be cleared up. And in fact, I feel bad about the implications against Bow Cycle, given that you've been a supportive shop to the community.

Sincerely,

- Abneycat

(p.s. TBS does not get an apology)

neil

What kind of trash? I wouldn't feel too bad about it; co-op shops are volunteer run and the customer experience can be vastly different depending on who helps you out, how busy things are, etc. It's particularly a problem when someone comes in with minimal interest in doing their own work, just likes the price. They end either upset that you didn't help them "enough," or end up with low quality work because the shift mechanic ended up doing the work while being pulled by 8 other people for attention. So some people who then end up at a professional shop (because that's the level of service they really needed) trash talk the co-op, and you get a bad name amongst people who hear their griping. Satisfied co-op users never end up there, so they only hear one side of the story.

The only defense is to set realistic expectations, but it's not going to work for everyone.

Abneycat

Good Life employs paid staff. I am a professionally trained mechanic, but several of its staff members are still in training. Two staff members do indeed work in other professional bike shops and have full training, others specialize more in community relations, administration, things like that.

There is a mechanic at the local MEC that was disgruntled with the job done on a wheel by someone at Good Life. Whether it was a mechanic, volunteer, or member, I don't know.

The truly ironic part of this though, is that this staff member at MEC who made the complaint was hired by the Good Life when it first opened, then they ditched and didn't show up for work, didn't call, nothing. They seemed to be content with screwing people over, but had a hissy fit when a community shop sent them some annoying work.

trustnoone

One benefit of living in Canada on top of high prices is reduced selection. An example of this I've found is the Specialized kids model. At Specialized US the Hotrock line is sized down to 12" with an additional Hotwalk runner bike. At Specialized Canada the smallest size is 20". Although the majority of Canadian kids are 4'11" and over 60 lbs at birth, every once in a while I see an unfortunate child who is American sized (mine included, probably due to their half American mother). It would be nice if distributors recognized that smaller children also enjoy bikes.

sbu83

I also order parts from the US, but I just get them shipped to a location along the US-Canadian border so I can then go pick them up. I do this because most companies won't ship to Canada, and if they do they want to charge a lot extra. I live in Toronto so the place I use is called Bay Brokerage in Buffalo, New York. You can ship to them using a service called Kinek. You can check them out at www.kinek.com/baybrokerage

When your package arrives they send you a text message and email letting you know it has arrived. The Kinek company also has locations all across the Canadian border in Vermont, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Washington. It's definitely worth checking out since it is free to register with Kinek and ship to their locations, you only pay a small receiving fee when you pick up your stuff which is usually less than $5.

I heard about them at www.shiptotheborder.com

a1rabbit

I actually have a thread over in the touring section that's discussing this issue.

Most shops here in Vancouver currently want $1799 for the Surly LHT! Crazy, it's not even a full $1100 in the US. If you whispered nicely enough in their ears you could probably get it down to $950 if you had cash in hand. Drives me crazy. Worse, HST would take that price up to somewhere around 2k! Nearly double the US price.

As far as MEC goes, I love the place, I've been a member for more nearly two decades, they've always had great customer service, they don't hassle you as soon as you walk in the door and no mater what question I've ever asked them they never make you feel like you're worthless, or less than them because you need help and don't know if what you want is best for you.

I was there a week ago looking for some new tires for my bike. I ended up checking out Panniers and wondered what they would look like packed up (Size wise) and told the guy that since they have bikes now, even though none are touring bikes that they should still consider setting up one of their display cycles as a fully loaded touring rig. Not only could people swap out panniers, handlebar bags, under-seat bags, etc. But people who never imaged seeing a bike set up that way might wonder what the heck it's all about and then *BAM* you have a new tourist. Having a full rig lets them throw a leg over and get an idea what a loaded bike feels like, looks like, etc.

He looked at me for a second almost bewildered and said, "That's actually a really good idea, I'm gonna pass that on and see what comes of it."

Chances are, he was just being nice. I like nice. That's all that matters.

Penny Farting

Unfortunately, the Canadian bike manufacturing industry was already in trouble by the early 1990s, the big four (Raleigh, Miele, Supercycle and Victoria Precision of Montreal) concentrated in rustbelt Quebec. A small 'screwdriver' factory, Shields, began selling impressive Canadian-assembled Nishiki 10 and 12-speed tourers, MTBs and kiddie bikes around 1977. The pro-secessionist government in Quebec began rattling cages in Ottawa and anti-dumping duties were imposed on Taiwanese-owned but largely Chinese-produced bikes. Shields went bust, Miele went upscale, but NAFTA threw a spanner in the works for Canadian bike tariff policy in 1994.

Victoria Precision ceased operations in 2004, but recently I saw a neglected but well-preserved Precision PR6030 MTB in a charity shop and was told I could have it for $15 (the best deal since I picked up a Nishiki Rally for $19.99 that took me half way around the world). I was taken aback by the quality of the frame welding (still unsure if it is chromoly or aluminium) and the pristine 15-speed Shimano SIS gearing, a fine stable-mate for the Kona Hahanna I received from a family member anxious to find garage space.

The upshot of this appears to be if junk-shops are unable to find out any information about bikes on websites such as Craigslist, they are anxious to sell them as soon as possible. Furthermore, there may be a tendency to underestimate the value of older Canadian bikes as junk-shops are choc-a-bloc with unsavoury Canadian Tire and Zellers (now Walmart) efforts from the past, overlooking quality output from small, defunct firms such as Victoria Precision.