Catherine A.
Yelp
I came here because I have an old, heavy, steel bike and I want to upgrade to something lightweight. I was at first helped by a young red headed man who was fine. He showed me one bike, and when I asked if he had it in a different color, he pulled down another bike that was pretty, but heavier, and I said I wasn't interested in a bike as heavy as that. That's when the older man who had been hanging out behind the counter came over, and when everything went downhill.
The man began by explaining to me that the green bike was only heavy because it had fenders and a rack, which, ok, but you're selling it with fenders and a rack.
He then launched into a speech beginning "I know I have to explain this to women because I have sisters" and he proceeded to tell me, in detail, how to carry a bicycle up a flight of stairs. (I'm sure his sisters love his "let me tell you how to perform basic tasks" spiel. He's probably a real hit at Thanksgiving) He declared that if I knew how to carry it the right way, incidentally the way I already do, it would make the bicycle "actually lighter".
He finished up by telling me that having a lighter bike doesn't really make a difference, and he declared that wanting a lighter bicycle is a "psychological problem". Then he smiled, smugly.
During this entire jaw-dropping monologue, I tried to tell him that I have a heavy bike and I know how it feels to have one, that I have test-ridden lighter bikes and know from experience that it makes a difference in effort and acceleration, and that I know how to carry a bike. I did not try to correct him about his claim to be able to magically make bicycles lighter than they are, because, really, how can anyone react to that? But I could only get in one word at a time before he interrupted me to continue to shower me with his...um...wisdom.
When he finally stopped talking, I just walked out. I don't need to be condescended to, lied to, interrupted, or told I have a psychological problem for having a perfectly reasonable request for a lighter bicycle. I would never go here again, and I would certainly not recommend it to anyone.