Five years ago I walked into a bike shop in Minneapolis…My interest in bikes had increased dramatically from the time I moved into the city and realized cars just made me salty. Five years ago I almost didn’t get into cycling for one very specific reason, bike snobbery. Bike snobbery is the most debilitating illness affecting bike shop employees today. There is nothing worse for someone new to bikes than a bike shop employee that treats them as if they don’t matter because they aren’t riding the trendiest or hippest bicycle. Everyone starts somewhere and nobody starts out knowing everything, so it’s natural that you make a few mistakes on your first bike or two. Unfortunately for me, the shop I visited had no time for anyone that wasn’t part of the cycling scene for the last ten years or some other nonsense. As I left, my only impression of serious bikers was that they were rude, arrogant and altogether not interested in me riding a bike… They couldn’t have cared less. I just about gave up the whole idea of being a cyclist until I found a shop that did things right. They weren’t pushy like a commissioned shop but they didn’t act as if I didn’t belong on a bike. The difference was almost palpable as I realized that these people were here to help me get rolling regardless of my new cyclist ignorance. Finding a shop genuinely interested in me riding changed my whole perspective and took my desire to ride to a whole new level. At a certain point I worked my way into being a bike mechanic as a living and I’ve found myself falling prey to the snobbery sickness many times. Each time I realize that I’ve given someone a look, or possibly a tone, that told them I didn’t care about their full suspension Huffy’s brake problems, I find myself thinking about how close I came to missing out on something that I can’t imagine living without. Each time I think about how much my attention and help could make the difference between someone who rides every day and someone who hangs their bike up in the garage and drives away. My goal as a full time bike shop employee is simply this…Get people on bikes they love…If you don’t like the bike you ride you won’t ride it. Almost as important…if the guys who fix your bike are dicks…You won’t want to get your bike fixed…and won’t ride. Riding a bike makes me happier than anything else I’ve ever found…to take that away from somebody simply by not caring…unacceptable.

 

Quinn

Tags: bike love, bike shop, bike snob