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RE: Photo Fun Contest - Week 9 – “I am guilty of...” hoarding bike parts.
What a cool shot! My husband and I owned a small town bike shop back in the late 80s and I don't think we ever had that many used cranksets in the shop! That is quite a collection!
Thanks, and interesting to hear about your bike shop. I was in high school in the late 80s, and worked as a mechanic in our local shop. probably about 95% of the money I made went back into my bikes, but I really loved working on bicycles, interacting with customers, and the atmosphere of the shop in general. I have friends who own or work in shops today, but bike retail is definitely not the same as it was then. It's really tough to run a successful independent bike shop these days, but I am glad to see that some of them are still flourishing. Internet retailers and big chain stores may have a price advantage, but there is still value to being the local cycling hub, where cyclist are comfortable hanging out to talk about bikes.
The cyclists were the best part, and introducing people to quality bikes for the first time ever! Giant was a new brand, and lots of local kids got new decent bikes for the first time. Before, the only place to buy a bike within 70 miles was the local True Value. Serious cyclists were thrilled to be able to hang out, and buy without driving to the city. Sponsoring races and tours was fun. I just gave away my well loved Bruce Gordon from the bike shop days to a young friend. It made me sad, but I am no longer able to ride, and it was too cool of a bike to leave collecting dust!
It's a shame you had to get rid of your Bruce Gordon, but it's good to get it back on the road. I am sure that your friend was thrilled to get such a wonderful bike.
We sold a lot of those early Giants too. The shop I worked for was a Trek and Giant dealer, and though the entry level Trek's were a great value, you couldn't beat the component specs on those Giants for a little less money. They had some great bikes for 300 bucks or so (crazy when I think about now much I spend on bicycles now).
When I think back, I do miss those bike shop days. Turning wrenches, talking bikes all day, sleeping in my car and racing all weekend. Oh well...I'm too old for that now (except for the talking bikes all day part).