My Local Bike Shop

My definition of a good Local Bike Shop (LBS), apart from being local, is a nice small shop, filled with passionate people, somewhat like a small bar where you can go hang out. It should also have a damn good mechanic, and maybe good coffee.

Bike Barn is my LBS, it is part of a small local chain so in that regard is possibly not a real LBS. Also the mechanic there is a bit inconsistant, some times thing work perfectly after a service and some times they don't, and it doesn't have good coffee - or any coffee for that matter. It is the closest shop to my house though so it does fulfill the local requirement.

What I do like about the shop and what keeps me going back is the staff, they are nice bunch of kids, they are all young, the manager is only 21 and he is the oldest guy there. They are always happy to have a chat about bikes and biking, 1 of the guys is an up and coming downhiller and he is always keen to share exploits, photos and race results. I find this quite cool as I am more than twice their age, and, well no matter how much I try to deny it, this is a serious age gap and most teenagers avoid old farts like me as if we were deseased.
While I do make most of my purchases in the shop, I do believe their friendliness and enthusiasm is not about keeping the customer happy so he spends more.

The thing I like most about the shop now is my 15 year old son started working there at the weekends. About 8 months ago we put his name down on the list for part time work and he got the call last week. He had his first day on Saturday really enjoyed the work. This will be good for him, to learn about customer service and working with customers, to get to really understand the bikes and components and some work ethic. Hopefully he will get to learn a bit of wrenching as well, then he can help work on the family bikes.