Thursday 9 October 2014

One day one photo - 22

Wednesday 1st October

When I need to go to a bike shop in Macclesfield I go to this one - Macc Cycles. It's just on the edge of the town centre at Jordangate. The shop hasn't been open very long - about a year or two - so I like to support new local businesses when I can. And as I have a few bikes and am not very good at mechaniccing, myself, I imagine I give him a healthy amount of business!

The reason I choose one bike shop over another is down to what type of buying experience I will get - as well as its reasonable prices. Cycling is a hobby - something that I really enjoy. So when I go to a shop it's nice to be able to chat to the sales people/mechanics and have a more personable contact with them. If it's just a case of taking something off the shelf and barely saying a hello and thank you, I might as well just go to Chain Reaction Cycles online.

Retailers get upset at cyclists going to such online retailers. But in my opinion there are still enough folks like me around who wouldn't have a clue what to do with a new gear cable, or how to index gears. So we will carry on going to cycle shops. And when we go, we want to feel we have had a positive interaction.

So with Andy, who owns Macc Cycles he serviced my cyclo cross bike and made a few other tweaks to it when I went to pick up the bike. I also asked him about his thoughts on different types of bike kit, like electric gears. And we talked about how the racing season has been. I must admit, Andy can talk for England, and I don't necessarily need to have a lengthy chat when going in just to buy an inner tube, but it's a nice feeling when you go into a shop and the sales people know your name and don't just treat you like a generic bod.   

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