BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I visited real briefly a few days ago and their grand opening sales are real nice.Half off a lot of things.

"The store kinda sucks???" Gotta disagree with you Timito. Why did you go back again today and going back tomorrow?? I was there today and thought the store was great!!! I thought the price of their bikes and accesories were terrific and plan on going there often.I believe ""Performance will give other bike shops, to their dismay, much competion which we need.

Meh, I think Preformance is eh, okay. It has the prices of the Trek store, with the selection of eh... a bigger Trek store.

They lose points for trying to ask me my name, phone number, email and home address before I refused at the mailing address portion. And they don't tell you what they're taking the information for, just start asking you at checkout.

"Why did you go back again today and going back tomorrow?" For the free stuff, obviously, same reason I came back there today.

Also lose points for trying to push some kind of $30 membership on you. 10% purchases is nice if you're going to spend in excess of $300 dollars a year there, but otherwise, a waste of money and invitation to get junk mail both physical and digital.

So pros: Decent selection of essentials like tires and tubes, a bunch of tools, you can have sales people wait on you and reassure you that yes, you CAN ride a bike! (Clientele appears to be well off families and old guys, that probably a) don't know shit about bikes and/or b) is going to drop $800 on a bike to be used once or twice a month, AKA garage ornament

Cons: Stuff will be expensive after the grand opening, they try to take your personal information without asking for consent or giving you a reason why they're taking it in the first place

I'll go there in a pinch, but I'll still be trying Kranicks or some other LBS first

By kinda sucks, I mean, I asked the salesmen to show me the bikes with internally geared hubs. He didn't know what I was talking about. I needed a spoke magnet for my computer, an item I'm sure is commonly lost. That's not something they stock. Kraynick pulled it out of a drawer in minutes. I didn't see many commuter bikes, you know racks, fenders, etc. I pointed this out and was told "We sell racks and fenders here, you can buy them and put them on." Really? I can buy them and put them on? I put shit on my bike all the time. I'm asking about commuter bikes, not buying accessories. If I really want to buy fenders and racks and put them on my bike, I'll buy them at Free ride. I hope they do well and was glad to see a kid from the neighborhood working there, but aside from the free stuff and cheap introductory pricing on some stuff, I doubt I'll go back and actually spend money. I actually returned some stuff I paid cash for as I didn't need anymore bar tape, I got more then I need for free. I then took the money and spent it at Kraynicks and suggested he should take some old tubes down there.

gonna agree Performance sucks, felt like Dick's sporting goods, but I was sort of expecting that from their online selection.

I'll stick to a real LBS.

And dude sounded like he wasn't going to sell me a tool because I wouldn't give my phone number to him...WTF? really?

Him - what's your phone number?

Me - You don't need that.

Him - Um, what's your phone number?

Me - You don't need that.

Him - We just use it internally.

Me - You won't get my number.

Him - We need it for returns.

Me - No you don't

Him - Yes we do

Me - No you don't

Him - What's your email address...what's your address...

you see where this is going.

Then he looked at me, looked down defeated, and rang it up.

Honestly, that was my conversation at the register.

My experience there was totally different??? They never asked me for my phone number or E-mail.I can see your point and if they insisted on getting personal info on me, or requesting a 30 dollar membership fee, I would have walked out of their store.I am quite surprised!!

Sounds like the negativity of the comments is stemming from a bit of cliquester exclusivity that seems a little harsh. If well off families and old guys want to buy bikes and pull them out once a month, that's biking. Besides, in case you were at the "ride of silence", you would have noticed that more than half the people were what you would call old guys who you wouldn't even recognize if they weren't in their "Tour" kit, but they're hard core.

I was a little surprised that I had to give all my information at the store when I've already been a mail order customer for like a hundred years.

Also, the first time I went in I got a salesperson who seemed a little green, but it was fine, I have to give "young people" slack all the time for lack of knowledge or experience, hey, everybody has to start somewhere.

From what I heard it was swamped on Friday and Saturday, so there must be pent up demand. I think they will fill a huge empty hole between Kraynicks and Wal-mart. I don't think they'll impact Pro-Bikes and the like at all, they might give Trek a little dent. I go to Kraynicks when I need some little b.s. part that no-one could possibly keep in stock, I will go to Pro-Bikes and buy a $5,000 bike, uh, never.

I want to give Jerry business but 3 out of 5 times I go, the shop is closed. Performance is now right next door. Then again, oftentimes I go to Kraynicks it is for that dinky little part I know that only he will have. And now, I don't have rear brakes.

When I was at Performance the other night there were some people there getting a bike for their kid. According to the salesperson I spoke to, they get a lot of first-time rider business. So more power to them.

And for 2 years of my life, Performance WAS an LBS - I lived in Chapel Hill, where they are based.

I agree with edmond.I was looking for a bike GPS that they they didn't have.The salespeople who waited on me couldn't have been any nicer.The first person didn't know they even made a GPS that you can install on a bike.She's young and very green and still going through the learning process.She got a second sales person who knows more about bike accesories but said they don't have GPS in stock.The store just opened for Christ Sake!! He not only wrote down GPS but the specific serial no.He thanked me for letting him know what kind of accesories the store could use and told me to stop by next week for the GPS.I think it will hurt Pgh Pro Bikes and Shadyside Trek.I live near both of them, but won't go there anymore, because of their high prices.Kraynicks is still the best and will still also continue to sometimes go there or REI.

I understand, being green, but it'd be a good idea to brief employees about the difference between a derailleur and an internally geared hub. Kinda hard to sell bikes if you don't know anything about them.

The freebies were great. I ended up getting a floor pump, a Co2 pump, and a tire for $5 after all of the free coupon discounts.

Plus I got a free water bottle on the prize wheel.

@edmonds59

"Besides, in case you were at the "ride of silence", you would have noticed that more than half the people were what you would call old guys who you wouldn't even recognize if they weren't in their "Tour" kit, but they're hard core."

I figure those guys a) already have a bike and b) would shop at someplace like Big Bang, not a department store-like bike place

The easiest way to define why Perfomance isn't too great, is because most of the stuff they sell is low-grade or closeouts. Sort of the big-lots of bike gear, as they own Nashbar.

Think about the kind of service you'll get from a place that sells that sort of thing, and thats what you can expect.

On one hand, after having spent about $45 there for two pairs of glasses and a cable cutter, I am mildly content.

On the other hand, I bought that stuff with $30 of coupons applied and the glasses were half off. Otherwise it would have been about $135. I imagine the actual "value" of the product is closer to the $45 mark.

"If well off families and old guys want to buy bikes and pull them out once a month, that's biking." Well, that's cool and I'm sure there is a lot of money in that market for the company. But that's what the store caters to, not commuters. Their selection and service is geared towards once-a-monthers, not every day 30 mile commuters.

I think robjdlc's assessment is concise and accurate.

personally i think performance is great for what they are. many MANY MANY people's introduction to "real" bikes and actual bike shops. no they don't carry a lot of the product or have the knowledge that WE are looking for, but remember way back when you were first getting into riding and you didnt know a damn thing about a damn thing? thats the target market, and not only is it very profitable for them, it also gets a lot of people into biking in a more serious way. they make money, we get new friends, everyone wins.

the only shops i can see them really hurting are the big box sports places like dicks and such, rei and maybe trek pittsburgh. all the other shops have their specialty niches that a store like performance can't compete with. the business model is totally wrong for them and they would never even try.

I'd rather see a beginner go to Performance and buy a bike from them than go to Dicks/Target/Walmart.

I have a foreign coworker who obsesses about the price of things. When I got my new bike she asked me how much it was, which isn't rude in many cultures. I told her, knowing I'd get a negative reaction. She immediately called me silly for spending that much, and said I could have purchased five bikes for that price. I should have got a bike at Dicks for $200 like her (think 40+ pound mountain bike).

People who know nothing and don't care to learn anything about bikes (huge, huge market for that here), and just want to buy a bike to ride around are much better off going to a place that specializes in selling bikes like Performance rather than buying whatever is on sale that week at Dicks.

@dwillen you should have asked her how much she paid for her car and told her how many bikes you could have gotten for THAT price.

It wasn't mean-spirited or anything. I thought about throwing out car analogies (she has a late-model SUV), but I decided to just explain what I got for my extra money. Lighter bike, more durable/serviceable parts, brazeons for everything I want to add, steel versus aluminum, etc.

I think it clicked for her when we stopped by my bike locker one day after lunch and she lifted it up. My bike, which is at least twice as large as her tiny mountain bike, is probably half the weight even though the frame is made of a denser material.

yeah thats pretty similar to the experiences i have with my coworkers when they find out how much my bikes cost. they always want to pick it up. when i have my downhill bike in the office to go ride after work people are shocked to pick that big nasty thing up and discover that it weighs less than their walmart bikes in the garage.

they still ask why it doesnt have an engine though...

But your bike does have an engine! It is a state of the art organic low pollution model, complete with organic computer, airhorn, seal healing, and reproductive capacity.

@helen s I agree except I would have to put a condition on the whole low pollution model. Especially after a lunch at Moes... Just Sayin

DB