RE-Cycle: Were it not screwed on tightly.....

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Were it not screwed on tightly.....

Before I forget, have to mention a word of thanks to my lovely wife for recognizing when I slack off! Last night when I got home from work and we were having our traditional "getting caught up on each others day" conversation at the dinner table, I was telling her about some more of the rides that got put out yesterday. As she (most of the time) peruses the blog each morning, she asked "then how come you haven't updated the "What's Still Here" section?" Hmmm, face/palm slap! I realized at that moment it had been some time since I went through it. Sure enough, this morning as I sat down to begin my incessant ramblings I checked it and realized that all but two of what was there hadn't been here in a couple of weeks! D'OH! So, thanks to her due diligence, it is now completely, 100% up to date...
for now...
I can only hope that my eyes can readjust to the bright lights as I remove my head from my as...I was saying....
Thank you love!
Now! On to business!
Yesterday was a pleasantly busy Tuesday! Thanks to all for continuing to come in and pick up their rides! Slowly starting to be able to move a little easier through the shop! The gorgeous, like new cruiser we put out the evening before, expectantly, went to a new home quick! Picked up even MORE goodies (making hay while the sun shines!) to be worked on today, and made a concentrated effort to put out as many rides as we could muster! And that would be six (with one being sold almost immediately after being finished!) Thankfully, they were all of economy class! Oh, I have nothing against higher end bikes, mind you, but our desired bread and butter has always been the "under $100.00" bikes. It makes me feel like we are committing hypocritical betrayal when we don't have more of the inexpensive stuff when folks come into peruse!
And a couple shout outs! Well, with a short story first.
When we first got into this business, and became known, we started attracting the vengeful eye of "some" of the "other" bikes shops in town. In short order, the vitriol became down right vicious. But after awhile, when it was shown we were not a fly by night organization but instead a legitimate business, the sniping ceased. Not to mention the fact that two of our biggest and most "dirty pool playing" detractors went out of business. As time went on, they even started to realize that we were here only to fill the yawning gap between box store bikes and boutique bikes. And in turn began to refer certain customers to us, for our specialities. Of course, we had been doing the same in kind for them. We get a portion of the cycling community that want new. At times we will order for them or if they need it immediately we will send them their way. SO in a rare case of naming names, we of course give thanks to our good friend Bullet, at "Hands on Bicycles" as well as the folks at "Chain Wheel Drive" and "The Energy Conservatory" as well as any other surrounding shops (I've heard tell shops as far away as Plant City are referring us) that throw our name out there!
No, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop with the "Boutique Bike Shop" cracks though. They're to much fun!
Speaking of referrals (wow! nice segue) had not one but TWO folks come in yesterday that I found myself in the position of referring them to other shops in town. Actually, not shops but *shudder*, Wal-mart. As we don't carry a lot of new products (just the necessary tubes and such) the light sets they were looking for were not in stock. I recommended they visit Wal-Mart as most folks want the most economical light sets. Let's face it (and I'll give away an industry secret here) one set that they sell comes from Knog Inc. If you order 1 "lot" of these sets (a lot being 100,000 units) they pay the hefty per piece price of 1.5 cents. Yes, you read that right. And then sell them for $9.99. Those same lights, if we bought them, would cost us about 8.00 a set. Kind of hard to compete. The funny thing was that both persons stated they would rather wait until we got something in and buy them here! WOW! Now THAT'S loyalty! Thank you so very much!
ANYWHO!
Elijah is now on his way (back?) to Missouri, having camped out for the night in Kentucky. They had the great misfortune of finishing up the job in Louisiana one day before Mardi Gras and had to hit the road. I wish, for his sake, they could have stayed on an extra day to have enjoyed that. I've never been, but have seen pictures. I really think that kind of frivolity would have created some lasting memories for a young man! I would have paid for the beads! Hopefully there will be something interesting to do where he's headed.
Kaleb is making me, once again, feel like slamming my head against a brick wall! Noting to serious, just slacking off and attitude. Aside from his incessant need to consume large amounts of sugary caffeine I'm not sure what bee has planted itself firmly betwixt his bonnet, but I'm about ready to put on the mesh suit and grab a really BIG smoking gun if he doesn't turn himself around...SOON! I can handle the back and forth with him, but the minute he gets testy with his mom? Oh, that's Ninja time! Yes, the testosterone infused snipping has got to go!
All right, enough of that, gotta' clear my head and get to work, enough maudlin brooding!
Check out the latest below and we will see you soon!