The other day I had the opportunity to visit a cycling sanctum sanctorum, the two wheeled equivalent of mecca. That is, Pamela and John's basement. They opened the door, and there as far as the eye could see were bicycles and bicycle parts in various states of repair.
They have more inventory than many bike shops. Take shoes for instance, Pamela could give Emelda Marcos serious competition. There was a whole wall of shoes, each neatly placed in its cubbyhole. Susan remarked it looked a lot like a bowling alley, except they didn't have the size painted on the back in magic marker.
Susan had wanted to get a clipless pedal system, but was uncertain about which one. No problem, Pamela and John had them ALL. We were outfitted with several varieties for a free home trial. But it looked like all this loot would exceed the capacity of our rack pack. No problem, we just headed over to the Pannier Department, and finally chose one from the bewildering collection of sizes, models, and designer colors. John fitted us out with a set of Speedplay pedals for the ride home, and two other kinds to try out later. We then started discussing my shoe needs, but decided we'd better stop there, or we'd have to hit the Bike Trailer Department.
The equipment that Pamela casts off could outfit a small Latin American country. John is no slouch either, as I viewed the remains of a fine Cilo racing bike he'd bought "for parts."
They do make an honest effort to reduce inventory periodically. I had the pleasure of overseeing their sale items at the Big Event last year, since they were off riding somewhere. Since they had lots of "Good Stuff Cheap" it almost all sold, unlike my collection most of which ended up in the dumpster at the end of the day. So it looked like they were going to have a positive balance of trade, until they showed up at the 11th hour, and purchased a few tidbits, like the aforementioned Cilo.
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