The Chainlink

Hey Chainlink, know what I think is lame?

When a website that claims to be promoting local cycling in the city of Chicago has a banner ad for a site which is one of the many internet discount outlets that make it hard for local bike shops.

Way to go Chainlink, bravo.  Is the advertising dollar worth making things harder on the local shops here in Chicago?

Is this site about serving the local community or is it about being a profit center for it's owner?

Views: 6735

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by kevin womac on January 4, 2012 at 10:54am

I'm not trying to steal free advert space, but we at Boulevard Bikes sell quite a few dyno-hub systems every year. and sell Spanninga and Busch+Mueller and Supernova and Schmidt.



James BlackHeron said:

I also have to agree with this.  Another shop I really like is  Peter White Cycles -They have a great page on Bicycle Lighting Systems and carry stuff that you really can't find anywhere else in the USA like the Spaninnga Lights.

 

I guarantee that if you go into an LBS they will steer you solely to the products they have on the shelf and poo-poo any other options.  Seriously, I don't really think there are ANY LBS's out there pushing dyno-hub systems much less carry many decent dyno systems or components.  This alone is one of the many reasons I prefer buying stuff online because the LBS's in Chicago do not really cater to such things.   Is it because there isn't much demand or because they just don't supply anything -chicken or egg?  

Duppie said:

You make it sound as if online retailers are by definition evil and only exist to screw you out of your hard earned money and forget that some of these online retailers are run by passionate individuals.

Ever talked to Wayne @ TheTouringStore.Com? How about the guys at Dinotte Lighting? Most LBS in the Chcago area can only dream of providing that level of excellence in their service (pre- and post-sales) that these guys consistently deliver.




Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on January 4, 2012 at 11:18am

Michael J Blane said:

Hmmm, I always thought that Chainlink was a forum of bicyclists; Not a professional, retailers' forum.

Not sure what sort of personal journey led you to this assessment.

"An Online Chicago Bicycling Community" implies to me that it's a resource for the entire Chicago bike community.

The ads pay for the forum so the rest of us don't have to.


The rest of us do pay, as we're inclined to. You could pay too if you like.

I realize this thread has probably gotten too long to bother reading before responding, but it would be really helpful to spend a moment familiarizing yourself with the site in general before offering up misinformation like this.

Permalink Reply by Michael J Blane on January 4, 2012 at 11:34am

I think of it as a bicyclist's forum because of the usernames. I see personal names, not shop names. That's not misinformation, it's my opinion.

I probably should have said: "The ads pay for the forum so that all of don't have to." And, thank you for contributing.

In this thread, I read the first two pages, the last two pages and skimmed the in-between.

I've been reading the site for more than a year and am reasonably familiar with how it works. I'm not the most prolific poster so you may not have noticed me here.

If my opinion and poor choice of phrase constitute misinformation, I'm sorry if I've chaffed your mellow.

h' said:

Michael J Blane said:

Hmmm, I always thought that Chainlink was a forum of bicyclists; Not a professional, retailers' forum.

Not sure what sort of personal journey led you to this assessment.

"An Online Chicago Bicycling Community" implies to me that it's a resource for the entire Chicago bike community.

The ads pay for the forum so the rest of us don't have to.


The rest of us do pay, as we're inclined to. You could pay too if you like.

I realize this thread has probably gotten too long to bother reading before responding, but it would be really helpful to spend a moment familiarizing yourself with the site in general before offering up misinformation like this.

Permalink Reply by Liz on January 4, 2012 at 11:55am
I don't really understand what this thread is trying to accomplish. julie gives preferential treatment to lbs advertisers. that is not enough to fund the website so she selects other appropriate bike shop ads as well. 
Permalink Reply by DaToSSuPKiNG on January 4, 2012 at 12:50pm

I don't get it!

Permalink Reply by Adam Sterling on January 4, 2012 at 1:02pm

Yeah.

I have been into almost every bike shop I see on the sidebar ads, and have purchased things from most of them. Doug, your blunt object of an opinion is simply ridiculous, esp. when you post so often on the site, use it to promote your shop from time to time, yet feel so free in not donating anything to a site that has clearly benefited you. Simply ridiculous. I wonder how long it takes you to get all your opinions through the door when you come home from work.


Brendan said:

Dug, you can't even pitch in a few dollars with a one time donation to this site that you spend so much time on and benefit in various ways from, yet you have no problem haranguing others about bailing out their local bike shop when it doesn't make sense for them to do so?   

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on January 4, 2012 at 6:56pm

Dis be him

Juan said:

Woo dat yo?

Brendan said:

Where's hustla da rabbit?

Juan said:

Warm and fuzzy...

h' said:

Group hug!!

Permalink Reply by Gerry G on January 4, 2012 at 8:32pm

(Announcer's voice over) And now for something not so completely different:




THE ABOVE IS INTENDED FOR HUMOR ONLY!  

That is all, carry on.

Permalink Reply by Craig S. on January 6, 2012 at 9:16am

I hate to this worthwhile and earnest discussion fall off the front page.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 6, 2012 at 9:30am

Sounds LAME ;)

Craig S. said:

I hate to this worthwhile and earnest discussion fall off the front page.

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on January 6, 2012 at 11:59am

I'm posting in this thread. 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 7, 2012 at 10:19am

Running chrome here with all sorts of anti-spyware, anti-bug, anti-cookie extensions.  

I'm a big fan of Ghostery.    I wouldn't surf the internet without it.  Some people don't care about their privacy and don't mind if these companies track their every movement and know what sites they have been to and what they are reading/looking at.

I'm not one of them.

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service