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Yes, uneducated was a poor choice of word as I realise it has other connotations.
What I meant was that I am ‘educating’ myself about kettles by looking at online reviews etc. If I’m doing that for something so mundane then I’d have thought that when it comes to spending money on a repair to their bicycle, people would also have done a bit of research and investigation.
M_V-
There are things I want to research and things where I want to pay someone who knows more than me to do the work.
I recently plumbed in a sink for my wife’s office - I did the research, bought the parts and tools and did the job. There is a water heater, I have plumbed it in, however I don’t want to install an RCD into the fuse box and connect it up. For this I will employ an electrician so my research stops at the point I have found someone to do the job.
I totally understand some people just want a bike or for their bike to work and want someone to advise them on this. Then there are bike nerds like ourselves who have a network of people they can call upon for free advice and then source components and install themselves, sort of like Toffler’s prosumers.
dancing james
Depend on what you mean by uneducated, I believe the majority of customers just want their bicycles to work/get the right parts and a minority* do know what they want (as in exact gear ratio, specific cables, brake pads etc.)
Uneducated a bit of a harsh word IMHO.
*I said minority because the majority of customer’s bicycles I have serviced isn’t really fussed on having like for like components (as long they’re given the full details), like going for a different 11 speed cassettes; they just wanna enjoy their bicycles.