Why You Should Buy From Your Local Bike Shop.

You know that saying, "you get what you pay for"? While local bike shops may be a little arrogant and condescending. They just may have every reason to be judging by this photo for the Huffy Lakota on the Toys-R-Us website.

Yes, a bike from your local bike shop will cost you more than $74. But you can rest assured that it won't be disposable in it's design or features. And most importantly, a bike from your LBS will be correctly assembled and througly checked for your safety. (Click Image Above For Larger View)

(Click For Larger)

I have had this Toy-R-Us page open in a tap on my browser for about a week now. I've been referring back to it on occasion trying to figure out why it bothers me so much. Then it finally hit me what exactly it is that has me so upset about this bike setup.

Having spent a number of years in the advertising industry. I have a fair idea of how many different peoples hands this bike or images of it went through to get published on their website. It all starts with the buffoon that put it together. Then you have in no particular order, a product manager, graphic and or web designers, product photographer and however many assistants he/she may have, webmaster, and countless others that handled the bike or images/layout of above bike. And not one of this people has apparently ever seen a bike before. You would think somewhere along the line, someone would have to question this bike.

I'm reminded of a tag line from another commercial for automotive oil and air filters. It featured an auto mechanic holding the company's filter while some calamity took place in the background to a vehicle owner that supposedly chose the cheaper filters. He shows the filter and espouse "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."

How much is the safety of you and your family worth? I'm going to guess its, considerably more than $74. Support you local bike shops or the terrorist win. A list of bike shops can found on the left side of this blog.

And if you've read this far and are still not sure what is so wrong with pictured bike. The front fork is on backwards.

Link to Toys-R-Us page.

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