I'm getting some routine parts maintenance on my bike this week (read parts replacement), and one thing I'm hearing more often from bike shops is I need to replace my chain more often. They're recommending replacing the chain almost as often as I change my tires. Now, I can understand that a worn-out chain can wear down the chain rings and the cogs faster, which is my bad, I guess, but I don't like having to replace chain rings and gear cassettes once a year, or more. Maybe I just mash the hell out my bike, I dunno, but that's money I would rather not pay, if I can just replace my chain more often. However, I didn't use to hear about chain replacement so much, and perhaps the newer technology of lighter parts makes them wear out faster. I confirmed that as much when discussing the difference between the pro-elite cassette and the B+ cassette: pro stuff is lighter, but doesn't last as long as its lower level cousin. So, is the bike chain now the bike shop upseller product?
You know those other upseller products. "You want fries with that?" "Supersize it?" "Big tub of popcorn for only a quarter more?" "Oh, you gotta have the undercoat for your car." "Man, you really need the screen warranty for your laptop." By far the worst culprits are high end audio shops. They used to make a killing selling $600+ cabling for your speaker and component connectors. "The connectors have gold and palladium and cabling itself is shielded from all that electromagnetic interference. Oh, you should get an adapter to make sure you get clean power from your wall socket." As if we live in a third-world country with unreliable amperage. But those audio guys were killed by their own progress with the introduction of HDMI cables and optical cables. Like you need E-M shielding for photons bouncing around some plastic. Or that the bits of data traveling over cat-5 ethernet cable care about the copper pipes in your wall. Anyone trying to convince you that 15 dollar HDMI cable is inferior to the 400 dollar premium thinks you have the word "Doormat" stamped on your forehead. I guess they can still sell the premium speaker cable, but the digital connector cable market is gone, except for the customers who can be duped into buying them.
So, is this a thing now? The lighter bike chains have become an upselling product for bike shops? What other retail markets have their own upselling products or techniques?
