Evan's Cycles in trouble - ?

[Rusty Nails]

I can never forgive him for what he did to the once great Lillywhites in Piccadilly circus.

I can remember when no visit to London was complete without a visit to Lillywhites.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Just googled Evan's locally and there is one inside a Sports Direct in town, and the only other I can see is an actual store on the outskirts of Manchester. The Deansgate one shut ages ago alongside the Velodrome shop and the one that used to be next to the Ski Slope in Trafford. Bought my wife's Pinnacle hybrid and a tag-a-long from that store.

We have two in Cardiff. One in Sports Direct and a large store at the end of the High Street. Plenty of stock in the main store, but not a lot in the in-store one. Never had work done there so cannot comment.

 

[Rusty Nails]

You need one of these! A Project One Trek Madone. Custom iridium paint job, (4 grand that) upgraded carbon wheels etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. $23,000 out the door.

I have never been so afraid of scratching a bike as when I was building this thing. I had someone else test drive it.

I always find it mildly amusing that the higher the price, the less likely it is to come with pedals.

one nice thing is that the guy bought it actually rides it.

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I know I'm no engineer but that seatpost must put a lot of strain at the end of the top tube.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

I know I'm no engineer but that seatpost must put a lot of strain at the end of the top tube.

I’m a retired engineer… I heard it called “engineered compliance” way back in my dark automotive past. Thats fancy engineer talk for “it looked cool on the CAD screen and we know right where it will break.”

When the guys upstairs in design came up with crap like this it usually caused their eyes to glaze over and a bit of drool to show up. My job was to figure out how to actually manufacture it. Later I was promoted to figuring out how to keep it from failing in the field, or at least make it last longer than its warranty. Now I happily build bicycles for peanuts and sleep better.

having said that, company propaganda says the hole it creates in the frame smooths the airflow through that area while the clever overhang provides greater rider comfort through designed in compliance.

It’s kinda cool looking and we haven’t had any back to our shop due to frame breakage yet.

which is a lot more than can be said for the ”Isospeed” system that preceded it…

here’s a shot up ‘er skirt so you can wallow in the amazing technology of it all.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I always find it mildly amusing that the higher the price, the less likely it is to come with pedals.

Supplied without pedals means that it is not classed as a bicycle, just a collection of components. In which case it does not have to have a bell or reflectors fitted and the buyer can choose which side he wants front and rear brakes.

 

[stephec]

There is a shortage of tradespeople across the board. Garages are crying out for skilled mechanics, electricians, plumbers and anyone in the building trade can think of a number and double it when it comes to pricing a job.

And all down to this wonderful idea someone had to send as many school levers as possible of to "Uni" to learn such vital skills like paperclip arranging and sharpening pencils that the nation was crying out for.

Forty years ago when I went to Salford College of Technology to do an OND in Electronics/Electrical one of our lecturers said one day, 'in about ten years time they'll be a shortage of skilled people in this country as there are no proper apprenticeships anymore, and people aren't being trained properly.'

On the plus side you can now do a two week course and call yourself a plumber like a bloke that Mrs stephec used to work with, he did a job for another work mate and her review was,' he had to come back a few times, but he got it right in the end. ' 😂

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Supplied without pedals means that it is not classed as a bicycle, just a collection of components. In which case it does not have to have a bell or reflectors fitted and the buyer can choose which side he wants front and rear brakes.

Over here it’s a bicycle and gets bashed by tariffs as such. There are legal requirements as to how a bicycle is supplied in most markets. Any I have checked into specify which side each brake goes on. ( I worked in standards in automotive most of my career, it’s hard to get out of the habit ) Colours of reflectors, the presence of the dreaded dork disc, all of these things are specified. On a lot of late model bikes there is an ISO standard label. For example ISO 4210-2 Racing. IF you look that up it specifies a lot of the features of the bike, not that it is a racing bike but that the bike meets accepted standards for construction and safety. Local laws add quite a bit to the mix as well.

 

[katiewlx]

Mike Ashley is and always was a ruthless negotiater of high street rents for his shops. This is well documented. He benefits from much lower rents than many of his competitors.

Mike Ashley, through his company Frasers Group (formerly Sports Direct), has a long and well-known history of aggressively renegotiating shop rents with landlords. His strategy, which has been ongoing for several years, involves several key tactics:

• Demanding Turnover-Based Rents: Ashley's primary approach is to push landlords to agree to "turnover rents," where a significant portion (up to 15%) of the rent is linked directly to the store's sales performance. This transfers some of the retail risk from the tenant to the landlord.
• Withholding Rent Payments: At times, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Frasers Group has unilaterally announced it would withhold all rent payments until stores were "fully able to freely trade as a business" and trade reached pre-agreed levels.
• Threatening Store Closures: Ashley has frequently used the threat of closing stores as leverage in negotiations. For example, after buying House of Fraser, he blamed "greedy landlords" for the closure of some stores where rent cuts could not be agreed upon, while keeping others open where new terms were met.
• Seeking Rent-Free Periods: When acquiring struggling businesses like HMV out of administration, he has demanded initial rent-free periods of several months to make the deals viable.
• Acquiring Freehold Properties: Part of his broader strategy involves acquiring freehold properties, which gives him greater control and strengthens his negotiating position with other landlords.

This approach is a core part of Frasers Group's business strategy, aimed at reducing costs and mitigating the risks of long, inflexible leases, which Ashley has argued were a major factor in the decline of the high street.

bear in mind with Evans we are talking about decisions that happened nearly the best part of 10-15 years ago, their ultimate collapse was precipated by the structures and decisions they were taking back then, Sports Direct International, (because Frasers group didnt even exist back then) were only just getting established on the high street as a major force, we still had JJBs competing with them in the sell all sports for cheap as chips model, and undoubtedly Ashley has learnt how to play the rental market game alot since that time, he's had to keep his businesses going, whilst all around him flounder, and he can be alot more ruthless now that most of the competion has fallen.

That doesnt change the fact back then Sports Direct did pay top wack to get a foothold into the market, once they were in he absolutely could decide to play the game differently and has forced those rents back down for his brands as the highstreet rental model has collapsed in on itself, yet actualy his acquisitions of brands & property has ended up with him ending up being a landlord of significant interest himself, funnily enough the same rules he applies to his brands, dont apply to anyone trying to rent one of his properties.

my point really was you cant pay rental prices for store space beyond which you company can afford,and that was the trap Evans fell into because they were banking on growth continuing as it had at that point, which is frankly the trap the whole cycling industry seems to have fallen into since.

 

[pjd57]

There is a shortage of tradespeople across the board. Garages are crying out for skilled mechanics, electricians, plumbers and anyone in the building trade can think of a number and double it when it comes to pricing a job.

And all down to this wonderful idea someone had to send as many school levers as possible of to "Uni" to learn such vital skills like paperclip arranging and sharpening pencils that the nation was crying out for.

Most of those trades earn a decent wage.
Good bike mechanics don't.

They are greatly under valued

 

[Punkawallah]

You need one of these! A Project One Trek Madone. Custom iridium paint job, (4 grand that) upgraded carbon wheels etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. $23,000 out the door.

I have never been so afraid of scratching a bike as when I was building this thing. I had someone else test drive it.

I always find it mildly amusing that the higher the price, the less likely it is to come with pedals.

one nice thing is that the guy bought it actually rides it.

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Not without pedals, I suspect :x)

 

[Illaveago]

There is a shortage of tradespeople across the board. Garages are crying out for skilled mechanics, electricians, plumbers and anyone in the building trade can think of a number and double it when it comes to pricing a job.

And all down to this wonderful idea someone had to send as many school levers as possible of to "Uni" to learn such vital skills like paperclip arranging and sharpening pencils that the nation was crying out for.

Good point! Not everyone is cut out for university. What was wong with apprenticeships and college?

 

[Illaveago]

Yup - that was one of the dumbest ideas any government has ever come up with

a high bar - but he made it!

I think it was brought about to mask the number of unemployed people at the time. School leavers would make the numbers surge each year so they came up with the brilliant idea. The public fell for it but It meant that people with degrees still ended up doing low paid jobs. I worked alongside several people like that. Luckily they were eventually spotted and moved on.

 

[raleighnut]

Forty years ago when I went to Salford College of Technology to do an OND in Electronics/Electrical one of our lecturers said one day, 'in about ten years time they'll be a shortage of skilled people in this country as there are no proper apprenticeships anymore, and people aren't being trained properly.'

On the plus side you can now do a two week course and call yourself a plumber like a bloke that Mrs stephec used to work with, he did a job for another work mate and her review was,' he had to come back a few times, but he got it right in the end. ' 😂

About 30 years ago I went to college to do a City & Guilds as a Cabinet Maker it was a 2 year 'full time' course but they also ran the same course for 'day release' apprentices. Come Exam time (a mix of written and practical) of our group of 40+ 'full timers about 65% of us passed whereas with the 'trade' lads none of them passed the exams.........they just didn't have the skillset to cut dovetail joints etc. and as for veneering work not a hope, things like that aren't done in industry, something needs veneering it goes to the veneer man.

 

[Illaveago]

Forty years ago when I went to Salford College of Technology to do an OND in Electronics/Electrical one of our lecturers said one day, 'in about ten years time they'll be a shortage of skilled people in this country as there are no proper apprenticeships anymore, and people aren't being trained properly.'

On the plus side you can now do a two week course and call yourself a plumber like a bloke that Mrs stephec used to work with, he did a job for another work mate and her review was,' he had to come back a few times, but he got it right in the end. ' 😂

We had a plumber like that, ex RAF, possibly trained before he left. The way in which the pipes were arranged and plumbed in looked good but he didn't have much idea about the system and how it worked. He also charged us again for his mistakes. Never used him again.

 

[Punkawallah]

Good point! Not everyone is cut out for university. What was wong with apprenticeships and college?

I could never see it working. Unless someone was going to create more jobs needing University trained people, the surplus would be left with egg on their faces.