What do you think will happen to the UK bike retail industry?

[DCLane]

Frog Bikes has gone into administration: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/leading-british-childrens-bike-brand-enters-administration

Nice bikes, but possibly too niche when the market hits a downturn to survive

 

[Beebo]

Sad. They sit in the same market as Islabike.
But the market for children’s bikes is going to be driven by cheap Halfords products.
There are only so many parents who will splash out lots of money for something that will quickly become to small.

 

[Punkawallah]

Sad. They sit in the same market as Islabike.
But the market for children’s bikes is going to be driven by cheap Halfords products.
There are only so many parents who will splash out lots of money for something that will quickly become to small.

Do I remember correctly that Islabikes offered trade-ins on their bikes?

 

[Drago]

Do I remember correctly that Islabikes offered trade-ins on their bikes?

They did indeed. It softened the blow somewhat but was still an expensive option compared to a cheap Halfords or Argos kids bike that would probably be discarded after a year or so.

 

[wakemalcolm]

Frog Bikes has gone into administration: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/leading-british-childrens-bike-brand-enters-administration

Nice bikes, but possibly too niche when the market hits a downturn to survive

That awfully nice man from the House of Fraser has acquired Frog bikes.
Wonder if there'll be a difference in quality between the pre and post Ashley models?

 

[rydabent]

It is now spring, and gas prices are way up. I predict a renewed interest in biking, along with the fact that E-bikes are a hot item right now.

 

[DCLane]

That awfully nice man from the House of Fraser has acquired Frog bikes.
Wonder if there'll be a difference in quality between the pre and post Ashley models?

Can I go out on a limb and suggest the BSO's Sports Direct sells will be co-badged Frog and end up in Evans.

 

[oxoman]

Can I go out on a limb and suggest the BSO's Sports Direct sells will be co-badged Frog and end up in Evans.

I'd like to say i hope not, sadly though I suspect your right. He seems to make decent brands into cheaper brands.

 

[DCLane]

Saddleback appointing administrators after losing the distribution contract for Cannondale - https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/sou...cling-business-on-the-brink-of-administration

 

[fwgx]

Just went to my LBS looking for a bike for my 5'4" 10 year old and I found it a quite surprising experience.
In the past the store would have been split between road, hybrid and mountain bikes and some kids bikes, relatively evenly with bikes fitting almost all budgets from £5/600 upwards.
Now it's 75% mountain bikes, some of which will be electric and the rest being road bikes. Given how big of a thing I keep hearing gravel biking is they has maybe 2 such bikes, but they looked just like a fat tyred road bike rather than a proper gravel bike. There were no hybrid/commuter bikes at all, which given how much the local council has poured in to ruining the city centre to cater to cyclists commuting, was not what I was expecting. There was nothing for kids. And to top it off, if you didn't have £2k burning a hole in your pocket there was very little for you.
I can't imagine they sell many bikes there, but I guess you don't need to sell may of the bikes you stock when the average out at 3 grand a bike.

In the end we paid a refundable deposit to get a small gravel bike that they stock on their website for a budget friendly price in to the shop so we can try it on for size.

My main takeaway is that the next time I want to buy a bike I may as well order online than visit the shop and suck up any sizing return charges.

 

[PaulSB]

The above is an interesting experience and mirrors one I had last year. My son lives in north Manchester and as I was visiting him I decided to pop into Cooksons Cycles in Whitefield. I had never been in before but knew the name and associated the shop with being a quality LBS. I should say I'm sure it is a quality shop, I'm not questioning this.

What I found was 75 - 80% MTBs, some "get you around" style e-bikes and a few road bikes. I was in the market for a new road bike, there was nothing to look at so I left. It's unlikely I would have purchased from Cooksons but if I was a local customer there was nothing to see. I was surprised as I had expected a good range of road bikes to be stocked.

Much of the MTB stock made me wonder if it was aimed at people who wanted an MTB but would always ride it on road, perhaps to commute.

Personally I would never buy online but I am fortunate to have access to some great bike shops such Bicycle Lounge and Wheelbase.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Just went to my LBS looking for a bike for my 5'4" 10 year old and I found it a quite surprising experience.
In the past the store would have been split between road, hybrid and mountain bikes and some kids bikes, relatively evenly with bikes fitting almost all budgets from £5/600 upwards.
Now it's 75% mountain bikes, some of which will be electric and the rest being road bikes. Given how big of a thing I keep hearing gravel biking is they has maybe 2 such bikes, but they looked just like a fat tyred road bike rather than a proper gravel bike. There were no hybrid/commuter bikes at all, which given how much the local council has poured in to ruining the city centre to cater to cyclists commuting, was not what I was expecting. There was nothing for kids. And to top it off, if you didn't have £2k burning a hole in your pocket there was very little for you.
I can't imagine they sell many bikes there, but I guess you don't need to sell may of the bikes you stock when the average out at 3 grand a bike.

In the end we paid a refundable deposit to get a small gravel bike that they stock on their website for a budget friendly price in to the shop so we can try it on for size.

My main takeaway is that the next time I want to buy a bike I may as well order online than visit the shop and suck up any sizing return charges.

This explains why we get 3+ customers per day asking if we have used bikes. Unfortunately used kids bikes are rarely in good enough condition for us to repair them.

 

[fwgx]

I think it says a lot about bike manufacturers and the industry that an average 12 year old is considered adult size and therefore needs to buy a bike for twice the price of a youth bike. I dont think that's really helping anyone.

 

[katiewlx]

Given how big of a thing I keep hearing gravel biking is they has maybe 2 such bikes, but they looked just like a fat tyred road bike rather than a proper gravel bike.

but basically thats exactly what a gravel bike is, its a road bike that just takes fatter tyres with better clearance limits, and probably now at least has a gazillion mounting points for bikepacking bags. the geometry used to be a bit more relaxed than a pure aero focussed road bike, but the manufacturers seem to be going towards aero again.

as for the hybrid/commuter thing, I dont think theyre that popular anymore, or at least I look around my bike sheds at work, or on my way to work, most people do seem to ride MTBs for some reason. I wonder if thats classic thing that they dont want to buy a bike for a specific purpose, they want that multi-tool does everything they want style bike, so it gets them to work, but they can go ride in a forest with the kids on it too.

 

[Punkawallah]

but basically thats exactly what a gravel bike is, its a road bike that just takes fatter tyres with better clearance limits, and probably now at least has a gazillion mounting points for bikepacking bags. the geometry used to be a bit more relaxed than a pure aero focussed road bike, but the manufacturers seem to be going towards aero again.

as for the hybrid/commuter thing, I dont think theyre that popular anymore, or at least I look around my bike sheds at work, or on my way to work, most people do seem to ride MTBs for some reason. I wonder if thats classic thing that they dont want to buy a bike for a specific purpose, they want that multi-tool does everything they want style bike, so it gets them to work, but they can go ride in a forest with the kids on it too.

But in the post from fwgx above, their shop had no children’s bikes, so the kids do not ride?

The FLBS selling second hand in my town has a demand for front suspension mountain bikes (for riding to work) atm. Or at least that’s what I’m fettling for the shop floor when I’m in. No road bikes in the yard, any old steel 10 speeds turned to flat bars, and the usual trade in kid’s bikes because they’ve grown and it’s not near birthday/Christmas. They could sell Carrera MTB’s all day long, but road bike sales are infrequent, and people want bigger tyres.
I can understand people wanting a ‘do everything’ bike, but think they over-estimate their off-road requirements, and either don’t know or don’t care they their suspension and tyres make more work for them on road.