why are the local bike shops closing down?

[smokeysmoo]

Our friend Mr Smith?

He really musn't like you, he was more than happy to build my wheels, and said take them back after a long ride for a 'free' truing, which I have and all sorted.
I bought a Shimano BB a couple of weeks ago, was £1.00 dearer than CRC, and he gave advice on fitting it, also bought some Zero tablets, which were cheaper than CRC, so until he treats me like he treats you, he'll get my business

Don't get me wrong I've had some great deals off him. A brand new Campag Athena front mech for £22! springs to mind.

Sometimes I think he's forgotten what he paid for things for the price he asks, and he's a treasure chest for oddball bits. He pulled a pair of brand new Dura-Ace downtube barrel adjusters out of a drawer for a conversion I was doing a couple of years ago, £8!

So I'm am not daft enough to cut my nose off to spite my face, but I don't appreciate people picking and choosing what they want to do for me. I seldom need the mechanical services of an LBS TBH so as a result I shop round more now than I used to.

 

[Judderz]

Don't get me wrong I've had some great deals off him. A brand new Campag Athena front mech for £22! springs to mind.

Sometimes I think he's forgotten what he paid for things for the price he asks, and he's a treasure chest for oddball bits. He pulled a pair of brand new Dura-Ace downtube barrel adjusters out of a drawer for a conversion I was doing a couple of years ago, £8!

So I'm am not daft enough to cut my nose off to spite my face, but I don't appreciate people picking and choosing what they want to do for me. I seldom need the mechanical services of an LBS TBH so as a result I shop round more now than I used to.

I hear ya, (well see your typed words), just never seen him be like this in any way shape or form with any customer (even when I've been waiting ages behind a few people in the queue). Maybe you got him on a bad day with numpties asking the dumbest of questions (like why wheels need to be round). I'd try him again and see how he is with you, if he is ok, then put it down to a bad day at the office, if he is off with you again, then you have your answer.

 

[Ian H]

My local LBS is okay for bog-standard simple stuff. I have to go 15 miles to town for decent componentry. SJS is a little further away, but knowledgeable and well-stocked with more esoteric stuff. Finally, there's the internet, where I still try to buy from trusted sources. As for buying a bike, I don't. I buy components as needed. So my Audax iron might be 25 years old, but the only original part is the saddle, and I'm the only mechanic allowed near it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I was kind of waiting for Mickle to enter this, because a) he understands the way the bike market works better than I do, and b) his take on it is steeped in a tradition of service, whereas I, sticking up for bike shops because I see the effort that my brother puts in to preparing bikes for sale at his shop, see bikes shops as a body of wisdom that cyclists discharge at their peril.

So here's the obvious
- you buy a bike off the internet and you get what you deserve. If the wheel isn't tuned, it's your fault, nobody else's. If you buy a bike without the promise of a free service then you're out of your tiny tree......
- you buy shoes off the internet and (well, you can work it out for yourself). Except, that is, if you go in to a shop, try them on and then buy them off the internet you are a person with no destination in life other than my ignore list
- some people have access to good bike shops and some people don't, but the effort involved in finding a good bike shop can be repaid many times over. Regular customers get the deals, regular customers go to the top of the queue when it comes to repairs, regular customers are offered unstinting and unbiased advice

Bike shops can come across as curmudgeonly, and sometimes that's because the people that run them lack social skills. At other times it's because the 'customer' doesn't think it through. You buy a bike on-line, or from Halfords, it goes floppy and you take it to the LBS. If the proprietor has any sense (and most don't) he or she will either tell you to sling your hook or get out the big meter and charge you a small fortune. Why would they take on the responsibility for something that wasn't up to scratch in the first place other than for big money? That many do take in 'foreign' bikes and do their best for a pittance is absolutely infuriating, and I'm willing to bet Mickle is just the same as my brother in this respect.

I may be destined for ignore list hell.....

Only pair of cycling shoes (shimano - narrow last) I ever bought in a shop didn't fit properly and I allowed myself to be persuaded as I was a greenhorn and had never had a pair of spd cycling shoes before. A friend pointed me at the useful try or return clause of a well known web retailer and my feet have been happy (Specialised - wide last) ever since.

Rhubarb (from Brixton Cycles), my previous Brompton and my old Rockhopper are the only bikes I've ever bought from a shop. Oddly the interweb retailers I've dealt with have offered better warranty service and service/repair service e.g. take it to an LBS, get them to fix it pay for it send us a copy of the bill and we will reimburse you, than a lot of friends seem to get first hand in LBS/IBS.

And honestly, if you can't first service your new bike yourself you're out of your tiny mind riding it more than five miles from the shop anyway

(If every LBS was like Brixton Cycles, or Freeborn in Horsham I'd feel differently)

PS Mickle; got my copy of Cyclorama off Amazon (whoops!) Great read.

 

[400bhp]

In the past three years seven new bike shops have opened up on Susie's seven mile commute.

And in the next 3 years, 6 will close.

 

[Night Train]

I was all prepared to support my LBS, seeing as they have been in the same family for a hundred and something years.

I rode in on Granville to ask about some tyres for Tiddles.

Me: Hi, I was wondering what tyres you would recommend for a Brompton.
LBS: Ahhh, you have a Brompton! I see you have brought it in with you. Let me check the tyre size and we'll see what we have.
Me:

This is Granville, a Hungarian 20" folding shopping bike:

This is Tiddles, a Brompton:

 

[Boris Bajic]

I have stacks (reams?) of tyres and tubes bought online.

Bidons, clothing, computers, service items are usually bought likewise.

However, my LBS is a thing of wonder and worth having in town. If he closes (and he might) then I will the poorer as a cyclist.

On bigger items I offer him the chance to approach or match Online prices. If he can, he does. If he can't, he says so.

He's rather I bought from him alone, but he knows the world we live in.

Shoes come from him as I like to try them on and I like my children to do so too.

I've bought bikes from him, from eBay and from online retailers.

My cycling experience would alter not one jot without Wiggle, Evans and the other online places.

Without my LBS I'd be a little lost.

He's even shown me how to do stuff and how to use the tools he sells me, knowing that once i can do the job he's lost the work.

LBS good. Online not as good.

If you and others don't support your LBS, it might go. You will have saved money and you will feel very clever and mention it at social events.

And a tiny part of the soul of cycling will shrivel and die.

 

[marzjennings]

My local bikeshop has evolved to not to compete with internet bikeshops but make a living off them. They realized the one thing internet bikes shops can't really offer is services and so extended their bike repair area, team and services. Now bike stands and mechanics take up about a 1/4 of the shop. I've been shopping there for over 10 years, they've built wheels and bikes for me and I take all my bikes in for servicing.

My last mountain bike they built for me was a mish-mash of store parts and web parts, which they researched and found. They handled the shipping to the shop of all the parts and they built the bike up. They saved me a ton on the forks and wheels. I've spoken to the owner and he likes actually not having to maintain a stock of small parts and components. If he's missing a part he can get it next day and at the cheapest price he can find on the web.

I think as an independent store he's not bound by any agreements from bike and parts manufactures and he's then able to source stuff from the cheapest places.

 

[PpPete]

As a "returning cyclist" a few years ago my experience of my local LBS was rather poor.
Just for the record I was NOT taking them some far-eastern POS to service - it was trying to buy really straightforward bits & bobs to bring a good quality but older bike back to rideable condition.....maybe hampered by the fact that my knowledge at that time was a good 20-25 years out of date.
Everything I wanted, they either didn't understand (boy on counter was only 18 after all), didnt stock, or had run out of.
I kid you not - the first three times I went in there, the best advice they could give was "Have you tried Halfords?"
And one of those was wanting to buy a tube of good quality grease - my 20 year old tin of Castrol automotive gunk having turned to soap over the years.
"No sorry sir, we've run out - We've got a pot in the workshop if you'd like to leave your bike with us for three weeks until we have time to look at it"

I have persevered with them, goodness only knows why, and sometimes they have been quite helpful, price matching (or nearly so) on occasion, shifting stuck freewheels, bb shells, fork crown races and the like where I've not wanted to buy the necessary tools.... but it's often hard work coaxing them out of the condescension.

They really are their own worst enemies.

Compare with the only problems I've had online:
Wrong item sent by Rose.... instantly replaced, and free return of wrong item to Germany and a £10 voucher off next order for my trouble
Pedal bearings on an end-of-line kid's MTB from CRC felt like grit..... it was two years after model year so bike was about 70% reduced, phoned to explain and they sent me (better quality) replacement pedals the next day (would have changed whole bike if I'd wanted) .

With all due respect to Mickle and DZ's bro.... Online wins hands down.

 

[mickle]

As a mainly 'front of house' worker - who worked mainly in 'performance' shops - I never really got my teeth into wheelbuilding, hydraulics and internal hubs. Which means that when these things go wrong I head for the experts in these areas.

When I was called out to the workshop recently to cover an absent machanic my heart sank at the awful pile of crap I was agreeing to wade through. That I managed to turn a weary, neglected - but much loved - sows ear (1994 Raleigh Mustang) into a reasonable clunker was actually the highlight of my day. Especially when the poor girl came to collect it and thanked me from the bottom of her heart for fixing it. It'll go another ten years that monster, and I certainly wouldn't ride it but my work kept a girl who cannot afford another bike on her wheels. There's a wide and blurry line between shoot bikes and what we enthusiasts consider acceptable machinery. And for the mechanic who has to deal with these monsters day in and day out it has to be their call. A decision which is made easier, I'm afraid to say, when the customer is grateful, appreciative and/or cute.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

And a tiny part of the soul of cycling will shrivel and die.

Really, though?

 

[mickle]

Really, though?

Yes though.

 

[MontyVeda]

If you're lucky to have a good LBS, then they're worth the extra cost.

You just can't beat their specialist advice. There've been numerous times when I've done my research online and popped into a shop to buy an item. The shop asked why and what I'll be using it for and recommended an alternative product - often cheaper and usually better. Not been disappointed yet.

Having said that, there's another LBS who I found to be spectacularly presumptious and condescending should you ask the Whys and Whats.

Agreed, a good one is worth having... others are worth avoiding. In some cases (cough: leisure lakes) LBS stands for Local Bull Sh!t.

 

[biggs682]

go and get matey with your lbs its worth while

 

[seashaker]

I have tried a few lbs and for servicing use a triathlon shop, always great service and friendly. Went to get a new set of tyres ( from dedicated bike shop who say they have lots of stock etc) had grippy 700 35's on hybrid and wanted more road tyres 700 28's, they didnt have any instock and said it would be over a week to get some in, can honestly say most local shops I use can get standard stock in very quick but over a week. Had to go elsewhere.