why are the local bike shops closing down?

[GrumpyGregry]

Not really off topic - this is the role a local bike shop should (and in my case is) fulfilling for those who can't or don't wish to be complete tecchies.

the ability to fix a puncture or put a chain back on a chainring isn't quite the definition of a complete techie. I accept I'm odd.

 

[mickle]

I was only rattling the cage in response to the accusation of elitist snobbery.

I bought two copies (off Amazon), one for me, one as a present, both a few weeks ago. It's a really excellent book.

Exclusivist snobbery is not the same as elitist snobbery. I think.

And thanks for the compliment. x

 

[Maz]

The rise of the MAMIL, which should be further fuelled by the Tour de France success and the Olympics should ensure the LBS thrives in the short to medium term at least. You have a load of fairly well off people coming into cycling who want to walk into a shop and walk out again fully kitted up without faffing about.

Oh yeeahh...don't I just look the part. Move over, Bradley Wiggins...

 

[slowmotion]

Anyone now of a good lbs going west near earls court to shepherds bush and then uxbridge road to err uxbridge!

I use Cycle Surgery on Shepherds Bush Green. All their shops have a price match guarantee against some of the cheaper online retailers so you can't really go too far wrong on price. I have only taken up the offer once and felt hugely guilty for having done so, but £25 knocked off the price of a pair of tyres is not to be sneezed at.

Their servicing is OK too.

 

[User482]

Well yes, you are a bit odd , but that aside you were talking about being able to service a bike, which includes things like adjusting and indexing gears, not simply changing a tube or putting a chain back on.

The driving test requires you to tell the examiner how to check the engine oil level and tyre pressure. I guess it's fairly equivalent to oiling your chain and repairing a puncture...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Well yes, you are a bit odd , but that aside you were talking about being able to service a bike, which includes things like adjusting and indexing gears, not simply changing a tube or putting a chain back on.

neither of which require ninja skillz despite what they tell you in bike shops...

but each to their own, what?

EDIT: and I was talking first service, which in many bike shops, based on having worked briefly out the back in two, and seen the post first service output from several, would appear to consist of little more than bike on stand, kettle on, cursory inspection, a twiddle of an indexing or adjuster to cope with 'cable stretch' a coffee and a fag and the all important value-add the chain lube - not using the mickle method which tells you all you need to know.

If lucky the faults the shop didn't spot when they built the bike in the first place might get spotted, but even that comes with no guarantees, but when they do rest assured the punter will be told the mechanic has just saved, for example, their life/rim/spokes/tyre by sorting the brakes which said mechanic didn't set up right in the first place.

So me, I'd rather trust my life/rim/spokes/tyre/indexing to someone I trust. Me.

 

[Cubist]

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:

They all look the same to me........

 

[GrumpyGregry]

But this is all off topic.The question is 'Should any retailer be permitted to sell bicycles which haven't been assembled to roadworthy condition/British Standard?'

To which the answer, in my view, is emphatically: no.

As would mine. But many LBS's seem to scrape through the roadworthy test ime.

What should be covered in terms of checks and adjustments in a good (free) 'first service'?

Given a competently assembled bike in the first place what would normally need attention after six weeks?

Serious questions, it is a long time since I did my mechanics course and even longer since I worked in an LBS workshop.

 

[biggs682]

of to see mine this afternoon and pick up a 26 x 1.5 city slick as cheaper from them than thru internet by the time you take postal charges . when i got there he hadnt been able to get me another tan walled in that size so gave me 2 black city slicks whilst charging me just for 1 and said just drop tan walled one back when swapped over , and wasnt even asking if ridden on or fitted .

so go and get matey with them , you will need them one day

 

[User482]

I tried to arrange for a suspension fork service today:

Shop A: "we can do it but you'll need to buy the seals yourself and bring them to us".
Shop B: "certainly sir, our next available slot is in three weeks time".

FFS.

 

[asterix]

Well there's always Spa Cycles. They have a shop, a website:
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/

..and do telephone ordering too.

What is more, their advice is well worth paying a bit extra for in my experience. Sometimes I think I know better and it takes a little while to find I didn't, but there you go.. And if you want idiosyncratic ways they can do that for you as well.

 

[dellzeqq]

I tried to arrange for a suspension fork service today:

Shop A: "we can do it but you'll need to buy the seals yourself and bring them to us".
Shop B: "certainly sir, our next available slot is in three weeks time".

FFS.

shop A probably doesn't have an account with the distributor, and shop B is clearly not charging enough. And, to be honest, Steve, suspension fork servicing is a rubbish job. I've seen my brother do it, and he knows full well when he starts that he's on to a loser - which is why he's reluctant to sell bikes with suspension forks.

 

[theclaud]

stuff like rack, panniers is good.

May I quote you on this?

 

[dellzeqq]

May I quote you on this?

you may not

 

[theclaud]

Spoilsport.