Online bike shop

[xxnick1975]

Re:

Interesting point re Lbs. Guys at mine are nice chaps. Deffo the place to go if you want a Frog bike, or a new Trek.

Maybe I should give them a go - this week I bought an 11 speed cassette and chain, didn’t really think to ask them, went with Merlin this time. Bought Tuesday night, arrived this morning, fitted this afternoon.

Spa and SJS also excellent for smaller bits and bobs outside of the mainstream

 

[drystonepaul]

Re:

All very valid points. I have rarely had a good experience when visiting other bike shops which is obviously very rare nowadays.

Maybe the whole bike industry needs a rethink.
To be fair though, having a beard and being grumpy is a prerequisite of being a bike mechanic.
Never trust a cheerful bike mechanic... They clearly aren't doing it properly.

I do reserve the right to be a little surly to customers who pick my brains for advice then turn up clutching the parts I'd recommended to them, but they chose to purchase elsewhere to save a couple of quid.
They are usually the same customers who expect me to be able to drop everything and fit stuff while they wait.
They are also the same customers who still manage to buy the wrong thing I might add...

Then there's the "Why are you charging that much? It'll only take you five minutes".

But you don't charge for the minutes, you charge for the years of experience it takes to be able to do small jobs properly in five minutes.

If you want some proper bike shop owner rants then tune in to johnyboy666's Facebook feed. It's hilarious.

 

[d8mok]

Re:

My recent ones weren’t so much grumpy .....

Bought a £3300 frame - asked specifically if they could check for damage even though it was new. Travelled a fair distance and guess what .......

Same for some custom built Carbon wheels - arrived to collect them and barely got a hello and was just given the box and the door closed. Only to find several marks on a £1600 set of wheels once I checked before leaving.

Both issues easily avoided and left a sour taste even though it was sorted in the end. I don’t think it was deliberate in these instances but just a little sloppy.

I’ve found a guy locally called Joes Bikes (check his you tube) who i plan to have a few bits done by as he likes his retro bikes and seems good

 

[greencat]

Re: Re:

Maybe the whole bike industry needs a rethink.
To be fair though, having a beard and being grumpy is a prerequisite of being a bike mechanic.
Never trust a cheerful bike mechanic... They clearly aren't doing it properly.

I do think there's something peculiar about the bike shop industry. Imagine going to almost any other shop and being treated with barely concealed contempt by the proprietor. Or if you weren't, it was almost certainly populated by sharks in hipster clothing who charged a fortune and knew f'all. Both kinds of shops would deservedly fail.

The friendly, good and reasonable charging one is a real rarity.

I appreciate why bike shop owners might get grumpy in the face of the great unwashed. But surely their problems cannot be any worse than any other public facing industry?

 

[drystonepaul]

Re:

Don't get me wrong, I have lots of great customers who have become friends over the years I been in business and I'm always polite, courteous and friendly to customers new and old.

I also have a great deal of patience which is a requirement of most customer facing industries.

There is a common idea that working on bikes is something anyone can do. This is largely true. It's also true that wheel building doesn't involve magic and fitting a headset can be done with a block of wood, a hammer and some luck.

It's amazing how many people think they know how to fit or fix something stuff because they watched a video on YouTube.

The point I'm getting at is that experience, skill and knowledge aren't as common as you might think in the bike industry.
Just like dry stone walling, (which does involve magic) it's almost like a dying art.

I often repair or resolve problems caused by people who didn't actually know what they were doing or bodged something because they didn't have the correct tools.
Some of those people describe themselves as engineers.
Some even describe themselves as bike mechanics.

I can't afford anything less than perfection, so that's what I aim for. My face mask always hides my happy smiling face while I'm sorting out other people's misadventures.

Sometimes it feels like the imbalance caused by online monopolies, bricks and mortar overheads and supply chain issues isn't really helped when Fat Barry turns up with his jetwashed E-bike demanding you fit the bell he bought on eBay because he cross threaded the bolt.
(He isn't wearing a face mask and he wants it done yesterday)

Every bike shop should aim to be better. But what parameters should they/we be measured against?
If it's all about price then I will always lose because it's impossible to win.
If it's about value for money I reckon I'm in with a fighting chance.

At least at the end of another long week I can come here and feel the love... (for Wiggle)

 

[CassidyAce]

Re:

This seems to have turned into a bit of an online vs LBS debate but my experience is that it's more a case of local and online. BikeTart is an example: not a million miles away from me and they sell online. The guys in the shop have always been friendly, polite and knowledgeable but, equally, I can buy from them without even getting out of bed. Even Halfords, now my closest bike shop: of course I can buy online from them but, also, my local branch is blessed with a guy who really knows his stuff - retro as well as modern - and is unfailingly friendly and helpful.

Like many people, I suppose, I'm happy to pay a little bit more at a local shop because it makes it easier to sort out any difficulties and there's a quid pro quo: I pay a little more but they've given me free tips and advice. Both sides are winners. Having said that, since BikeTart only have their out of town branch these days, I probably wouldn't even discover that they're local now if they didn't sell online.

I don't believe that selling online is a problem in itself; it's more the big business vs small businesses scenario that's the problem and that existed between supermarkets and local shops in the days before online was even a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee's eye.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

But you come from a background of helping people, organising and leading rides and generally being a nice bloke.

It's when the shop doesn't provide this, which either happens when the owner is under stress, fed up etc and it passes to employees or they haven't moved with the times and made it a welcoming destination.

Yep, it needs to provide something the buy it an dodge it old fart with money might spend it on ;-)

It's got to be hard though, with so many different standards constantly changing and you can't really stock too much as they'll only be sold in 20/30 years to people looking to fix their old bikes if it doesn't sell ;-)

Does the cyclescheme bring in money or is that the big boys only.
Is service plans a thing for the all the kit and no idea* (majority? ) with nice bike that need looking after?


* you can laugh, but most people just want to ride a bike.

Do you allow groups to meet up and chat, maybe even give them a coffee (for £2.90) and a cake slice (for £2.50).

I guess it depend where you live, I'm suburbs of a city, a city with lots of cycle lanes now and two central safe storage places.
Still I wouldn't go in to town if I don't have to, they are out of the way for me.

But I guess I can DIY a bike, so shops provide me with little to buy and I don't need them to do the work for me.
Until I get a new bike.

Could I do better, nope. Respect to anyone that runs a bike shop with grumpy customers wanting bargains, not wearing masks and fork back to front with gears stuck in one position needing..

 

[hookooekoo]

I buy from all over the place.

Chain Reaction have had some unbelievably cheap parts in the past. A few years back Shimano M520 pedals were just £18.99, including cleats.

Spa Cycles are sometimes useful for bits and pieces, especially chain rings.

SJS have a lot of unusual parts that no one else seems to stock.

There are various Ebay sellers that I've bought 1990s NOS and second hand parts from.

 

[hookooekoo]

This place is quite good too, but for UK buyers there's always the risk of ridiculous customs charges and handling fees.

http://www.bikerecyclery.com/

 

[pw_pw_la]

Re: Re:

Maybe the whole bike industry needs a rethink.
To be fair though, having a beard and being grumpy is a prerequisite of being a bike mechanic.
Never trust a cheerful bike mechanic... They clearly aren't doing it properly.

I do think there's something peculiar about the bike shop industry. Imagine going to almost any other shop and being treated with barely concealed contempt by the proprietor.

Have you never been into a record shop before and asked them what they're listening to?

Have you never been into a skate shop and said yes when they asked if you wanted them to grip the board?

Have you never been into a book shop and asked them about one of the first editions in the glass case?

Have you never bought anything from any kind of specialist store ever?

Or just read a magazine in WH Smiths!

Being a dick is a must-have on any shop employee's CV. And I wouldn't have it any other way!