State of the industry: a running thread

[Twozaskars]

You don't need £1K smart phone to do this job (a £20 secondhand one would do it), and you make pairing an open standard so people can create apps which run on any smart phone. And if you really don't have a phone, your local bike shop can do the pairing.

But you will, because the likes of SRAM and Shimano will team up with Apple etc and ensure that it’s got to be the latest and greatest. £20 secondhand smartphones are good for making phone calls and very little else. This idea is ‘reinventing the wheel’ at its finest.

 

[bikeworkshop]

The products aren't being designed by the users, but by the salesmen.
Today I bought a new valve to fix the leaky tap in the sink...
Gone is the half inch washer, with us for 100 years

Now we have ceramic valves, and they don't wear out.
Just get the right one, if it's still available...

Wonder why mine was dripping

 

[bikeworkshop]

Furthern to this smartphone connectivity thing -

we had a customer who'd bought a (£2k) cannondale off the local dealer.
He's a novice covid-induced cyclist.
He got a cannondale app with the bike. Cool!

After 6 months, the app told him the bike needed a service, so back he went to the dealer.
The service cost him almost £200 he said. He didn't think he been riding that much.
6 months and 500 miles later, guess what? The app is pinging away.

He came to us for our opinion.
Did his bike need another service?
Er, no.

 

[bikeworkshop]

It's like the brands are trying to automate, to write human opinion out of the process, and leave us with an algorithm and a procedures deliverer.

The mechanic only opens his or her mouth to say:
"that's £200 please"
And
"Have a nice day"

 

[wynne]

I always say to customers, especially the grumpy ones:

Have a nice day, unless you've made other plans.

 

[Russell]

The retro grouch is strong in this one.

 

[bikeworkshop]

It's a tradition, grouchiness, nay a necessity, in the independent bike shop, and most independents in general, excluding fashionable stuff like hats, beard grooming - that sort of thing.

 

[Lucidone]

Apologies, couldn't resist!

 

[brocklanders023]

This thread is just old dudes shouting at clouds now. Have fun.

 

[synchronicity]

I find it interesting that it's rare for external forces (eg govt) to try to standardise the bike industry. Possibly, it is seen as too small.

I've often thought that electronic groupsets offer the possibility for cheaper bikes and repairs in the future at the low to middle end. It feels, for example, like it should be trivial to have an electronic mech that can be paired with any electronic shifter and run on any speed of bike. You simply bolt them on, pair them via a standardised app, see the speed/cog spacing and reconnect the chain. That's got to be a lot quicker than cabling and setting up gears - and opens up the possibly of standardisation across manufacturers etc bringing down costs. Do the same for brakes etc - and you might be able to significantly reduce the cost of manufacture and future maintenance.

Err no, the exact opposite is happening / going to happen.
Electronic bikes will be MORE expensive, and already ARE more expensive. They're definitely not cheaper!

More likely what will happen is that Shimano and SRAM will intentionally program the shifters NOT to work with any other "non-compatible" derailleur. Meaning, they'll do it on purpose. And making it electronic will facilitate their ability to do that. You won't be able to hack components physically to get them to work together anymore. Sheldon Brown is probably rolling over in his grave as we speak.

They are like Apple in that respect. They like to keep their stuff proprietary. It's more profitable for them that way.
And they'll force you to do firmware upgrades or whatever, and then one day your bicycle component hardware won't be able to access the latest software upgrades.
And then you truly will be fucked.