Will this SAVE the BICYCLE INDUSTRY from total COLLAPSE! (of course not, but you know it should)
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- Опубліковано 3 кві 2024
- Another ruthlessly direct, overtly cynical HOT TAKE on the "Total Chaos" facing the bicycle industry right now. But it's really just something I've been thinking a lot about lately.
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I own a bike shop in Elk Grove Ca. We opened in November and everyone said it was a mistake. But guess what? We're killing it!!! You know why? We're a BIKE SHOP!! We provide awesome customer service, provide awesome bike service, and sell brands that are great but not huge names. We are a no judgment, no attitude shop. We sell Jamis comfort bikes like they re going out or style and I'm currently booked out two weeks on service. I jumped on the e-bike thing with Aventon bikes and oh man has that been successful. What it all comes down to is that we're nice people who know what we're doing and we just want everyone on a bike. Let's go have fun!!!! So as the bike industry collapses, I'm having the time of my life, serving my community, and connecting with my neighbors,
Good luck with the Aventon stuff. Scares me to death. I hope it’s just head trash.
We sold aventon, good luck with their warranty department when they start coming back. We just stick to trek ebikes, been selling them for years at our small shop and only a few have come back and trek warranty department has always taken care of us quick. We stopped selling aventon. We’re 2 weeks out for service here at the shop too, and everyone is buying full tune ups! Definitely a much better start to the year than last year.
You said the E word!
But you’re right. E-bikes are taking off like a wildfire here in Florida.
@@Chicago_Bikepackerthat’s why there’s a lot of fat lazy people there
So you’ve started selling electric mopeds that’s not cycling
Gray's bike shop in Kew Gardens, Queens. Opened in 1960. First black-owned bicycle shop in New York City. It's a real bike shop. Mr. Gray died years ago. The shop is still going thanks to 86-year-old Mrs.Gray
Electronic shifting is the shining example of complicated technology the masses simply do not need. I am sure Gib's Bike Shop is an e-shifting-free-zone and that is a wonderful thing.
We have 50 years of inventory in people's garages and storage units. All of these industry "leaders " can crash and burn and there will still be bikes available to the general public. "Bikeflation" would be a better term than "bikemaggedon" since the problem (depending on which side of it you're on, might not even be a problem) is not enough demand to meet existing supply. Too many Porsche dealerships in a town with Toyota Corolla budgets.
100% how I see it
“Too many Porsche dealerships….” Great analogy.
why are bikes getting so ridiculously expensive then?
@@K-sp Industry denial. Not exclusive to the bike industry either. Restraunt and service industries are holding out pricing even though demand is waning.
@@johnnyguzman3429yup. Especially ski areas.
Having worked in the bicycle industry in Australia, I can tell you it basically comes down to who is running the store. I could call out just as many soulless "cycling shops" (many who are essentially glorified shelf stackers with little to no knowledge of cycling or bicycling) as there are "bicycling shops" where that old fella with the dirty tools has no idea how to repair anything circa 2010 or newer and has little to no business management sense (they opened a bicycle shop because they like bicycles, not because they're good at managing a business and that's a problem, e.g. constantly exceeds their terms on invoices/essentially buy stock/parts and just don't pay distributors).
It's not as simple as "us vs. them" or "big bike vs. small bike". There are just as many clueless big bike shops as there are mom & pop shops regarding how to serve what the average consumer needs.
Most of our repair only shops have no new bikes but are so busy fixing older bikes they don't need to sell anything new. I go to one shop where they sell a few Surly bikes and you can order bikes and have them put together maybe they'll have a bike but they use a tape measure to customize your bike
Call it what it is: Its metallic bikes with their requires tools and techniques vs plastic bikes with their required tools. To the proponent of mainly Chinesium carbon they have taken flight in their light hi tech "machine" and everyone else is still pounding the earth. But to the realist in me, we are both rolling our 80+ kilos bodies around and the difference in 500 grams is not enough to endure the exorbitant prices and possible early death (of said carbon frame).
@jamesmedina2062 who said anything about carbon? We're talking about business management.
Take the old man yells at cloud arguments elsewhere.
@@lenolenoleno i brought up the products. I understand you could be fixated on profits and the "business model" but at the end of the day we are still doing with physical objects.
Cars are in much the same way built with designed obsolescence in mind because it fits the business model of a constantly moving stack of cash.
In my experience there are three types of stores around here
1) big box store with 1 to 3 of everything from bike shaped objects to pretty decent bikes. All put together by people who have no idea what they're doing and priced with dice rolls.
2) corporate cycling stores. Cutting edge stuff I'll never be able to afford
3) bike snob barn shop. The worst kind of gate keeping attitude is present here your bike is trash if it's not one of their favorite brands. Looks like a "bike shop" in every way but you will feel bad or be broke when you leave
Recently a guy setup a shop and he's changing things for the better. I still can't afford his new bikes but he's against gatekeeping and is excited for everyone who wants to ride regardless of the bike and will offer help and advice, his services are also very reasonably priced. Great dude.
Big box no real problems there, corporate outlets, $300.00 goggles?, nope.
Bike snob shop, with the condescending sales rep, who all act like your wasting their time, I'd rather buy a bike from a garage sale or Goodwill.
There's also the direct to consumer bikes where you buy online it comes in a box and you put it together.
@@madmax2069 there’s also excellent bike shops that sell smaller, less corporate brands. That’s where real cyclists shop.
@@victormorales3604 you’re just cheap
@@bkefrmr what you view "cheap",
I view as " thrifty", tomato/tomater,
dont hate/appreciate.
I love old, reliable, cheap, durable, home-serviceable standards. BSA threaded, mechanical disk (or rim brakes), 8 to 10 speed (no more), friction or trigger shifting, inner tubes, double wall eyeletted rims etc etc. This means I use a real bike shop. I went to a cycle store to check the tyres but left, unable to pay the £57/tyre (£3 more than my car tyres).
Keep at it please, youre right. The industry has forgotten that everyday cyclists don't want or need their less durable, higher cost "innovation".
what's crazy is that there is a visceral, literal qualification (probably preached by the manager) that is so obvious as to be disgusting. Having worked in sales and customer service I come from at least an attempt at appearing interested in helping the customer but in at least three shops I visited there was no attempt to assist or help with my sales or service needs and outright rudeness in two of them that was beyond rude. The feeling I got was "please leave and NEVER come back!"
If anything it taught me to NOT depend on these people and figure this stuff out on my own. This applies to all products. Sadly we cannot as consumers expect any longer to simply have needs as a customer and be served quality products.
@@jamesmedina2062 That's what happened to me. Few bike shops I went into treated me rudely and felt like they stereotyped me. That motivated me to learn to do it myself. Years later now I have build multiple bikes including dream/project bikes like a under 15lb carbon road bikes, a titanium 26er, a steel gravel bike and a under 15 lbs folding bike. So worked out in my favor.
@@MisterSal9895 EXACTLY👏 You get it. Some people like me are builders and others are buyers and will only be buyers FOREVER!!! I think people feel that and know when you are a sheep and when you are a wolf or perhaps a pastor. Whats funny is that since having done lots of tech support I ask questions and never lack of them but so many people have no questions. like none. And they're doctors and lawyers and whatnot and for the life of me I can't figure out how you can go around just nodding and agreeing... Hey I am glad you built lots of cool stuff. Bicycles are magical in that they invite our imagination and can prove theory quickly.
I own a modern ESKER Hayduke and love it , but I also own a 1992 KONA Hei Hei that I ride almost everyday through the city and rail trails to train for endurance as these old bikes are easy and cheap to work on. I also love my old KONA.
The old-timers, and I mean in their 70s-90s come into my shop and they look like a kid in a candy store. I've been told countless times "This is what a bike shop is supposed to look like!"
It's dingy, cluttered, and organized just enough to make finding parts an Easter Egg Hunt. However, if they are looking for a Mallard freewheel tool, or a Patent 72 Nuovo Record derailleur, I probably have one in a drawer somewhere.
Newer folks to cycling find it equally pleasant because it feels more like thrifting than it does a new car purchase. It also helps that my bike inventory tops out at about $400.
I'm a cycling store guy but watch these anyway.
It’s okay. We still love you. 😘
You're in a loveless relationship, but like to watch others in a real one. We get it...
I started off working at 16 in a small bicycle retail shop in 1989 in Edinburgh Scotland 🏴,I was lucky enough to learn lots about repairs from wheel building to full builds etc,
4years later I went to work for a larger bicycle retailers who started out reselling used bikes and they outgrew that shop and moved to the new location,that too needed to be expanded with the mtb and road boom so they bought the retail property that was adjoining the shop and the expansion was happening,time went on and I was getting sick of how the whole scene was more and more sell sell sell,
so after 21years(2014) and picking up some more skills and certification’s I resigned and chose to go back to a proper bike shop,
Got back on the spanner’s in a proper lbs.
repairs and maintenance are the main thing ,we can get bikes from our distributors but choose not to shout about it and definitely not a “concept store” more you wooden floored, kids watch your fingers,big vice ,tools on boards kinda shop.
This video is spot on,
I mean we do maintain more bikes than many shops that gets us good word of mouth,the shop is well established,been going over 27 years 🎉 🎉🎉
we see them all from £free to ridiculous£££££.I’m just glad that we don’t have to sell them anything they don’t need or ask for,if they choose to cycle for a race team or just looking to get back and forth to work etc we are just happy to repair them all,
Atb John 🏴
Ps keep up your great work 👍
I get tired of constantly going into my LBS looking for a part and consistently being told..."Er...you'll need to order that online." My loyalties are shifting.
I love restoring bikes from the '80s and 90's - they are simple machines which will last more than your lifetime if maintained/serviced. I do sell them on but barely make enough to finance the next build. I picked up a 1999 Gray Fisher (Trek) Joshua for 40 - what a disaster. Had to replace both front and rear suspension - went 1x wide range - my biggest cost was getting the frame blasted then powder coated. When I'd finished to looked way better than new and worked great. Tried selling it for 600 then down to 400 then 300. A year later a teenager got in touch and asked if I'd sell it for 200 - what the hell - he had been saving up his pocket money, turned up with his dad and counted out his 200 in 1's and 5's. The smile on his face was priceless after he got back from his test ride. I lost about 500 on that but it was so worth it. I have an early '9os GT avalanche, fully restored, new paint job, new shifters and brakes if any is interested - under 200!
This is either painfully familiar or laughably familiar, I can't decide. I have several $1000 bikes that I can let you have right now for under $300.
@@mnw1871We in a downturn it seems
Sadly the people with money wouldn't be caught dead riding an "outdated" bike. So its the younguns that are best candidates but still you shoulda gotten more for it. But I know that you got a different kind of paydirt there. Final conclusion: MORE PEOPLE NEED TO RIDE
5:36 "Bicycles are toys"... That perception has long been one of the biggest problems facing the industry.
One note regarding Trek: Trek bought the German bike brand Diamant ~25 years ago and to this date produce Diamant and Trek hybrid, city and e-bikes in Hartmandorf, Germany. Only the carbon based racing/"cycling" products come from overseas. So their strategy differs from market to market. A real shame is where Brompton headed: The iconic folding bike transformed into a flagship store monster with quadrupled pricing and "collector" variants. It's not abot a practical tool for regular, it became a hobby for snobs.
Treks used to be a cheap and fairly well made bikes.
Now they're just insanely overpriced, Chinese made garbage.
Can't wait until they're gone.
@@TenFalconsMusicIt depends. As I said Trek is still assembling bread & butter bikes in Germany for Germany/Europe. Heck, they still launch a "Diamant Villiger" steel(!) bike once every couple of year as tribute to the former Swiss iconic bike brand "Villiger" that Trek discontinued ~10 years ago. The flagship bullsh*t hype in Germany is driven by Specialized, Brompton, Rapha and others. In Germany, Trek operates their own stores for "cycling" customers. The "casual bike" business is still done by independent bike shops.
.
@@GNMi79 Switzerland has 4 main languages, German/French/Italian/Romansh
@@GNMi79 Villiger, the former Swiss bike manufacturer. They bought former GDR state owned Diamant but sold both to Trek in 2003. Trek closed the Swiss site and phased out the brand in the earlier 2010s.
I was a classic bike mechanic-manager at Bicycles of Scottsdale. An old fashion bike shop off Scottsdale Rd. in a shopping center and we had a Trek dealer just across from us. We did amazingly well. Why? The customers said is was our commitment to service and provided that old time bike shop vibe. We had the Giant line up for anyone who wanted the latest and greatest models, but had a variety of affordable models and brands, and bikes people were excited about. Above all it was our mechanical prowess on repair, and service of a variety of bikes. I was the guy who could true old chromed steel wheels, or build and service Suntour, Shimano, or Campy Super Record from the 80s. Or took time to overhaul old hubs, freewheels, and BBs for people's cherished chro-moly steel bikes. I was able to service time trial bikes for local triathletes, or indexing road racers too. And we had two former racers, road and MTB, one from Germany, who were also excellent mechanics and we showed we gave a damn about our work and the customers appreciated it. We can order whatever they desired too. But gave an honest opinion on their choices. And the prices were most reasonable. We had people coming in after visiting the Trek dealer across from us, and said the service and attitude was night and day.
Good for you and great you got rewarded with the good business.
Can confirm this was a great shop. When I was an east-sider I shopped there often.
This is why being a bike mechanic is a trade not a hobby. My gaps in knowledge are rebuilding those old coaster brakes and plantary gear 3 speeds along with wheel trueing which is a bit of an art to me. I got to work on high end 80s 90s road bikes and low end dept store mountain bikes have not touched any of the new high end stuff built in the 2010s.
@@hungrybraineater2 Riding a bike is mobile HVAC! Only that the air con is swamp cooler style!
And ...it's also human-powered automobile trade as well, only the motor is a 2 stroke motor! And runs on sugar and water!
@@jamesmedina2062 yup but still a big help to the industry would be some kind of like ASE like certification process that everyone recognizes. Especially some kind of master mechanic cert of somekind. Dont worry the bike industry is not the only one like this IT to a degree is even worse. Thousands of certifications and alot of people just being very specialized.
Hey, you used a pic of my shop as an example of a "bike shop"! I'm super proud to be in that category!! Great video and info btw :)
I was the guy with the SRAM hat🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for saying it! I've hated the stores that make you feel inadequate for not buying million dollar, top shelf components!
I actually live near and have ties to a Trek store, and I think much like any other business like that, it comes down to who’s running it.
My nearby trek store is in Schereville Indiana, it’s run by a guy my dad uses to work with in the late 90’s when they were working together at a Schwinn store. This is still Chicago zone so there was at one point dedicated Schwinn stores. My dad left to work elsewhere, and Dave went to a new building Trek was opening.
They are literally an example of a small store shutting down and the owner going to a big chain.
However Dave isn’t some faceless corporate entity, he’s not some thrown in store manager, he was running a bike shop for years before that with Schwinn. He’s not going to throw a customer at their online help system, he’ll do it all himself in person. He’s a professional bike mechanic wether it’s a small store, a small chain, or a big name like trek.
Obviously that’s one place, one experience, one guy. People like that trek store because it’s run by professionals, i don’t view it as any different than any local bike shops besides there being a big name on the front od the building and a distinct lack of other brands inside.
That may not be the case for all of the big chain stores. But knowing at least the one I’ve experienced is an entirely different story, I can’t rule out that option right up front about any of them.
I go to a Trek store here in Boise, and it is absolutely bipolar. The front is seems to be a cycling store with all the new models and gear; but the back is a local bike shop. The techs there are so awesome. They will take the time to answer my tech questions and even make adjustments, or do a quick chain clean if they aren't busy. I will say that the folks up front don't try to sell me the next best upgrades. They know what type of cyclist I am, and if I think I need something they'll offer suggestions. They've even talked me out of buying something I probaably didn't need. So maybe they are closer to a LBS than a CS.
Do you remember that itty bitty Trek store that was in Calumet City in the very early 1990’s? The guys in there were all super cool but this was back when cycling was overall more welcoming and inclusive regardless of what type of bike someone was buying. I would imagine that even these days quite a few Big Brand exclusive shops still have some old school employees. The real issue is people will never know that if they already feel too intimidated to walk thru the door. It’s a shame really what has happened with cycling when it comes to the average person just looking for a decent bike. Great comment tho and good to know. I still have friends in that area.
Preach!!! "Cycling Stores" need a dose of Earth and reality. I have 10 bicycles and none of them were bought new but I'm always needing parts and do most of the work myself. it would be nice to have an actual bike shop that didn't try to make it all on one customer.
Took my 16 year-old Cannonde CAAD 7 to the LBS last weekend for tuneup. They loved the bike, explained bunch of things and didn’t try to sell me anything! I asked for new wider tires..will definitely go back and would buy an upgrade from them if ever considering.
Usually hard to fit wider tires on older road bikes. Giant Contend AR 3 is a great option.
Hitting the nail on the head about mobility freedom and using a bike. A bicycle is a great choice for urban jaunts of under 6 miles. I regularly ride my 15 year old Lemond Wayzata to my bar. I get to see the sights, sounds, and smells of my neighborhood, shop & drink local, and get some exercise out it. Something reliable and easy to maintain is all that is needed.
I strongly dislike the "corporate" bike stores here in Denmark.
-They wont sell you an axel kit for a cheap simple M475 hub. - Fair enough, They want to earn money by doing the job for you for a fee.
-They wont repair the M475 hub wheel for you for a fee. - Fair enough, the hourly fee plus parts added together is more than selling a new wheel.
-They wont sell me a new M475 hub wheel either....
So what do they want to do? They want me to buy a new bike that comes with a 2 year service plan. When the service plan runs out you need to buy a new bike or pay for a very expensive prolonged plan.
Axles are expensive and so is the labor to do the job. It’s often more economical to replace the wheel on the cheap bikes.
@@bkefrmr Indeed, but as I wrote, they wont even sell me a new wheel and get paid to install it. They wont do anything but sell you a new bike and get a service subscriptions.
Imagine your mortal shop, refusing to sell or install a wheel for money.
@@Mr_Wh1 That's a cycling lifestyle store I would give a 1 star review to on Google, explain their awful business practices in the review, and never return to.
I hope there's a real bike shop locally for you to go to. And if not, I'd prefer to order online than go to that place again.
I've seen my local bike shop, whom I know on a first name basis, recommend 600-1k new bikes to beginners even though they carry mostly 3-8k bikes, there are still cheaper options for casual users and commuters at that shop, and they're not upselling everyone unless they're literally asking for it.
I do some road cycling but stopped going to cycling shops because everything felt like a hard sell. Like, no, I don't want to upgrade, I don't have money, i just want to fix what's broken. Ill train for the extra 2 watts.
Bike shops never feel like that.
as a blackfinger.. uh i mean mechanic i fully agree with your discription of a bike shop😅
Duluth, MN here - 1989 Reynolds 531 Trek for road riding. Loved it as a HS kid. Fast forward 2020ish and got back into biking. Holy Hell things have changed. Three bike shops still up from the 80s. All three trying to hang on as BS with one really strugging to keep up. Looking at the prices and the tech, I was immediately turned off. Bought a used bike off FB Marketplace and learned to wrench things myself. I'll never set foot in shop again if I can fix an older bike myself.
My shop “Jimmy the Bike Guy” in Toronto Canada is repair only. Focused on tuneup and repair and breathing new life to countless oldies. Very proud and satisfying
OMG! Erlton Bike shop in Cherry Hill NJ at 4:55! I used to live a mile from that bike shop back in 1979 - 1983. I got into bicycle in the summer of '80 at age 15 going from a BMX bike to a 12 speed, 44 years and 350,000 miles later, I now live in Lancaster County, PA where we have several Mennonite owned 'Bike Shops' - real down to earth shops like yours. BTW, two days after graduating HS in June '83, I rode solo from Cherry Hill, NJ to visit family in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, taking 13 days on a Fuji Touring Series IV.
Nice! Random internet photo. Cool looking shop!
The shop I work at is now a Trek store. I’ve been saying for a while, “Trek is to bike shops as Olive Garden is to Italian restaurants.”
I’m gonna start using the term “Cycling store” because it’s perfect.
I’ll never forget the day they came in and told us we’d need to get rid of our toolboxes with “trashy stickers from the 90’s”.
40 seconds in, I might have to go binge this guy's whole backlog of these, this sounds like fire
As someone who works in Johnson Creek and lives just a bit up 26, I get the small town point you are making. I also worked as a mechanic at the various Erik's while in school in Madison. Very different vibe than small shops... Anyway, my biggest issue is how quickly the industry is willing to change a standard component for a theoretically better option. That change is then marketed as the greatest thing since rim brakes when it realistically doesn't do anything measurable outside of the test lab. Various bottom bracket bearing sizes really piss me off...
BB options were a nightmare, my heart would sink if someone asked for an FSA spare - almost impossible to figure out what was going to be needed.
For many years I have said "Erik's is the Best Buy of the bicycle world." Terrible vibe in the ones in Madison I have entered.
I'm grateful for both, and for your channel 💞
My mechanic journey started about 16 years ago. I was bruising a single speed/ fixed gear and shopped around my local shops as none of them had what I needed. My last part was chain… the guys at the counter sold me a half link chain and refused to brake it for me, then sold me a chain breaker for regular bien chains… when I tried to take it back they laughed at me and didn’t give me my money back or brake the chain again!! I had measured it!! 16 years after.. self taught bike mechanic and all my bikes have been paid by flipping parts and repairing bikes locally. Haven’t seen the inside of shop/store in the last 16 years.
The struggle is real. I always had a pretty good bike which I maintained, but I wanted to upgrade to something more sports oriented for working out instead of my heavy steel working horse. Man, it took a year in total confusion to finally settle on a road bike of a local brand using the same frame as their gravel bike. The whole process took about a year. Too much choice, too much types, too much grades, confusing marketing, … . I live in a city with little to no bikeshops only bike stores with shitty service I do not want to do business with. I do not understand these big businesses do not understand that.
I totally get you. Why should it take a full year to get set up right?? The reason is that this business unlike other types of businesses has outsourced education to the customer himself or herself unless the customer comes in with fat wallet, and a container of K-Y jelly! It shouldn't be that hard but I think they split their perceived audience into two groups and whether you will be one of the brainwashed or one of the "woke". Same thing happens with politics and other products that are subject to influence by fads and the need to fit in. If you want to fit in and have money then they will jump to help you. Otherwise, they all figure "save the energy". But why right?? Why not realize people are not binary, zombie or not-zombies!!
It's a bit of a scam too, at least IMO. For working out, a heavy bike is generally fine. Going faster by itself doesn't burn more calories or increase heart rate. It's the effort of the pedaling that does all that. Much as a big pickup truck burns more gas than an economy car, a heavier bike can require more effort than a fancy lightweight one at the same speeds (the goal of exercise, right?).
That being said, a road bike can be better for exercise based on its form factor than something like a beach cruiser that is less suited for spirited riding, but there are plenty of less expensive options for that, too.
@@RichM3000 one has 2 options: traverse land or stationary pedaling. If one only wanted to pump his legs there is stationary. Everything else has an additional function: travel. The terrain dictates the kind of bike and everyone's engine is different which affects both load and distance traveled. Today's hybrid bikes attempt to mainly cross urban areas but with more float and comfort. They are almost the perfect bike just like SUV's try to be the perfect do-it-all car. I used a mountain bike with 1.5 slicks and using different tires I could ride road and trail comfortably, but not the ace at anything other than long range comfort which was pretty good. If I was young again i would select steeper ascents to increase load, NOT opt for heavier bike to increase load. Thats just me. Part of that is getting places. I often do go places.
@@jamesmedina2062 No doubt. Peter was specific in his desire to use his bicycle solely for exercise, so, I was commenting on that. Yeah, I certainly wouldn't seek out a heavy bike for exercise. I'm just saying a heavier bike someone already owns may be as effective for exercise as a new lightweight one.
I ride 6-7 hours per week, also solely for exercise. I drive to destinations, primarily because I don't want to get run over by someone texting. I have a hardtail mountain bike with road tires. It keeps up my heart rate and caloric burn more than fine. I agree that a new hybrid would be great, mainly due to the gearing. I could change the gearing on mine too, so for exercise purposes I don't know that something else would be better for the goals of fitness.
On that topic, I was earlier alluding to a beach cruiser maybe not being as effective. I was thinking of a single-speed bike, where the rider is coasting down hills because the one gear is too low to pedal downhill.
So, anyway, someone who doesn't own a bike should take a good look at a hybrid, as you note as well. Someone who already owns bike (or two) might want to see if what they have is actually all they need.
@@RichM3000 yeah I get you about drivers texting but thats why I take my time and use sidewalks but where I usually lose is in achieving lasting peace. Not gonna happen! So many people hate us cyclists or act like they do. Mainly when lumbering uphill and they are behind me. It depends on time and distance but now that I suffered hip damage in mountain bike injury I know I cannot live on the bike. I have to cheat somewhere whether riding the bus or whatever. Be well. I agree with all that you mentioned.
There's a bike shop near me (Builler's) and it's been afloat because it sells normal people bikes. They have Beach Cruisers to E-bikes. There are some race bikes but they're usually in the corner behind a couple comfort/hybrid bikes. Overall a really nice place! I think the main attraction is the second floor, which contains a collection of vintage Schwinn bikes (They used to be dealers). Every now and then I go and get bells, patch kits, etc. If I need something like a rim, I order it from there. Just a little something to support them, and that's what most of the community does. I could've ordered something from the internet, but It's a good experience to do it in person. It's even where I got my first bike from! Although, it's been sitting in storage as a parts hog, mostly because I restored my own Schwinn and use that as a commuter now. It's a very quality bike though, and if I had the chance, I'd definitely assemble it again and donate it to someone. It's dead most of the time, but every now and then I see someone go in for a tune-up or to even buy a bike. Some people just go to look at the Schwinn collection. Overall, it's a nice little store and I pray it doesn't go out of business before I die.
For real! Out of high school, I was lucky enough to work for a newly opened bike shop, started by a furloughed airline pilot, and learning from an ace bike mechanic / weekend bicycle racer. Learned a ton about bikes and bike repair, and being a salesman that would help customers find what they wanted, sometime referring them to other bike shops. Absolutely loved it! Still fix bikes I find out with the trash, etc. and often give them to folks who cherish them. Or so I hope. I sell the nice ones to recoup the $'s I put into them.
I was a bike messenger for almost 10 years from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. Most of my bikes were low end mountain bikes by big brands (Specialized, Fisher etc). I came into a decent amount of money from an accident settlement and decided to purchase my dream bike, a 1989 Wicked Fat Chance . This was going to be the biggest purchase of my young life, it would never be used as a messenger bike, but strictly a weekend bike. The shop I went into had the bike in my size and the color (hot pink, it was the 80's don't judge me). It was an upscale Manhattan bike shop, but I wanted that bike. I went up to the counter and inquired about the bike. I was told that the bike was out of my price range (at the time I had very long hair, a propensity for Slayer T shirts and scruffy facial hair to boot). I happened to be carrying most of my accident money in my front pocket for this purchase (impulse control was not in my make up at this stage of my life ).I asked to speak with the manager of the store. I pulled out a wad of Ben Franklins and explained that I came to this store in spite of its haughty reputation to buy the Fat Chance today and I was told by the sales guy at the counter the bike "was out my price range". The manager made a halfhearted apology and I told him that I would be going down to another shop where I would not be treated so shabbily. And I did just that. The other shop treated me with decency, they did not have the bike in stock and where not even a dealer for Fat Chance, they said they could work through another shop (not the one that treated me so poorly) and could get me the bike in 3-4 weeks. So I agreed to wait, they asked that I leave a deposit and I countered with paying in full. I received the bike 12 days after paying for it and I bought 3 more bikes from that shop over a 15 year span and went there for all my repairs that I could not do. Treating customers with dignity and respect is key, at least for me. I have avoided LBS because of that cliquish and often condescending attitude a lot of them have. I am fairly proficient at bike repairs and maintain all my bikes with great care. In a nutshell a one bad experience can lead to an opinion that can last a lifetime.
I hate it when people make me guess shit and hold me accountable when I get it wrong
@@bkefrmr Not sure I understand your response , but I enjoy your channel (subscribed) and wish you success. Cheers.
@@underacheiver2000 I don’t let just anyone ride the expensive bikes in my shop either. You come in looking like a schlub all incognito, I’m gonna judge you like a schlub. You come in dressing like a schlub saying you’ve got the cash and want to buy it, I’m gonna let you. I’ve had it happen enough to me directly, and now I’ve read enough of these types of comments, people like you like to test retail/service employees to see if they’ll meet your exceptional standards of “dignity” or “respect”. How about you respect the complexity of the retailer’s point of view and go into it with transparency and not be so sketchy about it. We’re constantly forced to guess where people are coming from and it’s too risky to just “treat everyone with dignity” because the next guy could rob us blind. Sorry, not sorry, but your anecdotal experience is all about you, not about them.
@@bkefrmr Yes the experience was mine and of course it was anecdotal I am sharing online from my vantage point and bias. Just as you are sharing that some customers are A holes based on your experience. In my case I was treated like sh&t by a condescending assh*le. Nothing to do with you or how you run your business, I was not testing anyone, I was about 21 at the time making what for me was a very big purchase. I did not ask to ride the bike, had I asked, I would have left the purchase amount with the bike shop had they not spoken down to me. I came into the bikeshop with the honest intention of buying the bike. I just wanted to be treated like a customer. I don't think that's too much to ask.
@@underacheiver2000 In many cases like the one you described, it most certainly is too much to ask.
Many stores in my area in South Florida have gone corporate. Trek opened a bunch of stores almost 20 years ago. About 10 years ago Conte's expanded into Florida and bought up several local shops and are full of Giant bikes mostly. Now Specialized has started buying up local shops. The local independent bicycle dealers can barely hang on. They are forced to take on bike orders by the big brands and after the COVID surge they are stuck with huge inventories while the big brands are slashing prices and some started selling direct to consumer. What a kick in the balls.
I just recently decided to get back into street BMX. I went to my local bike shop and I was blown away. So many options and the shop guys had tons of great knowledge and advice. Never had that with a normal store.
For BMX? That’s shocking. Where do you live, SoCal?
@@bkefrmr no, I’m actually in San Antonio Texas! That’s why I was so surprised! BMX racing and mountain biking is much more popular here so I was shook to see a great lineup of street bikes as well.
I’m about to punch a hole in my wallet I want one so bad lol
I'm buying a BMX bike as well and I'm 63 years old. I live in the West Texas panhandle but the BMX Cruiser Bike I want is in San Antonio TX. I still have my original childhood bikes and unicycles.
I totally agree with you, then again, I am a small shop owner myself. With your description of small shops, well you described my shop as well. LOL! Hopefully the industry will realize that people will use bikes where their interests lie, and certainly there is nothing wrong with that. I've had a few industry "experts" tell me that when my numbers for repairs are higher than "actual sold bikes" I would never be successful. Well, maybe in some areas that may be true, but here in rural Maine... it's far from the truth. Anyway, thanks for sharing the video, and have a great season!
Had a charming local shop get taken over by Trek. Now it's a corporate store with tons of expensive bikes. I haven't been back since.
Longtime lurker, first time commenter, I love the show. I really enjoyed seeing your first bike! My first new bike came from Gib's too. Maybe 1980 or 81? It was an earlier BMX style Traker, beautiful blue with yellow pads. Anwyay, it's remarkable what you've done with Gib's bike shop! I hope you have some better weather soon for those daily rides.
Dude. How have I not found your videos before now? I've always struggled to explain the difference and I used the terms "mom and pop shop" and "big brand store" but your way is so much more concise. Subscribing for sure.
The algo is chugging along
Same with a lot of European brands over here. Overpriced shit that no one needs. I just get my stuff from Decathlon, fairly cheap and just what you need.
Took my 2001 Trek 700 Multi Track to my out of the way bike shop instead of the closer LCS to replace the headset.
They loved it. It was like taking a stroll down memory lane for them. They had a headset in stock and got it done the same day.
I didn’t even think about taking it to the much closer Trek store.
"LCS" = Local Corporate Shop?
Love it!
@dudeonbike800 There are 3 local ones in my area, all Trek stores. I don't even like walking into them. Nothing against the people there. Nobody is rude or too pretentious. But there is a wall up while interacting with them. Unless you're spending insane money on a bike.
The out of the way shop is independent. It was started by dudes who worked at those other locations. The place isn't perfect, but it's authentic.
They don't care if my mountain bike was purchased online. They don't try to sell me a bunch of crap I don't need. Infact, they tell me what NOT to waste my money on. They make suggestions based off my skill level and progression.
They are mostly focused on mountain bikes, but they'll take care of anything else you need if you ever find yourself in the Baltimore area. Dirt Rooster is the name.
Steel frame, upright rider, fender option, aft-curbed bars, rim brakes, belt drive & internal gear hub, IF new bicycle!
Good video expressing reality on bike shops versus pro-cycling shops!
I was taking my bike to a trek store that was once a local cycling shop. Spent a lot of money on new bikes for son but recieved poor service,high charges and disgruntled employees. Fu i said. Now i take it to a local bike shop farther away but worth it. They take care of me right away and are pleasant to talk too and helpful. Never going back to a trek store.
Im happy to say my shop lands in the middle of those two 😅
Yeah…I’m glossing over almost every bike shop that actually exists 🤣😂
@@bkefrmr I definitely have some "nobody cares about your strava" stickers and some abbey tombstones
Best of both worlds is in the middle
Not sure if Decathlon is a thing in the US but here over the pond they sell pretty well priced entry level bikes. If you want a new bike. I usually recommend used for first timers. Also support your local bikeshop. You never know when you need them. Drill out a bottle cage screw from the carbon frame, fabricate a frame insert to a tt bike, the usual stuff.
The automobile industry has two sides. The corporate places sell new cars and do their warranty repairs and service. The local small business side includes neighborhood garages, used car lots, etc. They're for the regular drivers. Sounds kinda similar to what you're saying.
I was so happy to find a bike mechanic near me working out of a shed in his backyard. He knew everything about my 1996 GT 24" cruiser. For like $400 he completely restored my bike. It's like new. I ride around the neighborhood with my 8 year old. We have fun and I get tons of compliments on my bike.
Myopic perspective from that one biking country in Europe as that's the only one I've got :) things are rather different here.
I volunteered at a teeny tiny bike shop while I was a college student, I absolutely loved the place but they didn't have a single employee working legally (because they couldn't afford it). I'm now at a "cycling store" but we sell brand name comfort bikes, and the way it works here is we direct folks with a tighter budget to a "bike shop" in the area. Basic bikes for full sized humans start at ±€700. We used to have a selection of used bikes, but we have a revenue issue with them. I enjoy earning 10% above minimum wage. Sadly we don't have the time to help everyone and still turn a profit and keep wait times for our own customer base reasonable.
I have mad respect for the people that run "bike shops", it's absolutely a labor of love and self sacrifice in places with a high cost of living.
Re: choice and "innovation", the amount of options available these days in bikes is a catastrophy if you carry some 10+ brands like we do at the moment. Good luck dear customers 😅
Keeping up with all the new tech is brutal for techs (I'm an absolute noob, but this is what I hear from my more experienced colleagues). We don't touch ebikes from brands we don't carry, what we have is more than enough to attempt to keep up with while still appearing professional. For other brands, we apologize and tell them to look up a shop that's a dealer of their brand, huge contrast to the "any acceptable solution" type of thinking that goes on in bike shops. Most of my colleagues have something in particular they're very good at in our workflows and somewhat different skill sets and we try to work together to solve problems.
And don't get me started on new bike delivery times these days, the fact that common sizes of bestseller bikes aren't available till the middle of next year is scandalous. With the market chaos, trends, new laws around ebikes and high cost per square meter, having inventory is also ill advised for keeping doors open. Online discount retailers are eating our margins and using brick&mortar shops for service.
Super curious where things will be heading in the future.
I am in full agreement with you. I am a home town commuter riding a 40 yr old bike because the industry wants to sell me a 2000+$ plastic bike that won't last 5 years. 90s MTB retro-mod is the way to go. For 500$ I can have a bike they won't sell me for 2000$.
What is wrong with this picture?
The bike shop I had been working at for 3 years became a cycle store last year (I still work here) but we kept the same staff +/- 2 and all love the idea of running our “shop” still as a local bike shop even with the cycle store look that our floor and “service department” has.
Love watching your videos, for the last 2 years the idea of owning my own shop has interested me and I plan to use the knowledge learned from my local bike shop days and my current cycle store experience to help me in the future👍
I completely understand your points. Our family of four has 6 bikes: 4 mountain bikes, one foldable city bike, one tandem: they all have rim brakes and 26” wheels: on set of tools and spare parts cover it all, and it’s all easy to fix. All the said bikes are rather high-mid end from the late 80s early 90s. Good enough. Definitely lighter than anything newer. I mean… easily 10lb lighter.
All my bikes run 8sp with a mix of old ergos (11 clicks of triple shift goodness) and friction.
One of the things I love about bike shops is the level of expertise you will find there. If you go into any other kind of store to buy something it is highly unlikely the sales person will know much about what they are selling. In fact, if you have done even a basic level of research on the product, you will probably know more than the sales person. This is pretty much never the case in a bike shop. Those people know their product, and love sharing what they know. There is something very satisfying dealing with people who are knowledgeable and passionate about what they do.
Going back to the core essentials! Great vid!!!
Fisk's Cyclery in Dixon,CA USA small town shop owner/mechanic is honest and friendly.
There are two bike shops in my neighborhood. One had the aesthetics of walking right into the repair area. Sold me a chain in less than two minutes. The other one „looked more clean“. But the salesperson uttered the sentence „a fourteen year old bike can still last you for long“.
Had six or seven mom and pop bike shops here on the central west coast just a few years ago and I believe we're down to two now. Even though I can do some of the work myself,..I don't do everything and I like taking my bikes to the guy now and then. Somehow,... he still tunes-up my bikes better than I can and seems to stay busy with a lot of nearby riding activity. Also, he doesn't rip-off folks on services or prices, (comparable or cheaper to online),.
Side-note; "sea otter classic" on the west coast for those interested; April 18-21.
I started working at Ken's Bike Shop in Winston-Salem, NC. Matt, Ken, and the rest of the guys raised me and they are one of the few Trek *Bike Shops* left. Sticker-ridden toolboxes, non-collared shirts and friendly, approachable service show how important it is for Trek and the cycling industry to accept their customers and support their local bike shops! Community is everything in cycling, and the flavor you get at a LBS is unmatched by any kind of store!
I’m guilty of buying too much road bike for too much money a few years ago. I’m never making that mistake again. I went to my local bike shop, explained my needs (mid-paced daytrips). The shop employee tried to gently steer me towards cheaper steel Surlys, but in my head it had to be a Giant and it had to be carbon. They still took my money for a Giant Defy, but at least they tried to get me to buy a cheaper bike that would fit my needs. I still remember that advice and that’s why I still go there year after year, even though I have a lot of other options.
The Defy is a great bike! but as a mechanic, the Surly is a smarter bike.
Great video! Trek opened 4 stores in our city and only one is still open. Unfortunately one of those stores was our local "bike shop" and now it's gone.
Amen! Been building and riding bikes over 50 years. I stopped buying new when SIS took over. ❤ all my bikes are rideable by any, nothing breaks if it falls over. Ride daily.
This feels like this is the tip of the iceberg. I agree with the general outlook you talk about.
It seems like they’re selling the story which doesn’t need to be told. To me the bike is the ultimate anti-capitalist machine. You buy one, you learn to maintain it or find a good, honest bike shop to do it and you ride for the joy of it. The stories the marketing teams try to make or useless and it’s biting them in the backside.
And then there’s the huge price hikes since 2019 or so… we’ve had boom and there’s only one route out and that’s bust. I hope the bike shops survive 🙏
Prices going through the roof screams boom to bust and the industry is reaping what is has seen on that one.
Andy, thank you for this! I now know I work in a (Trek affiliated) bike store that tries to be a shop too. Problem is we have a few stereotypical (per your videos) roadies that make it difficult for ordinary people. To the point they won’t visit the store if those people are working.
If (and I want to) I ever start my own business I want it to be a shop, not a store.
PS I’ve asked before; where did you score your shop apron? I can’t stand the cloth straps on the Park Tool one.
Came from my friends at Portland Design Works. We are collaborating on a new one. Won’t be leather unfortunately, but still gonna be baller af
Find a local leather craftsman to make the straps, we are out there.
@@bkefrmr Thanks! I already have some components from PDW. Quality stuff in my opinion. I'll be looking for it.
@@garyleiendecker631 That is an option I was considering.
I purchased a Trek 6000 many years ago and eventually had a bike shop upgrade the old twist grip shifters to trigger type shifters with integrated brake levers. Other than that I have maintained the bike myself. I was interested in getting a gravel bike, wanting something a little less heavy than the old Trek and yet capable of handling the less than ideal road conditions in my area. One look at Trek and I knew they were out of the question, for a 78 year old guy who rides mostly for enjoyment and exercise, $2, 3 or 4 thousand dollars is completely out of the question. Trek has basically priced themselves out of the market for the casual enthusiast. I can understand why they are in trouble.
There are so many great used bikes out there.
Honestly I think the cycling industry scares a lot of regular people away. I’m always trying to dispel misconceptions about cycling trying to encourage people to try it out. I get comments like “bikes are too expensive”, “I’m not fit enough”, “I can’t ride fast” “I don’t have those crazy cycling skills”. and on and on.
Yeah. Totally. Going for a bike ride doesn’t have to be any of those things
Things always come full circle. From mom-and-pop shops that sell a dozen brands to corporate stores that try to elbow out the competition by only having their brand in the store. It will revert back to a local shop with a broader selection with more rational salespeople.
My LBS is both. You can spend tons on a mountain bike or get a custom fit road bike, but they also stock tons of practical bikes, and there's always a row of old bikes in one corner waiting for repairs. They moved into a nicer location a few years ago, so they could be next to a major trail. However, the thing I think really sets them apart from cycling retailers is their knowledge and parts selection. I can walk in and ask for whatever I need for my current project, and they know what I'm talking about. Cycling retailers don't stock anything, and only have staff to sell new bikes and gear.
They've also been in business long enough to be one of the shops that jumped ship, going from Schwinn to Giant when Schwinn started opening their own retail stores. And we know how well that turned out...
Yeah, there’s a few “new dogs” getting it right, and a few “old dogs” that have done it right all along.
YO!!!!! 4:54 that was the Erlton Bike Shop in Cherry Hill NJ!!! That's the bike shop i was in most recently, and Rich always supported our county-wide co-op, very helpful guy. I hardly ever enter bike shops at all, but my favorite taqueria is like 5 doors down from the Erlton Bike Shop....
Park Bikes Trek at Olympic Park in Sydney , Australia has a road cycling group within and it functions like an "EXCLUSIVE BRETHEREN" . I was rejected by them years ago even though I had a good bicycle and the correct apparel .
$1.50/word
Thanks for this video! I totally agree! I have a bike I bought at my local Walmart. I upgraded the parts where it was possible, and today it is what I want it to be - a bike I can take to my local trails and have fun with, challenging every feature! It is the bike I really enjoy riding. I had bought one of those expensive bikes (Trek hardtail), but I did not enjoy it compared to my old ride, so I gave it to my daughter. I am fine with my upgraded Genesis Saber 2600 mountain bike!
200%agree Real bike shops never go out of style keep up the message everyone can enjoy the simplicity of just having a good time
I live in socal where stores are everywhere, not many shops. but one thing I've learned is that when people buy new bikes they dump their old ones for very cheap. it's been so long since I've had a new bike.....but new to me suits me real fine especially since so many bikes are really lightly used and pretty much ,"new" anyway. high tech also means high maintenance. suspension, index shifting with lots of gears means always needing to tweak something ( especially if one has a stable ). rigid, hardtails with friction shifters I'm finding I like the best. 😛👍
then there's always the needed, missing / hard to find parts that are an endless job to search and track down and procure. but hey...........it's a hobby
My local Trek shop offers financing like buyin a car at a Deaalership. People can't afford to finance a bike especially overpriced road sport and e- bikes.
No more credit at low rates is what's killing the market.
Here in Germany, the landscape seems to be a bit more diverse. You get:
1) big box stores with cheap bikes aimed at non-cyclists. Quality from abysmal to so-so.
2) mail order/internet shops, selling anything and everything from total garbage to high-end stuff. Some of these also operate physical stores in big towns; the market leader has surprisingly qualified personnel and a "house brand" that is good quality and great value. (But that still means >1.8k€)
3) "corporate" bike stores (Trek, Specialized, Cube)
4) legacy bike shops selling/servicing mostly city/trekking bikes
5) hipster bike shops (selling vintage racing bikes at close to retail for new ones, and the only ones to service old bikes, because they sit on a mountain of used and NOS french and italian parts)
6) Bike cafés (selling specialty coffee and the occasional 5k€ to 10k€-high-end racing bike)
7) cargo bike stores selling cargo-ebikes to soy-latte moms.
Stores 5) to 7) are usually only to be found in gentrified neighbourhoods of metropolitan areas. 1) are situated in business parks near furniture stores at the edge of town, 3) are near office complexes, 4) can be in any residential area, sometimes they even managed to hold on in gentrified neighbourhoods...
My current "happy place" is actually of type 6. They only sell Time, Factor and Cinelli. They offer a small selection of accessories. Everything is expensive (but of high quality). But the owner couple does everything they can to make any- and everybody body feel welcome, they host workshops, group rides, book presentations, etc and organize "test rides" with the brands they sell as social events, open to anyone interested, no matter if you could actually afford to buy one. But this get's you hooked. And while they are patiently waiting for you to get that promotion, or that executive bonus, or to qualify for a tax-advantaged bike-leasing over your employer scheme, they will gladly sell you cakes and coffee in the meantime. Last autumn, they finally "got me" and I leased a bike worth more than my car. Under normal circumstances, I would never have spent so much money. But four-figure tax savings were a powerful argument...
My old 1990s road bike is serviced by a small one-man business of type 5, who is also currently restoring my late grandfather's randonneuse.
The old road bike I built myself as a teenager in a shop of type 4), paying only for the parts and under the instruction and supervision of the owner. The wife's everyday city-bike was bought new from a shop of this type. Routine maintenance of my regular bike (1990s rigid mountain bike turned commuter by addition of fenders and rack) I usually do myself, jobs requiring special tools I will outsorce to my favourite bike hipster.
No, I don't think "the bike industry" is in trouble. At least not as a whole. At least here in Europe, there are market niches for all different kinds of shops and business models. The impression I, as a european, get from the internet is that the problem in the US is that the bike scene seems to be highly polarized. You either are a cyclist, or you are not. And a lot of cycling seems to be done competetively. While over here, riding a bike is much more "normal". There is about one bike per capita in Germany. ~80% of households own a bike. Which opens a lot of more room for "practical" bikes - and everything in between. It is not uncommon to see "practical bikes", i.e. city bikes with fenders, racks, hub dynamos and upright riding position selling for well over 1k€- (Some of these even going up to 3k€... out an electric motor and a battery in, and it's easily 3 to 5k€ for "everyday", practical bikes). This might seem expensive at first, but decent components have their price. And if you ride your bike a lot, your tolerance for little annoyances declines. Also, even a 1500€ bik that replaces only half of your in-city car trips or transit rides will have paid for itself in less than four years. ( A used *quality* bike that is properly serviced could do the same job much cheaper, but like with cars, not everyone seems to be willing to spent more for a mechanic's hour than what he paid the machine itself).
I took my surly preamble to get the rear brake adjusted yesterday into the specialized concept store in my town as it wasn't working and figured hey its a bike shop... they charged me £50 ($62). I felt like I was inside a fashion magazine and it was kinda awkward walking in with my turned up jeans that have chain grease on the inside and a beanie hat! None of the bikes had prices apart from the second handers, lowest priced bike i saw was £3,800 We have 3 shops, one is specialized, the other is somehow more expensive than specialized and is like a rapha/racing boutique/cafe store that sells $200 saddles, pays its employees minimum wage and the owner drives a brand new audi. And the other is a more local ish store but they have 3 shops around here and their prices are still high but also impossible to get in the workshop as thats where most non racer bike users try and take their bike. They told me it would be over 2 weeks to look at my bike when I called in on the ride back from work and you cant walk in without them trying to sell you a 4k trek E bike. I got my first bike as a kid from a skip/dumpster then from a second hand shop called ace cycles for probably £50. Then he had to work out of a van and do it that way but eventually his buisness shut down. Unfortunately the town im in is a wealthy area (I am not) and since the tour de france in 2014 decided to begin its race here in Yorkshire UK its been middle aged dudes in full team sky lycra on 9k bikes who wont say hi back to me on the bike path. My dream is to do my own bike mobile but my knowledge is super poor compared to yours but I have been tinkering with a 90s specialized crosstrail to try improve. Anyways not sure what my point is but I love your videos from England!
Close to home for me there is a small independent guy that runs a great bike shop. It's a small shop and is one of my favorite shops to go to. Always get service and the owner knows all his regular customers. If he doesn't have it he's always happy to order it.
Very well put Andy where I live we have a few sterile cycle shops. I don’t shop there at all I have two shops that I go to for the bikes I love to ride and repair. The first shop is Rapp’s bicycle shop and the second one is Bicycle Heaven. Really enjoy watching your videos on bicycle’s and everything about the industry. To let yinz know my newest bike is a 2002 and my oldest bike is a 1962 Schwinn American. Keep up the great work and stay safe out there.
My LBS is an independent Trek shop and like 7 of the ten closest to me within 50 miles are all the same thing, they have the market cornered in WNY, especially the rural towns.
I do like to go to the city and check out Cycling Stores and end up spending a lot of money there because I enjoy it. But maintenance is done by the bike shop.
Love this video bud. Too true. Keep em coming.
Incredible video- loved hearing the business behind the industry
Part of the problem was the Covid turmoil where everyone bought bikes due to boredom to then realise that it takes a ton of time to develop the skills and endurance to enjoy MTBing as now the market is flooded with practically brand new , used bikes as most of these people quit after 2 or 3 rides. The other problem that nobody seems to mention is that E-Bikes are taking over as the average American is lazy these days. Residing in the small city of Manchester NH , where I ride through the city and all the local rail trails about 4-5 times a week to build up endurance for my bike packing and mountain biking adventures. I've noticed that about 50% of people are now riding E-bikes . The majority of the E-bikes that I see are not quality bike store bikes , as most are cheap Amazon E-bikes.
Suspension bikes are also highly overpriced to the point of highway robbery, since you can purchase a brand new HONDA 250f Dirt Bike for $5,000, which requires considerably more material, parts, and labor to produce. They're also heavy and shipped in a wooden box crate, which isn't cheap. There's no full suspension bike on the planet that should cost more than $5,000, unless it is a one-of-a-kind custom frame build as MTB'ers have fallen victim to marketing.
Hahahahahaha you took a screenshot of our bike shop. The guy in the SRAM hat is a great dude. We all agree with what you’re saying 😂.
NICE!! I was waiting for this! Tell him I’d hire him in a heartbeat.
Love the video Bike Farmer. I live in South Orange County California. I started my career in the bike world 2018 at my local BIKE SHOP Buy My Bikes in SJC. After years there and gaining experience I was able to get a job as a full time mechanic at the YT Mill in San Clemente. I have now seen both sides of this industry. I loved working for BMB, I learned how to write up service, sell bikes, perform tuneups, build wheels, service suspension parts, etc. With that experience I gained I am performing great at YT. The Mill is the opposite of the little shop I started. Clean floors, my own tidy and organized work station, sales area, separated unseen by the general public service area,mountain bikes starting at the $2,000 range and up etc. All the new expensive parts and tools I could dream of. The small town bike shop is great for getting your food in the door and gaining knowledge and experience working on a range of bikes, or a good way to have a near retirement style job. The problems with the small shop I dearly love is that I didn’t have any more place to go up, earn more money and have benefits. I personally love mountain biking and have way too many bikes, and I want to work on the high end new bikes. At the small town shop I rarely got to do that. Mostly my tuneups were on 10+ year old bikes tired mountain bikes, filthy crusty e-bikes, rusty beach cruisers, Walmart bikes, heavily abused fat tire e-bikes. It got to a point where the nicest easiest bikes I was working on were my own. At YT I’m working on only YT brand mountain bikes. We have like 90% of all the parts needed to fix anything wrong on like the 8 models that we sell. Personally I also find it’s much easier to fix a bike that costs a lot since there is so much support (spare parts wise) compared to the bike shop. At the Mill I can just walk over to the giant wall of parts nicely organized, get my new part, jump over to my personal computer at my work station and take it out if inventory. At BMB I would go to the giant tool box converted into a messy parts storage, and search for a few minutes to find what I’m looking for or what is close enough to work. I know I haven’t had the same amount of time at the YT mill compared to BMB but for me I like it so much more. It’s easier for me coming to this nice organized, high end place from a place where somebody with ocd would probably have a brain aneurysm. I could not have this new job without the experience and knowledge I learned from the small town shop. But for me the grass is way greener and easier to deal with on the other side.
A 401k, PTO, health and dental insurance also helps alot. I WILL ALWAYS BUY PARTS AND SUPPORT MY LOCAL BIKE SHOP. BUY MY BIKES BUY MY BIKES BUY MY BIKES 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
My local BS I found out was just bought up on the first by another company that has two stores. My local BS is kind of a Cycle Store in that they have mostly very expensive MTB's on the floor. NO commuters types of any kind. I will keep on riding my 1991 Coscto MTB with all the upgrades I have made to it. The local BS has a Roloff hub I'm looking at getting for another old bike rebuild. Can get it on the cheap. At 79, I still ride 8 miles a day and do all my shopping with the bike and a couple of panniers.
At least you all have a bike shop/ cycling store to rant about!
I am my own LBS and Amazon is my parts supplier, due to there not being a single actual bike shop in the entire country.
I've been wrenching on my own bikes for the better part of 35 years, so I don't really mind, but before the internet and Amazon, it was basically impossible to get anything. Now I am on a mission to collect all worthwhile bikes around here that I can get my hands on and rebuild them.
Where are you?
@@samblenkharn8099 it's kinda in my name 😁 I am in Fiji
@@seventysevenfiji whoops missed that! 😅
@@samblenkharn8099 all good! 😊
Pretty different to how bike culture here in Germany is. Though the general division of bike shop and cycling store is quite apt. Though a lot of the older shops that look back on decades of successful operation have grown to be just as big as cycling stores. The attitude they have is different and they aren't usually as excessively tidied up as cycling stores though.
We have a mutation of cycling stores over here it's the bike discounters and they are generally more common to see then actual brand run cycling stores. So, these aren't focused on one specific brand but they might have their own in-house brand(s) in addition to a selection of local-ish large volume and/or budgety brands like Cube. Some of them have their own in-house brand for accessories, parts and tools though. The service you can get at these places can very to the extreme depending on wich employee you're dealing with. They might not know that there is a difference in brake cables from road bikes to basically everything else or they might have north of 10 years of professional and hobbyist experience in addition to our pretty in depth apprentice ship for bike mechanic-ing and are only working there because there was nothing more "culturally elevated" available to them at the time they moved to the region.
The shop I work at has opened right on the dawn of lock-down, I only came in about one and a half to two years later, so I only caught the tail end of it. It's settled in a small town with lots of smaller settlements/villages in the area. We sell Trek among other equally expensive quality brands. Trek also opened up a store in one of the major neighboring cities. Our business has been largely un-impacted. Driving more then 20km (~12.5 miles) to get your bike serviced is considered a significant bother around here. People that used to visit the major cities around us, both of wich are above 30km away, and their many, many bike shops, cycling stores and bike discounters now more and more often come to us for service etc. as word of our existence spreads throughout the region.
Due to us having this very special thing that is bike leasing, the average bike we sell actually goes for about 3k to 4k. And that's in this market and economy. Though, while the bikes are more expensive, we don't actually make that much more money since the leasing companies take a cut of the margin. And since the owner hasn't been advised all that greatly in hindsight when he opened the sotre, we sit on a very substantial stockpile of bikes for our small 3 people operation. Though it's actually just the owner and his two apprentices, so it's not actually even a full 3 people.
This isn’t representative of American cycling culture. Just my own personal opinion
Some 30 years ago, I moved to small suburb of a large city. It was full of Ma and Pa stores. I referred it to be Mayberry by the Sea. Since then retails stores have gone upscale homogenized. I now refer to my small town as Beverly Hills by the Sea. Sterol Pretentiousness has replaced the individual and sometimes funky charm...
The corporate mentality has trickled down every where. It's easy to understand why the soles of bike shops are evaporating. As you pointed out, maybe it's the corporate industry world that be at greater risk.
I like your long definitions. Good luck, Dude.
Very well put! As a guy who’s been in this biz since the early 90’s, I couldn’t have said it better myself! Mine would’ve had way more F words in it. 😂😂
The bike shop I worked at used to sell trek. It was open for 24 yrs. Well the bike shop was given an ultimatum to only carry trek. But the bike shop refused. So the trek people showed up with a truck and picked up all the trek bicycles and emptied the bike shop. So our bike shop started to carry Giant instead. Trek has 3 stores here owned by one owner. Its main focus is e-bikes. The guy I worked with at bike store worked as a mech there the entire 24 yrs the shop was open with two different owners. Both owners got burnt out. The shop is now closed. July of 2020. There is no other shop like it. We were the largest dealer and repair in the area. Completely family owned and we catered to families on 100 plus mile multi use path system. A specialized bike shop is family owned bike shop is barely cutting it. 8:15 it’s tiny and caters to high end roadies. Two of my friends have worked there and quit. The owner is a retired racer and doesn’t know how to run a bike shop imo. He bought up a large part of our tools and inventory when we closed. 3 yrs in at the time he came from accross the country to buy it. He was already stressed. It seems like 10-12 yrs is the burn out here owning a LBS. but sadly the 3 trek factory stores owned by the same person are going strong and for a very long time sigh. I do like one of the mechanics there he does great work. But I mostly work on my own bikes and I get together with my old coworkers if I don’t have a tool they have etc I like to shop at LBS but haven’t found one I want to give my money too. The shop I worked at I was the top customer for 14 yrs
I love the old 100mm / 135mm standard that I grew up with. Simple is my favorite. Spinning my own wrenches and single-speeding was my great rebellion.
10/10 use of slide whistle sound effect. Make me think of the hipster as heck bike shops I used to go to as a kid, god I miss them. They were all about bikes and who knows how they stayed in business the way it should be. Maybe it was how incredibly un mainstream bikes were here at the time but it was a shop you could trust and products you could afford even as a youngster.
You are right my city has 1-2 bike shops and the rest are sterile cycling stores selling absurdly expensive products only the diehards can afford. We need a shake up and return to the basics.
Excellent! Couldn't have said it better myself. Cycling Stores just plain suck.
exactly .... give me reliability over performance. I own a 21speed Raleigh detour 1 since 2019 I commute daily , changed chain and brake blocks when needed , drop of lube on chain weekly same scwacble marathon plus tyres since new 700 by 35 there a sweet reliable tyre , I know I spelt them wrong 😊
Schwalbe.
That definition was, beautiful, scientific and inspiring.
In my area there is a bit of a balance. There is a pretty strong cycling culture, and mountain biking for example is really big. So really any shop has to sell at least a couple well known brands to keep up with cost of doing business. And those brands do provide a critical customer base that keeps service staff employed, because at a certain point a Trek, or Specialized is going to sell its self a lot of the time. The top corporate brands also have strong offerings with e-bikes, and especially when it comes to the push for better safety standards like UL Listings which are needed for e-bike usage to grow. Id personally like to see more middle ground, and some more smaller brand offerings at the more corporate oriented stores.