I love working on bikes and want to share my passion with others.
Hi, I’m Justin, and I’m a bike guy. I’ve been in the cycling industry for over 30 years (I know, that makes me old!). I’ve been a professional bicycle mechanic for most of those years. Now I work from home as a Customer Success Manager for a software team. But I still love fixing up, working on bikes, and riding them too!
My passion for bikes started when my parents opened a shop in the 1980s called Parker Bikes (we were located in Parker, Colorado). My love for cycling has continued since then, in my work and with my hobbies of road cycling and mountain biking. After my parents’ shop closed, I worked for other bike shops (including Lee’s Cyclery in Fort Collins), where I built and sold bikes, fixed and tuned up bikes, and managed inventory.
So, next time you’re talking cycling with someone and wondering how to get started or where to go from here, you can think, “I know a guy!”
Where I live, the cost of a house or renting an apartment has gone through the roof. Once, a person could pay their rent with one, average size paycheck, now it takes 2 and part of a third. People don't have the money to spend thousands on a bike or anything else. Plus, the younger generation has become really good a questioning why we do what we do, meaning why work our tails off to have things only to die shortly after retirement. Why not go without and find a less stressful job or work less. We are living in a transitional time, and I am not sure we all know it yet, bike companies don't.
Do you have a feeling that all chains behave like "silca-fobic" ? I found that Silca Super Secret doesn't stay on a chain easily (comparing to Squirt or other waxes)
Is what was completely predictable happening? Yes. So many new bikes were sold to new riders during Covid. And now all those bikes are on the used market. Add the inflated prices from companies thinking the market is the same as it was 2-3 years ago. Plus actual inflation... Like I said. Completely predictable.
I dont really care. I buy 2nd hand sorry! So much good stuff at bargain bargain prices if used. Just buy from a bored dentist who went back to golf and tennis. All you big bike brands and GCN can eff yourself. 15k usd for a bike. What a joke😂
Performance/Nashbar is still around (at least the name is). It's owned by the A Main Hobbies enterprise, and they have a warehouse and retail store in Chico, CA.
C'est La Vie. With their price structure being as high as they were, I was unimpressed. With that said, I had purchased quite a few bikes over that time frame, includuding several custom frames, built to my blueprints and constraints. The industry has had many contractions over the years. Look at the manufacturers that have thrown in the towel over the last 3-4 years. Colorado Cyclist... I purchased many parts from them, going back to their days of paper catalogs to recently.
I have been a customer of the The Pro's Closet for years. They recently have gotten away from selling less expensive, older bikes (metal, rim brake). Every bike they were selling recently was newer and more expensive. I stopped buying used bikes from them.
In order to deal with blackmail from the big manufacturers to purchase an excessive amount of merchandise that can't be sold fast enough in the local bike shop, in Germany the cooperatives appeared like ZEG (i.e. central purchasing cooperative). ZEG has hundreds of local independent bike shops, but with a central purchasing that can buy inventory at bulk prices and serve their local bike store members. That's how they can stay profitable with low local inventory and still make a profit. The ZEG model has its roots in the agriculture domain where local farmers cooperated in buying expensive tools and machines and after harvest sold their products to the cooperative to bigger markets.
The Bike COOP started to do that but failed. They ended up just being a value prop for Advertising and Shipping, plus some other resource tools. What I would like to see is a COOP that provides higher purchasing power for small or garage/mobile service shops that the wholesalers can't get you on purchasing limits and shipping. Ummm maybe that I Know A Guy can be that portal.
You are definitely being seen with that green. Who cares if you’re having fun though??? After watching the channel, bought a 2006 Diamondback Podium 5 mainly for the wheelset. Took some tips and tricks from the channel and got the frame looking pretty sharp (was in storage for quite awhile and needing lots of love) and tons better. Saved one from taking up space at a land fill somewhere. Saved quite a bit on the pocket book too. Cheers. Have a good one.
Cannondale Dual Sport Bikes, have you owned or ridden one? What do you think of the Cannondale bikes? Check out the other "This Old Bike" hanging out with the guy. videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-crA5Ytp7CEE.html Tools and Products Featured (Affiliate): Shop Tools to Parts That I Use in the "Garage Shop": www.amazon.com/shop/iknowaguybicycles 15% Off Lithium Products that I used in this video: lithiumautocare.com/?ref=IKnowAGuyBicycles
Emtbs are stupidly priced. The amount of engineering and manufacturing compared to dirtbikes makes no freakin sense and Emtbs sometimes cost more than dirtbikes! What a joke!
Makes me wonder what works.. I'm thinking of Trek going into this business with their second hand program. Will it go this way? If you look up articles in the Daily Camera (Boulder) there were other funding rounds in their past less but still in the millions. Those guys burned through a lot of bucks.
From insane growth numbers just a few years back, to rock bottom. The increaising numbers of people riding decent Chinese open mold frames along with Brands like Superior and Polygon among a host of others, which offer very good bikes at much lower prices has taken its toll on elitist mentality in the industry. Many companies fighting to salvage their brands are offering bikes at incredibly reduced prices.. Some better known brand name bikes were asking the moon for their carbon framed bikes, with extremely high markups on that part of the bike, and it just didnt make sense in an age when everyone can check online competitive brands and alternative options online from a host of frame manufacturers. The Pro's closet even tried to spread the propaganda that all Chinese made non-namebrand frames were inferior or unsafe. I laughed at their attempt after racing over 60 races on a Chinese open mould xc mtb all the way to the nationals level in Thailand. After racing more than 10 years in Asia and Colorado I have seen and raced against many great open mold frames and had quite a successful run at xc racing on Chinese frames like Lightcarbon.com.. My first open mould frame was recommended to me by a reputable Thai mechanic and bike shop owner while living in north Thailand and it lasted seven seasons of racing, surviving several hard crashes flawlessly. I only retired it to build a full sus 29er as it was a 27.5.. This is not the end of stories of demise with some big manufacturers and online used bike sellers.
Gradually, then all of a sudden. You don't know how bad it is because no company is going to let you look under the hood until the engine blows. There's a lot more companies out there that seem like they're surviving, but in reality hanging by a thread. This is how you get the perception parotted by a lot of people that the economy is resilient.
Crazy times indeed. Glad you brought up Schwinn, despite different eras and circumstances for Schwinn's demise still remains one of those sad moments in the bike industry for me. There are still a few shops in the Midwest that managed to survive the Schwinn dealer aftermath, dusting themselves off and adapting. Can't help but wonder with a strong focus on the workshop, keeping track of the overheads, developing strong local customer relations, more people riding than ever, this point in time is just another storm to weather. Nice bike table, very cool!
Who would have guessed used tennis-rackets-with-wheels would be a dead end? Too bad they do not have some used steel Mosers with Campy Record 8 for sale.
Next block over, early last year, Specialized Bicycle Components bought Pearl Izumi's vacant 55,000-square-foot building. (I guess I didn't even notice.)
News like this hits hard. How's the lil guy supposed to even open a shop when the market is locked up on every street corner and companies like this that were seemingly doing great are dropping like flies
Yes agree on no surprise. I have been in small business's for 30 plus years, not in the bike industry. Did we have outstanding profits through Covid, Hell Yes, did we hire a ton of employees and buy a bunch of crap.. no. Grew financially and banked it.
this bike is in my wish list. I kinda think "the bike business is in crisis", is bs. these companies, especially huge ones, like giant, can make good sub $1000 bikes. they just don't want to. there's no incentive for them to as long as were writing checks for $3000 for an entry level bike, they'll keep selling them. what should happen is ppl get some common sense & take a step back & realize their grossly over paying for these products, albeit bikes, phones, vehicles etc. regardless of the brand name; specialized, iPhone, chevy, their still put together in a countries that hate our guts, made by children in sweat shops. Even if they're put together well. then they're shipped here so some over paid douche bag can bolt it together and call it American. We've turned into the worlds, worst, irresponsible consumers.
Campagnolo needs to go back to full retro mechanical. They perfected bicycle components years ago. Consumers don't need carbon wheels, disc brakes, electronic shifting, or bother with tubeless tires and they don't want to pay for that crap
It's because late-model enthusiast bikes are terrible values.. fragile and expensive to maintain - fashion pieces designed to become obsolete. Everything carbon is disposable.
Pro bike kit, Pros closet, Wiggle, Chain reactions cycles there has been a bunch of these closures in Europe also, the sport or road cycling is in trouble it is elite level or nothing.
That's good to know; thanks for sharing. Over here, we had Colorado Cyclist, Planet Cyclery, and Stages go under. Stages were approved to be sold to Giant under their bankruptcy.
