My lbs helps support a couple student mtb teams in the community by giving discounts and putting on basic bike repair clinics. The lbs employs some of the students from the bike teams and one of the managers of the shop, coaches on a student mtb team.
Agreed at the start of covid 3 years ago my loyalty to Belmont bikes went out the window when the assistant manager said don't bother coming to me for parts best to go online which I did and still do you're right Amazon within 1 to 2 days. Living in NorCal bay area the local shops portray an unfortunate attitude of arrogance because of all the wealth in the area. Hopefully attitudes will shift as demand lessons.
Completely agree with this. I was in the market for a new bike after 20 years and was convinced on going with Canyon. Given the recent Specialized sales I went down to my LBS to check them out. Now in the end I did end up buying one because the deal was good, but I was surprised by the experience. It wasn't bad, but I was expecting a bit more relationship building. I assumed they would be feeling the pressure from online brands and be looking to compensate and keep me coming back. I decided to drop almost $4k in 20 minutes. When I asked if they could build the bike up with tubeless, the answer was, sure, it will be an extra $30. No offers on accessories (helmets, etc). And, the bike needed to come from another shop and be built, which would take a few days. No real hussle to get it done. I'm sure I could have a Canyon at my house in that time. Again, it wasn't a bad experience in any way and I'm certainly not entitled to additional freebies, I guess I just thought I see more selling and relationship building.
Sounds like it wasn't a bad experience but some room for improvement for sure. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that it is hard to find good help these days too.
About 30 years ago about 1200 bike shops went out of business. This event made it to the cover of Bicycling magazine. We may see another round of this due to the covid hangover aand more direct to consumer brands.
Service is not enough to make it. They will parish. But fixing your bike will be a problem. Don't worry you can get the video on how to fix your your bike . In the end it will be bad for bicycles companies like Trek.
The issue is the majority of bike shops have mediocre mechanics. Most bikes shops can't/don't rebuild dropper posts or shocks themselves. They aren't versed in the various ebike motor/electronic platforms. Many can't even properly bleed brakes. We're going to end up with 1/10th the number of bike shops we have now.
Great video and some excellent points. I love my local bike shop. It reminds me of when I was a kid and how much fun it was to go in, look around, talk with the staff. My local shop BikersEdge in Kaysville, Utah is awesome and friendly. The owner has done a fantastic job training the employees to welcome everyone as they enter. Yes, the ‘one click’ option is easy but if local bike shops create an experience for the customer the customers will want to come back again and again and spend their money. I do!
Thanks for sharing your experience Jim! We have a mixed bag of it in our area. There are awesome ones and those that are kind of stuffy. The community that a LBS can provide is pretty awesome when done right.
I think many shops will die out, and the ones that can foster the community/loyalty will stick around. I guess they might become more club-like than a retail store. Which I wouldn't hate until they collapse due to petty drama like it's an MMO guild.
Some of my favorite ones have turned into almost brew pubs. I always end up buying something too. Cool hangout spots work out better than pure retail these days.
@@Bike198 My LBS got some taps and they drive 2 hours to pick up beer from a brewery that doesn't have distribution in the area. Great beer, exclusivity in the area on top of it, it makes a lot of sense. And rides often end there now, instead of another bar or brewery.
Totally agree. There is a certain aspect of “hands on” and to alienate potential customers is shortsighted. “Hey you bought this part online let’s get it installed for you… by the way we can try to compete price wise and work with you” would go a long way with building trust and a customer base.
It is the short term relationship building where you don't get something immediate in return that goes a long way for long term gains for sure. There are a lot of people that are short sided on that. I also feel like there are a lot of people in the industry that got into it because they love bikes and forget that it is still a business where that is important.
The problem is that there's no money to be made working on bicycles in 2023 unless the shop is very busy . Bike shops rely on sales these days , it's not like the old days when shops were busy and so were the techs . More people especially children were riding bikes 20 years ago also so parents would often drop off kids bikes to be worked on as most kids bikes are now bought at Walmart which are disposable .
I just a new bike from my LBS. I wanted to upgrade my 2013 Stumpjumper. it was nice to go down there and ride different brands and sizes to see what I liked and disliked. I truly thought I wanted a Santa Cruze Hightower but when I rode it, I was not as impressed as I thought I’d be, so I went with a Stumpjumper evo. I agree I think the LBS needs to adapt to the consumer online craze. My local shop will help anyone out regardless of where they bought the bike. Great video
I live in rural USA and have bought two bikes, online, in the last two years. I have in the past taken my bike to the local bike shops which are about an hour away to be worked on. I'm certainly not against doing that. I also like to tinker and learn how to fix things that I might break to save my hour drive to get to the bike shop. I will go to the bike shops on occasion and buy accessories to support them as well. I think it's hard to tell if they will completely go away. My brother rides and lives in a bigger city and is supporting the local bike shops by buying from them. Good take on how those shops are changing their business model to attract people to their shops. I'm a runner at heart and those shops have had to do the same. I'll always point a new rider to the local bike shop to get fitted for a bike. I did that with my first bike purchase (as an adult) and it made a huge difference in comfort and just makes the experience of riding that much better.
You are hitting a big part of what I was trying to portray in the video. No matter where someone gets a bike from...create a great experience for them and they will support you when they can. Thanks for sharing your experience!
