A popular York bike shop is closing after 45 years, saying “we can no longer compete with what is on offer from the internet.”
York Cycleworks announced the closure on Facebook, writing that “We have tried our best and had a blast meeting some brilliant characters along the way. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us over the years. Also, a huge thank you to the wonderful team members who have been part of our rich history.”
“We’ve got quite a rich history,” company director Andy Fraser tells road.cc. “We started in the ‘80s as a workers’ co-op and then morphed since then. We’ve supported the road racing scene and had teams over the years, while as a shop we’ve wanted to support a lot of cyclists and kids coming through.
“We’re a local shop supporting local people but we’ve come up short.” he adds.
In addition to forming the bedrock of a local community, York Cycleworks also mingled with the cycling elite, hosting events with multiple Olympic Champion Ed Clancy, and supporting the Eritrean team during the Road World Championships in Yorkshire in 2019. The team that year was headed by Daniel Teklehaimanot, the first black African to wear the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France.
Fraser’s personal highlight though was when their own Alastair Kay beat four-time Vuelta a Espana winner Roberto Heras to the Brompton World Championship title at Blenheim Palace.
The end for York Cycleworks has arrived at a tough time for the bike industry.
“We’re a shop that offers servicing; we’ve got the best workshop and mechanics round here. We offer what the internet can’t, but it’s not enough. We’re still bonkers busy with repairs but it just doesn’t bring us enough money.
“We just wanted to look after our patch. But times have changed and other’s want a slice of our pie. We’ve packed it in now so we don’t cause any ripples rather than try and soldier on.”
The undercutting of online retailers, coupled with the industry over-production during the pandemic, have been sources of difficulty for several retailers, and York Cycleworks is no exception.
“We need to be selling carbon road bikes from £3000 upwards to make a profit, that’s just where the margin is. There’s no margin in a £650 bike.
“But since Covid, and the overproduction of bikes, Trek [York Cycleworks’ main supplier] have pulled the rug from under our feet. They’re selling to larger retailers who are smashing the prices out of reach for us. We’ve got nothing to support the business.”
“My time here has been a blast, we look at this and we’ve done our very best. It’s just the circumstances we’re facing that’s made it impossible.”
51 thoughts on ““We offer what the internet can’t. But it’s not enough”: Popular bike shop closing after 45 years, “can no longer compete” with online retailers”
Minimum wage, escalating
Minimum wage, escalating taxes, greedy councils. Honest businesses have suffered under current and previous governments and councils tax-mad and ill-thought out policies whos purpose seems only to fund pet projects and those who contribute nothing. Not everyone can replace their workforce with the actual customer, such as we see with Tesco and their self-checkout garbage. Only the BIG businesses can survive in this era. God forbid people want to have their own business. Sad times, but you all voted for it.
alexuk wrote:
Well, yes … in that (having spent some years in York, in their middle period) I didn’t go up the hill and live on a moor, growing my own bike frames and tarmac, while actively opposing councils, government and international corporations…
… or … what the heck are you taking about now?
Under the current government,
Under the current government, employer National Insurance contributions have risen 1.2% from 13.8%. To mitigate this effect for small businesses, the employment allowance has doubled, meaning businesses can employ up to four full-time minimum wage workers without paying any National Insurance contributions. From next year, business rates for high street stores will be reduced to help bricks and mortar shops be competitive with online retail. So although you desperately try to lump this government in with the preceeding fourteen years of corruption, sleaze, incompetence and greed it won’t wash. If you think the minimum wage is a problem then bollocks to you, quite frankly, £12.44 an hour for over 21s and £10 an hour for 18-21s? Would you want to try living on that?
Rendel Harris wrote:
I think it was a mistake to increase the rate of NI (regardless of limited off-sets), and the government could/should have found the money from elsewhere (fuel duty, tax on social media companies, out of town and internet shopping, private jets etc), but I completely agree that it was right to put up the minimum wage. Unfortunately, it’s become too easy to lump the increase in minimum wage and NI together, and fair or not, if a policy increases staff costs, then a business owner has to find a way to cope.
Not a happy chap are you!
Not a happy chap are you!
Deciding not to pay people for their work is a very nasty approach, it doesn’t scale well, and is a race to a very miserable bottom.
As for people who contribute less than you feel you do, we look after each other because we are people.
alexuk wrote:
Yes, I fully agree. Those who contribute nothing are costing us too much and we should put a stop to it. Let’s close all schools, colleges and universities (apart from those for foreign students or anyone willing to pay the full cost of their education). Let’s also get rid on all social care. And hospitals, we don’t need so many if we cut care for the elderly (unless they are still in employment) and maternity care (because children are just a drain on our country until they start earning money).
I have a plan, we get rid of anyone who is under 16 and over 60 (or 17 and 70, it has to have a ring to it). We can send the children and elderly to Rwanda (because it’s a safe country, we have legislation to prove it). The younger elderly care for the babies and the older children care for the elder elderly, all funded by selling Werther’s Original at inflated prices.
That saves the UK around £90bn a year from not having schools and social care and about £150bn (48% of the welfare budget) from pension payments.
Who knew that Alexuk’s comment could lead to the country saving so much money?!
Jogle wrote:
I think I see a flaw in your plan.
A true story. My lbs failed
A true story. My lbs failed to properly tighten a rear qr axle on my bike following a service. i went for a ride following day and it gradually worked loose causing damage to the carbon rear drop out. Bike shop told me to get lost when i complained. said i should have noticed. I did notice when brakingbut by then it was too late.I have never used them again. My partner took her bike into that very same shop a few weeks back against my advice. Bike has a flat tyre and i am now tubeless so no repair kits any more. They fix it or rather replace the tube. She tells me something seems not right with the steering. I check the wheel and lo and behold-a loose qr!
mdavidford wrote:
I think I see a flaw in your plan. — Jogle
I was thinking that the UK government could corner the market in Werther’s Originals in Rwanda. Maybe they could use the people they send out there as Werther’s Original mules; one suitcase for clothes, the other for contraband.
I see that Nigel Farage thinks that he can save £234bn over a number of years by removing Indefinite Leave to Remain and yet here we are doing more than that in one year. The bloke is an amateur!
With a median age of around
With a median age of around 20, I’m not sure Rwanda is your best target market – Japan might be a better bet.
I used to go cycling with
I used to go cycling with this lot when I was first getting on to cycling ~20 years ago, always a good bunch of guys and a fantastic shop. Shame to see it gone.
When it’s all about sales and
When it’s all about sales and not about service for the manufacturer, the customer is devalued then the local business model fails. It’s all Canyons fault really…isn’t it?. …but then the whole problem here is driven by global growth capitalism, which perversely is what the majority keep voting for when when we want to buy everything at the lowest price in a global (virtual) market. Who will service our bikes? We’ll be doing it ourselves.
…I’ve learnt to after receiving bad service from numerous local bike stores AND having my livelihood smashed by the pandemic. The cycling industries woes are their customers woes. It’s an eco system that requires a different approach that revalues everyone involved. How about non-profit?
GravelIsNothingNew wrote:
Was going to go with Henry Ford * but probably the genesis was far earlier.
* Via the anecdote of Ford’s engineers being tasked to find out what parts failed soonest, and discovering that pretty much everything broke at some point except for some pin – which then in the story Ford tells them to make more cheaply!
Bought a bike from them about
Bought a bike from them about 15 years ago. Came with incorrect mudguards and a battered pannier rack. After its 6 month free service rode off with brake pads rubbing on the rims. Never went back.
I tired to use my LBS
I tired to use my LBS recently, a place I have bought two bikes from over the last decade. Needed my rear hydraulic brake fixing/replacing and my dropper seatpost was playing up. Told they were too busy, complete an online request form and it would be around 8 weeks.
Tried another respected LBS in my area. They would only service/repair bikes bought from them.
I bought a new set of hydraulic brakes and a new dropper seatpost. Fitted them myself. Spend over £400.
I was happy to have paid more and let the LBS do this work but I felt like I was being fobbed off and they didn’t want the work.
Surely they should be beating the internet by offering good levels of service and support. They can’t possibly beat the internet on price.
My local bike shop closed its
My wonderful local bike shop closed its physical presence some years ago. Repairs/servicing subsidised everything else. He also got brassed off with people coming into his shop, trying stuff on, declaring it ‘not quite right’ only to seen cycling past a few days later sporting the same item no doubt purchased online. So, he became a mobile mechanic, he’ll be collect your bike, service or repair it and return it gleaming and working like a dream. Providing you live in East Sussex that is! http://www.propelbikes.co.uk
Sad times. I went there when
Sad times. I went there when it opened and quite a bit 91-95 when I lived in the area.
So it’s “how does a bike shop
So (giving a small nod to perhaps a mild degree of “oddballs in the bike industry”) it’s “how does a bike shop make money?”
Plus the shift from “maintenance and repair” being a serious (dominant?) economic activity to “just buy a new one”, accelerated by “order online” now with “same day delivery”.
That’s a whole can of -isms there, but it does seem the process is self-catalysing – and for cycling (generally “cheap” compared to other transport modes, fairly simple mechanics and engineering, low resource requirements etc.) this trend may be thrown into sharp relief.
(Would “clothing” be the poster child here or is it food? If so how do the small folks in those areas continue to get by – and there are orders of magnitude more economic activity in those areas compared to cycling?
Clearly it can’t be by competing on “cheap” or “availability” – is it “experiences”?)
Long ramble but this comment
Long ramble but this comment I found (on old vs. new car reliability) seems apt:
I bet a lot of people reading
I bet a lot of people reading this article and bemoaning the loss of another LBS also do most of their bike shopping online… Use ’em or lose ’em!
I have a sort-of local bike
I have a sort-of local bike shop, which I use when I can, including servicing and attending a bike maintenance class. I’ve bought some odds and ends of peripherals, but a lot of what they sell is only really of interest to the sort of bike enthusiasts that run the shop who are not commuter cyclists. They are tight for space (the chocolate brownies in the cafe will bring in far more money than bike lights), so it is understandable they can’t cater to my every need.
Personally, I’d happily pay a bit extra to buy things in a real shop, from brands that experienced specialist sellers know to be quality. But the limiting factor for me is that they just don’t stock all of the things what I want to buy, and most other people that do want to buy those things won’t pay extra.
Never mind arguments about NI (or minimum wage), the government needs to find a way to ensure that the online retailers are at least paying their fair share of tax.
It’s a real shame another LBS
It’s a real shame another LBS is closing. The excellent Brixton Cycles near me closed earlier this year. I’d been a customer for decades, buying three bikes from there (for me and both my sons), having bikes serviced there and buying loads of bits and pieces over the years. I’m already missing it. There is another LBS not too far away, but it’s not quite as good.
Have you tried Fettle in East
Have you tried Fettle in East Dulwich? Not a bike shop as such, repairs only, but I’ve used them a few times in the last few months and been really impressed, they’ve been able to fit me in the next day every time I’ve asked, even on the day one time, very nice people and the repairs have been done really efficiently and expertly and at a very good price. Particularly appreciate that the assessment is free, you take the bike in, they investigate the problem and they call you and let you know exactly what it’s going to cost and don’t proceed without your approval. If you don’t want to go ahead, no charge. I have no connection with them apart from as a customer but just passing on as a recommendation to a fellow local!
I’ll check it out. But it is
I’ll check it out. But it is in Dulwich!
OldRidgeback wrote:
Shame to hear about this,
Shame to hear about this, nothing in the local rag about it and not on socials.
I have bought a few consumables from them over the years and although they couldn’t discount to Internet prices they always offered the best price they could.
Good luck to all the staff there, hope they gain employment quickly.
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/25482472.york-cycleworks-announces-shock-closure-45-years/
Whoopsie, must have missed it
Whoopsie, must have missed it as it had been drowned out about all the flag nonsense going on around here 😉
Thanks for highlighting
Thanks for highlighting another reason why such shops are not financially viable – because clients think that they always need to be offering a deal and eating away at their margins. I’m sure you don’t start haggling with prices when you go into the electronics shop, so why does everyone do this in bike shops?
I think you are reading
I think you are reading something into their words.
“They always offered the best
“They always offered the best price they could” does not necessarily, or even obviously, imply that the poster haggled with them, just that they offered decent prices within the constraints imposed by their overheads. As for “why does everyone do this in bike shops” I certainly don’t and in nearly half a century of hanging around them I can’t remember seeing anyone else do it either, so I don’t think it’s as commonplace as you believe.
Whoops missed this!
Whoops missed this!
Firstly let me explain… I want a certain item, I check around online for prices for a guideline. I then message local shops saying this is what I can get them for can you match, if they say no fine, if they say yes or offer a discount great. I don’t haggle by going back and forth or threatening to take my custom elsewhere.
I then make my choice. I have frequently bought items from bricks and mortar shops that I could have easily gotten cheaper online because I like to support local.
In fact my LBS normally knocks a bit off for me without asking as I am a repeat customer and have sent other customers their way.
Do I do this at electronics shops. Yup.
Shame to hear of the demise
Shame to hear of the demise of another bike shop. People might have forgotten how this shop came about, a council compulsory purchase on the previous bike shop the had been there for years, only to be sold to a competitor with out the option to have the family shop back. Accusations of dodgy dealing and council collusion which led to a court case.
They always sold quality
They always sold quality stuff, this afternoon I was prepping a mountain bike I bought from them 26 years ago for my (now) wife so that my daughter can take it to uni. Such a shame.
This is what a local bike
This is what a local bike shop did to a colleagues’ bike last week. She told me that her steering felt ‘tight’. The mechanic had routed the gear cables over the handle bar. And the cassette had been replaced but the hub cones had not been correctly tightened and the wheel felt like a loose tooth. Sometimes LBS are their own worst enemies.
How is this relevant to this
How is this relevant to this article?
“We’re still bonkers busy
“We’re still bonkers busy with repairs but it just doesn’t bring us enough money.”
Then charge more for the services. It will put a few people off, so then you’re normal busy with repairs and have a functioning business.
This place has folded by choice.
You should write a book on
You should write a book on maximising business income, “Not making enough money? Charge double for your product!” Most people I know are already severely deterred from using bike shops for repairs by the prices charged (whether that’s fair or not is a matter for a whole different debate, though when I saw a bike shop local to me this weekend offering a “Get ready for winter with our drivetrain degrease” service for £40 I did think oh come on), increasing prices wouldn’t just put a few people off. Bike shops are closing all over the country, often breaking the hearts of owners who have put immense work and passion into building their business, it’s pretty harsh to single out this shop and say they could’ve stayed open and are just closing by choice.
Especially for maintenance,
Especially for maintenance, in a world where many people have got used to the idea that lifecycles are short and you use something for a couple of years until it falls apart / stops working and then just buy another one.
They didn’t suggest double
They didn’t suggest double only an increase. Fairly standard approach to excess demand is to increase price.
Or they could expand the workshop which they say is the income generator.
Unfortunately I can’t see
Unfortunately I can’t see what they were charging for repairs as those pages have been removed in preparation for the shop closing. However, if, like most shops, they were already charging what many people would regard as at the limit for reasonable prices for repairs then raising prices isn’t going to just lose a few customers. Bikes aren’t like cars or central heating systems, they are pretty easy to work on and many people will just take that option if prices go up. I personally used to use bike shops much more often even for jobs that I could do myself, for convenience and the reassurance that it would be done perfectly; nowadays I only use them for a handful of things (headsets, which drive me mad, Di2 diagnostics for which I don’t have the software and so on) because of the high prices.
Expanding the workshop maybe, but that would depend on available space, possible capital for investment, and isn’t there a shortage of trained/experienced bike mechanics at the moment?
I don’t know the business at all and maybe they have taken some bad decisions, but unless the OP has some insider information to which we are not privy and that they are not sharing I think it’s objectionable to make claims that what was probably a very difficult and heartbreaking decision to close wasn’t necessary and that actually they’ve just done it by choice.
However many people treat
However many people treat bikes as disposable items or choose to do their own maintenance, we know this workshop was “bonkers busy”. The business sets the rates, and customers choose whether to use it or not. If demand is high and the business isn’t making money, the rates are too low.
Maybe raising the rates would put off so many customers that the business would still be unsustainable. Maybe it wouldn’t. The only way to find out is to try it. This business chose to shut down instead of trying it, while their workshop was still bonkers busy, so now the mechanics are out of a job and the customers lose their preferred maintenance outfit.
So the people who own this
So the people who own this shop didn’t look into that or any other option to save their business, they could’ve saved it but just decided they couldn’t be bothered and quit? Why would somebody just walk away from their long-established business like that? As, I assume, you have as little knowledge of the balance sheets or anything else to do with his business as I do your comments seem outstandingly negative and victim blaming to me I’m afraid.
Photo on Google Review looks
Photo on Google Review looks like £40, £80, £120, about 3 years ago.
so not un-reasonable pricing brackets for external routing, however, if I were to get into it myself, i would probably look at adding £10-20 for internally routed things that are going to easily add 20min + per hose
All the comments appear to
All the comments appear to miss the main point, Trek withdrew the dealership so they could give it to a National account. York Cycleworks had been a Trek dealer for decades.
Trek have developed a bad reputation in the IBD sector, they’ve been pushing for larger commitments from dealers whilst offering lower profit margins.
I lived in York for 10 years
I lived in York for 10 years and used these guys. All of those that buy through the internet just think this, ” can your computer mend your treasured bike”?
Well Youtube is very handy
Well Youtube is a very handy workshop tool…
Many LBS’s are their own
Many LBS’s are their own worst enemy by keeping hours that office based workers can’t make use of through the week,
opening early or late or a predictable mix would allow for weekend closure for example.
I do think moving toward service only is the most financially beneficial as stock holding/insurances etc seems to be the most crippling factor, getting trained to offer bike fitting too would have better margins on floor cost than a Trek marlin for example
This is my local bike shop
This is my local bike shop and I live in Scarborough. The service was excellent, prices were reasonable and mechanics incredible and they treated everyone as important. From college kids needing a new chain to 10k super bikes for elite riders they did it all. What you don’t mention is the cost of living crisis…which impacts everyone’s disposable income, the fall off in cyclings popularity post Wiggins/ COVID boost, increasingly crowded roads etc which must all be affecting footfall. Add to this TREK chasing the biggest margin and you can see it doesn’t take much to make a business untenable. PS They did bike fit, workshop always busy, servicing wasn’t cheap so I’m guessing that unless you run a bike shop you probably don’t have a full picture of the economics involved. Big thanks to Fraz Jon Liam and everyone else. You’ll be missed.
john59 wrote:
Wait what? I haven’t heard this origin theory before. Who’s been covering that up?
The bike brands do seem to be
The bike brands do seem to be trying to save the local repair shops by making all bikes more complex and using more proprietary parts every year so that home mechanics will struggle more and more to fix their own bikes. I think it’s a disappointing and unfortunate trend, but it should be good for local shops. Of course, the brands aren’t doing it for this reason, but instead because they want to make more $ themselves, but the changes have unsuspected repercusions.