Local Bike Shops – Are they really doing OK?

Our town’s LBS is excellent
Our town’s LBS is excellent for servicing etc if you have Shimano. If you don’t they won’t touch your bike.

Strange that any business will turn away ££ as those of us using Campag etc now take our spending elsewhere as we have no need to walk through their door.

That said, the LBS close to work that I now use is excellent.

Gkam84 wrote:oozaveared

Gkam84 wrote:

oozaveared wrote:

They charged her £40 for a “silver” service on a practically brand new bike. There were no broken parts just gear adjustment but they claimed to have checked brakes etc etc etc. This was a straight forward rip off. It almost certainly just needed a barrel adjustment on the rear derailleur.

If it were my bike shop that would have been free. Free and make a friend. As it happens not only will me colleague not use that shop, nor will I and now nor will the 8 or so cyclists in my office.

I have just opened a repair and servicing workshop, a large wooden workshop in my garden. What you have said is right, that was a rip off, but I also wouldn’t do it for nothing if the bike was not bought from me. I would have charged something nominal, like £5, just because my time is worth something, unlike what some people think. So not making a killing of your friend, while not underselling myself.

bashthebox wrote:

My LBS is small but rushed off their feet. No job too small or too big, simple advice, charming service.

That is just the same as my LBS, hence opening my own workshop, on their advice, with them giving me overspill and contracting me in to help when they are busy, without having to worry about doing tax and things for me.

Neil753 wrote:

A cycle mechanic now has the ability to make a good living from repairing bikes from home or at clients’ premises. Parts supply chains are no longer a problem.

Don’t you believe the parts supply issue to much. Trying to get a trade account from anyone if you are working from home is at best an absolute fricking nightmare. I haven’t been able to get one.

Very soon I hope to be mobile and going out to peoples home or business aswell. So spreading myself further afield and taking on a sportive or two.

So while I am working in conjunction with my LBS, they have kindly let me piggy back on their orders

I agree, traders will do everything they can to keep trade accounts for themselves; that’s human nature. But using the on line suppliers, such as Wiggle, and just making money on your labour, is still way more profitable than having to stand the fixed costs of a LBS. Good luck with your venture.

A cycle mechanic now has the
A cycle mechanic now has the ability to make a good living from repairing bikes from home or at clients’ premises. Parts supply chains are no longer a problem. From a sustainability point of view, it’s far better to have a small town being supported by a number of independent mechanics, earning good money, rather than one LBS owner on very good money, paying his staff much less, and the rest of us having to pick up the tax credit tab through general taxation. Also, almost all the money stays in the community, and the resulting reduced labour rates mean punters have more to spend elsewhere, so increasing the whole community viability thing.

But there’s plenty of scope for a LBS too, perhaps to become a community focal point, with fantastic food and entertainment, integration with local cycle culture, clever manipulation of social media, and maybe based on a co-operative business model that provides a decent wage for a number of people, are just some of the possibilities to be considered by LBS owners reading this right now, hunched behind the till because they can’t be bothered to even stand up when a customer walks into their shop (like the owner of my LBS who thinks the world owes him a living).

The potential for savvy individuals, or indeed LBS owners with ingenuity and passion, especially as we enter an era where the cost of car ownership is likely to be increasingly tenuous for huge numbers of households, is enormous .

Many local shops don’t help
Many local shops don’t help themselves, with poor knowledge, uninspiring stock selection and high prices. Two out of three and you might secure some business from me, but not all three. Here’s some real life examples;

– If you are cock sure adamant that 53/39 is a compact crankset, you won’t get my business.
– If you can order me tyres into the shop in a weeks time, and sell them to me at RRP, you won’t get my business.
– If you charge kids over £10 to fix their puncture with a fresh tube instead of selling them a puncture kit and 15 minutes of your time to show them what to do, guess what, you won’t get my business.

I’m not looking for local shops to beat the internet on price, I’m looking for valid reasons to pay more than the internet.

I have 2 excellent shops near
I have 2 excellent shops near me but I do think they could do themselves a favour by opening later in the evening and on Sundays if they want to compete with online. If I want something quick and can’t wait until Saturday I have no option but to go to a Cycle Surgery near my work or order from Wiggle for fast delivery, as they shut at 6. I cycle past it every night around 6.45 and the number of times I wished it was open…..

There’s plenty of room for
There’s plenty of room for LBS to do well. The old model still works. But not if you don’t know anymore about bikes than the punter. Ok Halfords is not an LBS in my book and gets away with a business model of scale and not really catering to more experienced cyclists. BUT there’s is a model not to follow. I have on occasions asked questions of the mechanic in there only to find that I knew more about bike mechanics than he did and he didn’t actually answer the question. And this was not on high end stuff either.

People will go to their LBS if they know what you are talking about. If they offer good advice with the products that they sell because if they don’t then it’ll be cheaper on Wiggle and CRC. If their staff are actually cyclists not just some kids that have a bike. If they offer more than you can get online. And something absolutely not related to bikes or cycling ie great service.

I’ll give you an example of bad service. My female colleague a newbie to cycling new bike cycl to work scheme had a mechanical issue on the way to work. Gears grinding badly adjusted, cable stretch probably. But she didn’t know and worried about getting home she popped the bike into the LBS.

They charged her £40 for a “silver” service on a practically brand new bike. There were no broken parts just gear adjustment but they claimed to have checked brakes etc etc etc. This was a straight forward rip off. It almost certainly just needed a barrel adjustment on the rear derailleur.

If it were my bike shop that would have been free. Free and make a friend. As it happens not only will me colleague not use that shop, nor will I and now nor will the 8 or so cyclists in my office.

For crying out loud when I took my Smart Car for new tyres I discovered that I didn’t have the locking nut. So I took it to Mercedes in Guildford. They got out the Master Set. Found the right one by trial and error. Unlocked the ones on there and replaced them with ordinary ones. They gave me the reference number of the size needed and said I could buy the right tool online if I wanted which would be much cheaper than their OEM one. They gave me back my locking nuts cleaned and charged me £10 for the ordinary bolts. Nothing for Labour. On my way back to the tyre shop. They basically had me over a barrel and they didn’t take advantage. Now that’s good service.

I often wonder how they
I often wonder how they survive,… mine keeps getting bricks thrown through its window at the moment :*(