Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

End of the road for independent bike distributors?

bicycleretailer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 91 posts

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#51

Post by icebraining »

UncleEntity wrote: post #14
blakesterz wrote: post #2

Spent years working in a bike shop, so this was a really interesting read for me. He may be right, but I can't help be think that most people just don't care enough about their bikes to have enough customers to sustain a good Service Shop. Most people have a bike, but would never bother taking it somewhere fancy like this to get it fixed or serviced. They paid $100 for it at Walmart. He said something in there that c…

> Most people have a bike, but would never bother taking it somewhere fancy like this to get it fixed or serviced. They be pricy... A while back some girl hit me so we threw my mangled bike in her trunk and went up the street to a bike shop. Would've cost more to fix it (just in parts, who knows about labor) than I paid for the thing so we just went to their sister shop that sold used bikes and she replaced it out of…

Yeah, that's the typical result nowadays when manufacturing is so cheap. I can see that changing somewhat here in Europe as more new products get an ecotax slapped on top, but it will take a while to surpass the cost of a knowledgeable worker in a developed country.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#52

Post by jessaustin »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #49
jandrese wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you've done that work once it will be much easier the next time. Affordable bikes don't have any sort of self adjustment, everything has to be done manually, so if you don't know how to make the adjustments you will be in the shop every few months getting it tuned back up. In my experience shifters are the worst for getting slightly out of whack as the chain wears out, and are the most fiddly when tuning. Brakes…

I'd say wheel truing is the worst. It's tedious and you really want a dedicated wheel truing stand, and you may need spare nipples in case you round one off. Second to that is setting up tubeless tires, it's messy and you might need an air compressor to seat the bead. Derailleurs are easy once you know how to set the limit screws and adjust the cable tension. Disc brakes are tricky, but again if you know the trick th…

Occasionally I imagine that I understand how to set derailleur limit screws. Inevitably, that illusion shatters within a month. b^(

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#53

Post by ilamont »

I buy bikes from local specialty shops because they know how to put the bikes together and service them properly. Other customers like to use them to try accessories before purchase.

The family-owned shop I use in the Boston area (https://farinas.com) has a pretty solid, all-season business model: Bikes on the second floor, lawn mowers and snow blowers on the first floor, and the repair shop on the first floor. I see they also sell generators and chainsaws - items that may not be easy to ship or service online.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#54

Post by icebraining »

intrasight wrote: post #43

I've recently become aware of Canyon Bikes as well as other direct-to-consumer manufacturers. In one video I watched, the buyer had a mobile bike shop come and setup their new bike. I think the mobile bike shop approach plays well with the direct-to-consumer model.

A whole mobile bike shop sounds expensive. More likely these companies will make deals with "freelance labor firms" to get someone there to assemble it.

IKEA has already signaled as much by buying TaskRabbit, but my guess is that there's a good opportunity for an independent middleman to sell services for companies that need a broad geographical coverage but don't have enough sales to keep dedicated teams everywhere.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#55

Post by ghaff »

cdelb wrote: post #39

This has been an ongoing debate in the mountain bike world for a number of years now. Direct to consumer brands have clearly been making a dent in the traditional retail model. Intense just announced a hybrid model, where shops stock demos and consumers receive their new bike directly from Intense. Seems like a win-win - shops don't have to stock slow moving inventory and consumers get lower prices year round. This a…

Not about bikes specifically but I've been a bit surprised that formal showrooming hasn't become a bigger thing. My guess is that, if you're going to have storefronts, for a lot of things you might as well stock merchandise for impulse buyers or those who want to take something home right now.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#56

Post by hosh »

Similar to that recent article posted here about how "experience retailers" are inverting the relationship of the vendor. (Where an experience retailer is actually a marketing arm of the manufacturer).

But yes: I would love to able to drop by and get my bike fixed by someone competent.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#57

Post by Dangeranger »

sevensor wrote: post #9

I live in a college town with several bike shops, all of them still tied to the traditional retail model. The one I suspect has the worst prospects is the most upscale one. They have a big clean showroom full of expensive sporty bikes, but their mechanics are second-rate. You can tell because their shop is in the basement and you're not allowed to come down and watch them work on your bike. And the one time I made th…

This is quite accurate.

In my past I worked at a greasy bike shop and turned wrenches for several years. The smaller bike shops without the gloss and glamour of high end branded stores have a different mentality, and they are far more scrappy than their more "elite" cousins.

What you'll find is that when times get tough the elite shops will shut down because their overhead is higher, they carry more stock of higher priced merchandise, and they tend to have an attitude of exclusion toward their customers.

Meanwhile the scrappy grease shop will just cut back to carrying the best selling items, reduce some operating hours, and maybe drop a brand or two until the market picks back up.

There's a reason why the smaller shops usually have been around since the 70's or 80's and the larger elite shops always look shiny and new; The smaller shops live and the larger fancier shops die.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#58

Post by Dangeranger »

balabaster wrote: post #42
sevensor wrote: post #9

I live in a college town with several bike shops, all of them still tied to the traditional retail model. The one I suspect has the worst prospects is the most upscale one. They have a big clean showroom full of expensive sporty bikes, but their mechanics are second-rate. You can tell because their shop is in the basement and you're not allowed to come down and watch them work on your bike. And the one time I made th…

About the only work I don't do myself on my bikes is handlebar tape because I don't have the patience for that shit. But I'd rather have a bike repair shop at hand that I trust and will offer me the best advice, one that I know I can drop my bike off when I'm in a pinch, one that will tell me what I should order when I need it. I will order it from them every time. I don't want a shop with all the fanciest bikes and…

Yeah, usually the people with the best advice are the tougher older bikers who just want to ride. They've seen the hype cycle come and go a dozen times, and they just don't have time for that kind of BS anymore.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#59

Post by NicoJuicy »

china wrote: post #33
whistlerbrk wrote: post #10

I have spoken with many bike store owners and employees, they know they can't compete with the prices you can get for parts and accessories from online retailers. But very few have an alternate plan. The ones I see who are being smart about this reality are instead focusing on having absolutely excellent mechanics and experiences like shop rides to get groups out on amazing day trips / overnights. There is a huge val…

This is spot on - the shops that will survive will be the ones that provide knowledge, service, and experiences. Group rides, classes, free espressos while your bike is being serviced, etc.

Well, actually, a cook and kitchen shop in a big city just closed. They did all that and still people just ordered from the web

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#60

Post by analog31 »

ams6110 wrote: post #23
criddell wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One model that wasn't mentioned explicitly in the article but I think might work is let customers have their bikes purchased online be shipped to the shop for assembly. I ordered my last bicycle from BikesDirect and it was tricky to get it set up just right. A bike shop could probably do it in an hour. It took me five or six hours. Even if assembly doesn't directly make a lot of profit, it's a great time to sell acce…

> A bike shop could probably do it in an hour. It took me five or six hours. Yes but then you miss out on an almost "bonding" experience with the machine and feeling of intimately understanding it. That's why I do most of my own car repair, even though it takes me longer than a shop would take. Read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance about the "Romantic" vs. "Classical" approach to such things.

For me, being self sufficient for maintenance dramatically alters my cycling experience. Taking my bike to a mechanic would involve loading it into a car and driving it somewhere, waiting, and repeating the process when the work is done.

Naturally, it can take time to get parts, so if something is actually broken, then the bike is out of commission for a while. But a minor benefit of poor urban planning is that I've got space for a spare bike or two, or three, plus a bucket of spares that I've collected over the years from trashed bikes. ;-)

Also, doing the work at home means that there's less of an impediment to keeping the bike in good adjustment more or less continually, so parts don't come loose and start to deteriorate. Major repairs become less frequent. More or less weekly, I go down into the garage and check all of the bikes in the family fleet. The effort is practically trivial. I also involve the kids in this work, whenever possible.

With an eye towards doing my own maintenance, I choose my battles when I get a new (or more likely, used) bike. I prefer parts that are likely to be reliable, and that are straightforward to adjust without a proliferation of special tools.

Post reply on HN