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End of the road for independent bike distributors?

bicycleretailer.com

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Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#81

Post by CydeWeys »

jacobrobbins wrote: post #74
CydeWeys wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My go-to bike shop is a commuter shop right at the base of the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown. He's always getting all sorts of walk-ins from, e.g., banged-up people whose brakes failed them on the downward slope into the city. The entire space is the maintenance area, and he's always right in front of you working on bikes. You can also order bikes online and have them shipped to him for assembly, and his rates are ex…

so glad to see that place mentioned! it was my morning coffee stop when i lived in new york. the owner/operator is great to chat to, lots of interesting stories about the neighborhood.

Yeah, lots of interesting stories about the neighborhood and your typical "just rolled into the shop" horror stories from people's commutes. Lots of banged-up people coming through there. He also does a big business with bike messengers, and if you end up chatting with them you hear all sorts of interesting stories. Many stories involve running from the cops for traffic violations as if it's just a routine thing. It's true though ... bike messengers don't get tickets as they won't let themselves be caught, and the police aren't going to start a dangerous car chase over a ~$200 ticket.

It's also hilarious how often people waiting for the Chinatown buses try to use his bathroom (and how good he's gotten at rebuffing them). I think he should start charging for bathroom access.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#82

Post by liveoneggs »

rhombocombus wrote: post #25

As a 17 year veteran of Independent bicycle dealers, this hits it right on the head. The most successful shop I ever worked at focused their inventory on parts and offered 24 hour turnaround provided the bike didn't require special ordered parts. Service is the only thing that can't be replaced by the internet.

except when you can throw away your $150 bike and replace it for the cost of its repair ;)

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#83

Post by analog31 »

jdietrich wrote: post #80
analog31 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Basic maintenance is an essential cycling skill. Bikes are lightweight machines by necessity, so they can't be over-engineered for reliability. Bikes will inevitably break down on a fairly regular basis. Fortunately, they're also boneheadedly simple machines to fix. You can learn to change an inner tube, align a derailleur, adjust a brake caliper and true a wheel in about an hour. If you have those skills, you can do…

Indeed, and it's also a necessary skill if people are going to buy bikes online. I think it's pretty likely that a bike receives its initial adjustment and testing after it's assembled by the recipient. And I've read about quality lapses such as bearings with little or no lubrication, and insufficiently tensioned wheels.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#84

Post by analog31 »

jpao79 wrote: post #66

I'm surprised the bike manufacturers have not stepped up to create their own branded shops as a way to provide/control a more direct 'experience'. Imagine separate 'Specialized' stores, 'Cannondale' stores or "Gary Fisher' stores all with carefully crafted service and support. It's similar to how the local generic electronics store (including CircuitCity and now BestBuy) got squeezed from the bottom by Target/Walmart…

There's a chain of Trek stores. And Trek owns Gary Fisher.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#86

Post by Zigurd »

icebraining wrote: post #54
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.

Ikea sells a city bike with belt drive and a mount system for racks and a trailer for $400. It is a better-documented assembly process that the you-get-what-a-bike-shop-gets experience of ordering the cheapest online bike, but still a bit challenging on the Ikea scale of difficulty. It has a 25 year warranty on the frame and a 10 year warranty on the belt drive.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#87

Post by walshemj »

jdietrich wrote: post #77
walshemj wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlikely in London where serious multimode bike commuters will be riding Brompton's of which the entry levels are about a grand and nice light weight on is more like £1700-1800

A Brompton is a superb commuter bike, but it's only one option. Most commuters don't need multimodal capabilities, particularly if they live within Zone 6.

Ah rich people who can actual y live that near :-) I was thinking of those that use the train

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#88

Post by petre »

jandrese wrote: post #35
ams6110 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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…

Quality brakes are usually easier to adjust. Like Avid V-brakes or Magura rim brakes for instance. Luckily I did not have to bleed them yet. Cantis are by far the worst, although I've never used Avid Shorties.

Re: End of the road for independent bike distributors?

#89

Post by petre »

lardo wrote: post #38
UncleEntity wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've seen the E-bikes have their own 'dealer network' independent of regular pedal bike shops. There used to be one next door but they moved a while ago, think the rent was getting too high since they've been steadily improving the neighborhood.

Most of the large traditional manufacturers are into ebikes now and although a LBS might only have 0-2 in stock, they can all get you one within a week or so.

They're rather expensive to stock. 2x to 4x the price of a regular bike.
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