Bikespring defunct

[spingineer]

Passed through Castro St in Mountain View and saw a "For Lease" sign in the Bikespring" window. Nothing inside either. I guess it comes as no surprise.

[jimples]

It's been interesting watching that store for the last few months - did I mention I live across the street? - as they were closed with all of the inventory still around and then closed but with that hot S-Works Langster in the window gone and such.

I think it was about two weeks ago that I walked by and saw them loading all of the remaining inventory in to a truck, but it's been closed for a month or two.

I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Bostic]

I bought an Alias 143mm saddle there but that was about it. I didn't care for the guy working there trying to suggestive sell me a new Specialized bike to go with it.

[spingineer]

Yea, I only bought some gloves, tadpole blinkers, and the same Alias saddle. Just didn't get the warm and fuzzy from them. When I saw them first open, I thought about how will this store last. It actually lasted longer than I first thought ... but not for the same reasons I would have thought.

[UmneyDurak]

I am guessing this wasn't a good shop?

[spingineer]

They were a Specialized concept store, but didn't feel the warm and fuzzy with these guys. I heard that they owed Specialized a bunch of money, and were actually sued by Specialized for about $16,000 of unpaid dues (or something like that).

[sweetnsourbkr]

Cyclepath Hayward used to be a Specialized shop, but not anymore. apparently, they had a falling out w/ them too, apparently Specialized gave them the impression that the line was too good for them. Not sure why, but either Specialized is alienating people/shops on purpose, or they just have bad luck with shops.

[johnny99]

Here are a couple of articles on the store:
http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/239.html
http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/452.html

Sounds like they were $1 million in debt after only 6 months of operation. Creditors wanted their money and they declared bankruptcy in October 2007. Bike shops are a tough business.

[minivandriveby]

Any retail shop that uses craigslist for advertising gets a red flag from me. I'm glad their spam will be absent.

[BigSean]

My understanding is that the owner was never around. Just kinda left the employees to handle things. Im not positive, but I think I remember hearing something about an employee embezzling money, and since the owner was'nt around, by the time he figured it out it was too late. Lets face it, Specialized has a great product line, but if ya dont have good people there will be little to no business.

[AzureDrpTp]

There's a lesson in all this... don't open a bike shop.

[sweetnsourbkr]

:roflmao::crash:

[redspoke]

I was driving with the family on Sunday when I saw "KINETIC CYCLES" at this new strip mall on Elk Grove Blvd right off of I-5. Seeing that I have to drive into town (Sacramento) whenever I need something for my bike I was doing the happy dance that there's finally going to be a shop in my "little" town of 140,000. Well there is another on the east side but it's the worst shop I've ever been to so I don't count it. I pulled up and it's just about ready to open. I put it in this thread because I didn't want to start a new one, but it relates in that every bike they have so far is Specialized. I was talking to another cyclist and it is supposedly going to have Specialized-only. I googled it and there is nothing about Kinetic Cycles. Does anyone know anything about them or this? Are they related to Bikespring? Just curious.

[BigSean]

I was driving with the family on Sunday when I saw "KINETIC CYCLES" at this new strip mall on Elk Grove Blvd right off of I-5. Seeing that I have to drive into town (Sacramento) whenever I need something for my bike I was doing the happy dance that there's finally going to be a shop in my "little" town of 140,000. Well there is another on the east side but it's the worst shop I've ever been to so I don't count it. I pulled up and it's just about ready to open. I put it in this thread because I didn't want to start a new one, but it relates in that every bike they have so far is Specialized. I was talking to another cyclist and it is supposedly going to have Specialized-only. I googled it and there is nothing about Kinetic Cycles. Does anyone know anything about them or this? Are they related to Bikespring? Just curious.

No they are not related. But it may be the same owner that just opened in Morgan Hill. I understand he was also opening 3 other Concept Stores.

[redspoke]

Never mind the previous thread... I googled again and they have put up a website within the past 48 hours. D'oh!
For anyone that cares...
http://www.kineticcycles.com/Store_Location.html

[Ty.S]

The specialized website for a long time had a job posting regarding liason positions between the company and concept store owners. I wonder if that has anything to do with the trouble some of these stores are having. I know its not competition from a Trek store, since there is only one and the inventory is suprisingly limited.

[BigSean]

The specialized website for a long time had a job posting regarding liason positions between the company and concept store owners. I wonder if that has anything to do with the trouble some of these stores are having. I know its not competition from a Trek store, since there is only one and the inventory is suprisingly limited.

The Concept stores in So Cal have done very well, in Nor Cal not so much. And I agree about the trek store. They are not gonna be any reason to not suceed. Lousy customer service and little inventory usually leads to customers buying from another shop. Kinda funny that non Trek concept stores have a much larger inventory.:rolleyes: