Originally Posted by
paulb_in_bkln
$400? You're right--that's hardly more than the price of the hub and accessories separately, and almost embarrasses what I paid for the Public mixte five years ago. Sigh.
local bike shops do seem to be caught between flat sales and an industry restructuring to sell either high end or low priced models, I can't tell if it's because of over-production, increasing competition from online, discount stores, bikeshare, mobile sales out of vans, and direct-to-consumer brands, or more likely a combination of all of the above. I don't understand the economics of the bicycle industry, but I would hate for the IBD model to go away as I value test riding in person before I buy. Bailey told me as a small business owner selling bikes in urban Arlington VA he faced a choice between supplementing his bread and butter sales of the Giant brand he is a dealer for by chasing high value small volume sales among high-end racing or selling Giant's ebikes so he has chosen the latter and they get more floor space than previously. I wish him well, I'm not looking forward to when he retires because he has been so helpful renovating our Raleigh Sports, the next nearest shop to me that services older bikes is 20 miles away, they had a pre-war Rudge up on the bike stand when I popped in a couple of weeks ago. Also I get that sales are seasonal but I'm confused as to whether if consumer prices start to rise faster than wages and a bicycle is a discretionary purchase that would result in fewer sales or if gas prices rise but people still need to get around would this increase sales?