Originally Posted by DScott
The best advise I hated to hear was to think about the whole biking thing as a package- you may not get a whole lot off the bike, but can do well on discounts for service and accessories that you're going to buy anyway: pump, shoes, clothing, tires/tubes, etc. Very often, all the stuff seems to cost more than the bike, when it's all said and done.
Smart bike shops should give new bike buyers a 20% discount on all accessories for the next year, instead of only stuff that they buy at the same time they buy the bike. That will keep them coming into the shop instead of buying stuff on-line. Even if the customer knew exactly what they would need in the future, they may not have enough extra cash to buy it all at once. The shops should also give a free 1 year membership to a local cycling club to help keep them interested in the sport. Unfortunately, few shops do stuff like this. I wouldn't be surprised if many customers never go back to the shop again and many others drop out of the sport after a year or two.