cs1

Material engineering as in any industry or as it pertains to bicycling?

Paul Barnard

[QUOTE=rossiny;20887517]I cannot imagine a shop in this day and age not having the ability to bleed brakes. I cannot imagine someone excusing them for that. What other tools would we excuse them for not having? Chain tool? Cassette removal tool? Star nut seater? Bearing press?

63rickert

Bike business would be about last party to seek Campy's expertise.

chopperbill

Called my popular LBS and as I wanted 26 x 4:00 tire liners. In a unfriendly voice he said he didn’t have any. I asked if he could get them and how much they were. He said nobody makes them and hung up. Well great, I just ordered them from Amazon.

livedarklions

Not that I buy tire liners, but that's exactly the kind of stuff I would never buy at a LBS. If they do happen to have it in stock, it's going to cost way more than buying it online. I never buy tires at LBS unless it's an urgent need, like a blowout many miles from home.

Kapusta

In the area I moved from in SW VA (Blacksburg / Roanoke) there are MORE local bike shops today than 20 years ago.

puma1552

Ordered Specialized gloves from an LBS chain on Sunday, 4/14. Ship to store because otherwise it cost like $9 or something to ship them to my house, and no faster.

7-10 days.

Today is day 9, which I'm sure by their count is day 8 since I ordered on a Sunday morning and they probably count the first day until the calendar went from Monday --> Tuesday. Guess I won't be getting them until tomorrow, or worse, Thursday.

I live in the middle of the country. I never understand this. I live halfway between California and New York, so how come every single time I order something with an X to X+2 delivery window, the delivery date is X+2? Makes no sense how living in the middle of the country results in the absolute longest possibility of the delivery window. Assuming the gloves come from California, logic would dictate someone in California would get them in 7 days, someone in Minnesota would get them in 8 or 9 days, and someone in Maine would get them in 10 days. But no, everyone probably gets them in 10 days.

But yes, 10/11 days to get a simple pair of gloves shipped to the store for free. Should've just bought direct, paid the $9 or whatever it was, and got them shipped to my house in half the time or less. 1.5 weeks or more for something in stock isn't really customer friendly, especially because the gloves cost full retail.

greatscott

That's because there is currently a financial wave going on in the bike shop business due to expensive bikes, parts and accessories, but that wave I "think" will end in about 10 maybe 15 years because what's making that wave is the Baby Boomer generation buying expensive stuff like crazy, once these baby boomers either retire from cycling due to age or die that wave will go away then all those bike shops, especially small ones, will go out of business.

Sy Reene

Yeah, I'd really like to know what it is about the bike equipment manufacturers/distributors that these circumstances exist. Any run o'the mill other type of company (dept stores or whatnot) that has direct sales has typically lower thresholds for free shipping, and their free shipping shows up at your doorstep usually in under a week. A pair of gloves weighs what.. a few ounces. $2.50 in an envelope first class USPS or thereabouts.

Kapusta

I am curious what leads you to this conclusion. Is there some indication that the Boomers in particular are responsible for the increase in sales?

Also, it is my inderstanding that high end bikes are actually not very profitable for most shops. They are not what keeps the doors open in most casss.

I believe the biggest driver of sales in the area I mentioned (Roanoke in particular) was the cities, towns and counties investing a lot in and promoting urban greenways and the extensive MTB opportunities (all sorts of outdoor rec, actually) The revitalization of the downtown and desire among younger people to live in town also leads to more people on bikes.

Maelochs

I'd imagine profit margins are a bit fatter on high-end bikes than on entry-level, but the volume would be a lot less.

As for who would be riding bikes more .... not only do we not know in general, it could well vary from region to region.

The real premise of this thread wasn't even that bike shops in general were dying out ... just that the OP couldn't figure out where to buy what her wanted. His complaint is against a four-store chin which is apparently very popular in his area---hardly "dying out."

livedarklions

Strikes me that trying to predict the future of any market 10-15 years out is a fool's errand. We can predict the aging of the boomers, but we can't predict with any assurance of accuracy developments in social behavior, infrastructure, technology, the economy, demand for cars and fueling, or even climate that could affect what the younger generations are going to want in terms of bikes. You may or may not be right about a boomer wave, and if you are right, obviously that wave will dissipate, but there's no way to predict whether some other trend will rise in its place--I don't think a lot of people were, for example, talking about the rise of ebikes 10 or even 5 years ago, and those are taking up a lot of the floor space of the larger LBS that I go to now.

krecik

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puma1552

Exactly. Even ignoring the fact the world's slowest shipping is clearly padded with profit, delivery should still be quicker. Shipping could be half as long and still padded with profit. Still no call, into the afternoon of another day...

puma1552

I think there are two grades of bike shops:

1) The chain that sells Treks/Specialized's/Giants/Other real, non big-box store bikes, anywhere from $500-$10000, but that is staffed with part time people/kids like any other retail place, and really doesn't know much about bikes or how to service them. These chains are usually really squeaky clean inside, large, etc. They might sell winter sports gear other times of the year. Not the kind of shop that's going to ever see a set of Boras come through the door.

2) The one off, non chain store that's been there forever, carries boutique brands, is messy inside and thus fun to look around in, and has people that work full time and really, really know their stuff. The kind of shop that sees Boras come through the door weekly.

I buy my hybrids at store 1, my roadbikes at store 2, and I service everything at store 2, including going over the bike I may have just bought at store 1.

krecik

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I-Like-To-Bike

What are Boras? Should I be concerned that I don't know?

steve0257

What does a baseball player's agent have to do with bike shops?

krecik

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Kapusta

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bora_Bora

I am sure that clears up nothing, but it is the best I could think of.

Steamer

Bora is a Campy wheel model. Pricey.

Kapusta

Campy... thats why I never heard of it

puma1552

Welp today is now day 13 since I ordered a pair of gloves that were supposed to be delivered to the LBS for in store pickup within 7-10 days. Is today the day? Because if today is not, then neither is tomorrow, and then I'm looking at 15 days once Monday rolls around, and even then, who knows.

Called the LBS two days in a row and the guy who answered the second day (same guy) was obviously sort of annoyed I called again, but it's like...what's the deal here? I ordered them on the 14th, and it said 7-10 days from that day, but upon the second time calling I found out they didn't execute the order until the 16th, and they didn't ship til the 19th. So what is it, 7-10 days from the time they finally ship, 5 whole days after the order is placed? Well, the site certainly didn't say it like that. Either way, we are talking about 2 weeks now for a simple pair of 2-3 oz gloves that, as mentioned, could've been thrown in a first class envelope for $2-$3 within a day or two of ordering and been at my house by the end of the first week. Instead we are going on two weeks for free shipping to the bike shop where I still have to go to to pick them up once they are in. How can I continue to support this?

greatscott

Interesting that you mentioned that, every time I've ever ordered something through a bike shop it took about a week longer than they said it would take. I think it might be due to the possibility that they have to place the order through one of the two or three (maybe more?) middleman places, or suppliers, then those places don't have it in stock so they send for it which takes about a week to get to the supplier, and then the supplier has to process it and send it to the LBS, so 2 to 3 weeks is probably due to shipping to at least two different places, and hanging out in warehouses waiting to be process twice. United Bicycle Supply I think is the largest one. Whereas ordering it online the online store has it in stock, unless it says backordered, so it doesn't have to go through a supplier first, thus comes directly to you in a week.

livedarklions

Mostly, the biggest revelation I've had from this thread is that a few people haven't figured out the obvious: LBS are generally not good places to order things they don't have in stock. I use them a lot, but I literally never order stuff through them.

Obviously, they really don't make any money doing it, and really don't want to do it.