Koyote

Oh look, another person who can't figure out how to use google!

tomato coupe

What's that old saying about pots and kettles?

wheelreason

LOL. A bunch of my fishing and drinking buddies are current and former Wall Street guys, including the guy the shut the lights out at Bear. (no need for sympathy for him, he did fine) If ever I need "bailing out" I hope it's not done via smoke and mirrors using competitors as middlemen, so they can fire sale me to one of them. But yes, they received $ from the discount window (as did everyone else in their shoes) only to have it arbitrarily shut on their fingers, so yes, bailed out...

Koyote

Seems like a lot of words just to avoid admitting that you were wrong.

wheelreason

OK. As long as my trades are right...

Kontact

That was me satirically quoting.

tomato coupe

Regardless, you quoted the one person that made that remark, and then complained that

You are such a victim.

Kontact

I am, but just of you knobs. People who exist only to bag on people. My great sin: Thinking that the bike shop branded system has been positive for manufactures, customers and shops.

What an amazing topic for "adults" to have a hissy fit about. But maybe you needed a break from torturing the senior citizen whose theads you revile so much that you can't help posting in them over and over.

Get a life

prj71

It's not the olden days anymore. You can buy a car and have it delivered to your house.

The bike shop branded system has been dying for a while and is being replaced by people (such as myself) that like to shop from the comfort of their own homes. Why do you think the Big 3 will now allow you to buy online and have it delivered to your house? Because they were losing business.

You're problem is that you have a problem with change. In any business you either lead, follow or fall behind. If a business model is unwilling to change...then that's when they fall behind and close their doors.

Kontact

Saying that a company like Trek is "dying" when it has a quarter of the market is beyond out of touch. Those big companies make the market. You underestimate their power to shape the market in general.

Shuttering bike shops will be the unintended consequence of bike companies reacting to the obvious and inevitable fall off after the two year COVID bike boom. Going online solves an immediate cash flow and inventory problem, but like the small towns destroyed by Walmart, the long term economics look dismal. Unless everyone is okay with waiting on a service tech to come to your house to fix the constant slew of problems that "cutting edge" bikes suffer from when actually ridden a lot.


But I'm probably out of touch with current bikes, since I worked on them daily.

Koyote

I would LOVE for the service tech to come to my house! Where do I sign up?

Dude, you're a physical therapist with a sideline selling bike saddles that no one has heard of. Don't BS us.

Kontact

I'm not the inventor. He's a PT. I license from him from the opposite coast.

But now we know what you are. And the word sure isn't short for "detective".


The part you missed is how long you'll wait and how much you'll pay for home service.

Koyote

oof. That's even sadder than I imagined. By the way: does he know you're alienating potential customers here on bf?

I can afford it. And I have quite a few bikes, so the waiting time isn't too important.

tomato coupe

We've got a few mobile bike techs in our area. I haven't used one, but I've seen them out and about. I think it's a viable option for people that don't do their own wrenching.

Kontact

My potential customers aren't a couple of trolls, and don't care about you trolls. I was pleased to see that you are absolutely awful to just about everyone for no reason - it certainly isn't just me. The feedback I'm getting suggests I'll get more sales from not taking your crap.

Glad you have many bikes, so you could care less about anyone but yourself. You're a stellar member of the cycling community.

prj71

LOL!!! Because convenience and lower prices are evil!!!!

Never experienced this with any of the bikes I ordered online.


Glad you said it and not me. You should probably stick to bike seats.

Kontact

You don't even understand that my post is about when there are no bike shops.

So, yet another dumb post from you.

smd4

I loved my local bike shops in CA. They were all over the place back in the 1980s/1990s, at least one in every community. It was great seeing actual dream bikes and components up-close, under bright lights. And the smell of rubber when entering the shop was always intoxicating. They also had things like bike magazines and usually knowledgeable and engaging personnel. I never bought stuff not from a bike store.

Moved to NC 17 years go. We didn't really have a LBS. Years later, Performance came in, but they were pretty far away. And they were...well...Peformance.

Eventually "Spoke Cycles" was established on Main Street by the son of a British frame builder in about 2014. A true professional bike shop, with top-end gear as well as everyday stuff. A real old-school bike shop in the best sense. They were probably there a year or two before I knew about them--the signage was really small. It wasn't until they put a used clunker out by the street with a sign that I realized a bike shop was in the strip mall. And it was awesome--same as the ones I knew in CA.

I had already purchased a new headset on eBay before I knew about them, but as I didn't have the tools to install it, I had them do it. They were just a couple blocks away from me.

Still, by this time, buying online for me was fairly entrenched. Most of the stuff I wanted was, by then, out of production anyway. And most of the mechanical work I would do myself.

Spoke got out of the brick-and-mortar game before the pandemic, and became simply a repair shop run out of his garage by the old owner. I did have him true up my wheels after I built them, before I had a decent truing stand. I do miss a shop of that quality, though, which perhaps we won't see again in my neck of the woods. Am I part of the problem? Yeah, I guess, but mostly owing to circumstances. For many years, I had no choice but to buy on-line.

We do have a Giant dealer, however. We bought my son's Talon there during the height of the pandemic. I probably won't take my Cinelli to them for any work any time soon. My son bought an upgraded pair of pedals on-line. He installed them himself with my pedal wrench.

Camilo

You should give them a look and try if you aren't satisfied with what you're riding on.

Although not well known, they are among the best designed saddles, imo. They are the only saddle I ride (Kontact and it's predecessor E3 Form). I have them on all 5 of my bikes and have a spare off of a bike I got rid of (replaced it with a saddle I didn't like for the sale). Best saddles I've ever ridden.(as always in any saddle endorsement, "for me"). I even have one on my Italian classic bike that is otherwise totally outfitted with Italian parts (OK, not the pedals, they're French). I'll admit if I get my butt on an Italian saddle I might swap it out, but not actively searching.

Shadco 

One wonders if this thread should be the launching point for the pillow fight sub forum?

.

CAT7RDR

Foam vs Feather?