MikeM21

We are lucky here in Northern Virginia to have a bunch of great LBSs. I needed a spacer for to put my old 9spd Shimano cassette on my new DT Swiss hubs. Dropped in to A-1 Cycling a the Clocktower in Herndon, and the guys there dug through there supply of spacers, tried multiple options, kept going until everything was tight and straight and then handed me my wheel and said "no charge, have a nice ride!"

This is the closest shop to my house but not necessarily the one I visit the most, so I'm not a regular by any means. Just great service by a couple of good guys. Thanks A-1!

fooferdoggie 

I often go a lot of the time the cost is no different than amazon often. but they don't always have what I need so then I have to order. I have them do jobs thats not always practical for me too.

SurferRosa

I agree, they're a fantastic resource for free hub spacers.

chaadster

Hehehe

rumrunn6

letting mine order a water bottle, instead of getting in on Amazon

6door74

Recently purchased tires for my bikes. Stopped in a LBS just to see what they had. They didn't have the color I wanted but they did have my 2nd choice. However, they were priced $15 higher than a vendor on eBay.

It's hard to spend $30 more just to support the LBS. Maybe I should have asked if they'd price match? The eBay vendor appeared to be a bike store as well, just in another state.

rsbob 

ebay doesn’t provide knowledgeable staff or have to pay mortgage, lights, etc. I just received a half hour of free service on a front mech that I couldn’t get right and offered to pay but they refused, so I bought a Park tool so they would get something for me being there. Let’s see ebay do that.

6door74

You're right. And for that reason I will have a bike shop do some things. But I need to save my money in some areas to pay for the expertise in others.

That said, if you read my whole post, you would see that the eBay seller is a bike store as well.

dedhed

What makes you think an Ebay seller doesn't have overhead?

6door74

The one I got the tires from has a brick/mortar store as well. So it's a local bike store for some people and gave me better pricing than mine. Next time I'll see if they price match.

dedhed

yes, all local to me B&M shops

​​​​​​https://www.ebay.com/str/wheelandsprocket

​​​​​​https://www.ebay.com/str/benscycleandfitness

​​​​​​https://www.ebay.com/str/thebikesmithsstore

prj71

I don't think e-bay needs to provide a knowledgeable staff for tire purchases.

prj71

I've purchased on ebay from both of those Bike Shops over the years. One of the Trek Domane's in the household actually came from Wheel and Sprocket.

RB1-luvr

mine has a box just inside the door with $5 take-off seats. Gotta like that, among the many other great things about the place.

Rolla

Oh, look. Another brick-and-mortar vs. online dustup. How refreshing.

rsbob 

You think correctly.

rsbob 

I am sure there are plenty of people here willing to debate you on the expense of keeping a brick and mortar store open versus a warehouse or back room. I’m not one of them.

sarhog

Who’s going to advise the online customer on the different hues of their colored tires?

Kontact

I remember in the '80s bike shops saying they were going to go out of business because of mail order catalog sellers like Colorado Cyclist, Supergo, Performance and Nashbar.

But ebay can't install your crankset or sell you a new Trek. Bicycle brands that stayed as shop-only have thrived while brands that went direct to consumer have faltered or vanished. Maybe there isn't a conflict?

prj71

I can install my own crank set. I can buy a new Trek, Specialized, Cannondale or Giant bike online and have it delivered to my house.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/home-delivery/

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ho...-a-bike-online

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/homedelivery

https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/home-delivery

Direct to consumer bike companies haven't faltered or vanished. They are thriving!!! Spot, Evil, Transition, Fezzari, Canfield, Canyon, Commencal, Guerilla Gravity, Intense, Knolly, YT just to name a few.

I'm thinking you are a bit behind the times and unaware of what's going on out there.

The Chemist

I buy almost all of my parts on Taobao (the Chinese domestic version of AliExpress) and install them all myself. I really don't need an LBS to do much of anything for me.

Kontact

I'm thinking you're unaware that I was working at a Specialized dealer and we got paid for those online sales.

I'm also thinking you missed the main point of the post: That brick and mortar bike shops arent going away. Companies like Canyon frequently pay LBSs to fix their problematic products

rumrunn6

said he would call me this week
I'll give him another week

kcinnick

Our local Trek dealer is GREAT but they dropped Specialized to pick up Trek.

Our local Specialized dealer SUCKS, they only picked up Specialized because TREK DROPPED THEM.

I decided on bikes from Specialized and I ordered direct so I don't have to deal with that "authorized" dealer in the future and can use the Specialized Rider Care instead.

Supporting a good business is great, but there is no reason to support a local business if they suck.

veganbikes

Specialized Rider Care is going to send you to a local shop in most cases just FYI. I would be curious to know how they suck if true and would also love to hear their side of the story.