woof

Up here in most of Canada there is a 6 month cycling season which means bike shops generally try to stock up for March to August sales. Except for the odd sale hardly anything moves off the floor Oct to March and the LBS's rarely bring in stuff because they don't want to carry the cost of a bike that won't sell until there is warm weather.

But what happens in year round warm places like California? Is there a constant turn-over? Does new stuff come in throughout the year or do they also operate on a 'season'?

-=(8)=-

Same here in Vermont......
The closest LBS that stays 'bike' all year 'round is thirty miles
away. The other two that dont go sno-board / ski in the winter
are about 2 hours away. Brings a whole new dimension to the
LBS vs. internet arguments.

foxden

Here in Florida where it was sunny and 75 today, my LBS is even open on Sunday. The winter months are the busy season when seasonal residents (snowbirds) are down. Summer months are slow and it gets rough trying to ride in 90+ temperatures.

CB HI

LBS operate same style, year round, here.

cosmo starr

there's alot of racing that runs year 'round so the shops need to stay open to sell them expensive components and offer crappy service to the people who actually promote cycling as a viable form of transportation.

chicbicyclist

They don't offer much choices in fenders down here.

kayakboy

Yeah, my local closes durring october/december and then opens up for snow shoe rental ect.

bmike

My LBS in Vermont switches to XC and a bit of telemark in the winter. Still plenty of bike stuff out though... some studded tires, fenders, Ibex cold weather clothes... (and I have a gift cert waiting from Christmas!)

They've just doubled their space with a new timber frame addition - more room for keeping things on the sales floor. This might change the seasonal mix a bit.

Artkansas 

When I lived in Palm Springs, it seemed like very little moved during the summer. That was the best time to get a deal on a bike. Winter however was a different story.

Also, none of the bike stores carried studded tires and fenders were either special order or kept in back.

my58vw

My local LBS shifts the "types" of bikes around as the year goes. During the winter we see more mountain bikes and cyclocross models. During the spring and summer it is road bike time. Cruizers are very contstant. There are new products throughout the year, although sales are relativly slow during the winter months!

gritface

The only time I ever got a new bikes as a kid was Christmas. Surely there's a market there, even if the poor midwestern kids have to ride in circles in the basement.

Fastfwd

I live in Quebec and I bought a bike at the beginning of january. It was great because the LBS had all the time in the world to show me every type of bike and do my setup.

I ended up buying a 1300$ cyclocross and enough other gear to get close to 2000$ total.