Will this SAVE the BICYCLE INDUSTRY from total COLLAPSE! (of course not, but you know it should)

Another ruthlessly direct, overtly cynical HOT TAKE on the "Total Chaos" facing the bicycle industry right now. But it's really just something I've been thinking a lot about lately.

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[JeffWagley]

I own a bike shop in Elk Grove Ca. We opened in November and everyone said it was a mistake. But guess what? We're killing it!!! You know why? We're a BIKE SHOP!! We provide awesome customer service, provide awesome bike service, and sell brands that are great but not huge names. We are a no judgment, no attitude shop. We sell Jamis comfort bikes like they re going out or style and I'm currently booked out two weeks on service. I jumped on the e-bike thing with Aventon bikes and oh man has that been successful. What it all comes down to is that we're nice people who know what we're doing and we just want everyone on a bike. Let's go have fun!!!! So as the bike industry collapses, I'm having the time of my life, serving my community, and connecting with my neighbors,

[TheRadDadShow]

We have 50 years of inventory in people's garages and storage units. All of these industry "leaders " can crash and burn and there will still be bikes available to the general public. "Bikeflation" would be a better term than "bikemaggedon" since the problem (depending on which side of it you're on, might not even be a problem) is not enough demand to meet existing supply. Too many Porsche dealerships in a town with Toyota Corolla budgets.

[Thetoad]

Gray's bike shop in Kew Gardens, Queens. Opened in 1960. First black-owned bicycle shop in New York City. It's a real bike shop. Mr. Gray died years ago. The shop is still going thanks to 86-year-old Mrs.Gray

[andrewsphone]

In my experience there are three types of stores around here

1) big box store with 1 to 3 of everything from bike shaped objects to pretty decent bikes. All put together by people who have no idea what they're doing and priced with dice rolls.

2) corporate cycling stores. Cutting edge stuff I'll never be able to afford

3) bike snob barn shop. The worst kind of gate keeping attitude is present here your bike is trash if it's not one of their favorite brands. Looks like a "bike shop" in every way but you will feel bad or be broke when you leave

Recently a guy setup a shop and he's changing things for the better. I still can't afford his new bikes but he's against gatekeeping and is excited for everyone who wants to ride regardless of the bike and will offer help and advice, his services are also very reasonably priced. Great dude.

[jwh]

I started off working at 16 in a small bicycle retail shop in 1989 in Edinburgh Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, I was lucky enough to learn lots about repairs from wheel building to full builds etc,
4years later I went to work for a larger bicycle retailers who started out reselling used bikes and they outgrew that shop and moved to the new location, that too needed to be expanded with the mtb and road boom so they bought the retail property that was adjoining the shop and the expansion was happening, time went on and I was getting sick of how the whole scene was more and more sell sell sell,
so after 21years(2014) and picking up some more skills and certification’s I resigned and chose to go back to a proper bike shop,
Got back on the spanner’s in a proper lbs.
repairs and maintenance are the main thing, we can get bikes from our distributors but choose not to shout about it and definitely not a “concept store” more you wooden floored, kids watch your fingers, big vice, tools on boards kinda shop.
This video is spot on,
I mean we do maintain more bikes than many shops that gets us good word of mouth, the shop is well established, been going over 27 years 🎉 🎉🎉
we see them all from £free to ridiculous£££££.I’m just glad that we don’t have to sell them anything they don’t need or ask for, if they choose to cycle for a race team or just looking to get back and forth to work etc we are just happy to repair them all,
Atb John 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Ps keep up your great work 👍

[andrewblakesley]

I love old, reliable, cheap, durable, home-serviceable standards. BSA threaded, mechanical disk (or rim brakes), 8 to 10 speed (no more), friction or trigger shifting, inner tubes, double wall eyeletted rims etc etc. This means I use a real bike shop. I went to a cycle store to check the tyres but left, unable to pay the £57/tyre (£3 more than my car tyres).

Keep at it please, youre right. The industry has forgotten that everyday cyclists don't want or need their less durable, higher cost "innovation".

[lenolenoleno]

Having worked in the bicycle industry in Australia, I can tell you it basically comes down to who is running the store. I could call out just as many soulless "cycling shops" (many who are essentially glorified shelf stackers with little to no knowledge of cycling or bicycling) as there are "bicycling shops" where that old fella with the dirty tools has no idea how to repair anything circa 2010 or newer and has little to no business management sense (they opened a bicycle shop because they like bicycles, not because they're good at managing a business and that's a problem, e.g. constantly exceeds their terms on invoices/essentially buy stock/parts and just don't pay distributors).

It's not as simple as "us vs. them" or "big bike vs. small bike". There are just as many clueless big bike shops as there are mom & pop shops regarding how to serve what the average consumer needs.

[bikenraider]

Hitting the nail on the head about mobility freedom and using a bike. A bicycle is a great choice for urban jaunts of under 6 miles. I regularly ride my 15 year old Lemond Wayzata to my bar. I get to see the sights, sounds, and smells of my neighborhood, shop & drink local, and get some exercise out it. Something reliable and easy to maintain is all that is needed.

[KlausJuska]

i totally agree with you! I'm a 67 year old retired engineer that wanted to buy a bike for the first time since high school to ride for fun. All of the bike stores reminded me of car dealerships - expensive without being much help in finding me what I wanted - horrible experience. I finally found a small bike shop that specializes in repairing bikes - I could talk to the bike mechanics and they got me into the bike I needed and fit me like a glove. They continue to answer my questions on how to maintain the bike along with your videos and we have become friends. I ended up selling one of my cars since I now bike to most of the places I need to go (within 15 miles of my house).

[JohnPilling]

I love restoring bikes from the '80s and 90's - they are simple machines which will last more than your lifetime if maintained/serviced. I do sell them on but barely make enough to finance the next build. I picked up a 1999 Gray Fisher (Trek) Joshua for 40 - what a disaster. Had to replace both front and rear suspension - went 1x wide range - my biggest cost was getting the frame blasted then powder coated. When I'd finished to looked way better than new and worked great. Tried selling it for 600 then down to 400 then 300. A year later a teenager got in touch and asked if I'd sell it for 200 - what the hell - he had been saving up his pocket money, turned up with his dad and counted out his 200 in 1's and 5's. The smile on his face was priceless after he got back from his test ride. I lost about 500 on that but it was so worth it. I have an early '9os GT avalanche, fully restored, new paint job, new shifters and brakes if any is interested - under 200!

[ricky]

I'm a cycling store guy but watch these anyway.

[FuchsHorst]

One note regarding Trek: Trek bought the German bike brand Diamant ~25 years ago and to this date produce Diamant and Trek hybrid, city and e-bikes in Hartmandorf, Germany. Only the carbon based racing/"cycling" products come from overseas. So their strategy differs from market to market. A real shame is where Brompton headed: The iconic folding bike transformed into a flagship store monster with quadrupled pricing and "collector" variants. It's not abot a practical tool for regular, it became a hobby for snobs.

[JohnDurbin-pp]

Preach!!! "Cycling Stores" need a dose of Earth and reality. I have 10 bicycles and none of them were bought new but I'm always needing parts and do most of the work myself. it would be nice to have an actual bike shop that didn't try to make it all on one customer.

[loopba]

Took my 16 year-old Cannonde CAAD 7 to the LBS last weekend for tuneup. They loved the bike, explained bunch of things and didn’t try to sell me anything! I asked for new wider tires..will definitely go back and would buy an upgrade from them if ever considering.

[underacheiver]

I was a bike messenger for almost 10 years from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. Most of my bikes were low end mountain bikes by big brands (Specialized, Fisher etc). I came into a decent amount of money from an accident settlement and decided to purchase my dream bike, a 1989 Wicked Fat Chance . This was going to be the biggest purchase of my young life, it would never be used as a messenger bike, but strictly a weekend bike. The shop I went into had the bike in my size and the color (hot pink, it was the 80's don't judge me). It was an upscale Manhattan bike shop, but I wanted that bike. I went up to the counter and inquired about the bike. I was told that the bike was out of my price range (at the time I had very long hair, a propensity for Slayer T shirts and scruffy facial hair to boot). I happened to be carrying most of my accident money in my front pocket for this purchase (impulse control was not in my make up at this stage of my life ).I asked to speak with the manager of the store. I pulled out a wad of Ben Franklins and explained that I came to this store in spite of its haughty reputation to buy the Fat Chance today and I was told by the sales guy at the counter the bike "was out my price range". The manager made a halfhearted apology and I told him that I would be going down to another shop where I would not be treated so shabbily. And I did just that. The other shop treated me with decency, they did not have the bike in stock and where not even a dealer for Fat Chance, they said they could work through another shop (not the one that treated me so poorly) and could get me the bike in 3-4 weeks. So I agreed to wait, they asked that I leave a deposit and I countered with paying in full. I received the bike 12 days after paying for it and I bought 3 more bikes from that shop over a 15 year span and went there for all my repairs that I could not do. Treating customers with dignity and respect is key, at least for me. I have avoided LBS because of that cliquish and often condescending attitude a lot of them have. I am fairly proficient at bike repairs and maintain all my bikes with great care. In a nutshell a one bad experience can lead to an opinion that can last a lifetime.

[wngimageanddesign]

I was a classic bike mechanic-manager at Bicycles of Scottsdale. An old fashion bike shop off Scottsdale Rd. in a shopping center and we had a Trek dealer just across from us. We did amazingly well. Why? The customers said is was our commitment to service and provided that old time bike shop vibe. We had the Giant line up for anyone who wanted the latest and greatest models, but had a variety of affordable models and brands, and bikes people were excited about. Above all it was our mechanical prowess on repair, and service of a variety of bikes. I was the guy who could true old chromed steel wheels, or build and service Suntour, Shimano, or Campy Super Record from the 80s. Or took time to overhaul old hubs, freewheels, and BBs for people's cherished chro-moly steel bikes. I was able to service time trial bikes for local triathletes, or indexing road racers too. And we had two former racers, road and MTB, one from Germany, who were also excellent mechanics and we showed we gave a damn about our work and the customers appreciated it. We can order whatever they desired too. But gave an honest opinion on their choices. And the prices were most reasonable. We had people coming in after visiting the Trek dealer across from us, and said the service and attitude was night and day.

[patchgatsby]

I was so happy to find a bike mechanic near me working out of a shed in his backyard. He knew everything about my 1996 GT 24" cruiser. For like $400 he completely restored my bike. It's like new. I ride around the neighborhood with my 8 year old. We have fun and I get tons of compliments on my bike.

[jimmylovesbikes]

My shop “Jimmy the Bike Guy” in Toronto Canada is repair only. Focused on tuneup and repair and breathing new life to countless oldies. Very proud and satisfying

[biscuitdingus]

I actually live near and have ties to a Trek store, and I think much like any other business like that, it comes down to who’s running it.
My nearby trek store is in Schereville Indiana, it’s run by a guy my dad uses to work with in the late 90’s when they were working together at a Schwinn store. This is still Chicago zone so there was at one point dedicated Schwinn stores. My dad left to work elsewhere, and Dave went to a new building Trek was opening.
They are literally an example of a small store shutting down and the owner going to a big chain.
However Dave isn’t some faceless corporate entity, he’s not some thrown in store manager, he was running a bike shop for years before that with Schwinn. He’s not going to throw a customer at their online help system, he’ll do it all himself in person. He’s a professional bike mechanic wether it’s a small store, a small chain, or a big name like trek.

Obviously that’s one place, one experience, one guy. People like that trek store because it’s run by professionals, i don’t view it as any different than any local bike shops besides there being a big name on the front od the building and a distinct lack of other brands inside.
That may not be the case for all of the big chain stores. But knowing at least the one I’ve experienced is an entirely different story, I can’t rule out that option right up front about any of them.

[chainsaw]

40 seconds in, I might have to go binge this guy's whole backlog of these, this sounds like fire