
A bike shop should choose its customer wisely - hippich
https://cyclingindustry.news/why-a-bike-shop-should-choose-its-customer-wisely/
======
hprotagonist
Shops that do well are shops that earn their place as community hubs, and
that's a pretty organic process. It takes time and care to build trust.

I am very lucky, my LBS has all of sheldon's old bikes on the wall next to the
mechanic's station. They are respected enough and established enough to sell
everything from $15k S-Works to $6k rivendells to $250 giants. You'll find
everyone from Cat-2 guys to the local daily commuters there and it's a chill
scene because everyone feels welcome.

~~~
Mediterraneo10
Meanwhile, as a touring cyclist, I got a lot of cold, hostile service from the
staff at my LBS. When I finally complained to the owner, he said "Look, you're
a tourer. You know how to do most of your own maintenance and you buy low-
margin gear. A bike shop needs to focus on the racer and clueless commuter
crowd to stay in business, and serving you probably is probably a net-negative
for us cost-wise".

This really opened my eyes to the importance of margin on bikes and bike
parts; it is no wonder that shops like to sell the latest carbon frames,
because the margins are huge.

~~~
willcipriano
> serving you probably is probably a net-negative for us cost-wise

I never understood why businesses do things like this. In many industries
there is often a class of customer that it is proclaimed "we don't make any
money on them" and as such they provide a low quality of service. If you
actually lose money why don't you raise prices on them? Why are you worried
about losing a customer you claim not to want in the first place?

~~~
princekolt
It's in the article. Because these are the kind of customers who provide no
loyalty back. They'll drive an hour to get a part from a different shop
because it's cheaper. There's nothing you can do to attract this kind of
customer apart from lower margins. So why bother with them if you can run your
business well by focusing on everybody else?

~~~
marcosdumay
Then increase your prices to a level you would be happy, and if they want to
buy somewhere else, let them.

Doing low quality work is a great way to lower both your reputation and job
satisfaction. And you better be 100% certain of each customer's lifetime
value, otherwise you'll have a problem.

~~~
mauvehaus
The article’s point is that they can’t, or they’ll lose the custom of the
people who have no loyalty to their LBS and shop on price alone.

~~~
marcosdumay
I get the exact opposite point from the article...

Anyway, if you want to serve low-margin customers, optimize your business
against them, and be happy with those low margins, because you won't get any
of the high margin ones.

Also, publicize your low-margin focus (tell up-front that you won't do non-
billable services, and what service comes with what item), otherwise you'll be
full of annoyed customers wanting reparations after a bad interaction.

------
brudgers
The owner of my local bike shop describes his work as "we're a utility." When
I moved here last year, I planned to buy a bike because it's bikeable and it
was the first place I went on the first Monday morning I was here. While I was
waiting around for them to open, a man rolled down the hill in the parking lot
with the chain hanging off his old and originally cheap bike. The owner said
"Let me fix that" and did and the man peddled off to wherever he was going
without having to pay in about the time it took you to read this.

The shop is run on a sliding scale and weight weenies can buy weight weenie
gear at weight weenie prices and homeless vets can get a bike at homeless vet
prices and I get what I get at something in between and feel good about paying
because I trust that the money is going toward sustaining something that helps
people who need help.

But I'm worried that he'll go out of business because the pandemic is killing
his parts supply and the new bike distributors are dealing with empty
warehouses.

What I see in the article is a bike shop I probably wouldn't patronize because
it rationalizes treating some people badly. It's not any more difficult to be
nice to non-customers instead of angry at them. I just don't want to deal with
angry small business people. Ultimately they are not trustworthy. YMMV.

~~~
notatoad
>What I see in the article is a bike shop I probably wouldn't patronize
because it rationalizes treating some people badly.

100% agree. bike shops need to stop trying to pick their customers, and just
sell stuff to people who want to buy it. it's nice that some bike shops can
function as community hubs, but there's way too many run by people like the
author of this piece, who have the "i didn't get in this business to get rich"
attitude and use that as a justification for treating "their crowd" well and
being rude or dismissive of the others. I eagerly await the future where 90%
of local bike shops have been killed off by online sales, because then i won't
have to deal with the jerks who run bike shops.

i actually get nervous going into a bike shop in a new town, because i never
know if they're going to accept me as part of their crowd. when i just want to
buy a bottle of chain lube, that's not something i should have to think about.

~~~
jmkd
He wasn't being rude or dismissive to others. He cites repeated examples of
being generous and welcoming to passing cyclists who repay his kindness with
disrespect. I'd go out of my way for a shop like this.

~~~
notatoad
yes, the author does not specifically cite examples where he was rude to
roadies or mountain bikers.

But he wrote a 1000-word essay about why bike shops shouldn't cater to us and
celebrating the failure of shops who do. as both a roadie and a mountain biker
who's gotten sneered at by plenty of bike shop employees, this doesn't lead me
to believe i'd be welcomed with a smile when i walked into the author's shop.

~~~
mixmastamyk
I got the impression that if you were polite and realized that it is a shop
that caters to regular folks you'd be fine.

------
throwaway9191a
> their competitiveness isn't just about their cycling stats, but buying from
> the cheapest source.

Well, yea. Competitive cyclists want to buy that $1000 power meter, or those
$2500 ENVE wheels as cheap as possible. How many add-on products can you sell
somebody who just needs a bike for commuting? Of course service is the biggest
business there.

Isn't it cheaper to work with existing customers than to find new customers?
All the shops near me cater to their existing customers by selling beer. All
the group rides end at the bike shop and 50 people buy a pint before going
home (granted this was in the past.... I have no idea how these places are
still in business this year).

> I pump his tyre for him and ask if he'd like a replacement inner tube. "Not
> at your shop prices," he says.

That guy sucks and it must be so frustrating to deal with. I _always_ walk out
with several GUs or drink mixes when I stop by a shop. I'm sure that doesn't
keep the lights on, but I try.

~~~
blakesterz
>> I have no idea how these places are still in business this year

Around here the shops are all nearly sold out and have been since May. It's
crazy busy and sales are BOOMING for all of them. The largest shop has racks
for probably 200ish bikes, and there was maybe a dozen in the entire store
last time I was in there a few weeks ago. Bicycle sales are awesome this year
in my area. I assume next summer there will be more than a few of those bikes
bought this year listed on craigslist "used 3 times last year" :-)

~~~
OldHand2018
I'm sure that there will be plenty for sale next year, but from my experience
out on the trails people are actually using their bikes more than they used to
- which is a great thing!

If I ran a bike shop, I'd definitely add a consignment component to the
business, and make it really fair to the bike owner.

------
blakesterz
"However, the problem as I see it, is many IBDs have as their customer base,
competitive cyclists. Road and mountain bikers. By their very nature, their
competitiveness isn’t just about their cycling stats, but buying from the
cheapest source."

I spent a few years working in a bike shop and I think that's about right.
It's nice to be able to sell high end bikes, but if you're lucky you sell a
few a year. Regular people look at a bike that's $3 or $4k and are scared off,
"OMG this place is way too expensive" and as a bike snob, I see something
that's $200 and think "yuck". The people that came back a few times a year for
tune ups and flat repair and other small things were the ones that kept the
shop open.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
The prices of mid range to high end bicycles and components are out of whack.
Compare to what equivalent motorcycle parts cost and it's clear there is huge
price gouging going on in the industry. Why are 105 level bikes $2000+? Why
are tiny bicycle tires $50 when a middling motorcycle tire with more
substantial construction is $100?

~~~
Noos
Not really, the whole point of "cycling" is conspicuous consumption and virtue
signaling. The high price is what shows that you aren't some pleb riding a
bicycle shaped object out of necessity. It's also health conscious, so extra
status points. So the market charges this much as a differential, in the same
way a "bespoke" suit is pricer than something off the rack.

People who want a car-alternative for necessity either buy a wal-mart bike, a
cheap electric/gas moped, maybe a motorcycle, or walk.

~~~
throwaway9191a
> People who want a car-alternative for necessity either buy a wal-mart bike,
> a cheap electric/gas moped, maybe a motorcycle, or walk.

This isn't true across the board. There are absolutely folks who have a $12k
INEOS Pinarello because of status, but there is real value in more expensive
bikes (more expensive than walmart).

Going from steel to aluminum is a very recognizable weight difference. Your
commute just became more manageable.

A 105 groupset is way more reliable (ime) than lower grades. Your gears will
shift better, not click, not skip, and not drop your chain during your
commute.

A bike shop (which sells more expensive bikes than walmart) is going to fit
you properly. You may get lucky with the walmart bike, but a proper fit
removes knee pain, lower back pain, shoulder pain and neck pain.

If you are commuting, shopping, using your bike for real world things, the
extra money is well worth it.

Note: I'm talking about a $500 -> ~$2k. Not a $5k bike for a commute. By
ditching your car, you more than make up for the $1500 difference in insurance
payments, car payments, gas payments, it really adds up quick.

~~~
quicklime
> A 105 groupset is way more reliable (ime) than lower grades. Your gears will
> shift better, not click, not skip, and not drop your chain during your
> commute.

Really? I feel like my old 8-speed Sora bike needs far fewer derailleur
adjustments than my newer 11-speed 105 bike.

I guess this is because the higher-end groupsets are lighter-weight and have
more gears (so, a thinner chain and finer mechanical tolerances).

------
jsperson
One of the most important things a shop can do is very basic - make people
feel welcome. I’ve been riding and racing for 25 years. I’ve been in hundreds
of shops. I still feel intimidated when walking into some of them. At other
shops you immediately feel like an old friend.

~~~
Eric_WVGG
I’ve noticed a thing common to most retail shops that are not clothing-based.

Bicycle shops attract employees who are really into bicycles. Computer stores
pick up folks who are really into computers. Book stores, comic book stores,
record stores… you get it.

None of these types of shops select for "people skills." Insider knowledge is
valued, the ability to have a conversation and not make a customer feel like
shit is not. It's so bad that archetypes like Comic Book Guy from _The
Simpsons_ and the bestselling novel & movie _High Fidelity_ got written and
became cultural archetypes.

All of which is a long-winded way to say: bicycle shop employees can be
incredible, intolerable jerks.

I'm not sure why clothes seem to be an exception… perhaps because the
merchandise is curated by buyers, so rather than hiring experts, they can hire
exclusively based on people skills? Or maybe clothes just attract people with
more empathy, I'm not sure.

Anyway, when you find a bicycle shop that isn't staffed by troglodytes: make
friends. Be loyal. Spend.

~~~
olyjohn
The worst people are the ones who work at auto wrecking yards. You can go in
and tell them you're here to spend money, and buy parts, and do the fucking
work yourself, and they'll still treat you like shit. Like you interrupted the
show they were watching and they had to stop and reach for the phone... You
can't even call them up on the phone and get a "Hello?" You just get a pissed-
off "What do you want?"

I finally found a yard with cool people in it, and interesting cars. But
pretty much all the local yards in my area are gone now, and the only one left
is the Pick-n-Pull chain...

------
Jack000
It's interesting to contrast western bike culture with China. I've always
found it weird how seriously people take it here - gotta dress up in a little
speed suit, $5k bike, constant animosity with drivers. I guess that's the
difference between a hobby-based subculture and commodity transportation.

The bike shop I'm familiar with is the one-man operation on the side of the
road, with a dish of water and some tools on a tarp.

~~~
andor
People do this for exercise and because riding fast is fun. Having proper
equipment, which can be much cheaper than you might think, makes it more
enjoyable. Do you think exercise is weird?

~~~
brudgers
To me, it is a bit weird for exercise to be the public face of bicycling and
for riding fast to be the presumed goal and all the bicycle marketing to be
aspirational and never practical. Weird because bicycles are such great tools.

~~~
porknubbins
There are negative externalities to this too. In crowded big city parks or
Multi use trails where safe speed is like 12-13mph you get groups easily going
25mph+ on high end carbon fiber.

------
spodek
> _I target customers few other bike shops appear bothered about – the older
> cyclists who are often returning to cycling after many years’ absence . . ._

Crazy coincidence that less than 24 hours ago, I was the customer he caters
to. I'm 49 now. The summer between high school and college, I road with a
friend from Philadelphia to Maine and back -- 1,500 miles over one month --
with a tent and all we needed in the paniers.

Through college and grad school I biked everywhere. Eventually the MTA offered
the unlimited Metrocard and I shifted to public transportation and sold my
bikes.

Now I inherited a touring bike just after visiting Joe De Sena, founder of the
Spartan Race, at his farm in Vermont (here's the episode on his podcast we
recorded: [https://youtu.be/hP5h9rpd6Jo](https://youtu.be/hP5h9rpd6Jo)), and I
may go up there again, so it seems the perfect excuse to restart riding. The
bike needed a tuneup, a new seat, and maybe more.

I looked up local shops on Yelp and went to one with high service reviews.
They gave me attention and service, even referring me to another nearby shop
for some things. I felt confident going with their recommendations on pedals,
shoes, and a few other things, not defensive about them profiting off me, so I
spent more with them without first checking online.

Solid business practices based on customer service got my business.

------
psim1
Near me, there is a bike shop owner with this same attitude, which is
respectable. However, along with high prices, the shop’s service is slow and
poor, their brand selection is unpopular, and their knowledge of current bike
technology is low. Yet there are always old-timer cyclists in there shooting
the breeze at all hours and they have been in business 40 years. I don’t get
it.

~~~
ILikeBikes
Bikes isn't about being high techs, nor speed. (otherwise, you need a BMW or
an Audi)

If cyclists want something fixed fast (ie on a commuter bike), they buy the
part on the internet, or on the way back from work, and mount it themselves in
the evening.

Also, there is still a load of retro design in bikes. I'm a student, and I
don't have the hotest model from the most popular brand, for exemple. I have a
1990s road bike, and a 2014 trekking bike with stuff like threated bottom
bracket, for exemple.

Lastly, a shop that is able to tune a old headset with the 32mm wrenches,
straighten a wheel perfectly, and know that your handlebar is probably 25 mm
wide, and not 26.5mm like you ordered (or the vice versa), is greatly
appreciated. I've seen franchises that were unable to do that.

So shops with experimented people are the place to go.

~~~
ip26
Yeah, there's definitely an advanced skillset a shop can provide that is
valuable. As a commuter I happily clean my chain, adjust my shifters & brakes,
patch tubes, and so forth. But I generally don't assemble bikes, true wheels,
inspect frames, flush hydraulics, pack bearings...

------
zippedydo
I agree with the author. With local bike shops, it’s about guiding you in the
right direction. When I was getting back in to casual biking, I was thinking
about buying a black helmet and the owner said, “something to think about
here, let’s say you’re wearing what you’re wearing right now (black sweatshirt
and jeans), if you got into an accident in low light conditions, which might
prevent your head getting run over by another passing car?”

He was completely correct and I bought the reflective white helmet with light
mounts and a light to mount when dark. I probably paid $20 in markup but the
advice was worth much more.

------
exabrial
I feel like I'm missing a lot of context to why, where, and when this is being
written.

USA Bike Shops are flat out of inventory, both high end (Rocky Mountain Bikes,
Santa Cruz, etc), mid-range (Specialized, etc), and even Walmart/Academy
Sports/etc are flat out of low-end inventory.

~~~
pashky
It's a UK thing. Local shopping is pretty much extinct here (not just bikes,
anything). If you want stuff, you get it online, full stop. Even, more
increasingly, food.

So local hobby shops that still exist try to carve some weird niche catering
for old-fashioned people who value a good banter and "service" over inventory,
low price, or competent mechanics.

I can pump my own tyres, thank you, but I find it very sad that there's like
2-3 places in the whole country where you can get your suspension serviced.
You need to book a couple of weeks ahead, post it, and total price is like 2/3
of new item.

------
tantalor
> There’s a lot to be said for working smart in a business where turnover has
> shown to vanity and profit sanity.

This isn't grammatical! What does it mean? Is it machine translated?

~~~
ceilingcorner
Presumably it should have a ‘be’ in there before ‘vanity’ and thus mean
something like, “in the bike shop business, turnover (number of bikes sold)
isn’t as important as profit.” I imagine that profit margins are not
exceptionally high when selling bikes.

~~~
quercusa
That makes sense of it. Thank you!

------
0xfaded
When I lived in the US, every bikeshop I ever visited was awesome, and my home
bikeshop knew me by name. If anything was wrong they could fix it on the spot,
and.major work was usually ready next day.

Now I live in the bike friendly country Denmark, and the bike shops clearly
have unlimited customers with no need to stand out. On a recent ride I was 70
kilometers from home and had my second flat. I could see the back tire was
done for, so figured I'd find the local bikeshop to replace the tire and tube
at the same time. After over an hour walk, showing up in full cycling gear
70km from home, they offer to change my tire for pickup two days later. It's a
10 minute job with the right machine, but my hands can't stretch a fresh tire
over the wheel. I wound up buying a tube and changing it myself out the front
of their shop, which set a good expectation for the level of service one could
expect. Not that it mattered ... again, unlimited customers.

As a customer, I spend at least $2k a year on my bike in service and parts,
and never complained or ordered online. Now I buy what I can online.

~~~
secondcoming
Spending $2k per year maintaining a bicycle is absurd. Could you not just buy
a new bike every year (keep the saddle)? That's obviously a waste, so buy some
tools online and DIY. The hardest part about bicycle DIY is bleeding hydraulic
disk brakes if you have them, but even then that only needs to be done max
twice per year.

~~~
0xfaded
I conciously decided that I didn't want to do my own bike maintenance, I do
enough stuff as it is.

Every three months I replace the tires, breaks and chain, and have the bike
shop do a complete tune up and clean. My last service cost about $400. Then
there's inner tubes, clothing, handle bar tape, other replacements, etc that
also add up.

My bike is my primary form of transport, and I average about 8000km per year.
That's not far off what people put on a car.

~~~
secondcoming
If you're happy doing that then fine. I will add though that replacing a chain
every 3 months only makes sense if you're a pro. Make sure you also replace
the cassette and chainrings at the same time or else you'll just wear your new
chain down very quickly. They should all be replaced at the same time. If your
cassette and chainrings aren't worn then your chain isn't either. A chain-
splitting tool costs about $20.

Entire brakes or just the pads? I hope it's just the pads.

~~~
0xfaded
No I appreciate the advice, and at risk of turning HN into a bike forum, I
have to ask, how long do you run a chain for? I was told that frequently
replacing the chain prevents the cassette from wearing down because you
replace the chain before it becomes too stretched and mismatched to the
cassette.

~~~
secondcoming
It really depends, there are cheap tools that can measure chain stretch. A
decent chain should last a year or more unless you're climbing up the Alps
every day.

The chain, cassette and chainrings are a combo. If your chain is worn then
they are too. Check their teeth. A sign of a worn chain can be gears slipping.
It takes some really intense power to wear out a bicycle chain every 3 months.

Cassettes aren't that expensive unless you're going for elite titanium ones.
But if you're at that level you should have your own tools in case something
breaks on your 100km regular ride!

~~~
andor
_The chain, cassette and chainrings are a combo. If your chain is worn then
they are too._

That's not true. If you change the chain early enough, cassette and chainrings
will last for a couple of chains. If you ride with a worn chain, the other
components wear at an accelerated rate.

~~~
Mediterraneo10
Chainrings will last for more than "a couple of chains". In the touring world,
one is usually advised to replace the chain every 2500 km or so. A steel
chainring, however, should easily give you 20,000 km of life.

------
simonbarker87
I like the idea of supporting my local shop (I’m an early 30s MTBer, the
target of much of this article’s justifiable complaints however I would have
happily bought that inner tube if they’d just pumped my tyre up like that and
probably gone back to me a larger purchase) but my shop doesn’t deserve my
support.

Slow, rude and one ran up a £250 repair bill when I asked them to do an
investigation with an initial cap at £50.

There is a guy running a repair shop locally though who I recently discovered,
he charges slightly more than I would like but he does a good job, has gone
above and beyond for me on one occasion and really knows his stuff. He I will
happily give my money, the local shop not so.

Now I think about it, there was a great shop where I lived up north who would
regularly not charge me for small jobs. Nothing I did persuaded them to charge
me. Their stock was really low end due to being in a poor town so I used to
just buy a box of CO2 canisters and a couple of inner tubes, I’ve got dozens
of the damn things kicking around still, they must have wondered how I got so
many punctures!

------
zzzeek
This year you can hardly get a bike in New York at least due to insanely high
demand because everyone was home from their jobs. We bought two bikes from a
shop here sight unseen as they were still in their boxes, because bikes were
flying out of the store so fast that they had no time to build new bikes and
put them on display before they were sold.

------
ILikeBikes
I don't get the mass closure thing they talk about in the article. Where are
the journalists based ?

In here, in France, merch in almost every bike shop is easily sold out, as
people rushed to transition from car and public transportation to bike, to
avoid crowded trains without generating hellish traffic jams and pollution.
(and roads were even closed to cars, and became the most enjoyable bike
routes,like Rue de Rivoli in Paris, that connects the Louvre, le marais, les
Invalides... now without cars)

So they don't suffer from anything, and I haven't seen a single shop out of
business.

------
walrus01
The entire premise of the article seems to be that the owner has written off
the middle to high end of the market, and everybody who rides seriously or
competitively. It's just fine, it's a totally suitable market niche to cater
to the casual customer, if that's who makes up a large part of the local
customer base.

Serious cyclists will indeed laugh at bicycle shaped object sold by Walmart
and similar stores. But, when somebody who rides 10000 km a year for regular
base training is asked, by one of their friends or relatives to recommend a
bike shop and a normal bike in the affordable price range, their opinion does
carry some weight.

The best bike shops that I know of are not ones that cater exclusively to the
high end of the market, or to only the casual cyclist. but rather shops that
carry a full range of everything from bicycles for a two-year-old child, to a
$400 city bike, to $6500 road bikes.

How many accessories and higher profit margin small items can a shop
reasonably expect to sell to a person who has purchased a $600 bike to ride
around town? Helmet, maybe a light? It does follow logically that they would
rely on more revenue from repairs and services.

Once you get into much more expensive bikes, which are more technically
complex, the riders are also much more likely to be capable of doing a good
amount of the work themselves. the sort of people who owns several $3,000 road
bikes probably also own at least 400 to $500 of Park Tool hand tools. They're
not going to be going into a shop to change a chain and cassette, they're
doing it themselves. Similarly people with serious mountain bikes are likely
to own their own hydraulic brake bleed kits and such.

------
tonyedgecombe
UK bike shops had a tough time last year, I seem to remember sales fell by
about 50%. Cycling had become very popular over the previous couple of years
but I guess once you have a bike there isn't a great deal you need after that.

Most of the growth had come from sports cyclists. I get the impression most of
this years boom has come from ordinary people. It's nice to see more utility
cyclists out on the roads.

------
jancsika
Essentially-- don't choose what the industry calls "gearheads" as your target
customer base.

It would be like a startup hiring a couple dozen "premature optimizers" to
stand around the office all day giving their advice on using threads and SIMD
instructions for every line of code.

------
TYPE_FASTER
I never thought about bike shops as market selection business cases, but this
is a really good write-up. I've had shop owners tell me flat out they were in
a different market that was out of my budget, which I kind of appreciated
because I had $1,500 to spend, not $4k, so let's not waste anybody's time. But
I bet it worked really well for that owner.

I feel super lucky atm because we have multiple shops within a 5-10 mile drive
who have awesome service knowledge, and are pretty price competitive with
shopping online to the point where I don't even look anymore except in the
cases where they don't carry a specific brand I want, and can't order it.

Also, check out your local bike non-profit group/chapter. Some work with local
shops to provide discounts on demos and parts + accessories.

------
terwey
Interesting article, I grew up in Amsterdam and have been biking most of my
life. As I moved to Berlin I didn't for the first few years as the roads just
weren't up for it. At some point I ordered a MTB online, got me back into
biking for enjoyment (as opposed to commuting), however quickly noticed a
gravel bike would make more sense. I bought a gravel bike from a LBS and sold
my MTB, however the service was absolute garbage. Everyone who worked there
had no clue and were purely box movers.

I would love to find a local bike shop that cares, but seeing everyone and
their dog in Berlin bikes to commute nowadays the LBS have their customers for
the choosing. A friend actually dropped off his bike 4 (!!!) weeks ago at a
LBS because he had a crash with a car and needed to know what was actually
broken, they called today to let him know it was ready for pickup, just to be
called that they couldn't order the part they needed to repair it.

Sadly, a lot of shops are like this, so the author of the article is correct
in choosing his audience. I know a lot of guys I ride with who refuse to spend
15% markup more to get it local and installed directly but will whine
endlessly because they can't do it themselves.

I took it on myself to be able to maintain my entire bike myself, which works
well too. Sure it was a pain to figure it out but the gratification is worth
it too and now I feel confident that on a longer ride (I prefer multi-day) I
can repair the bike on the side of the road without stressing out.

The market also shifted, many tech from MTB transferred to road/gravel like
thru-axles and disc-brakes. Parts are dropping in price, but if you have an
"older" bike it's more of a pain. I opted to go for an "entry" bike with thru-
axle, 105 and disc-brakes. I replaced almost every "cheap" component and sold
it used for nearly the same price as the sale component cost.

However if a LBS would be as good as my local car shop I'd be there more often
then I'd have to be... he did say he considered getting into repairing bikes
as cars are less popular, and I figure if you can service a V12 how hard can a
RD be?

------
agustif
502 bad gateway.

Choose your hosting wisely (too) I guess?

Maybe I've a bad mobile connection.

~~~
philshem
oof. no wayback archive, either.

here's the G-cache:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J9i6XlH...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J9i6XlHD26EJ:https://cyclingindustry.news/why-
a-bike-shop-should-choose-its-customer-wisely/&hl=en&gl=ch&strip=1&vwsrc=0)

~~~
taylorcooney
Ah, thanks

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burlesona
The article and the discussion so far are all about bike shops specifically,
however I would say this lesson generalizes well.

No matter what your business is, one of your first and most important
decisions is who will your customer be. Getting that wrong usually leads to a
failed business, and even when “successful” can result in a business that is
miserable to operate. Fortunately, if you got it wrong to start, you _can_
change who your customer is.

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severine
Site seems down. Archived version:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20200814144723/https://cyclingin...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200814144723/https://cyclingindustry.news/why-
a-bike-shop-should-choose-its-customer-wisely/)

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smokey_the_bear
I've biked a lot, and been into different styles of bikes over the years.

Hands down, the best and friendliest service I ever received was buying my
first road bike from Sports Basement (in Sunnyvale).

Buying my xtracycle from a hip Berkeley independent bike store was probably
the worst service.

~~~
fortran77
And all the bike snobs (that make normal people like me hate bicyclists) can't
click the downvote button fast enough on your accurate observation.

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Simulacra
Very strange, bicycle shops in the DC metro region are booming.

