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Re: How are LBS dealing with all the new types of bike ? [mvenneta] [ In reply to ]
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I've been using Velofix for two years now. It's awesome.
Their trucks are also stocked with tubes, tires, etc etc all accessories.

Nothing better than being able to drop your bike off at the truck outside of your house, go for a run, take the dog out, get dinner going and then receive a text, "Your bike is ready!" And you get to test it out, on your street, and if it's not good, the mechanic keeps working on it. Always top notch service.

Group Eleven – Websites for Athletes / mikael.racing / @mstaer
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Re: How are LBS dealing with all the new types of bike ? [rijndael] [ In reply to ]
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rijndael wrote:
Tri Slow Poke wrote:
they will lose the advantage they have over online stores of instant gratification soon.
Exactly. Whenever they tell me they can order something, my first thought is: so can I ... and I don't have to come pick it up

My question though, is can you build a bike from parts, AND make sure it's fit properly? You may be able to. Others here may be able to. But the vast majority of people can't. That's where your LBS is still relevant. We all can shop around to save on a bike by buying direct, but when you have to take that big box that was delivered to your house to a shop to have them build it for you, and they charge you the same amount that you saved by buying direct to have them build it & fit it to your specs, it suddenly seems a bit more sensible to involve the LBS from the start, even if you have to special order.

I'm not saying that LBS's don;t have to adapt their model, they definitely do, but they are not going to go away so long as there are people who cannot or have no desire to wrench bikes on their own.
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Re: How are LBS dealing with all the new types of bike ? [Meathead] [ In reply to ]
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Meathead wrote:
My question though, is can you build a bike from parts, AND make sure it's fit properly?
I can, and i enjoy the process. I recognize that I'm a corner case.
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Re: How are LBS dealing with all the new types of bike ? [hiro11] [ In reply to ]
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hiro11 wrote:
LBSs don't carry $5K carbon gravel bikes because only a few thousand people in the entire country actually buy those.

I'm sure most don't, but depends a lot on your region I imagine. I'm in CO and my LBS has a handful of Open U.P. frames on hand, multiple models of carbon fat bikes to chose from. Honestly the least-stocked niche bikes they have are probably triathlon / TT bikes which is a-ok with me, life is too short to spend bent over staring at a line on the ground in front of you all day.
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Re: How are LBS dealing with all the new types of bike ? [7401southwick] [ In reply to ]
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In my experience, how are they handling new types of bikes/tech? Poorly.

They do not understand new technologies around me, especially power meters. They also do not seem to be able to accurately order bikes, based on conversations where they cant seem to distinguish different models of some of the popular bikes on the market. Di2? Forget it.
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Re: How are LBS dealing with all the new types of bike ? [7401southwick] [ In reply to ]
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My LBS and main sponsor just went out of business... I saw it coming I suppose but still a shock. By shock I mean they said to drop my bike off between Nationals and Worlds for a check up and then they said they couldn't work me in... "too backed up"... to a black sheet hanging in the front window 2 weeks later. I sent the owner a text and he told me they had to close permanently.

My short answer is my LBS isn't dealing with any bikes since they closed up shop. They even tried to diversify over the last year selling more lower end bikes and stand up paddle boards. There was some mention that larger manufacture required them to maintain a certain level of inventory I suppose they didn't want to or couldn't afford to shoulder. They also tried selling skateboarding equipment but my guess is online rules that market as well... I know I used to buy my stuff online a million years ago when I skated.

Another bike shop in town that just opened is a boutique of sorts... they stock zero bikes and order almost everything in addition. They have some Garmins on display and available for demo, some Continental tires, a rack of clothes, helmet or two.... but not a traditional bike shop. The owner is pretty active in a social way, organizing lots of rides, events.. things to keep people plugged in locally, coming in his door, etc. He's very knowledgeable about bikes, bike racing, fitting, wrenching and so forth.

Maybe he's onto the right sort of business model for a sustainable LBS going forward?
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