Rule #58 / Support your local bike shop.
Never buy bikes, parts or accessories online. Going into your local shop, asking myriad inane questions, tying up the staff’s time, then going online to buy is akin to sleeping with your best friend’s wife, then having a beer with him after. Online is evil and will be the death of the bike shop. If you do purchase parts online, be prepared to mount and maintain them yourself. If you enter a shop with parts you have bought online and expect them to fit them, be prepared to be told to see your online seller for fitting and warranty help.
It is hard to spend more money on something in town at my LBS. How do others handle this? Ignore the rule?
Heck if you have a shop worth saving then I believe that’s a dilemma worth pondering. Good shops are rare indeed.
Once you get wrench savvy it’s increasingly difficult to go by the shop IMO. My shop down the street wants $375 + materials to build up a bike and a week to do it. I built up my CAAD8 frame Wednesday night in an hour for about $15 in bulk housing/cable supplies. I did buy my Lemond Revolution from an awesome LBS about an hour from here though!
so long as you aren’t going in there tying up the staff and asking questions getting advice off them then buying online then its fine to online. if the shop are poor then why save them.
the rule should be: If you see your LBS as a source of knowledge and essential support then see them as your first point of call with a purchase.
if you are a good customer and are always “supporting” the shop they may be happy to discount which often brings them inline with the online prices or ask if they will price match.
If they are ridiculously expensive and you don’t think the support or advice they give is worth the extra give them a miss. They should be a business not a charity.
Well I would not want to be the guy that goes in, takes up time and then purchases online. But I will purchase online by doing my research online first. If I can’t do the work on my bike myself I take it to the shop and pay them, which amounts to a few trips a year. I do buy from them as well as it is often more convenient to buy something now rather than wait a week to receive the part in the mail, even if it is slightly cheaper.
Frankly, you’ll always get better information online regarding what your real options are rather than be stuck with what your LBS decides to stock and try to talk you into purchasing. Learning to fix things yourself is golden as well. Shipping times for online purchases are usually 1-5 days … versus the LBS 2-3 weeks and then the oops we forgot to order it routine.
The best of all worlds is to find a large store that has both an internet site that is extensive and some brick and mortor for the few times you might want some hands on.
Don’t get sucked into the poor LBS stuff … if they can’t be flexible with YOUR consumer needs they probably aren’t really viable anyway,
I used to shop online but now I stick to the LBS. I want them to stay in bussiness. The diference in price is pretty small to zero on big ticket items anyway. They can’t compete on price for tires etc. but how often do you buy stuff like that anyway? Innertubes are way cheaper online but spending a few extra bucks a few times a year is well worth the good will it generates.
Being lucky enough to have a decent LBS I buy my ‘important’ stuff from them and I find if I do my research first and decide what I want they will get pretty much anything providing they can!
Certain stuff they cant get or choose not to so online it is.
If you are using your LBS for advice and as a knowledge base, then you should purchase from them also. You may have to pay more (compared to online) if you’re new to the shop, but the more often you purchase then down the road they will probably start giving you some discounts. On the other hand, if you know enough to not need to use your LBS for knowledge, make your purchases online. You can always make small purchases from them if you feel like you have to give them some business.
The answer to this question is dependent upon how strong your local shop is. If they suck, then I think anyone would tell you to look online to buy stuff. If you have a large shop with knowledgable staff, then you’re probably better off in the long run buying key stuff from them.
Besides, if you buy regularly from them (even if only tubes, tires, nutrition, chamois lube, etc)…they’ll be more willing to help you on the bigger stuff.
I’d pay a little extra (which I usually don’t) for the service I get from a LBS.
You get what you pay for.
Someone mentioned inner tubes. Two things have gone wrong with these in the past. Once the (sealed) box had the wrong tube in it. Another time the tube had a faulty valve. I just rode the 4 blocks back to shop for a swap out. If I’d ordered online? Pain in the ass.
when I was first starting to bike, I had an old beater steel frame. Bike Shop A didn’t really give me any attention when I patronized them and I always left the shop feeling unsatisfied. Plus, the prices were through the roof.
after a while on the same frame, I was a legit cyclist, but again, no love from shops A, B or C. If I mentioned buying a second-hand frame, they would just roll their eyes and tell me the Trek 2.1 had everything I would ever need (and more!). They knew I was a tri guy and everyone just wanted to sell me a road frame.
Finally, picked up a used P2 and bike shop D treated me with some respect and dignity while wrenching it. He even taught me how to put it together myself (he claimed I didn’t have the tools and wouldn’t be too much of a threat to his business). I now avoid shops A, B and C and use exclusively D. I still buy online but when I need a professional to wrench my bike, I end up there.
So, the moral of the story: while LBS may need support, if they’re rude then they don’t deserve your money. I’m 23 years old… I can’t afford to pay through the nose for a pair of Conti 4000s. I can afford to pay a little extra to a guy who loves bikes and loves to teach.
It is hard to spend more money on something in town at my LBS. How do others handle this? Ignore the rule?
I went to a local bike shop who is owned by an acquaintance (we occasionally ride together) at his behest and spoke to his store manager about purchasing a Lemond Revolution Trainer. He (the manager) said he didn’t have any. I asked him if he could order one. He found a competing bike shop that had them on their website and suggested I go there to buy it. I have known this particular store manager for more than 25 years (we worked together at a bike shop in the mid eighties). This episode pretty much sealed the fate of the local bike shops with regards to purchasing commodity cycling related items. I probably spend less than 10 percent of the $5,000.00+ dollars a year I drop on bike related items at the local bike shops mostly because they are hapless and hopeless when it comes to knowing what to carry and how to price it.
Everything can be found online for cheaper than your local bike shop and if you learn to do everything yourself, then you do not need to step foot into any bike shop.
I got tired of having to wait for everything to be ordered in when I could do it myself for cheaper and the money I save on paying someone to do things I spend on some tools and other parts.
Sounds like a pretty nice guy to direct you to a shop that can get the Lemond for you. Most big name manufacturers have licensed dealers and it sounds like this guy knew he couldn’t help you. Next best thing is to refer you to someone who can.
To that end I would welcome a shop like this…sounds like an old school LBS mentality to me that I miss routinely:(
