Completely missed this, but it is a bit sad that this store with lots of tri-history is gone. I remember visiting the store in ‘96, probably at its peak period in triathlon, and seeing all that history on the walls.
Also remembered that it was much less organized then i thought it would be. Bikes were dropped literally all over the place but it still felt like i was entering, coming from the netherlands, in a famous tri/bike shop.
Couldn’t resist to pick up one of the first profile design project x aerobars, i think one of the first ‘integrated’ aerobars ;-).
I am interested to see where the trend of major brands directly owning retail space goes.
I have bought bikes from both Specialized and Giant owned and branded stores. It seems to work well for entry level town/city bikes where margins are thin but sales volumes are high. The brands are able to stock multiple copies of every size so you can rock up, compare the sizes and build options and leave the store the same day with a complete bike. The same bike may be slightly less online but the ability to try the product justifies the cost.
Once you move to medium to high end bikes though it’s far worse than a normal bike shop. They don’t stock all the sizes and builds and in my experience are super inflexible about anything that isn’t offered OEM from the warehouse. Want a different length crank SOL, don’t like the OEM stem SOL, different handle bars SOL. So you are stuck ordering from the same catalogue as every other LBS with worse and biased service.
The problem I see coming is that once you cut the LBS out of the cheap bike market they are going to struggle to stay afloat even more.
In my experience these corporate stores also don’t do a great job attracting and retaining good mechanics. My experience with my Trek Store left me wondering if they could competently do much more than put air in the tires.
When I bought my Giant their marketing material was pushing very hard their proprietary ‘Conduct’ braking system that allows the use of hydraulic calibers with mechanical levers. The system is ugly as sin so I asked the a few mechanics about it. None of them could answer even basic questions about servicing the system. According to them Giant wouldn’t certify them to service the system other than basic bleeds and so they would replace the whole system is something broke rather than try to fix it.
If a company doesn’t trust its own mechanics to fix their products why would I trust those mechanics to service my bike?
In my experience these corporate stores also don’t do a great job attracting and retaining good mechanics. My experience with my Trek Store left me wondering if they could competently do much more than put air in the tires.
I’m not sure if it Trek owned but I bought a new mountain bike last year and on the third ride the stem loosened and spun sideways. Luckily I was going uphill at the time. That’s moderately terrifying, given that I do all of my own bike work and some new cyclist could have had that happen to them and get destroyed. It also has the worst cabling job in history… but that is a different problem.
So I’m not sure if it’s a manufacturer owned problem or you just don’t have mechanics that are very good in general. I’ve worked on my own bikes for at least 15 years and I’ve never had a stem come loose.
Bummed to hear that bad news.
As a Canadian, I would make my annual pilgrimage to SoCal each January to train, get my ass kicked in the first 15 minutes of the Wednesday Swami’s Ride, and of course, to check out Nytro and B & L (if your remember that place as well). Going down the stairs into Nytro was like entering a long course triathlon hall of fame. Even the bathroom was memorable.
Two years ago, Skip put Nytro on the market through business brokers in Simi Valley. I went through due diligence with their P&L sheets and made what I thought was a fair all cash offer to buy the store. IMO, the brokers that Skip had hired were unprofessional and knew very little, if anything about sports retail and more specifically, triathlon retail. In the end, my offer wasn’t accepted. The offer that was accepted fell through and I was contacted again by the brokers to see if I was still interested. If Skip had had different brokers, I would have gone for it.
When I bought my Giant their marketing material was pushing very hard their proprietary ‘Conduct’ braking system that allows the use of hydraulic calibers with mechanical levers. The system is ugly as sin so I asked the a few mechanics about it. None of them could answer even basic questions about servicing the system. According to them Giant wouldn’t certify them to service the system other than basic bleeds and so they would replace the whole system is something broke rather than try to fix it.
If a company doesn’t trust its own mechanics to fix their products why would I trust those mechanics to service my bike?
I have a friend with that system on their road bike. Took me a few min to figure out what the heck it was.
Two years ago, Skip put Nytro on the market through business brokers in Simi Valley. I went through due diligence with their P&L sheets and made what I thought was a fair all cash offer to buy the store. IMO, the brokers that Skip had hired were unprofessional and knew very little, if anything about sports retail and more specifically, triathlon retail. In the end, my offer wasn’t accepted. The offer that was accepted fell through and I was contacted again by the brokers to see if I was still interested. If Skip had had different brokers, I would have gone for it.
I am very sad to hear this.
Probably why it took over two years to sell the store.
Went in there Summer of 2019 on one of our trips to San Diego that summer. Was pretty cool. We forgot our bike pump at home so picked one up there. My GF made me go down 101 to recon the road for our ride that weekend.
Rode by ‘Trek Bicycle Encinitas’ this morning and snapped a picture. They still have the Nytro awning out front but the color has long since faded. Symbolic perhaps? On the way back up north after they opened I noticed they had a bike pump out on the sidewalk for all to use so that hasn’t changed.
Actually it was called the Carbon X & I still have the first pair that was shipped out after they arrived at Profile…on my Tiphoon Bike/trainer bike. 20+ years old. They just released them & at the time I was sponsored by Profile & the head of marketing said mine were the first they shipped out of that first shipment. Whether that was true or not is up to how true that statement was. By the way, they are still solid as a rock, despite being past their estimated 20 year warranty I believe it was.
I also had the Carbon X. One-piece carbon basebar/stem and carbon extensions, but with aluminum clamping hardware and armrests. I got mine used off ST Classifieds in 2002.
Regarding Nytro, sad to see a piece a history go. In the late '80s and '90s it was the legendary shop where the top pros went to pimp their bikes. The first time I visited SoCal I made a point of going there.
Such sad news. It was my yearly spot for 10 years back in the day, and it was always a treat to have Craig greet us and have a chat. The awesome collection of bikes hanging from the ceiling in the smaller than expected space and the cutting edge goodies everywhere was such a treat. I realize things move on, but Trek there is such a nightmare. Soon they might change the name to Target.
Those look like aluminum extensions? Mine are all carbon–also, the stem you have is not the original version. That is the refined ones–I have the one that is a really “back room welded” stem that from what I recall–had moved to as a failure of the bars, and they redesigned it to your version. I think there was a recall if I remember, but mine never failed nor showed any sign of failure. They are solid.
EDIT: Just looked this up & it was actually the arm rest bracket that was recalled…not the stem portion. But they did smooth out the stem with some carbon overlap that makes it look smooth & not the poorly welded jointed stem I have.
What does this say about San Diego and triathlon? Even us euros had heard about Nytro and how it was the focus for the legendary Triathlon scene of the 90s, where Spencer Smith, Jurgen Zack, Tim Deboom and others would hang out (well according to all the pictures and signed kit on the walls).
Has SD lost its tri-mojo? Not only for the triathletes, who’ve moved to Oregon or Boulder, and forgo the swami’s bike rides, Palomar hill climb time trials, Tuesday runs, group swim sessions; but also the local manufactures?
I think this is primarily driven by the cost of bikes and cash flow, just look at what a mom and pop shop has to shell out in cash anymore to hold inventory. If they are owned by the manufacturer this problem goes away.
