World's First "Fit Only" Bike Shop?

Triathlon Forum
1

nPosted this on the “London” thread over the w/end, but with all the talk of LBS service, thought it might make for some interesting discussion. These guys (

www.cyclefit.co.uk) ran a high-end bike shop and parking garage in central London for several years, but last year times got hard last year and they’ve re-launched primarily as a very specialised fit-only centre, with a certain amount of custom-builds and accessory supply as an add-on to this. I’m not entirely sure, but I think they’re charging around £100-£140 (US$180-250) for a comprehensive fit session, plus of course income from the bars, stems, posts and cleat wedges that come off the back of that. Not really knowing bike shop margins and economics, I’m interested in people’s viewpoints on whether this is likely to be a realistic / successful business model, given that: a) Whilst London’s a city of 10 million, I wouldn’t put the number of even mildly serious racing cyclists above 5,000, hence a tiny target market b) As Tom repeatedly states, whilst I have no doubt it would probably be the best £100 I’ve ever spent on my sport, they’ll have to work hard to demonstrate value to get people shelling out for a somewhat “intangible” product c) You’d only ever get this done once. Each new fit you do, you’re working yourself out of business. Whilst I wish them all the best – they put a huge amount into local bike sport – my gut feel is that this will be a tough one…

2

I’ve actually thought about flying to California and doing the FIST course and with my chiropractic background being able to set myself up as some sort of an independent fit specialist. My problem is that I live in a rural area and there just isn’t the call for it even as a part time buiness. It likely would take quite awhile to recoup my investment in the FIST certification. If in a large urban area I’m sure it could easily work as a part time sideline to my day job. London has quite a large population but I still dunno how it would fly as a full time business. The big advantage they would have compared to their retail shop is a much lower overhead.

3

The big advantage they would have compared to their retail shop is a much lower overhead.
That’s one of the things that worried me - they’re still in their old premises (Covent Garden - very central, very expensive…)

4

That was what I was thinking the whole time that I was reading your 1st post. They are located in Covent Garden, which is a trendy/expensive area. I remember just over a year ago I went in to their shop and they had a couple of really nice bikes, but nothing jaw-dropping. I could’t believe at that time that they could afford their location. It seems like every shop that is well-known for fit is also almost as well known for having sweet bikes to sell, i.e.- John Cobb’s Bicycle Sports, Nytro, etc. I am not as familiar with the scene in London as when I lived there, but it seems like you could get a decent fit from Triandrun or Bikeandrun or Sigma Sport and purchase your bike from them as well. Here in Boulder, Colorado, there are numerous pro shops that offer fits but they all have lots of shiny bikes to sell you once you have your measurments, and they fit you on your bike once you purchase it. The one I can think of that is not like that is Vecchio’s, which is a service centered shop, they pay the bills by being the best mechanics in town with a waiting list of around 2 weeks to get a tune up. They do sell a couple of lines, but they are mostly custom steel road bikes, and to be honest, I am not sure how many they sell. So I guess it is possible to do bike fittings and not sell bikes, but whereas Vecchio’s does primarily bike service supplemented by fittings, I am not sure what Bike Park (I can’t remember their new name) is going to do to supplement the fittings. Do they do service as well?

Geoff

5

PKRacing in the San Francisco Bay Area does a form of this. They do fits, and provide consulting on purchases, race simulations, etc. Christopher sometimes posts here so he can chime in with the details if he wants, but I think that he is also somehow employed by Serotta.

They were working out of his garage, but on a ride a couple of weeks ago I saw that they were opening a shop in Fairfax. I don’t know what else they will be selling besides fittings from that location.

Ray

6

“PKRacing in the San Francisco Bay Area”

PK Racing and Signature Cycles in NYC (Paul Levine) have a similar model. their business are built around fit, but they both also sell custom serottas. they aren’t employed by serotta. levine runs serotta’s school, but does it as a contractor. kautz teaches at serotta’s school (i believe he teaches part of the advanced classes).

it’s a great model, and one i hope will be emulated in other places, and/or will be emulated by existing shops. at the upper end, some of the biggest shops in the country basically run this way (wheat ridge in denver, wheelworks in boston).

7

Ray - glad you noticed the new location we’re building out. We hope to be in 2 to 3 weeks from now, and we’re very excited about it. Keep your eyes open and come see us when we open - we’re hoping to have a grand opening weekend in the middle of March, though we expect to be in sooner than that.

Dan is right, I do not work for Serotta. I teach at the Serotta fitting school, primarily teaching tri/tt fitting and cycling biomechanics to their advanced classes, on a contract basis. I also use Serotta as a custom builder for titanium, steel, and ti/carbon frames for clients who want them. However, my company also works with a number of builders who can provide us frames of any material, all with custom capability.

Dan and I are definitely on the same page when it comes to our ideas about what a shop (or a “cycling performance center”, as we’re calling our new place) for competitive athletes should be like - fitting focused, appointment only allowing for lots of hands on attention for the client.

The new place will still be focused on fitting as the foundation for efficient cycling, but we will also have more performance related products in house, such as a fleet of race wheels for rent, harder to see in person specialty equipment (such as HED aero bars, SRMs, etc), and a full complement of saddles, bars, stems, and seatposts to go with our fittings. We will, of course, continue to provide custom bikes to our clients who want them as well, in addition to all the performance consulting we do for our clients.

For competitive athletes this model has always made sense to us as the needs of each individual athlete require a singular focus on his or her specific goals, athletic history, etc, all of which require spending a lot of time with the client - more time than a traditional ship typically has time to provide given the volume of customers they service.

As with Dan, I too hope more people adopt this model as it is a benefit for everyone in the sport, both on the athlete and industry sides, to step up the level of professionalism and expertise.

8

Hi,

I just got my bike from Christopher yesterday. Did not ride it yet. I really enjoyed the whole process. The whole point for me was to go get fitted by someone that is in the fitting business versus the bike selling business. I ended up buying the bike from Christopher as well but this was only 3 months after the fit and extensive reseach on various options.

In the process I spent about 7 hours face to face with Christopher between the original fit that included a slight re-fit of my exiting road bike as well as a “tri-fit” and the "before buying fit.

I would very highly recommend this overall. Any question on the process please let me know. I will try to post a review of the new after a few rides

  • Lionel
9

I am waiting for my custom Serotta TT bike from PK Racing, too.

The one-on-one attention I received was excellent. After the fitting process was complete, I felt much more informed and also felt confident that I now had the best fit possible.

I believe that the difference between a bike shop that does fittings and a place like PK Racing is that a bike shop is there to sell bikes/items - PK Racing is there, first and foremost, to provide bike fits/service - the ability to design and order a custom bike driven from my fit numbers was an added bonus!

Mikael

10

Thankyou for your interest in our new business.
At Cyclefit we believe that any rider wishing to enjoy and improve as a cyclist should have the best cycle fit available; we rarely sell a bike without our very comprehensive two hour consultation.
We have trained at the Serotta Academy and with Paul Swift of LeWedge who pretty much wrote the text book that Serotta use.
We are the UK’s only Serotta dealer (4th biggest account world wide at the last count) and also have an exclusive arrangement with Eddy Merckx and can offer regular or custom frames direct from the factory; plus Litespeed, Trek and Cannondale.
30% of our clients are from outside London as we are the only specialists in this field in the UK and Europe.
We work closely with physios and chiropracters in London and can help resolve physical issues that have impaired an athletes performance for many years.
Informing people about the ‘intangible’ product we offer is somewhat long winded, but our best advertisment are the riders out on the road that came to us two years ago as novices and now hold first and second cat licences.and they look great on their bikes as well.
A rider will need a fitting at least once a year in fact as their body will change as they become less or more fit, or perhaps have an injury or purchase a new bike or shoes.
Our latest development is VO2 max testing along with anaerobic threshhold etc, it fits in really well with our business model and also helps pay the rent.