How to Survive as a Local Bike Shop in the Digital Age

How to Retail in the modern age:

What most LBS still don't understand about online retail

The local bike shop, or LBS, has been a long standing staple of the cycling community ever since bicycles have been around. It can be argued that they were some of the first service centers of any kind, since the automobile came after the bicycle and it was probably sometime afterwards that the concept of a auto shop became established. Since it's inception, the modus operandi for shops has been the same. The focus has been on retail and service, with retail slowly becoming the emphasis of where a bike shop tries to profit. Service has been steadily ignored, even though most shops continue to operate almost solely on profit that is made from their service. Because shops are managed by passionate cyclists and not objective businessmen, many times a bike shop can become a showroom for bikes that may not actually sell to the public. Every time I walk into an LBS, the store layout is almost identical. Three quarters or more of the store space is dedicated to retail, with the most expensive bikes being showcased at the front while the more inexpensive or middle of the range bikes are towards the rear.  There are unnecessary products on display that take much needed inventory space because they are aftermarket accessories that can easily be purchased through a store catalog if that arrangement were to exist.  Shop employees are mostly a sales team looking to steer the customer away from fixing the bike they already own and selling them on the next year's model, all in an attempt to clear their inventory off of their shelves. The small service center in the back of the shop is usually run by a skeleton crew that becomes backed up on repairs during the peak summer months. Bike shops like these have a well known reputation of treating customers like they were shopping at a jewelry store or looking to buy a Mercedes. Aloofness and lack of basic customer service skills are a common experience, unless someone is looking to buy and has the means of obtaining that 15,000 dollar Colnago that is sitting on their shelf. 

The average lifespan of a bike shop like this in a given area is about 5 years. While there are some cases of shops thriving on this business model, those cases are far in between and those shops have been around for many decades. Even in this case these shops may only appear to be thriving and expanding to cover their profit losses. Some shops deliberately locate themselves in well heeled areas, because they know that their customer base will cater to them instead of adapting to their customer base. For those shops that continue to operate on the same old, tired out business model; I have news for you. There's a tidal wave that has been building at sea for some time now, some would say it's a tsunami, and it's going to wipe you guys off of the map if you don't change. "What is it?" You may ask. It's called online retail. With a discreet click of a button, customers can get exactly what they want, without being judged, pre-qualified or coerced into buying a product that is more expensive and that may not suit their needs. "But what about service?" There are mobile bicycle repair guys for that now. Bike shops everywhere have been put on notice. Some are adapting, some are resisting change, some are badmouthing the new competitors and some are running scared. Those who adapt from the same old business model will live on to introduce cycling to a new generation of cyclists and consumers. Those who are set in their ways are doomed to failure. So the question remains, how does a bike shop survive in this digital age?

Service!

Service. That's right, rolling up the sleeves and getting dirty. Being a shop mechanic, not a salesman. Having a service focused and dedicated shop is the key to long term survival in the new digital age. The current service model has to change. The repair shop cannot be understaffed, underpaid or under talented anymore. Mechanics have to be trained and certified, especially in lieu of all of the new technologies that have come out in recent years. A capable mechanic needs to now know to to bleed hydraulic disc brakes, convert and service di2 technology, update hardware and software on a Bosch electric motor and so on. These are skills that need to be taught by the industry across the table and made available to anyone who wishes to learn them. 

Some more established shops may want to consider running pick up and repair shuttle services for their customers. This will provide the same convenience of mobile bicycle repair even though it may not provide same day service. Some shops in my area already have a mobile service shuttle as part of their overall outfit. While still more expensive than an individual mobile bicycle mechanic, they are at least on the right track to meeting the demand in their area.

Eliminating Inventory

When a new customer walks into a bike shop, there is more than a good chance that the customer has already done some online perusing and has a basic idea of what he or she is looking for. Therefore, it isn't necessary or cost effective to have a bike of every kind and every size on the shelves. Why not display one bike model in one size, fit the customer on a jig and order the model that they are looking for? Maybe to make it more enticing include home delivery if they spend over a certain price? Mattress shops and furniture stores do it, why not bike shops? That would cut the inventory room needed by over 60%. A bike shop could therefore require less square footage and could be located in a variety of places. That would also reduce the amount of sales people needed on the showroom floor. That payroll savings could go into hiring qualified bike mechanics.  If I leased overhead I would carry no more than ten types of bikes and have each model on display in a neutral size, like a medium. The rest of my shop would be focused on service. 

Bike shops need to eliminate the practice of buying large purchase orders from suppliers with a conditional manufacturer discount. Most of these suppliers require a six month repayment on their purchase orders, meaning that the store needs to sell through their supply in six months or less, otherwise pay a full MSRP price back to the supplier. What this has done is led many local bike shops into a perpetual cycle of debt. According to the book Leading out Retail, after all store operating expenses are covered a there is only a 10% profit margin to be made on a single bike purchase. If that same bike goes on sale for under MSRP price, then the store will sell that bike at a loss. If a store stocks items that do not sell or always sell at a discounted price, that store is taking on massive amounts of debt. In time that store will no longer be able to operate if all it's customers just window shop and do not buy anything. Let that sink in for a moment. Most bike shops, especially the ones with the 15,000 dollar shiny Colnagos, are hemorrhaging in debt. 

Change that Attitude

99% of the things that happen to us are a result of our attitude. Successful people are responsive to suggestions and willing to learn. A successful business will put their customers first. They will listen to their customers and make changes according to what the needs and demands of their customers are. It is not the customers' responsibility to keep bike shops in business. It is the bike shops responsibility to gain the loyalty and trust of their customers. The success or failure of a local bike shop falls solely on their shoulders. While online retailers may eventually takeover the retail market, bike shops can still excel in services. That is one thing that the online world will never be able to do. Becoming service providers for online bike manufacturers is also key. Knowing how to repair a Canyon or a Haibike E-bike is going to be paramount in the near future, and is something that I have personally discussed with shop owners. They need to be open to the new arrivals. The world wide web, the free market and the global economy are actually a good thing for the bike industry. It takes a half-glass full and innovative approach to see things that way.   

Vintage Bikes of the future, 26 inch wheel mountain bikes?

Why you should start collecting 80's and 90's mountain bikes

They say 30 years makes a classic. So pretty much, judging by my time here on this earth, I'm pretty much a classic myself. Classics enjoy the respect of enthusiasts and turn heads when being showed off in a modern environment. The mountain bike as it originally was has also become a classic. 

Crested Butte, 1980. There was a repack mountain bike race that day-viewed the first generation of mountain bikes, a far cry from what we would consider to be a mountain bike today. Cantilever or drum brakes, bull moose bmx-style handlebars, and heavy frames with long rear triangles were on the forefront of technology back then. Many of these bikes have sadly not made it into collector's hands after decades of rigorous thrashings on the mountain bike trail. The ones that have made it will soon be as valuable as the most expensive vintage Italian road bikes.

With the recent popularity of vintage road bikes and fixies, old ten speeds have enjoyed a vast number of avenues for replacement parts and upgrades. Most tire manufacturers still make 27" tires, for example. 27" and 700c wheel replacements are still to be found for many of these bikes, even replacements for rear wheels that require a freewheel instead of a cassette. In fact, ever since 700c became the popular wheel size on road bikes, they have been able to co-exist with 27" bikes until this day. I'm guessing back then bicycle companies respected the consumer's wallet, that or 27" wheel touring bikes were seen as benign and not a threat to 700c wheel racing bikes. 

Never in all of bicycle history has there been an attempt so blatant to eradicate a wheel size option than what the bicycle industry is doing with regards to the 26 inch mountain bike. A year ago, I wrote an article saying this would happen, based on market trends and feedback from working at a bike shop. It seems that overnight, all of the good, mid-school wheels and components have either been bought up or priced up at a 300% inflation rate. This is an unexpected outcome to the 650b and 29er wheel craze of the last few years. I can't seem to find anyone who sells good 26" freewheel threaded wheels anymore, unless they are heavy bolt ons for cruisers. The only wheelsets I find available are cassette compatible and top end brands like Mavic. What ever happened to the Zac 19's?

I can only compare what is happening to the 26", unsuspended, steel mountain bike to what happened to film photography. All the powers that be in the photography industry got together , and in less than a decade, film photography was gone. I saw my first digital camera around 2001, a box-like object that used a floppy disc and could only take five pictures at a time. By 2004, 3 mega pixel cameras where starting to become common among most people. In 2009 when I took my film camera to Germany, I received a few impressed looks and one person even told me that they had forgotten what a film rewind sounded like. I had to take my film to a specialty camera store to get it developed, and that was 5 years ago. I still have my film cameras (good ones, at that) but seldom use them because I don't know where I'll develop the little film that I have left in my refrigerator. Were film cameras that much more inferior than digital cameras? No, in fact a 35mm camera with a really sharp lens could get the equivalent of 64 mega pixels in image resolution. My medium format camera could get an even much higher resolution still. So why did the industry have to force film into obsolescence?

For the same reason why the bike industry is forcing out the 26" wheeled mountain bike: to make money. By forcing everyone to upgrade across the board, the bicycle industry is forcing consumers to buy their product, because all other options have been eliminated. As much as I loved my film camera, once all of the one hour photo labs started closing down, I really could not use it anymore. So let's say I were to break a wheel or a 7 speed shifter on my mountain bike. There may soon come a time where that will mean the end of that bike's lifespan as a mountain bike. It will from that point forward have to become a beach cruiser, because those will be the only wheel and tire options that will come in 26 inches. As a desperate measure, I may just have to buy a Wally World bike or a Magna bike from Target with 26 inch wheels, just to swap parts onto my old mountain bike. 

As consumers, we can choose with our wallets whether or not we like what the bicycle industry is doing. When I say bicycle industry, I am not including bicycles found at department stores, many of which still come in 26 inches. I'm including The two big American owned companies in the industry and the one big but still emerging Taiwanese "giant" who are driving the change. "The Big Three" currently own most of the patents in the industry and are known to buy out other companies just for the sake of eliminating the competition. If we don't like what they're doing, then we don't need to buy their mountain bikes, it's that simple. When we start seeing more aftermarket parts available for our old-school rigs, then we can entertain the idea of buying their products again. 

In conclusion, forced obsolescence is never a good thing. Look what that did to letter writing, no one writes hand written letters anymore. Fewer people read the printed page, now you see people reading on their tablets and "eBooks". People don't invite other people over to look at their photo albums anymore, everything is shared online and invitations are kept to a minimum. When something becomes obsolete, our values and manners suffer. Some people will say that it's just a wheel size, that it's just a hobby and that truth be told all bikes were meant to be disposable anyway. But it's much more personal than that. Pricing out the consumer or forcing an expensive change on them is taking advantage of their long time integrity and the fact that they're cyclists. It's telling them that there's a cost of entry and a economical barrier to doing what they love to do. It's telling the consumer either pay up or quit riding a bike. It's an underhanded and indirect way of pre-qualifying people to do something that everyone should have the right to do; ride a bike. Straight up class warfare, if you ask me. 

Here's my answer to what the bicycle industry is doing. I'm going to start collecting vintage mountain bikes and components. I hope to accumulate enough parts to do my own maintenance without ever having to step foot in a boutique, hipster-owned bike shop. Once I can no longer do maintenance on my bikes, all future mountain bikes will come from Target. That's how I'm going to choose with my wallet and I'm sure others will follow suit. The modern bike boom is over, it's been over for about 3 years now. With this forced change the specialty bicycle market will not keep enjoying it's temporary run of sales for very long. Once the bicycle demands of the upper echelon of society are met, they will not derive any more profit from the rest of us. Until another Lance Armstrong comes along and gets people into Tour De France fever, most people will no longer see the need to buy an expensive bicycle again. 

End of rant.

Bicycles for Sale

Bicycles for Sale

I am selling a few bikes on eBay, in hopes that with a few bikes sold a few more come along and I can start a web based business. I will admit this blog is more than just a rant site or a source of do-it-yourself bicycle advice. I have had a side hobby selling bikes for sometime now and I would like to take things to the next step.  Here's a couple of bicycles that I am currently selling on eBay.

A custom cruiser can cost a pretty penny. Some custom cruiser companies may charge over six hundred dollars on a custom like the cruiser pictured above. For a couple of hundred dollars less and free shipping, this one of a kind custom cruiser with lime green accents can be yours for $450. Check out my eBay link for more information. Click here.

I am also selling this 80's Puch Pursuit road bike in it's unrestored state fully functioning and ready to ride. This bike comes with alloy 700c wheels and downtube indexed shifting. Check out my eBay link for more information. Click here.

Are you a tall rider and having difficulty finding a bicycle your size? Here's a great commuter bicycle that will fit a rider 6'2" and up. It's a 1980 Schwinn World Tourist. It comes with fenders, a 5 speed transmission, and working lights and dynamo generator. Fully serviced and ready to ride. Check it out on eBay. Free shipping in all intercontinental United States. Here's the link.

Here's a bicycle that is sure to bring out your vintage side. This is a late 50's to early 60's middleweight cruiser. Comes with a Pletscher  kickstand not featured on the photo. Frame measures about 18 inches. $220 local sale in the Dallas/Fort Worth area only.

All these bicycles will arrive disassembled and will  have to be re-assembled upon receiving them.  Ebay links will expire in 10 days, but I will post updates on the "Buy a Vintage Bicycle" page,  which will now be replacing the "Buy a Klunker" page (I think most people weren't getting the reference to the title anyway). 

Support my authorship, buy a bike, donate to my blog or just click on my ads and sponsors. I'm just a regular guy trying to hustle like everyone else. The "Bicycle Adventurers" page is also soon to change, being replaced with an index for more direct navigating of this site. You will now be able to access the articles you are directly interested in reading.  Thank you for your support, donorship, patronage and your subscription.

Why Restore an Old Bicycle?

 Will restoring an old bicycle add value to it?

I have been getting feedback on my blog from several viewers. One such viewer asked me the above question which makes for an interesting discussion topic. The reader might ask, "can something that's been sitting in my barn or on my porch for 30 years still be valuable?".  All you have to do is watch the show American Pickers, and the question will answer itself.

The truth is, there is always a market for classic or vintage items. Whether is for collectors or sentimental value, restoring old items to like new conditions is an investment that will yield returns when it's time to sell. Most vintage bicycles become conversation pieces or end up in Jay Leno's garage. But there are some people who restore bicycles just because they don't want to buy anything new. They might be able to get the latest carbon fiber road bike, but instead recognize the quality of a classic bicycle. The saying "they don't make them like they used to" can be justly applied when it comes to bicycles. Now I am not saying that anything new is not worth buying. Nowadays there are great performance designed bicycles that may offer more utility or comfort than bicycles of the past. The difference between a new and old bicycle is the difference between a Honda Element and a 57' Corvette. Style over utility. Feel over performance. The fact that anything over 30 years is still around is testament to the quality of it's design. 

On a recent visit to a well known bike shop in Dallas, I was shopping around for some Schwinn Bicycle grips and checked in to see what they had. When asking one of the techs if they had any Schwinn parts, the tech replied that Schwinns were low quality bicycles only sold at Wal-Mart.  Knowing better than the tech and having worked at several bike shops, I smiled, biting my lip and nodding my head, refraining from a all out lashing of his ignorance and lack of persona. But then again, this was the RBM in Dallas, surrounded by the Highland Park and Lakewood communities, where people usually ride their $5,000 road bikes around a nine mile circuit known as White Rock Lake. In fact, upon closer observation, the majority of their bicycles were worth over a thousand dollars, on average. I'm not trying to defame this bike shop or take any business away from them, I'm just relating what happened.  Later on another tech was a little more helpful in at least pointing  the way to other sources where I could find out more on vintage Schwinns.  

This lack or alleged lack of knowledge about old bicycles is fairly common in the modern bicycle shop environment. One reason is that reps at the shop are usually commissioned salesman that want you to buy something new. Bike shops have to buy new bicycles in bulk quantity at a discounted rate and pay the manufacturer back within a reasonable amount of time, otherwise the are responsable for the full MSRP on all the bicycles purchased. That's why I like the Mom and Pop bike shops better. They don't carry a lot of new inventory, their overhead is lower, the pressure to sell is less and they tend to have more knowledgeable staff.

Another reason for this reaction is the bike boom of 2008. More people who did not know about bicycles got into cycling and many people lost their jobs and found work at the bike shops. So many reps only know about the products they sell, and tend to demean anything that is foreign to them, because they haven't heard about it.

The reader might ask themselves "Is an old classic worth as much as a new bicycle from a bike shop?" A rep at a large chain bike shop will probably say no. But I want to answer that question to the contrary. 

I am currently doing a restoration of a 1980 Schwinn Cruiser 5. I have seen these same bicycles sell on eBay from $600 to 1000 dollars. Granted, this bicycle might not be worth as much as a Specialized Tarmac, but even 600 dollars isn't chump change.  That's why the rewards are worth the investment.

Just like my current restoration project, there are many classic bicycles, many in the Schwinn family, that are worth a lot of money in like new or restored condition. Collectors, enthusiasts, or just practically minded people are willing to spend the cash to buy them, even in a down sloping economy. From a business standpoint or simply for personal enjoyment, restoring an old bicycle makes sense. You take something you already have and add value and utility to it. Its taking something that currently does not exist on the market, making it unique and desirable to others. No one turns heads driving a Honda Element, but a 57' Corvette? Now you get the picture.

Jonathan and Taryn: Crusing into the Sunset

Jonathan proposed, Taryn said "yes!" Congratulations guys!

Who said a photographer's work is done in the winter? I was fortunate to get this last minute booking for this young couple. Due to the reduced amount of daylight in December, I had to be creative on some of the shots that I took. Here are some of the results.

The gondolier is elegantly dressed as he rows this couple through the calm waters of Lake Carolyn

Gondolier, decked out with top hat and tail coat.

You will notice that I also ventured towards the surrounding area around the canals for this photo-shoot. Las Colinas is full of great architectural buildings and sculptures and provides interesting photo opportunities.