Bike Shops - Listen

Posted by: tungsten

The Fix in Whistler only does repairs. No clothes, no bikes but they do sell some parts that they would need for repairs anyway. They do well.

Yeah but that's servicing a high concentration of bikes being beat down in a small geographic area. Could that work in the lower mainland?

North Van is probably more concentrated. With locals anyway. If a repair only shop had a fast turnaround, like overnight service it could work well. In tourist places like Moab, some shops like Chile Pepper work at night for overnight service. Tourists with limited time in Moab need that.

North Van has a large number of shops now. Steed, Obsession, Lynn Valley, BSP, Cove, North Shore Road Bike, John Henry, North Shore Bike Shop, Biccicletta, (does On Top count anymore?). Plus Suspensionwerx. And MEC. That’s a lot of retail for just North Van.

I’ve take a wheel to The Fix for a bearing replacement that I did not have proper tools for. Dropped the wheel off, and went to walk my dogs for a hour or so and get a call mid walk that the work is done. That’s incredible service.

I just read about Bicycle Hub on another thread here. That sounds like repairs only. I’m not familiar with the place though maybe some one can chime in on that.

Posted by: andy-eunson

I just read about Bicycle Hub on another thread here. That sounds like repairs only. I’m not familiar with the place though maybe some one can chime in on that.

Yeah I made an appointment there and he did the work as promised competitive pricing. I think maybe he needs shop help so not the need to work at warp speed.

Lots of service only shops open(ing).

Bicyclehub (Dave) and Wheelthing (Jeff) are both service only bike shops in North Van. There’s also Essential (Jaclyn and Jessica) which does repair and rentals but doesn’t sell bikes. There’s also Inside Line in Calgary and I know of a few other service only and service primary shops starting up in BC and Alberta.

Actually, I should include Darren at Dream Cycle on that list. He sells custom builds but it’s a service primary shop and he’s been on Commercial for more than a decade.

...

That said, online (and previously mail order) bikes have been a reality forever. I’ve never worked in a shop that wasn’t happy to charge a fair price to build a bike out of a box or install a part bought elsewhere and I’ve been around a while.

It’s a problem when folks show up with incompatible parts and expect a shop to trade them, and it takes longer (and therefore costs more) than most people expect to do a pro job building (or rebuilding) a bike out of a box. There’s also a queue for service from April-ish through early September.

Aside from being realistic about those factors I can’t fathom where the issues being brought up derive from. In my experiences - and again I’ve worked for a few shops and with a lot of them - that’s good paying work anywhere people are charging money to turn wrenches on bikes.

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Lots of service only shops open(ing).

online (and previously mail order) bikes have been a reality forever. I’ve never worked in a shop that wasn’t happy to charge a fair price to build a bike out of a box or install a part bought elsewhere and I’ve been around a while.

It’s a problem when folks show up with incompatible parts and expect a shop to trade them, and it takes longer (and therefore costs more) than most people expect to do a pro job building (or rebuilding) a bike out of a box. There’s also a queue for service from April-ish through early September.

Aside from being realistic about those factors I can’t fathom where the issues being brought up derive from. In my experiences - and again I’ve worked for a few shops and with a lot of them - that’s good paying work anywhere people are charging money to turn wrenches on bikes.

The guy building a bike from internet parts is way more likely to order incompatible parts,  if the customer ordered the wrong parts its all on him,  a bike store has to charge out that mechanic/stand schedule & run it  to make money for the shop or they won't be around for long,  someguy showing up with a box full of parts is not a priority

Posted by: grambo

"so what exactly am I getting by paying you guys 30-50% more for essentially the same bike?", leads to some fun conversations. Pretty much stopped going to any unless I absolutely need something that day. 

What do you get? A Bike. 

...which based on the threads I am reading here, is not the case with the consumers at flashy internet-bike brand. Yourself included??

Posted by: skidrc

Posted by: grambo

"so what exactly am I getting by paying you guys 30-50% more for essentially the same bike?", leads to some fun conversations. Pretty much stopped going to any unless I absolutely need something that day.

What do you get? A Bike.

...which based on the threads I am reading here, is not the case with the consumers at flashy internet-bike brand. Yourself included??

Look at rows of new bikes in a show room you usually notice random parts missing which usually means customer broke that piece so the shop robs the part from a new bike if they don't have one in a box, they replace it on warranty during the free service to get the customer back riding ASAP and call the brand rep with whom they HAVE an ongoing relationship

Whereas you HAD a relationship with yer internet bike store at least until they got yer money, I admit the bikes do sound pretty cheap tho

so why don't ya buy a spare ?

Posted by: tungsten

The Fix in Whistler only does repairs. No clothes, no bikes but they do sell some parts that they would need for repairs anyway. They do well.

Yeah but that's servicing a high concentration of bikes being beat down in a small geographic area. Could that work in the lower mainland?

It does. Look up Bicycle Hub.

LOL @ the CDN Distributors trying to go Consumer Direct via Keystone pricing.  I can order items from other countries for less and have it sooner.  A bike shop or service centre adds value for the consumer; a Distributor adds cost.

PS: 🖕🏽 You SRAM

Lots of service only shops open(ing).

Bicyclehub (Dave) and Wheelthing (Jeff) are both service only bike shops in North Van. There’s also Essential (Jaclyn and Jessica) which does repair and rentals but doesn’t sell bikes. There’s also Inside Line in Calgary and I know of a few other service only and service primary shops starting up in BC and Alberta.

Actually, I should include Darren at Dream Cycle on that list. He sells custom builds but it’s a service primary shop and he’s been on Commercial for more than a decade.

Here's another one: Bootleg Bikes in Kimberly BC. Jody has a great reputation as a tech (and for customer service) coming out of Winnipeg and Canmore.

Gonna re-shout it out for Dream Cycle. Reliable folks on that end of the drive.

Posted by: XXX_er

Posted by: grambo

Shops with that attitude are just hurting themselves long run. I've had it from a few places in Vancouver as well when I was bike shopping last year. I just ask them "so what exactly am I getting by paying you guys 30-50% more for essentially the same bike?", leads to some fun conversations.

It sounds like you are both giving attitude ^^ but is their attitude spontaneous or in response to your attitude ?

so besides attitude what does one get for paying extra from a non-virtual bike store ?

whats the toehr side of it ?

Attitude in that example was from the shop employee first, it was last year when I was shopping for a new trail bike. I was genuinely looking for options are a few LBS on previous year close-outs, so I would be asking the guys what they had at a certain price range in 140-150mm trail bikes... if I mentioned I was looking at YT/Commencal, immediately sarcastic remarks or downplaying the quality of those bikes, complete bullshit. At that point I've mentally checked out of ever dealing with that shop again so I just asked exactly why Santa Cruz/Specialized etc. is worth 30-50% more for the same product from the same factory and was not given a good answer.

To be fair it wasn't everywhere, and some shops would say the direct sales look really nice, and then pitch their service/support which is totally fair and what they should be doing.

Posted by: skidrc

Posted by: grambo

Shops with that attitude are just hurting themselves long run. I've had it from a few places in Vancouver as well when I was bike shopping last year. I just ask them "so what exactly am I getting by paying you guys 30-50% more for essentially the same bike?", leads to some fun conversations. Pretty much stopped going to any unless I absolutely need something that day. Service is always BicycleHub now, would rather deal with traffic getting to the shore than drive 5 min down the street to Dunbar after all the problems I've had with them over the years.

https://www.jensonusa.com/Fox-DHX2-Metric-Factory-2019

Looks like a month until the 2019 are in stock. Jenson will give you an all-in price including shipping/duty if you are desperate, but then you'll own an "internet shock".

I mean - how many years have you had problems with Dunbar? I'm not here to defend them, but as the only mtb shop in the core of the city, It's a zoo... I have never had an unsolvable issue when I have needed to book something in.. It did definitely change when they move to the new location. But Dunbar sure is handy in a pinch, and they tend to have oddball parts kicking around...

Mighty Riders, Dream Cycle, Bicycle Hub all do wicked jobs for what you need. Mighty riders has been awesome to me over the years.

Had mediocre service at Dunbar probably 4 or 5 times going back to 2014? Couple times I've brought bike in for service and they've forgotten to do something I requested on the WO and was told I'd have to go to back of queue to get that job done (obviously not charged for it, but this was minor/15 minute type jobs). Every time I've ordered something not in stock they've never once called to say it's in, so I feel like a dick calling in asking if it's there yet. Multiple times they've said they've ordered something, I call back a week later and "oh it's out of stock at the distributor, it will be 3-4 months" so I waste time going back in person for a refund. In those cases it would've been faster/cheaper to just order online.

I want to support them, the guys working there are friendly and good to chat with and I really like what they do for the local scene especially DH racing and carrying DH bikes/products in shop but it's frustrating... For service I only deal with BicycleHub now.

Posted by: grambo

Posted by: XXX_er

Posted by: grambo

Shops with that attitude are just hurting themselves long run. I've had it from a few places in Vancouver as well when I was bike shopping last year. I just ask them "so what exactly am I getting by paying you guys 30-50% more for essentially the same bike?", leads to some fun conversations.

It sounds like you are both giving attitude ^^ but is their attitude spontaneous or in response to your attitude ?

so besides attitude what does one get for paying extra from a non-virtual bike store ?

whats the toehr side of it ?

Attitude in that example was from the shop employee first, it was last year when I was shopping for a new trail bike. I was genuinely looking for options are a few LBS on previous year close-outs, so I would be asking the guys what they had at a certain price range in 140-150mm trail bikes... if I mentioned I was looking at YT/Commencal, immediately sarcastic remarks or downplaying the quality of those bikes, complete bullshit. At that point I've mentally checked out of ever dealing with that shop again so I just asked exactly

To be fair it wasn't everywhere, and some shops would say the direct sales look really nice, and then pitch their service/support which is totally fair and what they should be doing.

YT or Commencel are likely comparable in quality to A-list bike store bikes but shit still breaks, mountain bikes will break, have broke lots, have only got more complicated with more shit TO break since Gary fisher made the very 1st MTB so If buddy the customer can't fix a mtnbike or doesn't have a shop to depend on ... he might wana think twice about buying an internet bike

Also think about the components which every bike maker has to buy that should be good for a couple years but due to a mfgers problem shit the bed get recalled or fail prematurely, would a shop do something for ya to keep you riding or are you on your own?

What would an internet bike shop do for you and if they do nothing will you still be ahead on the cheaper purchase price if you need to pay to fix it your self ON A TIMELY BASIS ?

As for performance I haven't ridden any so I can't say for sure and the fact you/we/me can't ride them till they show up on the doorstep anywhere up to 2.5 months after ordering means one has to base their purchase on somebodies opinion from the internet which will hopefully be the same as yours

That guy in that shop you wrote off due to a sarcastic remark probably doesn't even work there anymore, on the other side of the coin would you write off an internet site that disses all bike stores for being too expensive?  but in any case from what you just wrote you know the value-add of the bike store but you really want to buy an internet bike

As for "why Santa Cruz/Specialized etc. is worth 30-50% more for the same product from the same factory " cuz its not really the same product even if they all get made in the same factory they are made to an individual designers specs and that is what makes the bikes from different companies different, whether or not paying 30-50% more is worht it ... is up you to ride & decide

Posted by: XXX_er

YT or Commencel are likely comparable in quality to A-list bike store bikes but shit still breaks, mountain bikes will break, have broke lots, have only got more complicated with more shit TO break since Gary fisher made the very 1st MTB so If buddy the customer can't fix a mtnbike or doesn't have a shop to depend on ... he might wana think twice about buying an internet bike

Also think about the components which every bike maker has to buy that should be good for a couple years but due to a mfgers problem shit the bed get recalled or fail prematurely, would a shop do something for ya to keep you riding or are you on your own?

What would an internet bike shop do for you and if they do nothing will you still be ahead on the cheaper purchase price if you need to pay to fix it your self ON A TIMELY BASIS ?

As for performance I haven't ridden any so I can't say for sure and the fact you/we/me can't ride them till they show up on the doorstep anywhere up to 2.5 months after ordering means one has to base their purchase on somebodies opinion from the internet which will hopefully be the same as yours

That guy in that shop you wrote off due to a sarcastic remark probably doesn't even work there anymore, on the other side of the coin would you write off an internet site that disses all bike stores for being too expensive?  but in any case from what you just wrote you know the value-add of the bike store but you really want to buy an internet bike

As for "why Santa Cruz/Specialized etc. is worth 30-50% more for the same product from the same factory " cuz its not really the same product even if they all get made in the same factory they are made to an individual designers specs and that is what makes the bikes from different companies different, whether or not paying 30-50% more is worht it ... is up you to ride & decide

YT/Commencal are not catalog bikes, they have their own engineers and do their own R&D just like the big guys, my point is there are made in the same factories as the big guys and the fit and finish (especially on the 2018 Capra and Tues) is pretty damn impressive.

You can demo these bikes before riding them, more of a pain in the ass than LBS for sure, but easily doable in the sea to sky. 

If a component fails within warranty, in theory you just send it to YT/Commencal and they warranty it to the OEM or give you a service centre to send it to. This has been hit or miss based on online reports... I've been lucky to not need anything in the first year of my YT.

As a somewhat educated consumer who knew what kind of bike I wanted, it was simply no contest. I would have paid maybe 10% more for a bike from a local shop for the extra value they provide, but 30-50% (30% being Norco, Devinci, 50% being Santa Cruz).

$5,900 for entry level 2019 Bronson carbon with Yari, SRAM NX boat anchor groupset, Guide T brakes etc. 

$5,500 for 2018 Jeffsy CF with Fox 34/DPS Performance Elite, RF Next R carbon cranks/handlebar, XTR/e13 9-46 drivetrain, Fox Transfer dropper, Guide RSC brakes etc. Gotta step up to the $9,250 X0 build on the Bronson to beat that spec. The gap is way too big.