My YT Canada experience

Posted by: XXX_er

yeah except when you bought a YT you ain't trying to buy a 3$ mug of coffee, you bought a cheap bike on the internet which was cheaper cuz there isnt a shop to walk into, so now you walk into buddies shop but he doesn't take your money so you ain't a customer yet so what he is saying is fuck you they don't want you for a customer

I duno if they have to serve you I suppose you could out them on the internet or wait till the fall when they ain't so busy and maybe they will want the business

or maybe starbucks will fix it?

Any shop has the right to refuse service to anyone they want, but in the age of the Internet you have to be ready for the word to spread. As more and more bike manufacturers go to the online distribution model this will only become more of an issue. Those shops who refuse service may think they are doing great now and can afford to lose a customer or two...but a few years down the line it will come back to bite them in the ass when more service oriented, less elitist shops will do what they won't. Money is money and if you are turning away someone who you can get to pay full pop for a service...that's just bad business. You may see one person turned away, I see the bigger picture....and as a service-oriented business, you should too. Change is inevitable, you either keep up or get left in the dust.

obviously those shops had enough business or were pissed or sft, I don't know/don't care

the point would be buddy was refused service a few ( 3 times, maybe he was wearing a MAGA ball cap ? ) so while you snow flakes are all "ooooh it shouldnt happen" I be pontificating on the fact this is what actualy did happen and the possible thot process behind it for a shop owner who has his ass on line when a million+ inventory is sitting in the showroom,

So when you do the internet bike thing and it goes sideways own it instead of whining like a little girl that wants to have her cake and eat it too

this post was written whilst under the considerable influence of Penitrailia pale ale

Mix in a little blow w/that you should be able to come up with a real doozy.

the Penetrailia pale ale is all down the tubes (literally) so before I go out and score some blow or a shot of heroin if I am lucky, lets think about it

on one side of the coin you got A bike consumer who chose the cheapest option and paid less for no service, on the other side the store owner is saying for whatever reason he doesn't wana work on buddies ^^ stuff so he is willing to leave money on the table to skip the customer he doesn't think he needs and his business will have to live OR die with that

IBD is saying its the end of the world for bike stores as we know them, the wave of the future is internet yada yada so does buddy shop owner sign up for what is in effect a race to the bottom ?

OR is there another business model ... does he do the exact opposite?

does Buddy shop owner just service his customers who he counts on, does he go higher end, does he put in a couch, an espresso maker, does he give better/faster service to the client that spends the money to the extreme that when a customer walks in with stuff he bought on line the shop owner just tells himself " I could fix this but the service of my business model will suffer for the regulars and so that is not my customer"?

Maybe that^^ will work ... Does every customer always chose price over service ?

In any case the YT owner has made his choice and so has the store owner who said no

I accept either choice and I don't really see a right or wrong but if you want a store to work on yer stuff ... tell em that part came off a bikestore bike

The premise of your analogy is flawed.

The wait times at some of the local shops this time of year are insane. I think bike shop have to find a way to capitalize on more riders needing more quick service. A big draw of the shop is that the inventory is right there and can be installed right away - people will always be willing to pay a premium for this. If I go into a shop and and am willing to bypass the lowest price online and then be told they can't install it for 7 days?? When that happens I may as well order it online, wait for it to arrive then have a service-only shop do the work.

Customers who can get their bikes fixed quickly and painlessly will be in the shop more often. More often to be pitched, to check out clothes and accessories, to participate in the shop culture.

so why does buying a bike from a online source make it the cheapest option ??

I’d say it’s often the cheapest initially, but based on my experience, long term shop support can be pretty valuable on major/expensive/unreliablethings. 

Personally I buy complete bikes either used or new from the shop, forks, dropper posts and wheel builds from the shop. Other stuff it depends on a whole host of factors but I think it’ll be a LONG time before I buy a dropper post without a shop to handle warranty service.

Posted by: DemonMike

so why does buying a bike from a online source make it the cheapest option ??

you can pay a guy to put up a pretty website and that is your E store

You could do it out of your garage so you don't have to pay for an expensive retail space, no knowledgeable staff, no mechanic, no spares , no tools, and if you do need any of that stuff just go buy it at a real bike store ... if they will deal with you

Posted by: craw

The wait times at some of the local shops this time of year are insane. I think bike shop have to find a way to capitalize on more riders needing more quick service. A big draw of the shop is that the inventory is right there and can be installed right away - people will always be willing to pay a premium for this. If I go into a shop and and am willing to bypass the lowest price online and then be told they can't install it for 7 days?? When that happens I may as well order it online, wait for it to arrive then have a service-only shop do the work.

Customers who can get their bikes fixed quickly and painlessly will be in the shop more often. More often to be pitched, to check out clothes and accessories, to participate in the shop culture.

wait a minute I thot there was no value in shop culture and they all got bad attitudes ?

but why does the shop HAVE to capitalize on more riders needing quick service, at some point buddy store owner is at full capacity and that is all he can do

consider if the bikes are coming from other than shop sources there is no service org behind the bikes that get sold on-line

so maybe there will just not enough shops around for service

I don’t think that anyone has claimed that there’s zero value in “shop culture” or that they ALL have bad attitudes. 

Many have said that it’s foolish to refuse work, even if you’re currently busy. 

As far as the supply of shops to service bikes - supply generally rises to meet demand. Service focused shops will open, retailers will put more of their effort into service, and shops that remain focused on what used to work and no longer does will close. I’d argue that this is already underway With shops stocking less and branching out into delivery/pickup and investing in the people requires to do same day service and service focused shops opening, some even managing to avoid the overhead of a brick and mortar location.

When my father started our family business he wanted to be a retailer and manufacturer. We’re probably 95% service now. If we didn’t make that shift we would have been out of business 35 years ago, now he’s a rich man. If we never read the market right than someone else would be taking vacations and driving fancy cars while he would have been back to banging nails to make someone else rich.  I know enough small business owners to know which option most of them would prefer.

How about bike shops have someone on hand early and late to take in/dispense service bikes to people with 9-5 jobs? They don't need to be fully staffed during this time, just someone there to make an assessment and transcribe the service required.

Posted by: craw

How about bike shops have someone on hand early and late to take in/dispense service bikes to people with 9-5 jobs? They don't need to be fully staffed during this time, just someone there to make an assessment and transcribe the service required.

I can't figure out why a "Manager" or someone with a clue about wrenching skills can't be there; especially in peak season to book in bikes for servicing, etc.  

DrewM will say him and another guy would open DB super early, close mid-day, then stay late.  Very few other shops do this it seems.  

Why big shops aren't open from 700-2000 during peak season seems weird.  Friday-Monday seems to be the days to open early.  Thursday-Monday seems to be the nights to stay open late.

I like the idea of the direct to consumer for less money model. I also have a good relationship with a couple of the shops here on the shore. If you buy your bike in the fall when they are trying to get rid of stock you can get a ripper deal, way under retail. So how much is one saving buying the internet bike?

Does anyone here actually pay full retail for a new bike? Seems like something is always getting fixed on my bikes. So they know me pretty well