Some serious attitudes on here, I know which shop I wont be using.

LBS are crap, never been to a good one yet! My local one is JE James so maybe thats why I don't rate LBS. Come on getting off with a bit of import tax is not going to bring the NHS down is it. I bet for all the people who get away with import tax in a year would not even pay for the paper clip bill for the NHS. A think a bit of perspective is needed here.

Went to an LBS other day asked for some gear cable outer in one 2m length got none, 4 chainring bolts, got none!. Spokes in a pretty common size, got none!. Nice people though which makes a change, pitty I went home with nowt!

So why should anyone feel bad about buying online? Maybe if the LBS had anything in them and had nice forks at anything like a real world price it would be good to go to them. Also if many of them could be even arsed to see you as paying cutomer and not someone to patronise, because they are bored with doing next to noting all day.

I can rest at night knowing I don't support local LBS.

Seth
Hopefully one day we will open a shop in Sheffield and then you will be able to come in and talk bikes and buy stuff in a shop with real people

🙂

in a shop with real people

now I want to go to a shop run by automata 🙂

No a shop run by terminators or Ed209 would be cooler.

Man-who-owns-shop in 'I don't like it when people buy things cheaper elsewhere' shocker!

Not really Kenneth.
Its a bit more than that, I am well aware of the prices of products available on the internet and that dosent bother me too much.
We dont keep a warehouse full of stock and dont import direct from China, so we have to work around the prices we get from suppliers.
Different people want different things and not everyone is looking for the cheapest deal from china, a lot of parts and bikes we sell are following a fair bit of discussion and consideration of what the customer wants/needs. (partly why i like these forums – to get ideas about new products and peoples opinions on them)
My concern is with our obsession as a nation to buy from abroad which worries me long term for the state of the Country as a whole.
(when I read the initial thread I was particularly wound up by a tender I was doing – hence my sharp response)

My concern is with our obsession as a nation to buy from abroad which worries me long term for the state of the Country as a whole.

Since manufacturing in this country is a dying art (there is Hope) – you can't blame the consumer when they buy the same parts from abroad for cheaper than retail in the UK.

which worries me long term for the state of the Country as a whole.

think of it instead as a levelling of general wealth – as the jobs seek out the lowest waged areas they are pulled up to a fairer average!

SFB nice communist rhetoric is that.

SFB nice communist rhetoric is that.

though interestingly pursued by the capitalists 🙂 It's happening now. And after all, there's no particular reason to think of British people as being any better or more deserving of wealth than any others…

My LBS owner shops in Tesco

Try telling that to to nearly 3 million British people on the dole Simon. I like your ideals. But I do happen to live in Britain and not China or Taiwan. Are we supposed to also be worried about how China is doing in its export sales, on top of all the other problems we have in this country!

Try telling that to to nearly 3 million British people on the dole Simon. I like your ideals.

It's not a matter of ideals, it's a done deal – welcome to the Brave New World!

Ah well I guess we should all get used to paying a lot more tax on everything and having less services such as the NHS. The Brave new world is not all its cracked up to be.

and having less services such as the NHS

I can think of plenty of other institutions we could do without far more easily that that – like Trident & the armed services for instance!

according to the eef the uk is the 6th largest manufacturing economy…..

Myabe it's me, but aren't Avids made in the Far East? There's yet another POV that could say don't buy Taiwanese goods, buy Hopes from down t'road.

That is a bigger issue than simply going to your LBS and getting hit in the face with a grumpy attitude. Becuase if you think it's crap in retail, you should try being in manufacturing.

Wholeheartedly agree with SFB's first post TBH. And I used to work in a bike shop!

I'm in manufacturing, never been busier…

Try telling that to to nearly 3 million British people on the dole Simon

Only 35 million to go! 🙂

The trouble with my equality proposition is that it depends on cheap, oil based transport to be effective, and that is unsustainable 🙁 So, we should favour local manufacture, not due to jingoism but pragmatism

It's okay China is stockpiling the stuff so you can get your cheap components.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/124998-why-is-china-stockpiling-oil

If theres an advantage for me (be it price, convenience, service etc) then I'll use an LBS, but I feel no loyality otherwise.

Why should I be out of pocket to fill someone else's pockets?

An LBS is a business run for profit for the shop owner.