So wiggle have 25% discount which is substantially below the shops price.

Where I can I will always/support my LBS otherwise they will eventually fold and only leave internet portals.

btw the difference works out to £1000 and the authorised dealers aren’t local but it still doesn’t sit easily.

Thoughts and thanks in advance

I’d ask the LBS what they can do, but £1000 is £1000

<sits down with a coffee>

I guess it depends on how much you can afford the luxury of buying via the LBS and helping keep them afloat.

Can you comfortably afford this prurchase or are you scraping every penny together for your purchase?

Do you need their service and will you rely on them for their help in the future?

I know what I`d do, but realise that for some folk they have enough disposable income and supporting their LBS is key.

Sadly I`m neither rich enough nor reliant on my LBS for my biking needs.

Well, it sounds like it isn’t your LBS anyway!!

I’m comfortable spannering my own bikes, so dont rely on goodwill from an LBS(don’t have one within 20 miles anyway!)

If it’s your LBS and you use them, then work out what they are worth to you and see if they can discount enough to make it work for you.
If it’s just another not so local bike shop that you don’t use and are buying from like you would from the internet shed then price is probably king.
I chose to buy my new bike from my LBS because they gave me enough discount and good service. An internet shed won’t retrue your rear wheel for free while you wait. or stay open late so you can pop in and pick up the bit you need for tomorrow.

SM

Unless you’re loaded or an idiot, buy it from wiggle.

Times are tight n all that, you’re on about a ONE THOUSAND POUND saving!!

If I went in to my LBS and said I was going to buy a bike with that sort of saving the response would most likely be “too bluddy right mate!”

1) sounds like the bricks and mortar dealer isnt your LBS
2) £1000 will buy a lot of spannering at your LBS
3) it’s a £1000!

before you click buy at wiggle make sure you go via a caskback site, you’ll get 2% back on a full bike which at the sort of money your’e looking at will pay for a new helmet or something.

so, if the lbs isn’t really your lbs then you’re comparing two distance selling companies, one of which you interface with over the web, the other of which you have to drive to?

If you felt really guilty, then you could buy from wiggle, then spend the difference on high margin stuff from your (real) lbs. That way you don’t try and drive their profits down by cutting margins on an already lowish margin product. 🙂

Buy the bike from Wiggle

Then give the £1000 you saved to your LBS as a store credit.

TRUST ME, they’d far rather you did this than haggle with them on the price of the bike (leaving them very little profit in it, if any at all). You’ll be happier, they’ll be immensely happy as they’ll be spannering your bike for some time to come anyway, and buying bits and accessories from them…

Aye the shop won’t make alot on 25% off, you can speak to them for sure but I’d not be offended as an LBS.

As much as LBS’s are nice and we should support them – £1000 is a lot of money. You have to question their pricing/business model there. They may well be stuck with that price but if I was running an lbs I’d have to seriously question the sustainability of that.

First port of call might be your LBS, see if they can actually get you the bike you want. If so, take it from there to see how close they can get on price.