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Cynical hora meets fluffy-bunny druidh
Hora - you know what, sometimes things are actually quite nice in the real world and people aren't out to get you.
Ask anyone who comes out on a wed with us and they will universally tell you it is nothing more than a ride with like minded individuals and the shop brain gets turned off by the guys at 6pm on the dot.
Oh and you should see how much kit we DON'T sell to our regulars.
Did you suffer some sort of 'experience' whilst a youth to make you so bitter?
Who said anything about 'out to get you'. ❓
Its a retailer/business. Lets not pretend or dress up retailing as something else.
I just find it odd that people try to romantise one specific segment of retailing.
I'd like to add that Hora was [i]exactly[/i] the bloke who would come into the shop with something bought online/elsewhere and try and get advice/repair/warranty.
Hora - Remember that RM9 you bought for riding in Hampstead heath; the ex-shop/demo bike sight unseen RM9 from a shop on the [i]North Shore[/i]? Yep. We had to 'fix' the stupid thing. That was just the start. 😉
I'd also like to reiterate that I am on his side as far as CRC goes, but he's making a hash of defending the point.
Fortunately CRC can stand up for themselves pretty well anyway.
They're probably reading this thinking "for god sake Hora stop posting!"
Hora = member no. 1 of 'Big Society' 😉
Oh god it was that awful bloody bikeshop.
Who is defending CRC? Look back a few posts and you'll see I wasn't entirely happy with CRC.
Staff make a bikeshop. As I've said before service and mechanical ability is king at Evans Manchester (even if the prices aren't).
We had to 'fix' the stupid thing
I realise (hope) this is tongue-in-cheek but surely this is exactly where an LBS can make a heap of money. Nothing wrong with what Hora does - he keeps mechanics in business
£100 to build a bike. 😐
£100 to build a bike
If you've bought all the parts elsewhere then ask a bike shop to assemble them, I don't think that is too unreasonable, particularly if that includes wheel building too. Granted I've only ever built one bike so I'm no expert, but I do at least know what is involved.
If you've bought all the parts elsewhere then ask a bike shop to assemble them, I don't think that is too unreasonable, particularly if that includes wheel building too. Granted I've only ever built one bike so I'm no expert, but I do at least know what is involved.
When I was a mechanic in the late '90s it was £70 to build a bike. £100 seems a pretty good deal, especially if that includes building wheels and facing the BB, headtube and rear brake mount.
Ditto. Sounds like a fair price to me.
Is Hora actually a real person?
It does seem like he is 'ripped off' all the time 🙄
Perhaps he should become the next Mary Portas.
I would have thought £100 for building a bike would be a reasonable charge, even without building a set of wheels from scratch.
£100 is a lot of money excluding building wheels and that's 8yrs ago. A decent mechanic could turn it around quickly.
The ironic thing is the staff are paid peanuts, a bikeshop manager is paid poorly for long hours/crummy day off and the owner takes the spoils in most cases.
(Yes I know there are the quiet times for small indies in odd locations)
...But that's retail the world over!
sounds like a really easy life would be setting up a bike shop. you simply rent a shop, hire some underpaid greasemonkeys and roll around in the profit?
So easy, I'm surprised that Hora - with all his insider knowledge and good advice - isn't already bigger than Evans.
Oh - I meant Evans the bike shop, not Evans the shop for the larger woman*
* although I can see how one might be easily confused.
Now your oversimplifying
I miss my old LBS in Wolves - Fred Williams Cycles - as it was staffed with knowledgeable witty folks who lived cycling. Unlike the big chains most towns have they did discounts, the kinda make you feel good discounts.
However, we all live the in real world and money is hard to come by and this is not a cheap sport. Anyone who shops just in one place will get ripped off. If you are canny you shop around. When the exchange rate with the USA was favourable I shopped at Jenson for forks and even ebay for a frame.
I buy from CRC, Merlin, Wiggle, Woolly Hat Shop, Ribble, St John Street Cycles, On One, Evans, fleabay etc depending on where is cheapest. My three LBS shops are all chains and average would be a generous description.
If there are problems for retailers with their distributors then they need to take that up with them, or vote with their feet and go to a different distributor. Bellyaching isn't going to sort it.
Who is CRC?
CRC is great.
I'd love Evans to go out if business though. The sanitised bland bikeshop par excellence.
Lee Evans? He's quite funny.
How does the American market work? Genuine question as I have no idea (it 'seems' more competitive?)
I remember reading US magazines in the early 90s and the prices in dollars were the same figure as we pay in pounds. It always seemed that we paid more in the UK compared to the USA.
UK pricing is higher for many reasons.
1. Import takes
2. VAT
3. They use those two above to inflate the prices even higher
Didn't realise CRC was in Northern Ireland. Not fussed, its still the first place I look for parts and until it shuts down probably always will be.
My LBS is so busy that my mate had to book a munth in advance just to get his cables thread through his new road bike frame.
Out of all the reasons to spread your cash around and not just shop at CRC, the best has to be their clothing range. Imagine if the only cycling shorts you could buy were XXXL No Fear motocross pants. If we all keep shopping at CRC, that's our future. 😯
No I meant the homegrown brands, I imagine they are distributed directly by the manufacturer (as why would you need a distributor in your own country/market?).
Lets not forget all clothing and bike bits are made in the US, they are also imported from the far east into the US so attract taxes/cost as well.
Hora, you do realise that unlike the UK where the quoted price includes VAT, in the US you pay sales tax [i]on top of[/i] the quoted price?
Slightly OT, but a few years ago you could buy an imported Triumph motorbike from Japan/America cheaper that they were selling them on the mainland despite the fact they were built here and shipped halfway across the world and back.
Which depending on the State can be 5-20%?
Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States (first column)
Whilst I can get most of the parts I need at any one time here (U.S.) a lot of the time it is cheaper to use CRC. The reduction in V.A.T. makes up for the postal.