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Walked to an LBS (4 miles each way, but i was hungover and needed the fresh air) at the weekend to try a helmet on, tried a few on, but oddly the expensive one i wanted (661 Evo) didnt fit, but its mid priced cousin (strike?) did, but the even cheeper one didnt again, and the bottom of the range one does (they don't stock them but ive tried one before).
The plan was to head down to Evans and try on some THE ones as well this week before making my mind up.
Now I honestly fully intended to buy the helmet from them, I did, and £79 didn't seem unreasnoble, I almost bought it there and then (it would be £50 less than the THE anyway). But I figured I may as well at least try on the THE, its only money and it may be that much better.
But..........
the same helmet (i was googling to look at colours) is only £32 on CRC!!!!!
However nice the THE is its not going to be 4x nicer!
My fingers now hovering over the "buy" button, is there anythig I can do to avoid feeling quite this guilty for trying it on at the LBS then buying from CRC, even unintentionaly?
You could remember what the cash you save will buy you and that business is business.
Depends in three years time when no shop exists to try things on how much will it cost you to send it back to CRC?
The outlay here is enough that I would use CRC though.
speak to your lbs and see if they can get closer to the price, i never expect my lbs to match an online price but they often do anyway
It'd cost less to try on 3 different sizes and post it too and fro from CRC, and keep the mail companies in a job. Don't accept one shop taking the P. LBS's have the option to sell online and buy in bulk too.
speak to your lbs and see if they can get closer to the price
Tsk, Tsk, shame on you !!
I have just been chastised over on the 'Bike Shop Opinion' thread for daring to suggest i should have got a discount on a £3K bike !!
CRC only seem to have pinhead and Sputnik sizes left. If one of them fits you, I'd go for it, and don't feel guilty, I'm sure that the shop staff will be happy to lose a sale if it means that they are spared the sight of your freakishly malproportioned physique. 🙂
i don't ask for a discount (although i get one anyway) i ask politely if they can get a more competitive price, not even a match is necessary as i am paying for the reassurance of follow up service/advice/cups of tea.
I have had frank discussions with my lbs owner about it and often when i order a part he just shows me the dealer order page and is completely un-embarrassed by me seeing his trade price for stuff, he knows that i know he has to make a profit and he also knows that i could just as easily and often more quickly get the same part cheaper on line.
i guess all lbs' are different though
I'm squeezing into an XL (odly in half their models the XL feels absolutely tiny, I can barely get my head through the opening!).
I'm guessing there's no way they'll match the CRC price, with over 50% off it must be below trade prices!
i suggest you abandon cycling and elope to join a travelling freak show then
is this you and your bike?
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haha, not quite, its the Afro that takes up the extra space im sure of it!
Funny but I feel ****ing great knowing I've just saved a wedge 
Take the cash you saved and spend it on other stuff (spare chains etc.) at your LBS?
At that huge profit margin, I would feel no guilt. Different if the margin was smaller, but Evans is always very very greedy.
chains, at LBS prices!
you realy would have to be mad, I'll stick to £10 KMC ones of the internet!
So when you are looking to buy a car do you give your business to the dealer closest to you?
Buy the helmet from CRC.
Then spend the money you saved on something from the LBS since you were planning to spend it anyway.
[i]Take the cash you saved and spend it on other stuff (spare chains etc.) at your LBS?[/i]
Whats the markup on innertubes?
no ideawhat the markup on tubes is, but I doubt they cost £5 to manufacture! Gues it's the usual 25%-30% ?
It wasn't so much that they'r the "nearest dealer" just feeling guilty becomeing one of those people who tries stuff out at the LBS then buys online.
On the other hand I'm £38 better off and it should be here by the weekend 🙂
25-30 percent mark up on tubes? PMSL!
The LBS is for trying on shoes/clothes isn't it??
I dont want to be posting stuff back because I ordered the wrong size now do I.
Bar bikes I doubt the markup is 30% on anything. Bet its more. A bikeshop would be mad to stock anything less IMO.
The mark up on tubes & the like will be in the region of 100%
It's irrelevant though - I'm either prepared to pay the price asked for something or I'm not.
I couldn't give 2 figs what anyone further up the food chain makes on it - I presume they know what they're doing
Didnt someone on here reveal the cost price from the importers of King Bottom brackets as £50?
why, do you recon thats high or low?
Working on the presumption they'r not giving them away at 0% margin, and you cant have too big a margin optherwise soemone else will charge a more sensible one.
Things like tubes are bread and butter for bike shops. I can assure you the mark up is significantly higher. There are very few goods with decent markup but the likes of brake pads, chains etc are some of them.
I'd be interested to know general margins on high end bikes, frames, forks etc. Wear and tear items must be fairly high-turnover for a shop.
I'm not having a go.
After all this forum is normally populated by users who are passed the holding-hand stage. A LBS's bread and butter is the seasonal sales along with customers who are just getting seriously into the hobby. If you are actually seriously into the hobby you know what you need and how to fit it (or thats what my thinking is).