@Martinxyz

Not really. Going by concept stores about to crop up fuelled by a certain distributor of Shimano.. it’s looking the complete opposite from where we are.

if Madison are opening concept/brand stores it will be interesting to see if they can actually make them profitable? And what would stop the big on-line retailers from selling grey Shimano goods to UK consumers at lower prices?

I’ve worked in a number of concept/brand stores and from discussions with other stores in the UK, the majority just break even, rather than make profit.

For retailers who operate a concept/brand stores and also have other multi-brand stores, they often find the multi-brand stores are more successful, offering consumers real choice and having other options when single brands have stock shortages.

The concept and brand stores are franchises with the operator taking the financial risk, often the brand invests in the store fit out using marketing money from the overseas parent company but is not responsible for operating costs or losses.

The “brands” love these concept stores as they are a great showcase for the product range with staff trained specifically by that brand, but many consumers actually want choice, and by focusing on a single brand you can potentially turn off 80% of customers.

Consider that the new owner of S+R / Cycle Surgery took a good look at the figures for the Specialized Concept Store in Covent Garden, tore up the contract with SBC UK and turned it into a “Cycle Surgery” stocking predominantly Specialized but also a number of other high end road bike brands

That store was considered to be the most successful Concept store in the UK in terms of S-Works sales (holding the global sales record for S-Works Maclaren Venge bikes) but that does not mean it was a viable proposition for the actual operator rather than for the “brand”.

You want it quicker get me a 6 pack
You want to watch and ask questions? Bring 2
You want me to teach you how to do it? Bring 3
You want me to fix the job you started with the wrong tools, no instructions and just some guidance from a bunch of strangers online?

you forgot the last line.
You’re on single track?

Crate of hobnobs please

Funny obsession with qualifications I. This thread. Qualifications push up coast and offer little in return. I’m not antitraining but qualifications will not make a workshop more profitable And able to pay staff more. Allowing someone to start with no qualifications does not stop experienced fast productive people from being paid more. It’s how much money they are pecived to bring into the business. Unfortunately even though a good mechanic brings in businesses if its not that much over an average mechanic you will be limited.

A key problem is that outside a couple of big cities its very hard for a mechanic to setup self-employed and get enough business only doing repairs and servicing with out starting an entire shop. There is no bike mechanic gararges like there are for cars and motorbikes. It not a model people are accustomed to. If demand was there this would be good as a repair only business does not need retail space and get cheaper rates.

There are a couple of repair only places in Sheffield and they are all expanding

I wonder how many people on this thread actually use a shop mechanic

I have been doing all the work on my own bikes since I was about 10.
Helped that my dad used to be a mechanic and had a garage full of tools and was happy to advise at the start.

However, I usually take my car to a mechanic to be fixed as I can’t be bothered but mainly because I am in the same position as a lot are with their bikes – I don’t know how to do it and I don’t have the tools.

I have been doing all the work on my own bikes since I was about 10.
Helped that my dad used to be a mechanic and had a garage full of tools and was happy to advise at the start.

However, I usually take my car to a mechanic to be fixed as I can’t be bothered but mainly because I am in the same position as a lot are with their bikes – I don’t know how to do it and I don’t have the tools.

This is STW, not a car enthusiast site. I’d expect a vast number of car site members to spanner 99% of tasks with their cars.

This is STW, not a car enthusiast site. I’d expect a vast number of car site members to spanner 99% of tasks with their cars.

I am referring to the wider bike population, not the STW bubble. Whether STW members use bike shops or not is irrelevant to the overall industry in which this discussion is about.

I would also think that not even close to 99% of car tasks would be done by car site members and would guess it to be around 10% rather than 99%. Probably stops at changing oil and plugs for most, how many change their own suspension, tyres, exhaust, bleed, brakes, tune engine etc,. They wouldn’t have the tools or knowledge just as most bike owners don’t for their bikes.

I think you’d be surprised actually – of the VW forums I’ve been on, changing suspension/gearboxes/engines, turbo conversions, etc, was a lot more common than you’d think.

Besides, you can’t really compare car mechanics and bike mechanics anyway. The former undergoes usually a 3-4 year apprenticeship and works in a garage equipped with tens (possibly hundreds) of thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment. Whereas you can reach the highest level of Cytech training in under a month and fully equip a bike workshop for pretty much every job for £10k.

Add to the fact that to do most jobs on a car properly you’ll need a ramp (where is your average person going to put one of those?) and it’s dirty, physically tough, sweary work. Change brake pads and discs on a car? Bank on seized bolts, filth and grime, and it’ll take at least half a day off you’re lucky. I’ll pay someone to do that to just not have the hassle. Pads and discs on a bike? Basic tools, under an hour, and I can do it in my kitchen in the warm and dry. Hell, you can strip, clean and rebuild an entire bike in a weekend. Doing basic maintenance and repair on a bike is just not that difficult, expensive, or time-consuming, sorry.

Even so, the average car mechanic salary is only around £20-22k, so why are people surprised when a bike mechanic isn’t earning higher?

Doing basic maintenance and repair on a bike is just not that difficult, expensive, or time-consuming, sorry.

To you or me, yes, it is all easy (and I actually enjoy doing it). We are not the average cyclist who is as keen/interested to fix their bike as I am to fix my car.

Doing basic maintenance and repair on a bike is just not that difficult, expensive, or time-consuming, sorry.

Why would you be sorry? It’s great.

You must have been in a bike shop when someone’s come in to get a puncture fixed though? There’s lots of people with no interest or desire to become home mechanics.

Which is lucky as it keeps the LBS workshop going until I need a nasty job doing.

😉

punctures are bread and butter for many bike shops. quick jobs, great margin and opportunity to retail some tires to the customer

a term often heard about puncture repairs in bike shops is “idiot tax”, from jaded staff who consider you shouldn’t ride a bicycle if you can’t even fix a punctured tire?

My last thought before I get out of the car and attempt a ride in the rain- if I had to pay RRP etc I’d knock mountain biking on the head. I’d probably take up road riding (my road bike cost £600 secondhand is ace).

Refreshing a drivetrain two-three times acyear is pricey enough as it is shopping about. At full price I’d probably ride alot less.

Same with other folk no doubt so I can’t fault the internet revolution. It kept me in this hobby.

That store was considered to be the most successful Concept store in the UK in terms of S-Works sales (holding the global sales record for S-Works Maclaren Venge bikes) but that does not mean it was a viable proposition for the actual operator rather than for the “brand”.

Despite it being on a side street the cost per square metre for that retail space was probably more than any other bike shop in the uk apart from perhaps the Bespoke store on jermyn street. It would probably make your average regional lbs owners head explode.

So, to summarize, on our High St. we all want Bernard the butcher, Frank from the fruit shop, Bertha the baker to serve us and maintain our community via the High St, yet we all shop in Tescaldidllburysdaison, cos its cheaper, more convienient, branded and sold to us as we watch tv.

Same with the LBS, we all want our LBS guru to guide us through CRCs myraid of options, then scuttle off home to buy on line, cos its cheaper, more convienient, branded & rapid.

I’m as guilty as the next man, in it up to my neck.

We’re all whores to consumerism, buy, buy cheaper, get a bargain, feel good, want the new standard, more travel, bigger, better, last years tech is now old skool, it’s all bollocks.

Shame, but thats the way it is. I really can’t see a way out. When long term bike trade employees can buy cheaper online than trade its all bent outta shape like a machine built wheel.

Final thought to those LBS to help compete with online: 💡 Why not offer the customer the option to buy online, have delivered to your shop, you fit & charge (eg) 10% handling fee and + labour? Let CRC be your stores dept and deliver next day. 💡

Besides, you can’t really compare car mechanics and bike mechanics anyway.

Too right. Car mechanics is easy – if something’s seized, you just get the windy gun on it. Can’t do that with delicate bike components. If something doesn’t quite fit, you just set about it with a hammer for a bit until it does. If something has a fault, you just plug in the data analyser and it tells you what part to replace.

See, I can do generalisations too 😉

Your bike might be easy to fix. Keen cyclists are often quite good at fixing their own bikes – they know them top to bottom and look after them. That doesn’t mean the same keen cyclist would be able to repair any other bike, let alone ones that haven’t been looked after.

hora – Member
…Refreshing a drivetrain two-three times acyear is pricey enough as it is shopping about. At full price I’d probably ride alot less…

Could be why so many bike mechanics ride singlespeeds… 🙂

As far as buying online is concerned, much the same complaints were being made over 100 years ago in the bike industry about mail order stuff, so it’s hardly a new problem.

hora – Member
…Refreshing a drivetrain two-three times acyear is pricey enough as it is shopping about. At full price I’d probably ride alot less…

by refresh are you talking a new chain or the entire thing, what are you doing to them in a year?