year ago Wiggle/CRC were the enemy..?

Only at war with the lbs never the Consumer?

Like many, I bought my first MTB/ATB at butler cycles which became wiggle and upgraded bits on it through various phone calls to the original crc bike shop

I suppose it’s much the same that supermarkets are the enemy of the corner shop. Tesco are currently actively and directly trying to kill off the small local shop with changes at Booker.

Personally I couldn’t really care if T&L change their logo, probably due an update after all that time….

The tinned version cirtainly under sells the squeeze bottle in my shop, although I do have customers that will only buy the tin and vice versa and will complain If I don’t have the correct one in stock. I generally only ever stock which ever gives a higher margin when it’s time for a restock.

That was the job of the previous owners

From what I understand of the situation the owners had 150mil of investment removed by investors. If I took a large proportion of investment out of my business it would fold too 🤷‍♂️.

If there was a company left to save the Administrators could have got more money for it.

crc’s been the Benchmark shop for telesales and internet cycling sales for as long as I’ve been riding. I wonder how many other big cycling brands will go pop this year, crc/wiggle cirtainly won’t be the last. The issues are industry wide rather than single company centric.

The issues also seem, at least to me, to go far wider than the cycling industry, all parts of post pandemic retail is in complete turmoil at the moment.

I’m no great fan of Mike Ashley either. But he didn’t break CRC/Wiggle.

True, but he hasn’t saved the staff from being made redundant either – he’s waited until the company was on its knees and bought the branding only.

He hasn’t bought any of the wealth of experience the staff have, saved jobs, lively hoods etc. Done nothing that affects hundreds of people. The man is consistently a retail vulture, picking at the bones of businesses and then regurgitating them back up as cheap imitations.

The irony of this thread and the cheap 5.10s thread running at the same time is brilliant.

100% this. 100’s of pairs that have popped up on FB marketplace now at over inflated prices which I find depressing.

Lbs is the way forward – I’ll be boycotting any products or bramds Mike Ashley tries to pedal….

Another Planet X ‘one day’ offer…..

Ti frame ✔️SRAM AXS✔️RS pike ✔️dropper✔️

All for £1499 seems an absolute bargain to me….

On-One Vandal SRAM GX AXS Titanium Mountain Bike

The scandal is just getting worse and worse the deeper it’s dug into….

BBC News – Cameron government knew Post Office ditched Horizon IT investigation

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68146054

I took the quality of life move over pay and career 7ish years ago.

Looking back it’s prob been the best 7 years of my life. I technically make less than minimum wage, work 60hours+ a week and haven’t been on a ‘propper’ holiday in those 7 years. But in comparison to the very stressful middle/upper management job I used to do, I’m far better off. The family and quality of life gains were huge, and also the opportunities I’ve been given as a result.

My wife prob isn’t so thrilled….😂

Hopes new cranks have replaceable pedal inserts though….. Not sure it warrants the RRP though….

It’s all just been a game.to the government since it came to light around 2012, the situation for all postmasters across the country (not just the convicted) has been used for political wrangling.

It’s front page of the Times today. With full story on page 2.

Personally, it’s not the sort of park I’d go to on an ebike. The extra charge over a regular bike does seem excessive, which would also put me off. Makes my few £12 visits a year to windhill and £42 parking pass at fod seem a bargain.

Done 👍

Vape shops

Soon to be having problems if the industry changes that are talked about are made. Some convenience stores make up to 60% of trade through vaping products and have gained a reliance (addiction 😉) to the stuff. Thankfully we don’t sell any vaping and have also dropped tobacco in the last three months as the margin is too small for the capital.

It all looks very shiny and lovely with all those new glass and chrome buildings, but behind all that facade the industry is dying on its arse

Huge decline in advertising revenue is having a big impact according to several podcasts I listen too. Channel 4 specifically having a hard time.

my rational for investment, fat kids love coke.

Cirtainly our best seller 😉 in category.

Coca Cola (7% profit increase shares £22 upto £24.46 since tuesday close)

Surprised at that, coca cola announced on Monday(?) they were dumping a large swathes of unprofitable products/brands (Tab, Zico coconut water, Diet Coke Fiesty Cherry and Odwalla juices). Obviously a good market reaction to it – and it helps that their profits are up.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/coca-cola-flavours-discontinues-drinks-b2495878.html

I was told that coffee shops and cobblers do well in a recession.

Coffee is a great trade – our highest margin in the shop (now we’ve paid off the equipment, which took three years in sales) is coffee. 84% gross margin on coffee @ £3 a cup. Costa and the like are raking it in.

Just started on my android/chrome this morning 🙄

With more people alive on the planet today than have previously lived in total*, I always thought it would be good to get into the undertaker business.

Completely agree, I used to work for a company that had a significant amount of funeral homes, that part of the business had a year on year growth & could predict quite accurately future years based on population and various other factors. Surprisingly heavily under invested though, compared to other parts of the business.

Also crematoriums, desperately needed in the UK but incredibly difficult to get planning specifically due to nimbys. We applied for three different sites in the midlands, all were rejected, prob spent several million in fees trying to get them through planning. The company eventually said enough is enough, and stopped looking for new sites or development on the project.

Not sure that there’s a need for them when we can fit 200 or 220mm discs?

Always find this argument amusing, moto discs are what, 270mm? But the bike must weigh almost 10x that of MTB?

Unless your on a dh bike 200+ size rotors just compensation for bad brakes imo.

That review popped up on my YouTube suggestions yesterday…. I stopped watching after 2min as I found the guy incredible annoying.

£99 for a rs Judy….

Rockshox Judy Silver TK 29" Boost Fork

Looks. I like the mid-range Ritchey stuff (i.e. posh aluminium rather than carbon) as it looks smart and is reasonably light etc.

So your paying for vanity, nothing else. Best bang for buck will always be black non & branded.

I’ve had Brand-X carbon fail on me so I do think there is a small premium to pay for better kit

Yep and I and many other will have broken other brands carbon (and Ali) parts.

Brand x? What advantages does a logo make?

I’d be emailing Merlin and asking about the recall before purchasing if I were you….

“All 12-speed SRAM eTap AXS RED, Force, Rival, and Apex shift-brake levers which were not installed by a bicycle dealer on a new bicycle are involved in this recall,” the company wrote. “If your levers were on a complete new bicycle purchased at or installed by a bicycle dealer, no action is required.”

https://gearjunkie.com/biking/sram-recall-61000-shift-brake-levers

Just had another rambling thought  (sorry😂)

Having had a career in retail and before my shop specifically supermarket retail. Us retailers would generally make more money per meter of shelving, not selling mags at all and dedicating the space to an alternative product (almost cirtainly food to go in my case). The reason many shops like mine have mag shelving is not because they sell well with big margins, it’s because our contract with Smith news or Menzies for newspapers we have to sell magazines, the meterage of magazine shelving is pretty much dictated by the supplier.

But newspapers sales are also in decline…..

Subscription is cirtainly the way forward.

Personally when I flick through or even read most/all of it, the feeling I often get is that I’m not in the target audience for 75% of it.

I’m the same (although probably in the stw age band). I enjoy some articles more than others, but your never going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time and is one reason I stopped my physical mag sub this time last year, and skip to the digital stuff I’m interested in now.

Bought the new look mag though and tbh I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far. Especially liked the style the small product reviews are in, less of the spec and details more on the actual what it’s like to own which is great.

I guess from about 1990 to 2010 I used to buy every mag every month on the shelves in WHSmith. But this was almost always for the reviews for new product development stories rather than “X went for a ride up a mountain” style stuff.

Now when a new product or dev in MTB comes out, my goto is the internet and YouTube. Mags used to be the front line of information, that’s the internet now so mags have to provide something the internet doesn’t for their value to be retained.

Imo the best article stw has ever done was the Jamie Tomkins interview a year or two ago. Informative, inspirational, and about real people. I handed re read an article multiple times for years, but that one.i must have gone through several times. It wasn’t just another, “we went for a ride and this is how it went” article.

I’ve no idea how stw can try to counter the downturn in print medium, I sell news papers and mags in my shop, and year on year it’s getting a smaller part of my business.

@stwhannah mags I like are positive news, byline times and art review. Positive news and byline times just seem to be slightly different to the other usual trope of information and put out articles that are relatable and upbeat. Art review is a bit more glossy and well presented (being an art mag).

When we bought our shop (8yrs ago) we sold round 3x more mags than now….which is a depressing thought. Our best selling category is kids mags, but I highly suspect that’s due to the plastic cr”p on the front. Best adult categories would be TV mags (elderly customers) and countryside, so farmers weekly/country man’s weekly and country life due to the rural demographic. I stopped getting the MTB mags in years ago because I only sold a couple copies a year (probably to myself).

Buy a large office shredder, shred the whole lot and recycle. When done stick the shredder on eBay.

They are £900 at the specialized store with the extra 10% off…..

https://www.specialized.com/gb/en/roval-terra-clx-evo-wheelset/p/174202?color=278164-174202&searchText=30020-4700

Specialized Tactic Mips is £45 @specialized

https://www.specialized.com/gb/en/tactic/p/1000208412?color=440005-1000208412&searchText=60223-1303&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PMax%20Shopping_UK_OtherEquipment_ROI&utm_id=17855904648&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAlJKuBhAdEiwAnZb7lQPQmKrjqWinaSuPr7iIgc23QC_JakEwvNujWJTd7BEE7FiRuKFSkhoCPzAQAvD_BwE

Can’t see why not, it’ll just be a little lumpy around the battery, which you may want to protect as it may have a higher chance of knocking out.

I’ve used nail polish remover on alloy bars and stems to remove decals – not sure if it’ll be good for the carbon/epoxy though. Could test a drop on the end of the bar or sawn off end?

Al mighty are excellent tyres, especially if your fatty is fully rigid. Ok, so they are horrendously heavy, but oh my, the grip….

I’m with chipps – I’ve axs droppers on both bikes & lucky enough to have axs gears on both too. But If I had to only have one, it would be the dropper. It’s just a far nicer operation than a cabled set up. Yes wireless is expensive, but who pays full RRP? Both of mine were bought for around 50% of the RRP (one new, one 2nd hand). With the appropriate maintenance, both have also been extremely reliable.

The show is the biggest cringe of crimgedom – headed by an absolute tosspot. Massively outdated and as such boring format. As such, I won’t be watching.

The man seems to be a narcissistic, racist tw*t. Best ignored on every media platform. The more people engage with him, the more his ego is fed – much like the 3year court case.

Technically it would be a parcel force large due to the dims of the box. So if dropping off at a postoffice you’d need one that accepts PF large parcels (smaller offices may not). It’ll be around £14 at a guess if you take it to a PO and get them to process it. It may be cheaper online if you print the labels yourself.

Bare in mind that your local PO won’t make nearly as much commission on a prepaid label. So if you like shopping local, watched Mr bates Vs the po and supporting your local shops & independent businesses, don’t pay for postage online and get them to process the labels.

Having said that I’ve always used something like parcelmonkey to get the best pricing when providing quotes etc. for postage.

Another thread on this 🙄.

I’ve the xm4’s which are excellent, used daily. They fold down and come with a case, significantly better than my daughter’s CH720N’s. No idea if the sm5 would be any better than the 4’s, but if mine ever broke id definitely buy another set rather than spend any more.