I own a bike shop in Elk Grove Ca. We opened in November and everyone said it was a mistake. But guess what? We're killing it!!! You know why? We're a BIKE SHOP!! We provide awesome customer service, provide awesome bike service, and sell brands that are great but not huge names. We are a no judgment, no attitude shop. We sell Jamis comfort bikes like they re going out or style and I'm currently booked out two weeks on service. I jumped on the e-bike thing with Aventon bikes and oh man has that been successful. What it all comes down to is that we're nice people who know what we're doing and we just want everyone on a bike. Let's go have fun!!!! So as the bike industry collapses, I'm having the time of my life, serving my community, and connecting with my neighbors,

Gray's bike shop in Kew Gardens, Queens. Opened in 1960. First black-owned bicycle shop in New York City. It's a real bike shop. Mr. Gray died years ago. The shop is still going thanks to 86-year-old Mrs.Gray

We have 50 years of inventory in people's garages and storage units. All of these industry "leaders " can crash and burn and there will still be bikes available to the general public. "Bikeflation" would be a better term than "bikemaggedon" since the problem (depending on which side of it you're on, might not even be a problem) is not enough demand to meet existing supply. Too many Porsche dealerships in a town with Toyota Corolla budgets.

Having worked in the bicycle industry in Australia, I can tell you it basically comes down to who is running the store. I could call out just as many soulless "cycling shops" (many who are essentially glorified shelf stackers with little to no knowledge of cycling or bicycling) as there are "bicycling shops" where that old fella with the dirty tools has no idea how to repair anything circa 2010 or newer and has little to no business management sense (they opened a bicycle shop because they like bicycles, not because they're good at managing a business and that's a problem, e.g. constantly exceeds their terms on invoices/essentially buy stock/parts and just don't pay distributors). It's not as simple as "us vs. them" or "big bike vs. small bike". There are just as many clueless big bike shops as there are mom & pop shops regarding how to serve what the average consumer needs.

In my experience there are three types of stores around here 1) big box store with 1 to 3 of everything from bike shaped objects to pretty decent bikes. All put together by people who have no idea what they're doing and priced with dice rolls. 2) corporate cycling stores. Cutting edge stuff I'll never be able to afford 3) bike snob barn shop. The worst kind of gate keeping attitude is present here your bike is trash if it's not one of their favorite brands. Looks like a "bike shop" in every way but you will feel bad or be broke when you leave Recently a guy setup a shop and he's changing things for the better. I still can't afford his new bikes but he's against gatekeeping and is excited for everyone who wants to ride regardless of the bike and will offer help and advice, his services are also very reasonably priced. Great dude.

I'm a cycling store guy but watch these anyway.

The old-timers, and I mean in their 70s-90s come into my shop and they look like a kid in a candy store. I've been told countless times "This is what a bike shop is supposed to look like!" It's dingy, cluttered, and organized just enough to make finding parts an Easter Egg Hunt. However, if they are looking for a Mallard freewheel tool, or a Patent 72 Nuovo Record derailleur, I probably have one in a drawer somewhere. Newer folks to cycling find it equally pleasant because it feels more like thrifting than it does a new car purchase. It also helps that my bike inventory tops out at about $400.

I love old, reliable, cheap, durable, home-serviceable standards. BSA threaded, mechanical disk (or rim brakes), 8 to 10 speed (no more), friction or trigger shifting, inner tubes, double wall eyeletted rims etc etc. This means I use a real bike shop. I went to a cycle store to check the tyres but left, unable to pay the £57/tyre (£3 more than my car tyres). Keep at it please, youre right. The industry has forgotten that everyday cyclists don't want or need their less durable, higher cost "innovation".

5:36 "Bicycles are toys"... That perception has long been one of the biggest problems facing the industry.

I love restoring bikes from the '80s and 90's - they are simple machines which will last more than your lifetime if maintained/serviced. I do sell them on but barely make enough to finance the next build. I picked up a 1999 Gray Fisher (Trek) Joshua for 40 - what a disaster. Had to replace both front and rear suspension - went 1x wide range - my biggest cost was getting the frame blasted then powder coated. When I'd finished to looked way better than new and worked great. Tried selling it for 600 then down to 400 then 300. A year later a teenager got in touch and asked if I'd sell it for 200 - what the hell - he had been saving up his pocket money, turned up with his dad and counted out his 200 in 1's and 5's. The smile on his face was priceless after he got back from his test ride. I lost about 500 on that but it was so worth it. I have an early '9os GT avalanche, fully restored, new paint job, new shifters and brakes if any is interested - under 200!

I started off working at 16 in a small bicycle retail shop in 1989 in Edinburgh Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿,I was lucky enough to learn lots about repairs from wheel building to full builds etc, 4years later I went to work for a larger bicycle retailers who started out reselling used bikes and they outgrew that shop and moved to the new location,that too needed to be expanded with the mtb and road boom so they bought the retail property that was adjoining the shop and the expansion was happening,time went on and I was getting sick of how the whole scene was more and more sell sell sell, so after 21years(2014) and picking up some more skills and certification’s I resigned and chose to go back to a proper bike shop, Got back on the spanner’s in a proper lbs. repairs and maintenance are the main thing ,we can get bikes from our distributors but choose not to shout about it and definitely not a “concept store” more you wooden floored, kids watch your fingers,big vice ,tools on boards kinda shop. This video is spot on, I mean we do maintain more bikes than many shops that gets us good word of mouth,the shop is well established,been going over 27 years 🎉 🎉🎉 we see them all from £free to ridiculous£££££.I’m just glad that we don’t have to sell them anything they don’t need or ask for,if they choose to cycle for a race team or just looking to get back and forth to work etc we are just happy to repair them all, Atb John 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Ps keep up your great work 👍

Hitting the nail on the head about mobility freedom and using a bike. A bicycle is a great choice for urban jaunts of under 6 miles. I regularly ride my 15 year old Lemond Wayzata to my bar. I get to see the sights, sounds, and smells of my neighborhood, shop & drink local, and get some exercise out it. Something reliable and easy to maintain is all that is needed.

I get tired of constantly going into my LBS looking for a part and consistently being told..."Er...you'll need to order that online." My loyalties are shifting.

Took my 16 year-old Cannonde CAAD 7 to the LBS last weekend for tuneup. They loved the bike, explained bunch of things and didn’t try to sell me anything! I asked for new wider tires..will definitely go back and would buy an upgrade from them if ever considering.

Honestly I think the cycling industry scares a lot of regular people away. I’m always trying to dispel misconceptions about cycling trying to encourage people to try it out. I get comments like “bikes are too expensive”, “I’m not fit enough”, “I can’t ride fast” “I don’t have those crazy cycling skills”. and on and on.

I was a classic bike mechanic-manager at Bicycles of Scottsdale. An old fashion bike shop off Scottsdale Rd. in a shopping center and we had a Trek dealer just across from us. We did amazingly well. Why? The customers said is was our commitment to service and provided that old time bike shop vibe. We had the Giant line up for anyone who wanted the latest and greatest models, but had a variety of affordable models and brands, and bikes people were excited about. Above all it was our mechanical prowess on repair, and service of a variety of bikes. I was the guy who could true old chromed steel wheels, or build and service Suntour, Shimano, or Campy Super Record from the 80s. Or took time to overhaul old hubs, freewheels, and BBs for people's cherished chro-moly steel bikes. I was able to service time trial bikes for local triathletes, or indexing road racers too. And we had two former racers, road and MTB, one from Germany, who were also excellent mechanics and we showed we gave a damn about our work and the customers appreciated it. We can order whatever they desired too. But gave an honest opinion on their choices. And the prices were most reasonable. We had people coming in after visiting the Trek dealer across from us, and said the service and attitude was night and day.

I strongly dislike the "corporate" bike stores here in Denmark. -They wont sell you an axel kit for a cheap simple M475 hub. - Fair enough, They want to earn money by doing the job for you for a fee. -They wont repair the M475 hub wheel for you for a fee. - Fair enough, the hourly fee plus parts added together is more than selling a new wheel. -They wont sell me a new M475 hub wheel either.... So what do they want to do? They want me to buy a new bike that comes with a 2 year service plan. When the service plan runs out you need to buy a new bike or pay for a very expensive prolonged plan.

Preach!!! "Cycling Stores" need a dose of Earth and reality. I have 10 bicycles and none of them were bought new but I'm always needing parts and do most of the work myself. it would be nice to have an actual bike shop that didn't try to make it all on one customer.

One note regarding Trek: Trek bought the German bike brand Diamant ~25 years ago and to this date produce Diamant and Trek hybrid, city and e-bikes in Hartmandorf, Germany. Only the carbon based racing/"cycling" products come from overseas. So their strategy differs from market to market. A real shame is where Brompton headed: The iconic folding bike transformed into a flagship store monster with quadrupled pricing and "collector" variants. It's not abot a practical tool for regular, it became a hobby for snobs.

I actually live near and have ties to a Trek store, and I think much like any other business like that, it comes down to who’s running it. My nearby trek store is in Schereville Indiana, it’s run by a guy my dad uses to work with in the late 90’s when they were working together at a Schwinn store. This is still Chicago zone so there was at one point dedicated Schwinn stores. My dad left to work elsewhere, and Dave went to a new building Trek was opening. They are literally an example of a small store shutting down and the owner going to a big chain. However Dave isn’t some faceless corporate entity, he’s not some thrown in store manager, he was running a bike shop for years before that with Schwinn. He’s not going to throw a customer at their online help system, he’ll do it all himself in person. He’s a professional bike mechanic wether it’s a small store, a small chain, or a big name like trek. Obviously that’s one place, one experience, one guy. People like that trek store because it’s run by professionals, i don’t view it as any different than any local bike shops besides there being a big name on the front od the building and a distinct lack of other brands inside. That may not be the case for all of the big chain stores. But knowing at least the one I’ve experienced is an entirely different story, I can’t rule out that option right up front about any of them.

Hey, you used a pic of my shop as an example of a "bike shop"! I'm super proud to be in that category!! Great video and info btw :)

I do some road cycling but stopped going to cycling shops because everything felt like a hard sell. Like, no, I don't want to upgrade, I don't have money, i just want to fix what's broken. Ill train for the extra 2 watts. Bike shops never feel like that.

40 seconds in, I might have to go binge this guy's whole backlog of these, this sounds like fire

The shop I work at is now a Trek store. I’ve been saying for a while, “Trek is to bike shops as Olive Garden is to Italian restaurants.” I’m gonna start using the term “Cycling store” because it’s perfect. I’ll never forget the day they came in and told us we’d need to get rid of our toolboxes with “trashy stickers from the 90’s”.

Had a charming local shop get taken over by Trek. Now it's a corporate store with tons of expensive bikes. I haven't been back since.

Thanks for saying it! I've hated the stores that make you feel inadequate for not buying million dollar, top shelf components!

I've seen my local bike shop, whom I know on a first name basis, recommend 600-1k new bikes to beginners even though they carry mostly 3-8k bikes, there are still cheaper options for casual users and commuters at that shop, and they're not upselling everyone unless they're literally asking for it.

My shop “Jimmy the Bike Guy” in Toronto Canada is repair only. Focused on tuneup and repair and breathing new life to countless oldies. Very proud and satisfying

as a blackfinger.. uh i mean mechanic i fully agree with your discription of a bike shop😅

OMG! Erlton Bike shop in Cherry Hill NJ at 4:55! I used to live a mile from that bike shop back in 1979 - 1983. I got into bicycle in the summer of '80 at age 15 going from a BMX bike to a 12 speed, 44 years and 350,000 miles later, I now live in Lancaster County, PA where we have several Mennonite owned 'Bike Shops' - real down to earth shops like yours. BTW, two days after graduating HS in June '83, I rode solo from Cherry Hill, NJ to visit family in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, taking 13 days on a Fuji Touring Series IV.

I was taking my bike to a trek store that was once a local cycling shop. Spent a lot of money on new bikes for son but recieved poor service,high charges and disgruntled employees. Fu i said. Now i take it to a local bike shop farther away but worth it. They take care of me right away and are pleasant to talk too and helpful. Never going back to a trek store.

I was a bike messenger for almost 10 years from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. Most of my bikes were low end mountain bikes by big brands (Specialized, Fisher etc). I came into a decent amount of money from an accident settlement and decided to purchase my dream bike, a 1989 Wicked Fat Chance . This was going to be the biggest purchase of my young life, it would never be used as a messenger bike, but strictly a weekend bike. The shop I went into had the bike in my size and the color (hot pink, it was the 80's don't judge me). It was an upscale Manhattan bike shop, but I wanted that bike. I went up to the counter and inquired about the bike. I was told that the bike was out of my price range (at the time I had very long hair, a propensity for Slayer T shirts and scruffy facial hair to boot). I happened to be carrying most of my accident money in my front pocket for this purchase (impulse control was not in my make up at this stage of my life ).I asked to speak with the manager of the store. I pulled out a wad of Ben Franklins and explained that I came to this store in spite of its haughty reputation to buy the Fat Chance today and I was told by the sales guy at the counter the bike "was out my price range". The manager made a halfhearted apology and I told him that I would be going down to another shop where I would not be treated so shabbily. And I did just that. The other shop treated me with decency, they did not have the bike in stock and where not even a dealer for Fat Chance, they said they could work through another shop (not the one that treated me so poorly) and could get me the bike in 3-4 weeks. So I agreed to wait, they asked that I leave a deposit and I countered with paying in full. I received the bike 12 days after paying for it and I bought 3 more bikes from that shop over a 15 year span and went there for all my repairs that I could not do. Treating customers with dignity and respect is key, at least for me. I have avoided LBS because of that cliquish and often condescending attitude a lot of them have. I am fairly proficient at bike repairs and maintain all my bikes with great care. In a nutshell a one bad experience can lead to an opinion that can last a lifetime.

Electronic shifting is the shining example of complicated technology the masses simply do not need. I am sure Gib's Bike Shop is an e-shifting-free-zone and that is a wonderful thing.

Duluth, MN here - 1989 Reynolds 531 Trek for road riding. Loved it as a HS kid. Fast forward 2020ish and got back into biking. Holy Hell things have changed. Three bike shops still up from the 80s. All three trying to hang on as BS with one really strugging to keep up. Looking at the prices and the tech, I was immediately turned off. Bought a used bike off FB Marketplace and learned to wrench things myself. I'll never set foot in shop again if I can fix an older bike myself.

Took my 2001 Trek 700 Multi Track to my out of the way bike shop instead of the closer LCS to replace the headset. They loved it. It was like taking a stroll down memory lane for them. They had a headset in stock and got it done the same day. I didn’t even think about taking it to the much closer Trek store.

There's a bike shop near me (Builler's) and it's been afloat because it sells normal people bikes. They have Beach Cruisers to E-bikes. There are some race bikes but they're usually in the corner behind a couple comfort/hybrid bikes. Overall a really nice place! I think the main attraction is the second floor, which contains a collection of vintage Schwinn bikes (They used to be dealers). Every now and then I go and get bells, patch kits, etc. If I need something like a rim, I order it from there. Just a little something to support them, and that's what most of the community does. I could've ordered something from the internet, but It's a good experience to do it in person. It's even where I got my first bike from! Although, it's been sitting in storage as a parts hog, mostly because I restored my own Schwinn and use that as a commuter now. It's a very quality bike though, and if I had the chance, I'd definitely assemble it again and donate it to someone. It's dead most of the time, but every now and then I see someone go in for a tune-up or to even buy a bike. Some people just go to look at the Schwinn collection. Overall, it's a nice little store and I pray it doesn't go out of business before I die.

As someone who works in Johnson Creek and lives just a bit up 26, I get the small town point you are making. I also worked as a mechanic at the various Erik's while in school in Madison. Very different vibe than small shops... Anyway, my biggest issue is how quickly the industry is willing to change a standard component for a theoretically better option. That change is then marketed as the greatest thing since rim brakes when it realistically doesn't do anything measurable outside of the test lab. Various bottom bracket bearing sizes really piss me off...

My mechanic journey started about 16 years ago. I was bruising a single speed/ fixed gear and shopped around my local shops as none of them had what I needed. My last part was chain… the guys at the counter sold me a half link chain and refused to brake it for me, then sold me a chain breaker for regular bien chains… when I tried to take it back they laughed at me and didn’t give me my money back or brake the chain again!! I had measured it!! 16 years after.. self taught bike mechanic and all my bikes have been paid by flipping parts and repairing bikes locally. Haven’t seen the inside of shop/store in the last 16 years.

I am in full agreement with you. I am a home town commuter riding a 40 yr old bike because the industry wants to sell me a 2000+$ plastic bike that won't last 5 years. 90s MTB retro-mod is the way to go. For 500$ I can have a bike they won't sell me for 2000$. What is wrong with this picture?

Same with a lot of European brands over here. Overpriced shit that no one needs. I just get my stuff from Decathlon, fairly cheap and just what you need.

Many stores in my area in South Florida have gone corporate. Trek opened a bunch of stores almost 20 years ago. About 10 years ago Conte's expanded into Florida and bought up several local shops and are full of Giant bikes mostly. Now Specialized has started buying up local shops. The local independent bicycle dealers can barely hang on. They are forced to take on bike orders by the big brands and after the COVID surge they are stuck with huge inventories while the big brands are slashing prices and some started selling direct to consumer. What a kick in the balls.

The automobile industry has two sides. The corporate places sell new cars and do their warranty repairs and service. The local small business side includes neighborhood garages, used car lots, etc. They're for the regular drivers. Sounds kinda similar to what you're saying.

The struggle is real. I always had a pretty good bike which I maintained, but I wanted to upgrade to something more sports oriented for working out instead of my heavy steel working horse. Man, it took a year in total confusion to finally settle on a road bike of a local brand using the same frame as their gravel bike. The whole process took about a year. Too much choice, too much types, too much grades, confusing marketing, … . I live in a city with little to no bikeshops only bike stores with shitty service I do not want to do business with. I do not understand these big businesses do not understand that.

I just recently decided to get back into street BMX. I went to my local bike shop and I was blown away. So many options and the shop guys had tons of great knowledge and advice. Never had that with a normal store.

I completely understand your points. Our family of four has 6 bikes: 4 mountain bikes, one foldable city bike, one tandem: they all have rim brakes and 26” wheels: on set of tools and spare parts cover it all, and it’s all easy to fix. All the said bikes are rather high-mid end from the late 80s early 90s. Good enough. Definitely lighter than anything newer. I mean… easily 10lb lighter.

Myopic perspective from that one biking country in Europe as that's the only one I've got :) things are rather different here. I volunteered at a teeny tiny bike shop while I was a college student, I absolutely loved the place but they didn't have a single employee working legally (because they couldn't afford it). I'm now at a "cycling store" but we sell brand name comfort bikes, and the way it works here is we direct folks with a tighter budget to a "bike shop" in the area. Basic bikes for full sized humans start at ±€700. We used to have a selection of used bikes, but we have a revenue issue with them. I enjoy earning 10% above minimum wage. Sadly we don't have the time to help everyone and still turn a profit and keep wait times for our own customer base reasonable. I have mad respect for the people that run "bike shops", it's absolutely a labor of love and self sacrifice in places with a high cost of living. Re: choice and "innovation", the amount of options available these days in bikes is a catastrophy if you carry some 10+ brands like we do at the moment. Good luck dear customers 😅 Keeping up with all the new tech is brutal for techs (I'm an absolute noob, but this is what I hear from my more experienced colleagues). We don't touch ebikes from brands we don't carry, what we have is more than enough to attempt to keep up with while still appearing professional. For other brands, we apologize and tell them to look up a shop that's a dealer of their brand, huge contrast to the "any acceptable solution" type of thinking that goes on in bike shops. Most of my colleagues have something in particular they're very good at in our workflows and somewhat different skill sets and we try to work together to solve problems. And don't get me started on new bike delivery times these days, the fact that common sizes of bestseller bikes aren't available till the middle of next year is scandalous. With the market chaos, trends, new laws around ebikes and high cost per square meter, having inventory is also ill advised for keeping doors open. Online discount retailers are eating our margins and using brick&mortar shops for service. Super curious where things will be heading in the future.

I started working at Ken's Bike Shop in Winston-Salem, NC. Matt, Ken, and the rest of the guys raised me and they are one of the few Trek *Bike Shops* left. Sticker-ridden toolboxes, non-collared shirts and friendly, approachable service show how important it is for Trek and the cycling industry to accept their customers and support their local bike shops! Community is everything in cycling, and the flavor you get at a LBS is unmatched by any kind of store!

I’m guilty of buying too much road bike for too much money a few years ago. I’m never making that mistake again. I went to my local bike shop, explained my needs (mid-paced daytrips). The shop employee tried to gently steer me towards cheaper steel Surlys, but in my head it had to be a Giant and it had to be carbon. They still took my money for a Giant Defy, but at least they tried to get me to buy a cheaper bike that would fit my needs. I still remember that advice and that’s why I still go there year after year, even though I have a lot of other options.

I was so happy to find a bike mechanic near me working out of a shed in his backyard. He knew everything about my 1996 GT 24" cruiser. For like $400 he completely restored my bike. It's like new. I ride around the neighborhood with my 8 year old. We have fun and I get tons of compliments on my bike.

There are two bike shops in my neighborhood. One had the aesthetics of walking right into the repair area. Sold me a chain in less than two minutes. The other one „looked more clean“. But the salesperson uttered the sentence „a fourteen year old bike can still last you for long“.

Im happy to say my shop lands in the middle of those two 😅

I took my surly preamble to get the rear brake adjusted yesterday into the specialized concept store in my town as it wasn't working and figured hey its a bike shop... they charged me £50 ($62). I felt like I was inside a fashion magazine and it was kinda awkward walking in with my turned up jeans that have chain grease on the inside and a beanie hat! None of the bikes had prices apart from the second handers, lowest priced bike i saw was £3,800 We have 3 shops, one is specialized, the other is somehow more expensive than specialized and is like a rapha/racing boutique/cafe store that sells $200 saddles, pays its employees minimum wage and the owner drives a brand new audi. And the other is a more local ish store but they have 3 shops around here and their prices are still high but also impossible to get in the workshop as thats where most non racer bike users try and take their bike. They told me it would be over 2 weeks to look at my bike when I called in on the ride back from work and you cant walk in without them trying to sell you a 4k trek E bike. I got my first bike as a kid from a skip/dumpster then from a second hand shop called ace cycles for probably £50. Then he had to work out of a van and do it that way but eventually his buisness shut down. Unfortunately the town im in is a wealthy area (I am not) and since the tour de france in 2014 decided to begin its race here in Yorkshire UK its been middle aged dudes in full team sky lycra on 9k bikes who wont say hi back to me on the bike path. My dream is to do my own bike mobile but my knowledge is super poor compared to yours but I have been tinkering with a 90s specialized crosstrail to try improve. Anyways not sure what my point is but I love your videos from England!

Fisk's Cyclery in Dixon,CA USA small town shop owner/mechanic is honest and friendly.

Not sure if Decathlon is a thing in the US but here over the pond they sell pretty well priced entry level bikes. If you want a new bike. I usually recommend used for first timers. Also support your local bikeshop. You never know when you need them. Drill out a bottle cage screw from the carbon frame, fabricate a frame insert to a tt bike, the usual stuff.

Here in Germany, the landscape seems to be a bit more diverse. You get: 1) big box stores with cheap bikes aimed at non-cyclists. Quality from abysmal to so-so. 2) mail order/internet shops, selling anything and everything from total garbage to high-end stuff. Some of these also operate physical stores in big towns; the market leader has surprisingly qualified personnel and a "house brand" that is good quality and great value. (But that still means >1.8k€) 3) "corporate" bike stores (Trek, Specialized, Cube) 4) legacy bike shops selling/servicing mostly city/trekking bikes 5) hipster bike shops (selling vintage racing bikes at close to retail for new ones, and the only ones to service old bikes, because they sit on a mountain of used and NOS french and italian parts) 6) Bike cafés (selling specialty coffee and the occasional 5k€ to 10k€-high-end racing bike) 7) cargo bike stores selling cargo-ebikes to soy-latte moms. Stores 5) to 7) are usually only to be found in gentrified neighbourhoods of metropolitan areas. 1) are situated in business parks near furniture stores at the edge of town, 3) are near office complexes, 4) can be in any residential area, sometimes they even managed to hold on in gentrified neighbourhoods... My current "happy place" is actually of type 6. They only sell Time, Factor and Cinelli. They offer a small selection of accessories. Everything is expensive (but of high quality). But the owner couple does everything they can to make any- and everybody body feel welcome, they host workshops, group rides, book presentations, etc and organize "test rides" with the brands they sell as social events, open to anyone interested, no matter if you could actually afford to buy one. But this get's you hooked. And while they are patiently waiting for you to get that promotion, or that executive bonus, or to qualify for a tax-advantaged bike-leasing over your employer scheme, they will gladly sell you cakes and coffee in the meantime. Last autumn, they finally "got me" and I leased a bike worth more than my car. Under normal circumstances, I would never have spent so much money. But four-figure tax savings were a powerful argument... My old 1990s road bike is serviced by a small one-man business of type 5, who is also currently restoring my late grandfather's randonneuse. The old road bike I built myself as a teenager in a shop of type 4), paying only for the parts and under the instruction and supervision of the owner. The wife's everyday city-bike was bought new from a shop of this type. Routine maintenance of my regular bike (1990s rigid mountain bike turned commuter by addition of fenders and rack) I usually do myself, jobs requiring special tools I will outsorce to my favourite bike hipster. No, I don't think "the bike industry" is in trouble. At least not as a whole. At least here in Europe, there are market niches for all different kinds of shops and business models. The impression I, as a european, get from the internet is that the problem in the US is that the bike scene seems to be highly polarized. You either are a cyclist, or you are not. And a lot of cycling seems to be done competetively. While over here, riding a bike is much more "normal". There is about one bike per capita in Germany. ~80% of households own a bike. Which opens a lot of more room for "practical" bikes - and everything in between. It is not uncommon to see "practical bikes", i.e. city bikes with fenders, racks, hub dynamos and upright riding position selling for well over 1k€- (Some of these even going up to 3k€... out an electric motor and a battery in, and it's easily 3 to 5k€ for "everyday", practical bikes). This might seem expensive at first, but decent components have their price. And if you ride your bike a lot, your tolerance for little annoyances declines. Also, even a 1500€ bik that replaces only half of your in-city car trips or transit rides will have paid for itself in less than four years. ( A used *quality* bike that is properly serviced could do the same job much cheaper, but like with cars, not everyone seems to be willing to spent more for a mechanic's hour than what he paid the machine itself).

This video speaks to what i have seen. I took a 10ish year break from Cycling and am getting back in to it now and I was surprised to see that the bike shop that I always went to and the newer shop doesn't cater to "normal" people anymore, they only have 1 adult bike that is under $1k and will not sell used bikes nor will work on anything that is not a "quality" bike so for the people that only have lets say $500 to spend on a bike they are just locked out of the market or will just have to be wasteful and buy a new department store bike whenever they need something fixed, sure you can say "well just save that money you spend on 4 of the department store bikes and buy a good one", yeah that seems to make sense but that is not how some peoples budget work especially when you scale that to a family with kids or it might take them months or longer to save $1000-1500 on a new bike and at that point they are over the wanting to bike or turned off that they are spending that much on a bike and decide it is not for them. We did have one of those old school bike shops in town until last year but he decided to close up shop because he was getting burnt out, so we are stuck choosing between higher end specialty bikes at the remaining 2 store or going department store bikes. I can tell you from what I see on the trail and on Facebook marketplace, most people go with department store bikes or decide that having a bike is just not for them. I have been heavily involved with flyfishing for most of my life and flyfishing has always had a bad reputation of "gate keeping", it is getting better because everyone kind of realized that the industry would die if we didnt get new people in to it and shaming people for having "cheap" equipment was turning new people off. In the last few years high-to-mid range flyrod companies have started bring quality equipment to compete with the department store bands on price but with 10x better quality and the hobby is growing again. Even at it worst the Flyfishing crowd was never as bad at the gate keeping as I see, at least around here, in the cycling community. I am hopeful that all the cycling will have that same realization in the next couple years and start course correcting and we will stop shaming people for not having a $3000+ bike and there will be for offerings for the "normal" people that are quality so they do not have to resort to the department store bikes. Just give us some decent bikes in the ~$350-$500 range, they dont need to be the lightest or have the newest tech, it just needs to be a quality bike that someone can get out and enjoy for years to come.

One of the things I love about bike shops is the level of expertise you will find there. If you go into any other kind of store to buy something it is highly unlikely the sales person will know much about what they are selling. In fact, if you have done even a basic level of research on the product, you will probably know more than the sales person. This is pretty much never the case in a bike shop. Those people know their product, and love sharing what they know. There is something very satisfying dealing with people who are knowledgeable and passionate about what they do.

Park Bikes Trek at Olympic Park in Sydney , Australia has a road cycling group within and it functions like an "EXCLUSIVE BRETHEREN" . I was rejected by them years ago even though I had a good bicycle and the correct apparel .

This feels like this is the tip of the iceberg. I agree with the general outlook you talk about. It seems like they’re selling the story which doesn’t need to be told. To me the bike is the ultimate anti-capitalist machine. You buy one, you learn to maintain it or find a good, honest bike shop to do it and you ride for the joy of it. The stories the marketing teams try to make or useless and it’s biting them in the backside. And then there’s the huge price hikes since 2019 or so… we’ve had boom and there’s only one route out and that’s bust. I hope the bike shops survive 🙏 Prices going through the roof screams boom to bust and the industry is reaping what is has seen on that one.

Dude. How have I not found your videos before now? I've always struggled to explain the difference and I used the terms "mom and pop shop" and "big brand store" but your way is so much more concise. Subscribing for sure.

There are so many great used bikes out there.

10/10 use of slide whistle sound effect. Make me think of the hipster as heck bike shops I used to go to as a kid, god I miss them. They were all about bikes and who knows how they stayed in business the way it should be. Maybe it was how incredibly un mainstream bikes were here at the time but it was a shop you could trust and products you could afford even as a youngster. You are right my city has 1-2 bike shops and the rest are sterile cycling stores selling absurdly expensive products only the diehards can afford. We need a shake up and return to the basics.

My LBS is both. You can spend tons on a mountain bike or get a custom fit road bike, but they also stock tons of practical bikes, and there's always a row of old bikes in one corner waiting for repairs. They moved into a nicer location a few years ago, so they could be next to a major trail. However, the thing I think really sets them apart from cycling retailers is their knowledge and parts selection. I can walk in and ask for whatever I need for my current project, and they know what I'm talking about. Cycling retailers don't stock anything, and only have staff to sell new bikes and gear. They've also been in business long enough to be one of the shops that jumped ship, going from Schwinn to Giant when Schwinn started opening their own retail stores. And we know how well that turned out...

Amen! Been building and riding bikes over 50 years. I stopped buying new when SIS took over. ❤ all my bikes are rideable by any, nothing breaks if it falls over. Ride daily.

I totally agree with you, then again, I am a small shop owner myself. With your description of small shops, well you described my shop as well. LOL! Hopefully the industry will realize that people will use bikes where their interests lie, and certainly there is nothing wrong with that. I've had a few industry "experts" tell me that when my numbers for repairs are higher than "actual sold bikes" I would never be successful. Well, maybe in some areas that may be true, but here in rural Maine... it's far from the truth. Anyway, thanks for sharing the video, and have a great season!

Longtime lurker, first time commenter, I love the show. I really enjoyed seeing your first bike! My first new bike came from Gib's too. Maybe 1980 or 81? It was an earlier BMX style Traker, beautiful blue with yellow pads. Anwyay, it's remarkable what you've done with Gib's bike shop! I hope you have some better weather soon for those daily rides.

I'm grateful for both, and for your channel 💞

Things always come full circle. From mom-and-pop shops that sell a dozen brands to corporate stores that try to elbow out the competition by only having their brand in the store. It will revert back to a local shop with a broader selection with more rational salespeople.

Had six or seven mom and pop bike shops here on the central west coast just a few years ago and I believe we're down to two now. Even though I can do some of the work myself,..I don't do everything and I like taking my bikes to the guy now and then. Somehow,... he still tunes-up my bikes better than I can and seems to stay busy with a lot of nearby riding activity. Also, he doesn't rip-off folks on services or prices, (comparable or cheaper to online),. Side-note; "sea otter classic" on the west coast for those interested; April 18-21.

I'm pretty sure that people in some countries like the Netherlands and other European countries would wonder a little about the point of this video, since their approach to cycling by the general population is very different. Bang on though, even down here in NZ.

I worked at a bike shop for 6 years as a teenager and to put me through 3 years of university. I worked on all sorts of bikes from low end and well loved commuter and weekend bikes to high end race machines. This was from 87-93. Even then there was an “elite” culture amongst cyclists who only wanted the high end stuff and everything was special order as carrying that stock didn’t make sense. However we sold hundreds of Schwin Mirada or other similar Norco bikes on the 300-800$ range. I remember weekend spring building parties when the boxes arrived and we would gather as many mechanic friends as possible, order pizzas and build the entry range bikes until we would fall asleep standing up. These bikes sold so fast every spring. Like 10 a day for 30-60 days. Now entry level bikes are 2000 and my local bike shop tells me they sell around one a day. I hear from other KZfaqrs that the very high end stuff is still in demand but that many manufacturers are sitting on too much inventory of the low end and mid range bikes. They simply didn’t understand the Covid spike and over built. Now many of these 2022/2023 models are on sale for huge discounts. I am personally attracted to the higher end gear but the recent prices are out my range. My Cervelo carbon bike with Dura Ace was $6000 in 2018. That same bike today is $16000cdn. Way out of my price range. So I can see why the high end niche market can be hard to penetrate and keep profitable across the whole range for a brand at these prices as the volume can’t be that high. Love your videos! Salt of the earth!

In 2013, when we were starting a bike store, we kept getting the same static from bike brand after bike brand. We would tell them: "we want to buy and sell only the affordable part of your product line: hybrids, entry level mountain bikes, and entry level road bikes . . . " Each brand would tell us that we needed to stock their whole product line including stuff like electric shifting triathlon bikes. The bicycle industry will not "collapse" but so many of these bicycle brands have been competing over that premium part of the market that they forgot that if young people don't have affordable bikes in their childhood, they sure as heck won't be buying a $5,000 bike when they are an adult. I expect that there will be a significant contraction in cycling in the USA when the current generation of kids reaches adulthood.

this explains the "rebranding" of my local bike shop, and why they now no longer have anything but trek. sucks.

I live in a town where they say "the largest used bicycle store" in the US is and they have one of their stores is the main "clothing" store in Madison, WI and they don't have even close to what they had at the Performance bike shops when I lived in Denver. I think a lot of people now just shop on-line for bicycling clothes . I haven't worn a pair of shorts in twenty-five years because of psoriasis on my legs(lucky me) and I don't wear tight biking shirts mostly because they look dumb to me. In fact I usually just wear work shirts with a pocket and a backpack for shopping. I use to wear all that stuff even padded shorts years ago

Great video! Trek opened 4 stores in our city and only one is still open. Unfortunately one of those stores was our local "bike shop" and now it's gone.

The owner of a LBS with several locations in my area retired a few years ago and Trek purchased his shops. The first time I visited the store near my home, I was shocked at how little merchandise was offered. The old LBS was comfortably full of a few different brands of new bikes - to include Trek and Scott - used bikes, and a plethora of helmets, shoes, tires, tools, lubes, etc. After the Trek makeover, it was very boutique-like with only Treks and their subsidiary brands. It seemed empty compared to the “old days.” Only a few staff when I stopped in. Nice people, but didn’t seem a knowledgeable. The experience felt quite sterile. Will visit again to give another chance but am looking for a bike shop alternative to the boutique.

The bike shop I had been working at for 3 years became a cycle store last year (I still work here) but we kept the same staff +/- 2 and all love the idea of running our “shop” still as a local bike shop even with the cycle store look that our floor and “service department” has. Love watching your videos, for the last 2 years the idea of owning my own shop has interested me and I plan to use the knowledge learned from my local bike shop days and my current cycle store experience to help me in the future👍

I own a bare bones longtail cargo bike, a coaster brake Klunker and two cheap fixed gear bikes. Each one is basic, serviceable in a few moments. No fancy anything. Yesterday I passed a "Cyclist" on my $500 steel framed fixed gear. His bike was about 9 K and he was wearing a grand worth of gear. He was riding so casually I scared him when I passed. I think we have truly lost what riding a bike means. Why do we need what the Jones have! Be unique, be weird, buck the trends.

Trek and Specialized are the reason I ride a Surly.

I purchased a Trek 6000 many years ago and eventually had a bike shop upgrade the old twist grip shifters to trigger type shifters with integrated brake levers. Other than that I have maintained the bike myself. I was interested in getting a gravel bike, wanting something a little less heavy than the old Trek and yet capable of handling the less than ideal road conditions in my area. One look at Trek and I knew they were out of the question, for a 78 year old guy who rides mostly for enjoyment and exercise, $2, 3 or 4 thousand dollars is completely out of the question. Trek has basically priced themselves out of the market for the casual enthusiast. I can understand why they are in trouble.

My lbs guy wanted to charge me $10 for bolt. It's sort of like a message "hey you want to work on your own bike? $10 for this. " It was a bolt he picked from a bin of used hardware and nothing too special. I was buying other parts from him, which I could have found much cheaper online to support this small shop. I did a full cleanup and tune up with him. I don't go there anymore. Not all lbs shops are equal.

Steel frame, upright rider, fender option, aft-curbed bars, rim brakes, belt drive & internal gear hub, IF new bicycle! Good video expressing reality on bike shops versus pro-cycling shops!

Andy, thank you for this! I now know I work in a (Trek affiliated) bike store that tries to be a shop too. Problem is we have a few stereotypical (per your videos) roadies that make it difficult for ordinary people. To the point they won’t visit the store if those people are working. If (and I want to) I ever start my own business I want it to be a shop, not a store. PS I’ve asked before; where did you score your shop apron? I can’t stand the cloth straps on the Park Tool one.

T.Whites Bikes = Auckland, NewZealand. A dude who loved bmx in the 90s, supported local riders who supported them. 20-30 odd years later they opened a second store and both are going strong to this day!

Close to home for me there is a small independent guy that runs a great bike shop. It's a small shop and is one of my favorite shops to go to. Always get service and the owner knows all his regular customers. If he doesn't have it he's always happy to order it.

Part of the problem was the Covid turmoil where everyone bought bikes due to boredom to then realise that it takes a ton of time to develop the skills and endurance to enjoy MTBing as now the market is flooded with practically brand new , used bikes as most of these people quit after 2 or 3 rides. The other problem that nobody seems to mention is that E-Bikes are taking over as the average American is lazy these days. Residing in the small city of Manchester NH , where I ride through the city and all the local rail trails about 4-5 times a week to build up endurance for my bike packing and mountain biking adventures. I've noticed that about 50% of people are now riding E-bikes . The majority of the E-bikes that I see are not quality bike store bikes , as most are cheap Amazon E-bikes. Suspension bikes are also highly overpriced to the point of highway robbery, since you can purchase a brand new HONDA 250f Dirt Bike for $5,000, which requires considerably more material, parts, and labor to produce. They're also heavy and shipped in a wooden box crate, which isn't cheap. There's no full suspension bike on the planet that should cost more than $5,000, unless it is a one-of-a-kind custom frame build as MTB'ers have fallen victim to marketing.

I've got a "Trek cycling store" and a "local bike shop" roughly within the same distance from my house. When I first got back into cycling for health reasons as an older adult, I was using the Giant hybrid that I used to ride to accompany my kids when they were learning to ride. This bike was purchased from the local bike shop. It had been sitting in the garage for 15 years and I took it back to the local bike shop to replace the tires and tubes and get it tuned up to start riding again. After I completed a century ride on my 30 lb hybid, I realized I was ready to make cycling a serious part of my ongoing fitness routine, so I decided to invest in a lighter road bike. I did a lot of research and identified some models at the local bike shop and the Trek cycling store. I wanted to buy from the local bike shop, but they didn't have any examples of the models in the sizes I was interested in for me to test ride. They had three stores in the county, but they were going to make me buy the bike before ordering it from the supplier and I would have lost money if I decided I didn't want it. The Trek cycling store had the desired bike model in the desired size for me to test ride. I liked the ride, so I bought it. They have parts (Trek, Shimano, Continental tires) to fix the bike, so I take it there for maintenance. I still have my old hybrid and I take it to the local bike shop to get fixed if I have issues with it. I realize the importance of getting trustworthy mechanical service. I can get that service at the Trek cycling store and at my local bike shop. I've visited both stores enough to know that every bike mechanic is not the same and there are some mechanics I trust more than others but that is true at both stores. Due to the importance of the mechanical service and my general distaste for the way Amazon treats its employees, I don't like to order parts online even though they're often less expensive. I really wanted to buy from my "local bike shop" but I was not willing to buy a bike without having a chance to test ride it. As a result, my "local bike shop" lost the opportunity to sell me a $2000 bike and also to sell me a $1500 road bike that I bought for my wife to ride with me. If the "local bike shop" doesn't provide the opportunity for existing customers to get more serious about cycling, they are going to miss the business opportunity that the "cycling stores" are catering to.

I feel like there should be a Bike FarmerxBikeSnobNYC collab after watching this.

I’m a family bike shop in the east of England and very proud of it 👍

My friend is a 65 yo lady who hasn’t ridden a bike in 40 years. She wants to go along riding with us. Sure as heck I won’t be sending her to a Trek store. A local bike shop not far away has a whole isle full of various sizes and types of bikes. The owner will be more than happy and capable of setting up my friend with a life-long bike she will enjoy riding safely. I just purchased an ebike from this shop to add to my collection.

Very well put! As a guy who’s been in this biz since the early 90’s, I couldn’t have said it better myself! Mine would’ve had way more F words in it. 😂😂

200%agree Real bike shops never go out of style keep up the message everyone can enjoy the simplicity of just having a good time

When I moved to where I live now, my LBS was a great place, run by fine people. But there was an issue, the shelves were almost always only half full. The shop management/owners were MORE than meeting minimum orders, but they weren't getting their orders in. Mind you, this is well before 2020, so we can't blame supply chain issues. The shop nominally carried the ones with the big red S, but, as usual, that brand didn't want to send out stock or something. Last summer, trek bought all 3 of their stores, making them corporate store locations. Basically same crew, but with a bit of a shuffle of the floor plan, injection of stock and suddenly, everyone is perked up. Suddenly having bikes to sell, and a corporation actually backing them, it's night and day. But one thing I have learned, both through life, and business school, is that it isn't the shareholders that make or break a brand. It's the people working for the brand. Most noticeable is the customer facing folks. I'm lucky in that my local sales guys and local mechanic guys in the "L"BS (they are a Trek store now, afterall) are good people and, while you may have put the nice shirt on them with the logo, the mechanics are still the same old "dirtbags" who know my bikes. Having that good customer relations with the staff will keep people coming back (regardless of store, industry, or location)

I live in a small rural midwest city, population 20,000. We are fortunate to have the only bike shop in an 80 mile radius. We are also on a major rail trail. Our shop straddles the fence between shop and store, and I'm okay with that. The owner is a former national caliber racer, but he does take care of the "I just want a bike" customers. He sells sensible new bike brands such as Giant and Marin. He does immediate quick repairs on not so nice bikes for those folks who have no other transportation options. He has avoided flipping used bikes...so far...but now that he has subscribed to Bike Farmer, we shall see if he amends his business plan. He does sell ebikes from a major brand that are popular with trail people.

At least you all have a bike shop/ cycling store to rant about! I am my own LBS and Amazon is my parts supplier, due to there not being a single actual bike shop in the entire country. I've been wrenching on my own bikes for the better part of 35 years, so I don't really mind, but before the internet and Amazon, it was basically impossible to get anything. Now I am on a mission to collect all worthwhile bikes around here that I can get my hands on and rebuild them.

Pretty different to how bike culture here in Germany is. Though the general division of bike shop and cycling store is quite apt. Though a lot of the older shops that look back on decades of successful operation have grown to be just as big as cycling stores. The attitude they have is different and they aren't usually as excessively tidied up as cycling stores though. We have a mutation of cycling stores over here it's the bike discounters and they are generally more common to see then actual brand run cycling stores. So, these aren't focused on one specific brand but they might have their own in-house brand(s) in addition to a selection of local-ish large volume and/or budgety brands like Cube. Some of them have their own in-house brand for accessories, parts and tools though. The service you can get at these places can very to the extreme depending on wich employee you're dealing with. They might not know that there is a difference in brake cables from road bikes to basically everything else or they might have north of 10 years of professional and hobbyist experience in addition to our pretty in depth apprentice ship for bike mechanic-ing and are only working there because there was nothing more "culturally elevated" available to them at the time they moved to the region. The shop I work at has opened right on the dawn of lock-down, I only came in about one and a half to two years later, so I only caught the tail end of it. It's settled in a small town with lots of smaller settlements/villages in the area. We sell Trek among other equally expensive quality brands. Trek also opened up a store in one of the major neighboring cities. Our business has been largely un-impacted. Driving more then 20km (~12.5 miles) to get your bike serviced is considered a significant bother around here. People that used to visit the major cities around us, both of wich are above 30km away, and their many, many bike shops, cycling stores and bike discounters now more and more often come to us for service etc. as word of our existence spreads throughout the region. Due to us having this very special thing that is bike leasing, the average bike we sell actually goes for about 3k to 4k. And that's in this market and economy. Though, while the bikes are more expensive, we don't actually make that much more money since the leasing companies take a cut of the margin. And since the owner hasn't been advised all that greatly in hindsight when he opened the sotre, we sit on a very substantial stockpile of bikes for our small 3 people operation. Though it's actually just the owner and his two apprentices, so it's not actually even a full 3 people.

The local shop for me is a kind of the best of both worlds.

That definition was, beautiful, scientific and inspiring.

For decades, here in Fort Wayne, Indiana, we had a handful of bike shops with one big-boy shop that combined elements of a cycling store and a bike shop. I don't know who owned it, but it sold Giant, Specialized, Cannondale, and yes, Trek. A couple of years ago, Summit City Bicycles and Fitness disappeared, and in its place, "Trek of Fort Wayne." They still sell several brands: Trek, Trek, Trek, and, let's see ... oh, yes, Trek. This pretty much sucks.

My local Trek shop offers financing like buyin a car at a Deaalership. People can't afford to finance a bike especially overpriced road sport and e- bikes. No more credit at low rates is what's killing the market.