Brailsford on Ineos Grand Tour leadership; A totally pants bike; Halfords bike sales up; Traffic warden tickets cyclist; Dutch in sensible take on cycling shocker; TfL uses AI to assess cycling demand + more on live blog

LastBoyScout wrote:

I had to drive miles to get an Avid bleed kit in a hurry.

LOL at your user name. A kit for bleeding brakes? Surely you can mcguiver a way round that one! modern life 

visionset wrote:

LastBoyScout wrote:

I had to drive miles to get an Avid bleed kit in a hurry.

LOL at your user name. A kit for bleeding brakes? Surely you can mcguiver a way round that one! modern life 

Believe me, I tried - but I didn't have anything else that would fit the bleed valves.

And I needed the oil, anyway, which came as part of the kit.

At least I'll never have to buy it again - and my sister paid for it anyway, as was her bike

hawkinspeter wrote:

My wife and I had gone shopping and we briefly popped into Boots for some cosmetics (not for me). When we came out, we saw an inspector writing out a parking ticket.

My wife started pleading "We're really sorry, but we were only in there for, like, 2 minutes" (pointing at Boots.

The inspector didn't respond and carried on writing the ticket, so my wife started to get a bit angsty. "Come on, you dumbass, haven't you got something better to do?" she asked. The inspector responded to this by starting to write a second ticket (broken indicator cover or some such).

This went on for about 10 more minutes with my wife getting more and more abusive and the inspector writing more and more tickets.

Then our bus arrived, so we went home.

ho,ho..are you here all week?

a variation on the dog bite gag; does your dog bite? no..person then pats dog which bites him..I thought you said your dog doesn't bite? not my dog.

eburtthebike wrote:

Where's the crane truck?  This was in Lydney today, on the very recently installed cycle lanes, as featured in lots of angry gammon letters in the local press.  I wonder if I send this to the local rag they'll print it?

Just do it, copy the council and the police in too........

visionset wrote:

Retford for the parking violation, this might help

https://goo.gl/maps/irFDMEESV4z7fqec7

Ridiculous, these small towns with their crazy gestopo power crazed enforcers, be it front line or behind a desk

I'm not sure what to glean from that. Most places I have been would clog up with no enforcement or deterrent.

hirsute wrote:

visionset wrote:

Ridiculous, these small towns with their crazy gestopo power crazed enforcers, be it front line or behind a desk

I'm not sure what to glean from that. Most places I have been would clog up with no enforcement or deterrent.

Yeah but not with bikes! Retford ain't Amsterdam any time soon.

hirsute wrote:

visionset wrote:

Retford for the parking violation, this might help

https://goo.gl/maps/irFDMEESV4z7fqec7

Ridiculous, these small towns with their crazy gestopo power crazed enforcers, be it front line or behind a desk

I'm not sure what to glean from that. Most places I have been would clog up with no enforcement or deterrent.

Aberystwyth, a few years ago.  The police had told the council they weren't going to be enforcing parking any more and the council forgot.  They had (IIRC) a year or so with no enforcement for parking AT ALL.

(Apparently it was hilarious...).

Freddy56 wrote:

not angry about cyclesurgery.

Wiggle and chainreaction have single handedly ruined the cycle trade by making a discounting cycle purchase cculture that everyone had to follow. cycle shops who relied on product sales will all die. the internet has made all products cheaper than RRP available somewhere. RRP is required for a bike shop to be viable.

 

Partly lack of choice. Could not get a Mavic part from 2 places, "don't deal with them"
Couldn't get a basic tubeless repair kit from one in town.

Freddy56 wrote:

not angry about cyclesurgery.

Wiggle and chainreaction have single handedly ruined the cycle trade by making a discounting cycle purchase cculture that everyone had to follow. cycle shops who relied on product sales will all die. the internet has made all products cheaper than RRP available somewhere. RRP is required for a bike shop to be viable.

 

So its sad to see bikeshops close but if they don't evolve to provide a service that suits the customer then is it such a loss?  Its not always about the cost of a product that determines if you shop somewhere. 

The quality of the service you receive and whether they have products that suit their customers is just as important and it seems that shops that become hubs for their community are much more likely to survive.

If shops believe that just stocking products and selling them like a traditional bike shop from the the 80's is still relevant today then in my opinion they shouldn't exist.

hopster wrote:

So its sad to see bikeshops close but if they don't evolve to provide a service that suits the customer then is it such a loss?  Its not always about the cost of a product that determines if you shop somewhere. 

The quality of the service you receive and whether they have products that suit their customers is just as important and it seems that shops that become hubs for their community are much more likely to survive.

If shops believe that just stocking products and selling them like a traditional bike shop from the the 80's is still relevant today then in my opinion they shouldn't exist.

Why does a cycle shop have to be a 'community hub'? They sell bikes and parts, they're not there to provide a counselling service or creche. Do small and independent shops, non-franchised garages and mechanics have to serve free freshly ground coffee served by a trained barista and provide a while-u-wait service to survive?

So let's say we all decide to do our regular food shopping online. You will understand completely if all local convenience stores are forced to close because they can't compete. The shops that stock those things you've forgotten to put on the order and are still open at 9.30pm when you've realised there's no bread for tomorrow's lunch or you've got to the end of the cling film or someone's used the last roll of toilet paper. The one with an ATM, a Post Office franchise and is the only place open on Sundays before 10am. It's OK for those shops to close because they charge more and the staff don't fall at your feet with gratitude each time you walk in to get half a dozen eggs or when you call by to pick up a bottle of wine or some tinnies to take to a friend's house.

What about the fact that CRC/wiggle can sell OEM or grey market items for less than the LBS can buy it? Is that the little shop's fault? And when you have a problem with removing that part you bought online it's the LBS you go to, the one with experienced mechanics, a workshop and proper tools.

What about the overheads of running a small business? Lots of shops in towns and cities close because council rates have shot up in recent years while out-of-town shopping centres have lower rents and rates, easy access (for drivers) and free parking and all the big stores and junk food outlets.

Spending at local businesses puts considerably more money into the local economy but no-one cares about that until it's too late. I'm not saying no-one should buy anything at chains or online; I do that too, perhaps more often than I'd like but I don't have a lot of money for bike kit and it's usually discounted end-of-line items or specific items of clothing that I know will fit properly.

Simon E wrote:

Why does a cycle shop have to be a 'community hub'? They sell bikes and parts, they're not there to provide a counselling service or creche. Do small and independent shops, non-franchised garages and mechanics have to serve free freshly ground coffee served by a trained barista and provide a while-u-wait service to survive?

Yes. 
 

Otherwise what do they have over Wiggle? I can get any part I need delivered next day at the lowest cost online. Unlike a modern car, the owner can service pretty much everything themselves with simple tools, so the market for servicing is a smaller section of riders.

Give me a shop with some atmosphere and a nice brew, and I'll probably hang around and buy that nice jersey. However, if like the closest LBS you only open Mon-Fri 9-5, and 12:30 on Saturday and shut on Sunday, it's unlikely I'm going to be able to spend much cash there.

Drinfinity wrote:

Otherwise what do they have over Wiggle? I can get any part I need delivered next day at the lowest cost online. Unlike a modern car, the owner can service pretty much everything themselves with simple tools, so the market for servicing is a smaller section of riders.

Give me a shop with some atmosphere and a nice brew, and I'll probably hang around and buy that nice jersey. However, if like the closest LBS you only open Mon-Fri 9-5, and 12:30 on Saturday and shut on Sunday, it's unlikely I'm going to be able to spend much cash there.

Exactly. The staff in my LBS are very good, servicing is quick, relatively cheap and much better than the job I could do myself. However, if I want a new cassette, it is both quicker and cheaper for me to buy them online as they tend to stock a very small number of items (they never have my preferred 8-speed 11-28 in stock for example).

As noted, I can get it next day from Wiggle or wait 3-4 days for them to have it delivered to them, and then I need to try and get to the store to collect it when I can't guarantee getting to them before they close at 5pm during the week. My Wiggle order is just delivered to my local 24hour petrol station for me to collect at my convenience. 

Without the "community hub" stuff, and providing services the online stores can't, LBSs are going to continue to struggle badly. 

Freddy56 wrote:

not angry about cyclesurgery.

Wiggle and chainreaction have single handedly ruined the cycle trade by making a discounting cycle purchase cculture that everyone had to follow. cycle shops who relied on product sales will all die. the internet has made all products cheaper than RRP available somewhere. RRP is required for a bike shop to be viable.

 

bike shops now have to have a business model that relies on servicing bikes to be profitable;selling bikes,parts and accessories at competitive prices doesn't have enough profit to be sustainable.