"Meanwhile, in the Netherlands": Cyclists react to police "safety" advice to man and granddaughter, 8, stopped for cycling without helmets; Dan Martin's bike industry musings; Lime warns vandals after hire bikes dumped in river + more on the live blog

You can see the flashing red light reflected off the back wheel, so the cyclist was visible. The driver didn't appear to be looking down/away, so what was going on there? Fundamentally unfit to be driving.

Looks like the driver didn't get out.....or at least not for a while

It's from Simon Rhodes, a driving instructor based in Westhoughton, Bolton, and he said it is his local High Street.

“ITS a cONspiRAcy, the PHoto is ObVIouSly sTaGeD”

"Hello ChatGPT, can you create me a video of sustainable, cheap transport around a city, in the rain, please.
oh and make sure SteveK isn't in it"

It was positively manic this morning - THREE of us all in one place!

Better still - these aren't the same two cyclists I saw yesterday.

Was it Wiggle/CRC that killed off the LBCs? Or was it customers who bought from wherever was cheapest? Retail of bicycles and accessories comes with additional costs such as skilled staff, heating, premises and rates etc. Having worked in a bike shop, there were loads of instances when I would try to sell an article to a customer only to recieve the response 'I need to think about it'. The next time I saw the customer they were wearing or using the aforementioned article which they had bought on-line. The customer had gone where was cheapest but failed to acknowledge the cost of my time, expertise & guidance and the fact that they could touch/feel/see the article. How many shops have gone out of business because they were providing good retail service to customers who did not recognise the cost of that service and subsequently bought on line?

Where I worked, customers regularly asked if we would price match the on-line retailers. In an attempt to retain their custom we would - even though we knew our margin was non-existent

I really hope that people realise that local retail does cost a little bit more but also you get a superb service as a result of that slighlty higher price.

I'd rather buy from a large online supplier as they tend to have a much bigger choice. Often an LBS will have agreements with just a few companies and so they'll only have products from those particular brands whereas I'd rather see all the available options.

I'd say that an LBS is serving a slightly different market than online suppliers as they're great for cyclists who don't necessarily know their way round bikes and the terminology, but those of us who do our own tinkering are better served with the bigger choice that only big online suppliers can provide.

Depends - one of my LBS is pretty good at being able to source parts online when asked.  They'll also receive and hold stuff - very useful when delivery companies have a habit of throwing stuff in the main entrance of the flats and running away, or getting some random to sign for stuff...

Obviously if I and others didn't give them any business but only used them as a post office they'd probably not be doing that though!

I would disagree. If you have a decent local bike shop, they will always endeavour to get stuff in for you to look at. I maintain all my bikes myself and whilst I could buy all my parts online, I prefer to order it all from the local shop. We would all be much worse off if they disappeared from the high street. 

Biker Phil wrote:

I would disagree. If you have a decent local bike shop, they will always endeavour to get stuff in for you to look at. I maintain all my bikes myself and whilst I could buy all my parts online, I prefer to order it all from the local shop. We would all be much worse off if they disappeared from the high street. 

I agree with what you're saying, but I find it so much more convenient to do some idle window-shopping online. When I suddenly need to source some new Shimano Ultegra cranks, then an LBS would be able to get them, but it's quicker for me to order it directly from a supplier and it saves a couple of journeys to the LBS. For me, the LBS is just acting as a middle man as I'm not looking for advice (though maybe I should as I keep buying Shimano cranks) and it's less convenient for me as well as being more expensive.

Velovoyeur wrote:

Was it Wiggle/CRC that killed off the LBCs? Or was it customers who bought from wherever was cheapest?

I would say it's the manufacturers/distributors who sell stuff to online retailers cheaper than the sell to LBSs. Often the complain from the LBS is that they have to pay more than the wiggle price to buy said component, that can't be right. How can they possibly compete when the suppleirs are giving them such an uneven playing field.

Any LBS knows the key profit centre has to be maintenance, which cannot be beaten by online suppliers. MY LBS is always busy in the workshop with at least 4 mechanics working there.

While its true that it is customers who chose where to shop based on price, its disingenuous to pretend that it wasn't a deliberate and thought through policy on the part of Wiggle/CRC to undercut the LBS and force them out of the market. They sold a lot of products at 0 margin or even losses to make shopping anywhere else an unreasonable proposition for end consumers and to deliberately crush their competition through superior size and funding (Funding which has now been pulled out from under them). Often the CRC price on Shimano parts used to be cheaper than the price bike manufacturers would pay for the parts when buying in bulk, I assume CRC were relying on the other parts and accessories people would order alongside the drivetrain parts to actually give them any profit at all. 

You're completely correct.  My local bike shop has the same issues, the huge online businesses sell items at less than he can buy them from the wholesalers. Many times he has had to resort to buying parts from them when building a bike if he wants to make profit from the sale. Many people expect him to price match online businesses which don't have the same overheads, and if he did so would be selling at a loss. 
He also gets tired of people coming to see him with parts they've bought online and expect him to fit them for free, or very little cost. I remember one person who brought some stuff in to be fitted then complained about being charged for the fitting, arguing that it had only taken him 15 minutes to fit them. They don't seem to realise where he gets the money to pay the electric, heating, rates etc, and how he affords to have one of the most comprehensively equipped workshops in the area. Unbelievably, some people expect to come in to his shop and take his valuable time up asking for advice on the best components to buy, then go and buy them online. 

Biker Phil wrote:

You're completely correct.  My local bike shop has the same issues, the huge online businesses sell items at less than he can buy them from the wholesalers. Many times he has had to resort to buying parts from them when building a bike if he wants to make profit from the sale. Many people expect him to price match online businesses which don't have the same overheads, and if he did so would be selling at a loss. 
He also gets tired of people coming to see him with parts they've bought online and expect him to fit them for free, or very little cost. I remember one person who brought some stuff in to be fitted then complained about being charged for the fitting, arguing that it had only taken him 15 minutes to fit them. They don't seem to realise where he gets the money to pay the electric, heating, rates etc, and how he affords to have one of the most comprehensively equipped workshops in the area. Unbelievably, some people expect to come in to his shop and take his valuable time up asking for advice on the best components to buy, then go and buy them online. 

I have had my LBS fit some parts that I bought online and they were happy to do so. It wasn't entirely intentional as I'd bought the replacements and intended to fit them myself but struggled to do it (some Prime wheel bearings and a Di2 cable IIRC), so I got them to do a general service and checked if they wanted to use my parts or fit their own. I expect them to charge enough for their time for it to be worthwhile, especially when they might not be able to buy parts with enough discount to make much profit on them.

It certainly doesn't sound fair for people to just use them for info and then spend money elsewhere - those people should post questions online for that kind of thing or read the comments here. However, I'd guess that bike shops make the majority of their money from commuters and cyclists that don't know their way round a bike (e.g. bring the bike in to fix a puncture), so competing against online parts suppliers might not be the best tactic.

peted76 wrote:

I'd love one of those Insta 360 cameras, they look so cool.. BUT I have a go pro which I don't use so it goes in the 'maybe one day I'll get one' list of things. It could get promoted to the 'I must get one of those' list if I ever decide I really should get a occasional commute to work camera and sell the stupid go-pro which I've never gotten on with due to the clunky desktop software and hungry mobile app. 

If you're averse to clunky desktop s/w and a hungry mobile app I have news for you: you'll find exactly the same issues with Insta360 if not more so. 

Miller wrote:

peted76 wrote:

I'd love one of those Insta 360 cameras, they look so cool.. BUT I have a go pro which I don't use so it goes in the 'maybe one day I'll get one' list of things. It could get promoted to the 'I must get one of those' list if I ever decide I really should get a occasional commute to work camera and sell the stupid go-pro which I've never gotten on with due to the clunky desktop software and hungry mobile app. 

If you're averse to clunky desktop s/w and a hungry mobile app I have news for you: you'll find exactly the same issues with Insta360 if not more so. 

Away with you and your pesky logic!