I tend to talk a lot about bike shops here, and that might be because a lot of my living depends on the health of the bike shop as a business model. So, I want to own my self-interest and my bias. But I also believe, independent of the scant few dollars in my pocket, that the local bike shop is actually the canary in the coal mine for our local cycling communities and we need to value it more.
Bike shops are like libraries. Not everyone in the community needs one, but it fosters a love of the thing on a fundamental level, early in life, that can carry through into a healthier adulthood. Think of the bike shop as the library for physical and mental health.
Even if you can do all or most of your own service work. Even if you can buy all the little things you want for your riding life on-line. Even if you think the folks at your local shop are rude, or snobby, or disinterested, at some point you need a bike shop.
I was at two local shops recently, and as I chatted with my friends there, customers came in and out, and I observed those interactions.
First of all, several of the customers I observed were pretty helpless. They needed guidance. Second, the ratio of low-information customers to high-information customers was heavily weighted toward the novices. Third, and I don’t think it’s because I was standing there, the shop employees were uniformly really nice to them.
I suspect the trope of the snobby, surly bike shop employee is overplayed. Sure, they’re out there, but they’re not the norm. Not even close. Bike shop employees are more like librarians for bikes, helping customers find the thing that makes the best sense for them.
So what does that mean for us, if we’re self-anointed experts or capable home mechanics? It means that the bulk of people who want to ride a bike need the support and guidance of a shop. The base of the pyramid of bike riders really depends on the shop as a resource. And we who ride all the time depend on them because they make up the numbers in any pitch for cycling infrastructure. Hopefully we can see the big picture and take some responsibility for the health of the whole cycling ecosystem.
I know. It’s a lot to ask. We all just want to ride bikes.
But here’s what I think. I think we all need a shop sometime. I think towns are better with bike shops in them, like they’re better off with libraries. I think we’re all better off if kids and beginners have good guidance. So, I’d encourage you to make your purchases, even the big ones, at your local shop, to support to your cycling community and a local business and think of it as your contribution to the infrastructure of the place you live.
Prretty much agree. As I said last night in a comment, I discovered the joys of seating a tubeless tire by ending up at the LBS. One of the mechanics and I sat down and we mutually figured out the easiest way to do it based on how I watched motorcycle mechanics blast air into the valve stem minus the little valve stem insert. Actually, I do try to buy stuff at the LBS when it comes to clothing as buying online usually means getting something that doesn’t quite fit right.
Interestingly, you see bike shops as libraries. I see them as the Local Church of Cycling, where one sometimes goes to light a little incense, admire the iconography, and talk bikes with other bike people and act as a sort of bike deacon to newbies. In that sense, the bike shop is to bikes what the local gun shop is to gun nuts–a gathering place of the believers and the bike curious.
We just lost a shop in Santa Fe as Mellow Velo went under. That is a sad story as it was a really nice shop right downtown. The owner said he just could not make ends meet. I wonder about that. With some bike companies dealing direct to customers, that cuts out the middle man, and we know who that is.
Case in point. After reading Nick Legan’s detailed review of a Litespeed Gravel in Adventure Cycling, I decided I wanted one. No dealer anywhere near me sold them so I ended up buying direct from Litespeed rather than driving a state or two over. I double checked all the frame dimensions against my ‘cross bike for sizing and gave Litespeed a call to decide on some fine points. Then they got my credit card number. I would have preferred to deal with a shop, but that was not too practical. Worked out fine as I did the final assembly with the Park workstand.
But all hail the Local Church of Cycling, that LBS!