My closest shop’s secret knock seems to be a fat wallet — wheeled a sturdy steel bike in there amid all their plastic racing ones and got the stink-eye. Found a dude who was literally leaning on the counter chatting with his buddies, asked him about replacing a recalled Shimano crank, and was handed a business card saying that I could call him and set an appointment to “bring it in” (I had it right there!) in a month or so.
I now pass that shop by and go somewhere with decent service.
The local Trek dealership is 5K away from me here in Yantai (Shandong Province, PRC). Longest I’ve had to wait to be served was the ride to the shop. They help me drag the bike in, and get to work on it ASAP. They’ve done a lot of work that an American shop would charge me an arm and a leg for, at no charge. Parts here in China are pretty cheap (cost, not quality) too. I wish everything was like that here, but it’s not.
Most LBS here in Korea do the same. I.e. they do small fixes and refuse payment. I have to say it’s an effective way to gain loyal customers.
Parts in Korea are ridiculously expensive and often lacking in variety, but good LBS service goes a long way and often offsets the horribly high prices for basic components.
Is it because the bicycle is not a toy or sport thing, but first of all a vehicle, means of transport, for a lot of people in PRC? Just guessing and asking someone who actually lives there. If you commute on the bike, you of course can’t afford to wait long to get it repaired and pay unproportionally high prices. For the LBS and parts manufacturers, it may be possible to keep the prices down, because the have enough business and turnover…? / In Czech republic, the LBSs tend to shift to the “hobby” concept of cycling, unfortunately, which brings a lot of aspects that bikers of the “yehudist” sort can’t appreciate (offering race-grade and stylish equipment to the common riders instead of something more “plain”, maybe heavier, but more durable; replacing parts instead of repairing; etc.)
I’m still a complete stranger at my local Seattle shop after more than 20 years of coming by. They are happy to ring up a purchase at the register but other than that I have no relationship with them whatsoever. “Support your local shop”… why, exactly? They’re not giving me any reason to be loyal, unlike the Kickstand.
My LBS just gave me a bike that they sold originally and took back in trade and then couldn’t sell because it was one of those weird bikes that I like and nobody else will ride (crank forward). By giving it to me they could write off the entire trade-in value and not have to part it out.
The “support your local bike/gaming/card/etc shop” myth really needs to die. No matter where I live, I always seem to need to drive dozens to hundreds of miles away from wherever I am to get to a store that can/will service, supply, and support my equipment/hobby/game. All the local shops are nothing but scams run by retards who only got into it because of the discounts they get from whole sellers and/or special dealer programs. They often go out of business every few months to a year and that shop ends up being a revolving door of owners, each trying to simultaneously exploit the dealer deals and somehow actually making money. What ends up happening is that after continued shitty service, customers stop showing up, the business goes bust, and the next owner gives it a go, repeat. Online didn’t kill retail sales, retail killed retail sales. What online gave people was an option other than put up with shitty service.
Maybe I must have been one of the lucky ones. My local shop of choice — and I could, at one time in the late 1970s, pick from five of them! — welcomed me even if I was just coming in to hang around for a while. I was treated almost like one of the staff; I could walk, unquestioned, into the back work area and shoot the breeze with the mechanic(s); I knew where they kept the cooler of beer and I was free to grab one from time to time (so long as I occasionally brought in a 12-pack or two for replacements); and when the time came to upgrade from a Japanese bike-boom ride to one of the (then-new) Treks, they not only used their connections with the factory to get me a helluva deal on the frameset buy gave me “employee pricing” on the components that I used to build it up with.
The other thing is that they knew that I knew my stuff, and if push ever came to shove they could press me into service to maybe do a fast tire repair or other minor adjustments when they were swamped…. so it was also a case of where one hand washed the other.
The local bike shop I go to is part of a bigger chain, but the mechanics there are much better than the brand’s reputation. I’d prefer smaller shops in my vincinity, but these are like clubs (come back with your bike on a full moon when the river is frozen again).
My closest shop’s secret knock seems to be a fat wallet — wheeled a sturdy steel bike in there amid all their plastic racing ones and got the stink-eye. Found a dude who was literally leaning on the counter chatting with his buddies, asked him about replacing a recalled Shimano crank, and was handed a business card saying that I could call him and set an appointment to “bring it in” (I had it right there!) in a month or so.
I now pass that shop by and go somewhere with decent service.
The local Trek dealership is 5K away from me here in Yantai (Shandong Province, PRC). Longest I’ve had to wait to be served was the ride to the shop. They help me drag the bike in, and get to work on it ASAP. They’ve done a lot of work that an American shop would charge me an arm and a leg for, at no charge. Parts here in China are pretty cheap (cost, not quality) too. I wish everything was like that here, but it’s not.
Most LBS here in Korea do the same. I.e. they do small fixes and refuse payment. I have to say it’s an effective way to gain loyal customers.
Parts in Korea are ridiculously expensive and often lacking in variety, but good LBS service goes a long way and often offsets the horribly high prices for basic components.
Is it because the bicycle is not a toy or sport thing, but first of all a vehicle, means of transport, for a lot of people in PRC? Just guessing and asking someone who actually lives there. If you commute on the bike, you of course can’t afford to wait long to get it repaired and pay unproportionally high prices. For the LBS and parts manufacturers, it may be possible to keep the prices down, because the have enough business and turnover…? / In Czech republic, the LBSs tend to shift to the “hobby” concept of cycling, unfortunately, which brings a lot of aspects that bikers of the “yehudist” sort can’t appreciate (offering race-grade and stylish equipment to the common riders instead of something more “plain”, maybe heavier, but more durable; replacing parts instead of repairing; etc.)
I’m still a complete stranger at my local Seattle shop after more than 20 years of coming by. They are happy to ring up a purchase at the register but other than that I have no relationship with them whatsoever. “Support your local shop”… why, exactly? They’re not giving me any reason to be loyal, unlike the Kickstand.
Look, it’s not you, it’s me.
My LBS just gave me a bike that they sold originally and took back in trade and then couldn’t sell because it was one of those weird bikes that I like and nobody else will ride (crank forward). By giving it to me they could write off the entire trade-in value and not have to part it out.
The “support your local bike/gaming/card/etc shop” myth really needs to die. No matter where I live, I always seem to need to drive dozens to hundreds of miles away from wherever I am to get to a store that can/will service, supply, and support my equipment/hobby/game. All the local shops are nothing but scams run by retards who only got into it because of the discounts they get from whole sellers and/or special dealer programs. They often go out of business every few months to a year and that shop ends up being a revolving door of owners, each trying to simultaneously exploit the dealer deals and somehow actually making money. What ends up happening is that after continued shitty service, customers stop showing up, the business goes bust, and the next owner gives it a go, repeat. Online didn’t kill retail sales, retail killed retail sales. What online gave people was an option other than put up with shitty service.
Maybe I must have been one of the lucky ones. My local shop of choice — and I could, at one time in the late 1970s, pick from five of them! — welcomed me even if I was just coming in to hang around for a while. I was treated almost like one of the staff; I could walk, unquestioned, into the back work area and shoot the breeze with the mechanic(s); I knew where they kept the cooler of beer and I was free to grab one from time to time (so long as I occasionally brought in a 12-pack or two for replacements); and when the time came to upgrade from a Japanese bike-boom ride to one of the (then-new) Treks, they not only used their connections with the factory to get me a helluva deal on the frameset buy gave me “employee pricing” on the components that I used to build it up with.
The other thing is that they knew that I knew my stuff, and if push ever came to shove they could press me into service to maybe do a fast tire repair or other minor adjustments when they were swamped…. so it was also a case of where one hand washed the other.
The local bike shop I go to is part of a bigger chain, but the mechanics there are much better than the brand’s reputation. I’d prefer smaller shops in my vincinity, but these are like clubs (come back with your bike on a full moon when the river is frozen again).