Do most shop rides cost $ ?

I inquired at one LBS about shop rides. Due to my schedule I would only be able to join them with any type of consistently on one ride per week. Even on that ride I would manage to attend 4 out of 5 rides. The rides are cancelled if it's raining, which around here could substantially reduce the rides. The weekly ride goes until October. I had "assumed" that there was no cost involved. But there are. You need a provincial biking license ($75) which i'm ok with as it covers insurance etc. But the shop wants an additional $75 to join the "shop club" for the year. For an additional $95 they wanted to sell me the "shop club" jersey which promotes the shop. Is it usual for bike shops to charge fee's for shop local rides?. I have spent thousands of $ at this shop and I'm starting to feel nickel and dimed.
Is this excessive or is that the Scottish coming out in me?

The shop I race for doesn't charge for group rides, nor do any of the other local shops (to the best of my knowledge).

I'm curious to know if any other shops in your area charge similar fees.....

Several shops around here sponsor weekly rides. None of them charge any money for them.

I'm not aware of any shop around here charging for a shop ride. Many of our local shop rides are a joint club/shop effort, but neither the shop nor the club charge for them. Certainly, it's hoped that attendees spend money at the shop, but that's the only monetary aspect of them that I'm aware of. Our local club sponsors only a couple fee-based rides each year; the rest are free--although certainly everyone who does them is encouraged to join the club. Frankly, it's the best bargain in town when one considers all that they do.

I don't know how I'd feel about being charged to do a shop ride. I don't think I'd mind if a jar was passed around periodically to cover any costs (like maps or paint to mark the route), but I'd probably bristle at having to pay $75 to wear a jersey that provides the shop with advertising. But by the same token, if they provided a really great group ride that was a lot of fun, maybe I'd get over it. It would really depend on my overall feelings about the shop.

Not only does our club not charge for our rides, it provides drinks and snacks for anyone who wants to participate for both before and after the ride.

I do not ride out of a shop, but I do ride with the local bicycling club. It has all levels of rides, every day of the week. There is a membership fee of $20 per year. That gets you insurance coverage and a newsletter. You do not have to be a member to ride with the group, but the insurance coverage won't apply if you are not, apparently. Maybe it's an insurance thing with your bike shop, or maybe it's a more serious racing-team-club type setup. Have you checked into a local bicycling club?

Cycle club only too. Our fees are $25 for the year and $2 per ride. This covers purchasing tea, coffee and cookies and the cost of hiring someone who looks after the kitchen and the cars parked during the ride (a number have been broken into as the club house is in the countryside). The club also runs organised race days and has to hire road signs etc plus put in a traffic management plan.

Maybe there's additional services you don't know about yet? However the club kit (unless it's both shorts and shirt) seems rather steep. I would expect to pay cost price for these.

I have never heard of such a thing. I belong to 2 cycling clubs (one is an outdoor club, of which cycling is one activity). There is no charge for any ride, unless it's an overnight trip. I pay a membership fee to both, which gets me a newsletter, a magazine, and discounts of 10-20% at LBSs and outdoor stores.

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Originally Posted by Becky

The shop I race for doesn't charge for group rides, nor do any of the other local shops (to the best of my knowledge).

I'm curious to know if any other shops in your area charge similar fees.....

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I called 2 other shops. One does not have any shop rides, the other one has 2 aweek. Sat mornings @730 am which is waaaaay to early for me, Wednesday evening 6 pm was the other option. No fee involved, or said mention of "jersey".

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

I've never heard of anyone doing this.

What is a provincial license? And where are you? Is this the UK?

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I'm in Vancouver, BC Canada. About 2 hrs north of Seattle.
Cyclingbc.net has the license info. It's generally used for organized rides, or clubs etc

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

Actually, it's $75.00 for the ride. An extra $95.00 for the privilege of advertising via shop shirt.

How many rides per week do they offer?

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2-4 rides a week, but for a beginner only one ride. Most of the rides were for advanced or strong riders. I don't think I'm a beginner, but far from being what i would consider advanced.

That's insane. My old old LBS didn't charge (I think there were clinics that they charged a small fee to help pay the instructor, but those were relatively rare) for group rides, my old LBS didn't charge, my current workplace doesn't charge (though they ask you to let them know that you're coming!).

Yes, the local club charges a membership fee, but it's like $25 a year or something, and extra for the jersey.

There are lots of shops around here and lots of shop rides. I've never heard of any charging. You can buy a jersey if you want, but it's strictly optional. I've only checked out one local club. You can ride for free, but if you decide you want to become a member, there's a low annual charge. I forget what it is. I tend to ride alone or with a rag tag group of friends.

I've never heard of shop rides having a cost associated with them. Are you in Canada by any chance? You mentioned a provincial bike license, though of course that doesn't mean you are a northern neighbor :)

Unless this shop ride offers a sort of ride that other shops don't offer, I wouldn't bother WASP. It seems they aren't doing things to "give" back to the cycling community as a business.
I understand about the provincial license ...is that associated with a provincial cycling association for the insurance? I know the non-profit cycling advocacy group (VACC, now the HUB) has had to make sure they had overall insurance for its members.... I know this, because my partner negotiated the contract at different years for the VACC. But VACC's annual membership is pretty reasonable.

Which shop is this? I'm curious?

For the record, there is no B.C., Alberta nor Ontario legislation which requires cyclists to have license to bike. Of course bike couriers are different.

Around here, shops do not charge for shop/club rides. Our LBS just asks that all riders sign a waiver and has refreshments after the Sunday rides. If anyone buys the jersey it entitles them to 10%discount on all purchases and invites to events, sales and holiday party at the end of the year. The regular bikes clubs usually charge $20.00 or $25 for family a year. They are non-profit so the money goes for events & snacks at the club meetings.

If they're requiring provincial registration, it could be an insurance requirement. Here in Saskatchewan a person has to join the provincial association, whether they race or not, if they want to belong to a club and do club rides. Everyone who goes on a ride is then covered by the provincial insurance, whether it's a touring or racing club.
I think the licence referred to must be a racing licence, which is needed to compete in sanctioned events. This must be a fairly competitive club.

I live in the Portland, Oregon area where we have something like 80+ bike shops in the metro area. Not all of them offer group rides and of the ones who do none cost money.

shops offer group rides to attract customers. So unless the owner is really greedy, they do not charge you a fee. Even a seriously competitive shops don't charge you a fee for a group ride.

Now if the group ride is a training ride for their racing team/club, you will be paying a fee to join their club. And they normally would insist that you wear their racing gear (kit) Jersey and pants.

Sounds like you stumbled on a racing team training ride.

Although I've only done one group ride (sort of) with one of our LBSs neither one charge for group rides. We had a Greenway ride this past Sunday. It was more of a let's show the city that there really are a lot people who enjoy biking and show the town we like having the infrustructer for bikes. Had a local politician as part of the ride, Parks and Recs had 2 rest stops set up, and the police were there to stop traffic at 2 intersections that had to be crossed. It was pretty cool. We rode from the downtown shop to the main gate of the base and back.