trek from local bike shop vs motobecane online

[Cataboo]

Erm.

What does my derailleur do for me when I realize that the corner at the bottom of a steep descent is sharper than I thought?

I usually put on my brakes and don't shift for it.

And I don't buy that trek doesn't charge more for their bikes because of the trek name - because trek does. Seven charges more for their titanium bicycles than litespeed does for similarly speccd bikes. Trek charges more than jamis for similarly speccd bikes. Pinarello charges more than whatever. Sometimes it depends on the number of bikes being produced and the market, but differences in prices are not purely higher prices = better bike quality. Just as a chanel purse is not 1,000 times higher quality than a regular leather purse.

[lauraelmore1033]

I recently brought a new, internet purchased bike in to my bike shop for a tuneup and to buy pedals, water bottle holders, pump, and computer for it. The total for all these things was over $300, but they acted like I'd brought in a dirty cat box or something. Now, I have bought a bike in that shop, and regularly drop lots of money on tune ups, tires, tubes, clothes, so it's not like I'm some kind of freeloader. The new bike is way better than anything I could have afforded to buy in the shop, and, I just wouldn't have dropped that kind of money in the first place. I sorta understand why they would be annoyed by "losing" a sale, but, as I just mentioned, I wouldn't have spent that much anyway, so I'm thinking my business in this situation was a bonus. I guess not.

[Cataboo]

I think what it comes down to is that cyclists need a LBS to support them if they want to ride and maintain a good bike. But the LBS needs the cyclists too.

I have ridden and maintained great bikes for the last three years without getting any work done at a local bike shop. I have bought stuff at the local bike shops just for the convenience of being able to get it immediately.

[Trek420]

I buy a lot of gear online. I feel guilty, but I still do it. Then I try to make up for it by patronizing my LBS.

Or bringing them beer and cookies.

[Cataboo]

Yes I know that is the case with a lot of people. I did consider modifying it to 'most cyclists,' but the crux of the issue is more one of community support and reciprocity. That's all.

I buy a lot of gear online. I feel guilty, but I still do it. Then I try to make up for it by patronizing my LBS.

I probably shouldn't bother responding - because I can actually see both sides here and understand that it's great to buy local and the rest of that - but I also understand that buying local is often more expensive and is in some ways a luxury - if you don't have much money or you're a student or whatever, us telling people that they should go pay full price at local bike shops for things that are often inflated in price, really makes no sense - because just as there's economic pressures on bike shops, there's economic pressures on all of us especially in this economy. And the guilt tripping and posturing over how much better it is to shop local, is irritating when we're basically making judgements over how other people spend their money. It's like eating right and eating organic - noone likes the person that implies they're a shitty person or mother or whatever for not paying more to buy local and eating that or feeding that to their kids or for clothing their kids in clothes bought at walmart made in sweatshops in the third world.

To a certain extent, if your business model doesn't work - it's not profitable, the answer isn't to guilt trip your clientele into paying more for stuff they can get elsewhere cheaper, it's modifying your business model in order to make it more effective. Offer stuff that online bike shops can't (which it sounds like a lot of your local bike shops manage to do, but around here, buying bikes doesn't come with free tune ups or maintenance except at some of the chain stores - but this is also an area of the country that is still doing relatively well and I don't think the bike shops are really under pressure to do so - I can think of about 3 bike shops in a 10 mile radius of my house and probably a good 30 of them in a 100 mile radius). I mean, if you own a bakery and noone is buying - then either you need to look at your prices, quality or advertising, and not guilt trip your clients and snarl at them if they want to pay you to decorate a cake they bought down the street.

There's also a blurry line between local bike shop and online business - Velo Orange is a tiny little bike shop. If I'm buying online from it, am I not buying from a local bike shop? It's within 70 miles of me, is that local? Paying for shipping is worththe time and effort it takes for me to drive over there since it's closed on saturdays. Harris cyclery is an actual local bike shop. A lot of these online businesses have wider inventory in stock than any of my local bike shops (because I do call around looking for parts or prices before buying online) - if I am going to have to order something from my local bike shop, paying full price and waiting a week or two - I could also just order it online cheaper & wait that same week. Are some online businesses better to support than others? we all agree that shopping at team estrogen to support them for catering to women and providing us this forum is good, even though it's money taken away from the local bike shop. Harris cyclery keeps up sheldon brown's site for all of us - isn't that a good thing to support?

I just deleted half this post for all of your reading pleasure

I amhappy that there is a local bike shop, because that means I can tell a bunch of friends and family members to take their bikes there instead of having me work on their's for them Mostly kidding,I take care of the family bikes.