RIP Agoura Cycles...

[tzvia]

Dang! Find a good shop with good people and what happens, they close! That sucks. Went there yesterday after my MTB ride to maybe pickup a few spare tubes 'n stuff, to find a 'CLEARANCE' sign, bare walls and almost all the bikes and stock gone! Last day! Ok, so I got a pair of SIDI Zephyr Carbons for 90 bucks and some shorts cheap but dang. Sad to see them go. RIP.

[Running Mommy]

We are trying to not let it happen to us, but it's really tough out there right now.
Just the other day I was thinking of doing a post to ask everyone to please please support their LBS! I had one of those days where we seemed to have a plethora of "internet shoppers" in the store. The ones that bring their internet purchases in and want you to put the cleats on their shoes, fix the mess they made trying to install said purchase, etc.
We do it, and charge them labor accordingly, but I wish they would have just given us a chance in the first place.
I had a guy w/ a pretty nice specialized looking to get some work done on it. We gave him a price for a new shifter and he said "well I saw it for xx on price point. so why don't you order from them". I thought my mechanics head was gonna pop off, but he remained cool.
And then there was the lady who brought her kids mongoose wal mart bike in yesterday. She wanted new tubes and tires, so we set her up. She left to run a few errands, and came back w/a set of tires that she found "cheaper" at wal mart. She wanted us to take the ones we had just installed off, and put the cheaper ones on. We told her sure, but since we had already done the work, and the bmx bike had pegs so was a lot of labor, that we would have to charge her double labor. So that negated anything she saved on those tires. She also pointed out that our slime tubes are more expensive than wal mart. sigh...

I know that money is tight, and you have to be a smart consumer. But if you have a good lbs, and want to be able to count on them being there, please consider spending a few extra bucks every once in awhile to keep them afloat.

[tulip]

RM, best of luck to you and your shop. I've worked in local bike shops, and several that I used to work in have long since closed up. It's a shame that folks don't see the connection between small businesses that pay living wages to their staff and slightly higher prices. I say, if you go to Walmart-Performance type stores, you don't have a right to complain when the local bike shop goes out of business. They rely on customers, and we are the customers.

I haven't checked with my favorite bike shop in Maryland for while since I moved away. I hope the shop is doing okay--any DCers know how Proteus is doing?

[Aint Doody]

We're losing our lbs, too. It is soooo sad. But keep in mind that it's not just the bike shops. We all have to shop locally in order to save our small businesses that are the backbone of our communities. I only internet shop when what I want/need is unavailable locally. Unfortunately that's becoming more the norm as small businesses go out.

[Zen]

Tulip, I haven't heard any bad news about Proteus. They have been around a while and have such a rep I think they'll be OK.

I know I'm doing my part to keep the LBS in business. i was there yesterday, sold my bike, went inside and gave the $650 to Brian to put down on my new bike then spent $70 on a windbreaker and a lock

[Blueberry]

Zen- Whatcha getting????

We make an effort to support our LBS. Sometimes it's frustrating. I have a friend who could have helped me frame save my bike. I took it to the LBS. It was supposed to be done last Tuesday. They haven't started it yet. I've been without my bike (that one) for 2 weeks, and they still haven't looked at it. Meanwhile they're telling me that they have no service work I'm trying to support them, but I confess I'm a bit frustrated.

Running Mommy- I certainly hope you guys are able to hang in there. Sounds like you have a fabulous shop!

CA