Originally Posted by
Hiro11
I have several thoughts on this topic:
1. I've had several very good experiences buying bikes from consumer-direct companies. The bikes I've purchased have generally been as high quality as bike shop brands and generally been reliable. I'd say I've saved about 25% on average vs buying a similar LBS bike.
2. I decided to buy a modern high end carbon road bike last year and went LBS. There were several reasons for this: they sold the exact bike I wanted, the bike in question actually represented a good value and modern road bikes are generally a pain to work on. This has also been a great experience: the bike shop took care of fitting and setting up the bike (a major task with aero/integrated front ends with internal everything with a Di2/hydraulic setup). I also have had a few niggling issues with this bike, all have been resolved quickly and at no charge to me by the shop.
3. The LBS in question is a high end/specialist shop and locally famous for being well stocked. Still, almost everything not made by an LBS-only brand in there is available significantly more cheaply online. Tires, tools, bags, clothing: all are frankly outrageously expensive in there and the selection still doesn't compare to something like Competitive Cyclist. The result in this case is a small selection of extremely pricey stuff. I'm a fanatical cyclist with a fair amount of disposable income, but I'm sorry I'm not paying $120 for some softshell shoe covers that aren't exactly the ones I want.
4. Non-specialist, garden variety bike shops are basically worthless to niche cyclists like me. I'm looking for weirdo stuff like Rene Herse tires, Morgan Blue bike cleaning brushes, GripGrab mid-temperature gloves, a very specific version of an ISM saddle, 1x crankarms with a 110 BCD that will fit on a 73MM BB shell (try to find those...) and very specific clothing lines from the likes of Sportful and Bioracer. The average bike shop carries $450 hybrids and gel saddle pads, because that's what non-dorks want.
5. It's really hard to be a bike shop: profit margins are thin, good workers willing to work for peanuts are hard to find and you'r constantly being disintermediated by the very vendors/partners you work with. No one is getting rich owning a bike shop, even with absurd $120 shoe covers. Most bike shop owners I know are in it not to make money, they're in it because they genuinely love bikes. The bike shops in my area go out of their way to lead rides, sponsor races and teams, help out on trail work etc. I think that's worth supporting. I'm still likely going to buy a YT mountain bike this year, though.