Experience with Local Bike Shops Bought by Trek
 

Over the years I've found "go to" bike shops that were reliable and knowledgeable and stuck with them for years. Invariably the owners retire and usually the bike shop just shuts down.

For the past 5 years or so Race Pace (several locations in Baltimore/Columbia MD) has been my go to shop. The owner Alex was hands on, did a lot of biking and valued customer service over milking out the last few pennies on everything. Prices weren't cheap, but quality and service was always high.

Alex is retiring and Trek is buying the Race Pace chain. Not necessarily a bad thing - Trek bought one I used occasionally in Northern VA and no degradation in service

How have other's experience been after Trek bought a local shop you frequented?

Much the same as Specialized owned outlets. Less selection on the shelves if it is not company branded or sub-branded stuff. You get locked into their ecosystem. Unfortunate for the companies out there that make really good products and get no representation in local stores. This gives internet shopping more legs.

We have two Trek shops in the area that have very professional and knowledgeable employees. Both of them are well stocked so long as you like Trek bikes and Bontrager accys.

Be a maverick. An iconoclast. Buy the bike at a Trek store, and get all your accessories at a Specialized store. Or vice-versa.

Has nothing to do with what company owns the shop. Has more to do with the people that work there.

The shop that I worked at was a great local type shop. There were 2, the one in SF was the classiest shop in the city for years. The previous owner designed the Serotta fit cycle w/ Ben. QBP has an annual award in his honor. After he passed away the shop was still well run and did fine. After Trek took over ownership this slowly went downhill. Many Employees quit, a few were fired for not meeting 'performance expectations'. The store in Marin has so few employees now it is only open 5 days a week. Last year was their biggest $ year ever, but if you were open you were selling a ton. Some Trek shops are good, some aren't, just like everything else. I found them wayyyyyyy too corporate and moved on.

What! Race Pace to be Trek stores. I have only been in the Bmore store a few time but it has that upgraded old shop feel.

But being serious in the Tidewater Va area the HDK shops became bikebeat then the owner retired and now they are Trek stores. The only issue is it’s all Trek stuff. But the primary people stayed. Like above it’s the people. Your area the Bike Doctor chain sells Trek and other bikes. Each store stands alone so I don’t see them changing any time soon. I was afraid the Trek line may get yanked but they don’t seem to worry.

Interesting, does that mean Race Pace is going to stop selling the other brands they currently sell?

Would be kind of a bummer, but then again, possible more opportunities for other shops to pull in more bikes....maybe.

I have only ever been in a Trek store once. When I bought my Domane. Seemed OK if you are into the brand. I like Trek and I do like the odds of a factory store having good support for the brand they sell as well as a good source for satisfaction through corporate if the corporate store messes up. Hope I never have to test that.

That’s what happened to our shops. Took a year or so for the transition. With limited supply now may not take as long.

One of the local chains in my area got bought out by Trek and we got a lot of employees from their shop to our shop and some of them have been quite awesome! However the shops are not as nice anymore.

we have one close that retained all the original people and it has been great with really great service. they can always fix our bosch powered tandem and they are less then a mile way so we can push it there. the only trek bike I have bought is their smallest one for our granddaughter as the cheap bike she had she could not peddle it.

Hard to small owners to give their employees the pay and benefits Trek can. Usually, their shops are bland and just like a big Specialized store. They kinda suck. Big Ring Cycles (Golden Colorado) was just bought by Trek, sadly. I got quite a bit of stuff from them. Unless I buy another Trek fatbike, I'll probably never go again. They used to sell BMC and another couple of brands but I can't see them continuing that. Reminds me..I need to get my $500 deposit back from them.

We had one go to shop in town, was awesome. Mech were great, sales people were awesome. Sold 6 or so different brands. Owner sold out to a bigger well known chain that is a Specialized dealer. Now all Spec stuff and not much other. Shop is not nearly the same on the service side as it used to be. Not saying its a bad store at all but just not as good as it was.

More of a corporate feel, I like local feel. I won't shop their anymore. I would rather buy online than shop at this store. I hit my two other local shops only if they have what I am looking for then online I go.

But like everywhere else big business wins without massive local support.

I rode into a new Trek stock 2 years ago.After talking to one of the salespersons they suggested I look at an Emonda. I then pointed out my bike IS an Emonda SLR.

I guess they didn't recognize it without the screaming TREK logos.

https://www.glenn-ring.com/emonda/preserve.jpg

Maybe the manager has experience, but the sales person did not.

I prefer shops which offer a variety of bikes. Trek have taken over a few bike shops here in Tokyo, which annoys me a bit. I became something of a Trek “hater” after Trek threw Greg Lemond under the bus when he dared mention that Trek’s Golden Goose, Lance Armstrong, might have been doping. Of course Greg was telling the truth, but that didn’t stop Lance from “convincing” Trek to stop distributing Lemond bicycles, and destroying a good brand. And when the truth finally came out, I never heard that Trek apologized to Greg (now the only American Tour winner) or tried to make things right after destroying a multi-million dollar company. Trek’s rise to popularity was built upon the Armstrong lie, and I won’t do business with them.

.
...the one here that flipped was City Bicycle, which had been a local shop since before I moved here. So almost forever.
I've only been inside the Trek store that replaced it once, and didn't return. It seemed pretty empty in comparison to the old City shop.

I know at least a couple of people who took jobs there, after it flipped Trek, but I was never really friendly with either of them. I guess it's better than an empty storefront, which is what a lot of the local bike shops have become here. Even the old Performance store is still empty, up on Howe Ave.

It's not like anyone earns a lot of money from my spending on new bikes and repairs, so I'm not complaining.

My experience...
Yes, there is less selection on the shelves, but stores can often order what is desired. There is a local Trek shop that took over a Bike Line. I wanted to replace a fork on a Gary Fisher hybrid and they ordered what I needed directly from Surley or from QBP with no problem or mark-up. I've also ordered and received other non Bontrager parts and accessories. Maybe they can't get everything, but sometimes you just need to ask for what you want.

The Trek shop here is OK. The staff is friendly and I have bought stuff there. For most of my stuff I go to the independent shops that cater to us vintage bike guys. I did stop a couple of weeks ago because Trek is close to my shop , I was looking for toe straps . The young employee did not know what toe straps were! I guess I aged out of the store.

GlennR, can any person with little experience in "Trek World" identify that bike with a simple glance? Looks like every other all black carbon bike out there. I've been in the bike biz since 81 and was not able to ID the thing either.

Trek bought out “Bike Line” which had several stores in Delaware and Eastern PA a few years back.

My impression is that not a whole lot changed other than losing a few brands and increase in all accessories Bontrager.

Just an FYI if anyone is interested. Checked out Race Pace's web site. It appears they have many bikes in stock and shockingly, discounted all bikes. Granted only 5%, but still!

https://www.racepacebicycles.com/

In fairness, 90% of people familiar with the Emonda who glanced at a de-decaled one would not immediately recognize it as such. Possibly including you. I'd have thought it was a Chinese knockoff.

A new Trek store opened in our area about three or four years ago. I would stop by every once in a while to say "hi" and to check out some new bikes, but every time I stopped in I was greeted by new employees. For whatever reason the place had a rather high turnover of employees, so I quit going there.

That's why I ordered it with that paint and minimal logos. My last Madone was a rolling billboard and attracted too much unwanted attention.

Still, it was easily recognizable that it had Sram Red eTap so a closer look should of been warranted before trying to sell me something.

BTW, I stopped in to use the bathroom and fill my water bottle... not buy a bicycle.