quick poll

[Dano]

If you were a bike shop owner, and you had to choose 3 brands of bikes to carry, what would you choose?? Lets try to stay away from uber commercial / heavily marketed brands and to the other extreme the ultra obscure (titanium / carbon / banana peel alloy made in some remote island in the pacific jk hee hee :))
Any thoughts??

[berrywise]

If I didn't care about making any money I would sell Maverick, Seven, and Independent Fabrications.

If all I wanted to do was make money I would sell Trek, Specialized, and Giant.

[Paul Swenson]

Spot, On-One, and Maverick.

Wait a minute....that sounds familiar;)

[Magic]

I would sell Santa Cruz, I.F., Titus and Intense.

[iceskier]

Really depends.....

My choices would be Turner, Santa Cruz, and Kona.

[Danimal]

I agree with Greg.

[stoneage]

Orbea for lots of choices (Al, steel, carbon)
Independent Fabrication for high end steel and ti
Specialized for MTB (don't like them, but they have it covered)

[ppgc]

Huffy, Magna, and... oh good bikes. I think they have covered the bikes I like in the above posts.

-pete

[Tetreves]

Well, I will say that there's not a Turner or Titus dealer in town that I know of, and it could be nice to have one of each...

[manual63]

Kona, Surly, and On-One.....that's and easy one. Give me a more difficult question please.....:)

[stoneage]

What is your average posts per month and day?








Answer:
Month=116.571
Day=3.831
Do you think you could pick it up a bit?

[nigel]

Soulcraft....Matt Chester......Scott (yeah they are big but not huge here anymore)


For money Scott H hit it on the head bigtime, Trek, Specialized and Giant.

[stoneage]

Soulcraft....Matt Chester......Scott (yeah they are big but not huge here anymore)

Are you counting on winning the lottery tonight?
I think Mark Zeh (former local builder) helped Ross start up Soulcraft. He used to hang and play guitar with him, until he moved to Germany.
My Ti cross is with Matt as we speak, getting a new front triangle.
I think Scott moved out of the country about 10 years ago, for liability concerns, but they are back big time, for big bucks.

[Dano]

good poll!
I can agree with alot of these- I've been a fan of Santa Cruz since I was riding their skateboards in 1986 hee hee- and the Independent Fab bikes are freakin' impressive (is there even a dealer around here???) I think Penn deals them-
And what I read about the new scott ( haven't ridden one) stuff is top notch
Thanks!

[nigel]

Are you counting on winning the lottery tonight?
I think Mark Zeh (former local builder) helped Ross start up Soulcraft. He used to hang and play guitar with him, until he moved to Germany.
My Ti cross is with Matt as we speak, getting a new front triangle.
I think Scott moved out of the country about 10 years ago, for liability concerns, but they are back big time, for big bucks.


Matt and Sean from Soulcraft were the framebuilders for Salsa back in the day, Salsa moved to CA, then back here, they stayed there and started Soulcraft.

the story i got from the Scott USA PR person when i tried to get them in my shop years ago was they officially moved out of the US because the market here was not as strong as it was in Europe for them. Your liability thing goes hand in hand as well, since they have had the lightest production hardtail, road and FS frames for years, idiot Americans are to "sue" happy for that to be here. They are back tho and have some sweeeeet rides!

Matt Chester just makes kick ass frames and is really easy to deal with.

I wish I could afford to start a shop and live on those 3! I'd prolly have to toss in some Phill Wood, Spot and many others as well tho. I'd love to put Fat City in the list but well..........i dont like IF, FC was better!

D

[flombe]

...the story i got from the Scott USA PR person when i tried to get them in my shop years ago was they officially moved out of the US because the market here was not as strong as it was in Europe for them. Your liability thing goes hand in hand as well, since they have had the lightest production hardtail, road and FS frames for years, idiot Americans are to "sue" happy for that to be here. They are back tho and have some sweeeeet rides!...



Scott also had some patent infringement problems with Specialized. See the current issue of 'Bicycling' for a sweet Scott dualie and an explanation of what they are doing.

Also, I thought Schwinn bought out the Scott MTB line several years ago at about the time Scott left the US market. Of course now Schwinn has been resurrected as a mass-retailer.

Manufacturer's I would like to see around here? Intense, Titus, Turner.

[Tex]

Well you would need to have at least one or two "bread and butter brands" Trek, Special-Ed, Giant etc. just to make your margins. But it sounds like you're trying to figure out the more one off brands a shop should handle, just to cover their high end niche.

My vote would be for Turner for high end full suspension bikes (what can I say? I'm impartial, they make the best full suspension bike on the market, and cover it with the best customer service out there?
Then I would say either IF, soulcraft, Seven or Fat Chance for singles, hardtails, and high end steel and Ti bikes. For the retro set out there. I guess I would base my decision here on what sort of feedback I got from talking with each company.
The last one... is a tough one. It would depend on what niche you wanted your shop to fall in. If you want to just be just a top shelf bike shop, then you may want to get a high end road line like Merlin, Colnago, DeRosa or something like that. Then again, if you went with a Titus, IF, Merlin or one of those they would cover your roadie market too.
So my votes would be for Turner (High end duallies), Seven Cycles (high end steel, Ti, hardtails, rigids and roadies), and Titus (for Duallies, roadies, and Ti) . That was a fun one. So when do you open your shop? :D

[SpecHR55]

Santa Cruz, Foes, and Intense.

[nigel]

Im still waiting for someone to list Yeti, surpised it has not come up yet.

[Dano]

I read that deal about Scott in the US in Bicycling- interesting-

My other half and I are looking at opening a shop- probably not in the cities- possibly duluth and a few other locations (kind of a pipe dream right now but were trying to make it work) both of us are wanting to do a store that really circles aound freeriding / downhill / xc type of stuff- I honestly don't care about making huge dough (we don't make crap slaving for who we are now anyways!)- you are definately right- one bread and butter brand and 2 or 3 lines that would incorporate our interests- ( I gotta be into it somewhat to sell it) Eventually we want to get into the snowboard market to get through the winter time and possibly skateboards as well (I pretty much spent the first 18 years of my life on either a bike or a board and do embrace and support both sports) although I haven't skated in 10 years
I get irritated when I walk into a shop with money in my pocket and my only choice is one of the "majors" and inside I am begging for the salesman to show me something really tricked out that I would ultimately be really happy with- or when I just broke an eggbeater and I go into ashop and all they have is a set of SPD's and an set of eggbeaters is "special order" only!? Come On lets get people fired up over this sport and have decent stuff to sell!!
Also- the other thing is every bike shop that I have been into in the last 6 months is charging full retail on EVERYTHING! (I want to buy it now and use it but I can save 40 bucks if I buy it from Jensens/ Colorado Cyclist/ Nashbar/ whoever) Like I said it just seems kind of funny that way- not to be competitve with our internet friends.
But anyways enough of me rambling like a crabby old man- I need to ride today- is it dry at River Bottoms yet??

[nigel]

You'll change your views on pricing, competition with internet, brand preferences and so on if you really do some research into opening a shop. There a lot of factors out there once you dig into it. If you go Duluth things will be different, lower cost of living, less competition ect.... The Twin Cities has more shops per square mile than anywhere in the US from my last research. We also have the largest Trek/Fisher/Lemond/Cannondale/Raleigh/Giant/ dealers in the coutry and the second biggest Specialized dealer (yes Eriks is #2 behind Supergo!) So that drives prices pretty high, you'd think it drive em down but margins are so tight in the industry.

nuff' for now


I read that deal about Scott in the US in Bicycling- interesting-

My other half and I are looking at opening a shop- probably not in the cities- possibly duluth and a few other locations (kind of a pipe dream right now but were trying to make it work) both of us are wanting to do a store that really circles aound freeriding / downhill / xc type of stuff- I honestly don't care about making huge dough (we don't make crap slaving for who we are now anyways!)- you are definately right- one bread and butter brand and 2 or 3 lines that would incorporate our interests- ( I gotta be into it somewhat to sell it) Eventually we want to get into the snowboard market to get through the winter time and possibly skateboards as well (I pretty much spent the first 18 years of my life on either a bike or a board and do embrace and support both sports) although I haven't skated in 10 years
I get irritated when I walk into a shop with money in my pocket and my only choice is one of the "majors" and inside I am begging for the salesman to show me something really tricked out that I would ultimately be really happy with- or when I just broke an eggbeater and I go into ashop and all they have is a set of SPD's and an set of eggbeaters is "special order" only!? Come On lets get people fired up over this sport and have decent stuff to sell!!
Also- the other thing is every bike shop that I have been into in the last 6 months is charging full retail on EVERYTHING! (I want to buy it now and use it but I can save 40 bucks if I buy it from Jensens/ Colorado Cyclist/ Nashbar/ whoever) Like I said it just seems kind of funny that way- not to be competitve with our internet friends.
But anyways enough of me rambling like a crabby old man- I need to ride today- is it dry at River Bottoms yet??

[Dano]

you are probably right- once I was there I would change my mind-
That is really odd that our high population of shops hasn't driven the price down- it seems to in every other retail market- i.e. sporting goods/ musical instruments / consumer electronics / heck even groceries! The company I work for has a team of "comp shoppers" that just go out and research prices to make sure we stay competitive! AND when the sunday ads hot we go through our competions ads and change prices to beat their ad price! huh! but I do work for a public company that is mostly intersted in number numbers numbers, volume volume volume and what the shareholders see on a daily basis-

[nigel]

you are probably right- once I was there I would change my mind-
That is really odd that our high population of shops hasn't driven the price down- it seems to in every other retail market- i.e. sporting goods/ musical instruments / consumer electronics / heck even groceries! The company I work for has a team of "comp shoppers" that just go out and research prices to make sure we stay competitive! AND when the sunday ads hot we go through our competions ads and change prices to beat their ad price! huh! but I do work for a public company that is mostly intersted in number numbers numbers, volume volume volume and what the shareholders see on a daily basis-


That "volume volume volume" is why the larger shops can do well even in slow years. Its hard to have a one shop location, but they are ones that give it their all and tend to give the best customer service. MN is an odd spot for cycling, we got tons of shops, tons of trails and most people only ride 9 months of the year if that!

D

[Tex]

Also- the other thing is every bike shop that I have been into in the last 6 months is charging full retail on EVERYTHING! (I want to buy it now and use it but I can save 40 bucks if I buy it from Jensens/ Colorado Cyclist/ Nashbar/ whoever

You can't be competitive with the interent folks, when that forty dollars the customer is saving, is less than you can buy it for from your wholesaler.

[nigel]

You can't be competitive with the interent folks, when that forty dollars the customer is saving, is less than you can buy it for from your wholesaler.

But you can offer the product right then and there, let the customer play with it (if your stocking is good and your funds allow for it) and you can also give the customer advice, help them install it ect.... customer service is what the internet does not have that you have to do to keep the sale, internet pricing is almost impossible to go against though when someone knows exactly what they want and dont mind waiting.

[Dano]

yup I agree with you- that makes sense- Its not that I dislike twin cities bike shops I like Erik's in Coon Rapids (although I feel that town hates cyclists.... long story) and a few others- but I feel that an independent store that like you said "gives it their all" would be awesome! I personally am not trying to become a millionaire- heck if I fail I am young enough I can always do something different :) - If I can deliver top notch service and provide something to somebody that I KNOW they will be 110% happy with or get someone new involved with the best sport ever then I think I have succeeded. Know what I mean??
Damn I am rambling again.

[nigel]

yup I agree with you- that makes sense- Its not that I dislike twin cities bike shops I like Erik's in Coon Rapids (although I feel that town hates cyclists.... long story) and a few others- but I feel that an independent store that like you said "gives it their all" would be awesome! I personally am not trying to become a millionaire- heck if I fail I am young enough I can always do something different :) - If I can deliver top notch service and provide something to somebody that I KNOW they will be 110% happy with or get someone new involved with the best sport ever then I think I have succeeded. Know what I mean??
Damn I am rambling again.

yeah but its a good ramble, i could and have gone about it forever myself *needs a shop SOOO bad* :crazy2:

[SpecHR55]

Im still waiting for someone to list Yeti, surpised it has not come up yet.

I was thinking about it but then I thought of Foes.:)

[Dano]

where is the guy that sells it on the internet getting it from?? stealing it?? he's not going to take a hit on it? hee hee -maybe we are looking at the wrong wholesaler- I'm ignorant though- maybe thats not an option :D just a thought-
or they probably do so much volume that their buying power is a lot more intense then that of an indy shop- actually scratch that- Erik's is a chain?!

[bikeoutback]

Question is where is the guy on the internet based at and how many people are working for them? Erik's may be a chain along with other stores and have buying power but they also have overhead (employees, shop rental, electric, medical, insurance...). My father went out and does the same thing he has done for 25 years only now for himself and can get the jobs because it's just him without the overhead (fortunatly my mother carries the medical insurance). Me personally I would spend more to go to a shop to get the service and knowledge but I can afford it or at least I like to think so. Haven't had a problem yet, but I have only had the bike I bought from Eriks for a few weeks now, but haven't heard anything bad about them, which is why I went there in the first place. I prefer service over a few bucks savings.

[Tetreves]

Im still waiting for someone to list Yeti, surpised it has not come up yet.

I was going to say that, but I'm not sure you *could* open a Yeti dealership in this area....I won't get into the why. I hope the Yeti dealership in the MSP area changes hands, and that's all I'll say.

[nigel]

I was going to say that, but I'm not sure you *could* open a Yeti dealership in this area....I won't get into the why. I hope the Yeti dealership in the MSP area changes hands, and that's all I'll say.

I know what yer saying *grins*

[Dano]

wouldn't start with a "g" and end with an "L" would it?:D

[Dano]

Question is where is the guy on the internet based at and how many people are working for them? Erik's may be a chain along with other stores and have buying power but they also have overhead (employees, shop rental, electric, medical, insurance...). My father went out and does the same thing he has done for 25 years only now for himself and can get the jobs because it's just him without the overhead (fortunatly my mother carries the medical insurance). Me personally I would spend more to go to a shop to get the service and knowledge but I can afford it or at least I like to think so. Haven't had a problem yet, but I have only had the bike I bought from Eriks for a few weeks now, but haven't heard anything bad about them, which is why I went there in the first place. I prefer service over a few bucks savings.

I agree- but I still don't like getting my head knocked off- Put it this way maybe if I get awesome service but pay a few bucks extra I'll do all my business there in the future