Buying a Bike From a Shop Versus Buying Online
From PinkBike.com
by Dario D
So you’ve decided to buy a new bike, congrats! You’re certainly making the right decision, your kids don’t need that trip to Disneyland this year and your car definitely isn’t making a weird noise. Validation aside, once your sights are set on a new ride the decision as to where to buy it can be pretty tricky, given all the options available.
As one of the more hotly contested debates in the cycling industry, the issue of where to buy your bike will always be a testy one for those who feel invested in the matter. To provide some context and background, the rising trend of direct-to-consumer bike brands may feel brand new, but has actually been around for some time, starting as far back as 1996 with Canyon’s first foray into online bike sales. With the rise of online shopping in general, the Direct sales model has started to eat up more and more of the traditional brick and mortar bike shop business. Retail bike sales are a critical part of the business model for many shops, with service and smaller non-bike sales filling in the rest of the coffer. For the sake of transparency, I worked for years as a mechanic at a small local bike shop, and hold a lot of love for the culture and community that a good bike shop can create for customers and employees. Call it bias, call it experience, just something to consider.
I have too many thoughts on this topic, so in the interest of simplicity, I’ll break it down to a few critical parts: Quality/Value, Test Riding, and Service.
Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash
