London bike shops closing

Bloody French, coming over here, putting accents on everything.

It's an interesting question--it was often thought that hire schemes could contribute to increasing bike ownership by convincing people they should have their own. I have no idea if anyone's studied any of that. The last thing I remember seeing, ages ago, was something on people who didn't have space to keep bikes at home.

That's a good point, it's the shop any bike people outside the UK have heard of through it's online store. Shame it's terrible.

Successful hire schemes should mean more cyclists on road = safer = more people taking up cycling? As well as allowing people to build confidence without having to buy a bike and all the associated gear / maintenance

I think in America they have this figured out. Places like Golden Saddle in LA and Cycleast in Austin have made their places social spaces with strong social media presence and regular rides and events, making it a destination for people visiting the city and locals to regularly hangout and therefore spend money

Soho Bikes were doing this, too. Despite selling bucket loads of coffee & Santa Cruz full sus bikes , putting on regular shop rides and having a hook up with Rob Warner, it ground to a halt. I suspect they realised that no matter how good they were and despite the sacrifices they were making nobody was going to swoop down and buy them out once it had become established.

Well, that's the theory. I'm not up-to-date on the state of the evidence for that. Most people are mixed-mode users and use hire schemes as just another public service. The London hire scheme certainly led to a brief steepening of the curve of people cycling, but although I haven't looked at any recent statistics, I'm fairly sure that effect will have levelled off into insignificance. That they tried to introduce electric hire bikes in Paris (and cocked up badly) perhaps shows that they thought this was the main way of making more people 'cycle' through the hire scheme (in reality, probably driven by concerted lobbying by electric bike makers).

Despite selling bucket loads of coffee & Santa Cruz full sus bikes , putting on regular shop rides and having a hook up with Rob Warner, and taking money for products off customers then going out of business with their money it ground to a halt.

FTFY

You can run all the events/rides/coffee etc you want but unless those people then come in and buy bikes and accessories at full retail price then it’s not much use, there’s very little money in that other side of stuff.

The sort of customer who is into the bike ‘scene’ stuff knows all to well the prices offered online

It's a very strong brand

https://twitter.com/peerq/status/1004450319311560705

https://www.condorcycles.com/products/condor-bivio-gravel-frameset
vs
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-substance-ii-apex1-2017-adventure-road-bike-oran/

This is not the rapha 'bib shorts for £200!?!!' comparison either. Its quite apple to apple. Steel frame (I know Condor is spirit but meh) with carbon forks. Verenti actually has modern standards like flat mount and thru-axle front/rear.

Madness.

🤷🏽‍♂️

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You still cut up about the brake pads?

Have a play with the online configurator for the lolz.

Condor looks nicer/has a better paint job (OK that's subjective) but I suspect also has better finishing/detailing (can't tell without seeing them IRL).

That's what Condor do well, not the latest tech. It's a strong brand and it's executed well on their bikes, which are hugely overpriced: e.g. I've fancied a Tempo to commute on for ages but £800 for a steel fixed frame is insane, however nice the detailing. Especially when they don't even make them in orange now, it's grey or grey which I'm sure also increased their margin.

They are certainly good at buying from Asia and reselling at top dorrah. Our corporate sponsorship team at work bought a load of kit from them, it's low end stuff but I'm sure they paid plenty for it.

It's a strong brand

I'll stop with my Condor bashing, its taking us nowhere. Just came across that tweet which underlines the strong brand proposition IRL.

You are an #influencer

Start a Condor-based project, who knows what might happen.

I still really like the Rapha Condor JLT bikes but that's probably because my taste is out-of-date.

Its weird that paint jobs/kit colours etc doesent matter to me at all. I'll wear/ride anything that fits me well and doesent charge for A E S T H É T I ç

Yes. I should have taken them to a small (tiny) claims court.

Funny? Eh? Which of my post did you refer to? The nuts incident from Seabass?

Re:Edwardes, I was told they own the building so they are not worried about rent etc, but man, if I had a puncture outside theirs, I would rather walk home than ask to borrow tools. That said, they have a young lad who is very nice and helpful but on the same token, I was in the shop once and one of the older guys was literally shouting at a woman for dithering on what bike to buy...

Huge range of stock, broad but almost entirely unadventurous range of bikes, random quality of service (both in terms of customer service and bicycle maintenance).

I buy components and basic accessories from them occasionally but would go elsewhere for actual work on a bike.

If you hit the ‘in reply to’ it should take you to your comment about Harbour Cycles- I’m a bit late it was a few days ago now!

Re. Seabass I’ve been going to them since they opened. There have been Countless small bits and pieces they often sort me out with for next to nothing. They’ve also helped me out with niche tools and swapped parts with me on a couple of occasions. I wouldn’t call myself a good customer though. I’ve probably spent about £50 there in the last 3 years.

But I totally empathise with your bad experience, something like that would probably put me off for life too.

Its weird that paint jobs/kit colours etc doesent matter to me at all. I'll wear/ride anything that fits me well and doesent charge for A E S T H É T I ç

Er, don't you have those hipster green Radavist bottles?!

that was conceptual art

edwardes are weird, cranky, and normally rather unhelpful
seabass are boss, charlie never complains when I bring in the cotic knackered again

Random 10% discount applied to el cheapo tyre purchase in Condor just now. Me gusta.

I have some experience of this, having worked as the primary mechanic in a small higher-end London independent for a while.

Well before that, the more progressive shops could see which way the wind was blowing. One quote that stuck with me before I got inside the industry was "The last thing an independent bike shop should do is sell bikes." It ties up so much capital and floor space it's ridiculous.

The money is in service, and if you can avoid being too generic, certain product lines. The quality of your mechanics and your advice really matters. You need to build a dedicated following, who then become less price-sensitive because they are loyal to what you do, and who you are.

We stocked a very limited range of components, but all of it had been ridden extensively by people in the club we also ran, so we knew the pros and cons of it all, and could recommend accordingly. We were very honest and free with advice, and also didn't price match online (we did sometimes discount) - because we had a central London premises to pay for.

Fundamentally, you need to find a niche, and serve it very well, with real focus. That's what (IMO) Condor have done. They know their type of customer well, and are organised accordingly.

It ties up so much capital and floor space it's ridiculous.

& warranty claims