Comedy (Expensive) Pricing in My Nearest Bike Shop

Firstly, I'm not knocking bike shop owners - it must be horrible trying to compete with the internet on prices.

However, I went to the nearest bke shop to work for a cheap 1 1/8th headset today. They had M Part ones which I like as they are cheap and do the job. Last one I bought from my local bike shop was £10 fitted. Not worried as I can do all that myself, so I only wanted to buy one. He got it from behind the counter and merrily said "here you go".

Now to get this into context, here is one I googled for £7.99 so a tenner is about right.

http://www.singletrackbikes.co.uk/m7b21 ... AnmU8P8HAQ

I know its got overheads, I would happily have paid a few more quid, blimey, even £15 to not appear rude. But the price marked was £34.99! I did ask if it was right to which he asked what I wanted to pay, so I did mention about a tenner but I would pay a few quid more for convenience to which he said I was better off shopping elsewhere!

Not sure what the moral of the story is really. Look after your decent local bike shop so they are around, but dont feel bad for not paying 4 times the price you want to for others?

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My lbs tend to sell bits like that at the distributors recommended price, which I then get 10% off, as I have been an irregular customer of theirs for over 20 years (OMG, is it really that long?).

Thats more than a litle cheeky that price, think some just hope that thy are daling to people who dont know better.

This is why some emporiums struggle to compete with online retailers. Not because it's difficult to compete, but because they take the Arthur Bliss.

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Been shoppping for a set of 2014 XT disc brakes myself. Ebay listed them as 180-185 EUR including shipping. I told my LBS that while he was looking them up (didn't have them in stock) on his supplier's site. After a bit of messing with a calculator, he gave me a 210 EUR quote. If I hadn't told him, it'd probably have been quite a bit more expensive.

I wouldn't pay £25 extra for a headset indeed, that's just crazy. However for a set of £150 brakes I don't care much about that bit of overhead.
That £25-ish I now pay extra gives me proper warranty and a place to drop them off when they go wrong. "They squeal and judder. Let me know when you sorted them out"

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Exactly. It is worth paying extra for some but for that piece of mind. I love my proper local bike shop.. Buy from them and they do mates rates or chuck in bits free occassionaly etc.

When the headset has an rrp of £13 and the shop wants nearly three times that though...

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Bloody cheek !

I used to use my LBS all the time from when I started proper riding , early '90s 'til mid '00s . That was when one of the partners in the shop retired . He did all the mechanics , and would rummage around in his parts/spares drawers looking for something to help me out .
The other partner took over the shop , who just wants to sell something modern to replace . I'm still waiting for him to get back to me regarding a front axle for a Shimano hub I ordered . At first , said he didn't have my number , so I gave it to him again . Maybe 5 years ago now . Got one online , been running it ever since .
Thankfully , there's another LBS that's happy to put in a pair of headset cups or put some more thread on a pair of forks whenever I get ANOTHER :roll: project . And I'll probably buy other odds and sods from them while I'm there . Happy to do so . They're a friendly bunch , and also organise rides , so it's social as well .

Mike

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In times that are tight, and when most punters whonwalk through the door have got "mug me I'm a fool with cash" tattooed across their wallet, who can blame 'em for trying it on!

Walk out, they'll get the message soon enough

I can sympathise.

I needed a star fangled nut. Just one. As I asked I was expecting him to go into a ziplock bag full of SFNs from underneath the counter.

Instead, I was pointed to their 'Wall of Pride' which displayed (in all their plastic packaged goodness) a range of SFN/bolt/topcap combos, STARTING at £15!

Nuts. They're £1.89 delivered on ebay.

That's awful. £15! Bloody hell. Maybe I have had it too good in the past!