should bike shops continue selling bikes?

[Freeman]

In my area all of the bicycle shops are now switching to selling mainly motorized bikes, the electric ones, which I do not consider bicycles at all, but Mopeds or motorcycles. The only new shop in my area even has a name with the phrase "ebike" in it, and although they did sell bicycles alongside the e-bikes, I think they may have quit.

Personally I do not like the bicycles offered in recent decades, especially the carbon-fiber ones as they seem to have more and more proprietary parts instead of standardized parts. Back in the day the parts on any bike you bought would fit just about any other bike you bought or already owned, except for the French/Italian/ ISO thread thing. Also a lot of people have had carbon/plastic bike frames crack, they seem to be throw-away consumer goods, like most household appliances instead of things to keep a lifetime. Big Bicycle in my view has done this on purpose to increase yearly sales and profits. The last new bicycle I bought was in 1997, a steel MTB, and I was pissed a few years later when they went to nine speeds, then ten, and a lot of other changes that were not as practical as they were for marketing.

I do not see a future for independent bicycle shops, there is no way they can compete with Amazon etc.. If they are lucky to be able to, it may be worth keeping some bicycles in stock for the rare local customer, something to put in the window that shouts "bike shop", but I agree the profitability rests with service and accessories. My shop is my garage, and I don't make a dime. I fix up bikes I find in the trash and give them to the kids playing in the city park nearby, or to whoever needs one. I am guessing once Big Box retailers start selling E-bikes and take that chestnut away from the independent, then there simply will just not be hardly any independent bicycle shops around, except in wealthy areas and certain other lucky places with the conditions to support them.

 

[bikeworkshop]

In my area all of the bicycle shops are now switching to selling mainly motorized bikes, the electric ones, which I do not consider bicycles at all, but Mopeds or motorcycles. The only new shop in my area even has a name with the phrase "ebike" in it, and although they did sell bicycles alongside the e-bikes, I think they may have quit.

Personally I do not like the bicycles offered in recent decades, especially the carbon-fiber ones as they seem to have more and more proprietary parts instead of standardized parts. Back in the day the parts on any bike you bought would fit just about any other bike you bought or already owned, except for the French/Italian/ ISO thread thing. Also a lot of people have had carbon/plastic bike frames crack, they seem to be throw-away consumer goods, like most household appliances instead of things to keep a lifetime. Big Bicycle in my view has done this on purpose to increase yearly sales and profits. The last new bicycle I bought was in 1997, a steel MTB, and I was pissed a few years later when they went to nine speeds, then ten, and a lot of other changes that were not as practical as they were for marketing.

I do not see a future for independent bicycle shops, there is no way they can compete with Amazon etc.. If they are lucky to be able to, it may be worth keeping some bicycles in stock for the rare local customer, something to put in the window that shouts "bike shop", but I agree the profitability rests with service and accessories. My shop is my garage, and I don't make a dime. I fix up bikes I find in the trash and give them to the kids playing in the city park nearby, or to whoever needs one. I am guessing once Big Box retailers start selling E-bikes and take that chestnut away from the independent, then there simply will just not be hardly any independent bicycle shops around, except in wealthy areas and certain other lucky places with the conditions to support them.

Many points are true, but in Bristol we have a lot of cycle commuters and these are our principal customer base.
They mostly do working jobs and are not particularly well off.

A lot of these people ride bikes for fun too, so the more expensive bikes we sell tend to be steel, touring (graveladventure) or hardtail mtb.

We sell carbon and ebike, but there's a plentiful supply of these used, so almost never buy them new.

The ebike thing is mostly the new Goldrush for people who smell money.
Some vendors are genuine cycle enthusiasts though.

I've sold several ebikes (bosch, shimano, yamaha) to people whose age and cognitive function no longer allows them to ride fully human powered - it's massively enabling for them.

If you want to make much money though, you're in the wrong business.

 

[bagpuss]

Another local bike shop closed the shutters for it's last last the other week . It had been trading since the 80's.
That leaves Derby with four , two of which are part of major chains .
I think maintenance , repairs in only venture left. One local to me does a roaring trade and carries a good stock of consumables.

 

[brocklanders023]

Personally I do not like the bicycles offered in recent decades, especially the carbon-fiber ones as they seem to have more and more proprietary parts instead of standardized parts. Back in the day the parts on any bike you bought would fit just about any other bike you bought or already owned, except for the French/Italian/ ISO thread thing.

I just built a carbon full suss bike up that could have used 90% of the parts from my steel hard tail. Both could donate most of their parts to my aluminium full suss. I see this argument a lot but in reality most modern bikes share very similar standards. My three bikes cover an almost 10 year parts span so a decent example I think?

 

[bikeworkshop]

Repairs are labour-heavy
(no pun intended)

Rachel's New 15%NI from 5k earnings will cost us more than our average profit per annum

...thus making it cheaper still to buy new from abroad rather than fix in the UK.

We work with what we have, and see what we can do.
Shame they didn't try raising a little tax from the non-taxpayers though.
Retailers are a sitting duck.

We are paying 50%+ tax on our labour:

20%vat
15% employers ni
12% employees ni
20%basic tax

Sitting ducks.
Expect fewer shops next year -
Excluding the money launderers obvs

 

[dubbledude]

I’d keep a small, hand-picked stock of bestsellers or demo bikes so people can test ride, then push the workshop and accessories hard (that’s where your real profit is). Maybe run a little demo fleet: rent bikes for a weekend ride or do group rides from the shop. Keeps you visible and shows off your know‑how.

 

[Mkane]

We have 7 bikes. All but one bought from a shop. There all very old though.

Its all the other stuff that keeps the doors open.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Bike sales make money fast but demand knowledge, stock/ storage and display space, good commercial relationships, footfall/advertising, vat liability, and at the end of the day, there's not much left in the pot.

Over the years, I've sold a few thousand.

Some people fix bikes for money with a toolbox and bike stand.

It's easier money if you don't have public liability insurance, trade premises, tax.

Historically, the modern bike shops wanting to make real money leant towards sales -
the classic "it ain't worth fixing, how about this latest model"
Often found in premium locations, family friendly shopfront and advertising.

The fixing was more frequently taken care of by a bike shop down a dusty side street that had been there for years, they might have done a bit of racing, or framebuilding, custom this that and the other - a slightly scary place for the uninitiated.

A lot of the latter were killed by wiggle-chainreaction, who actually never made a profit.

A lot of the former are massively in debt, and rely on borrowing to keep the doors open, and the chief executive in his BMW x5

 

[d8mok]

Repairs are labour-heavy
(no pun intended)

Rachel's New 15%NI from 5k earnings will cost us more than our average profit per annum

...thus making it cheaper still to buy new from abroad rather than fix in the UK.

We work with what we have, and see what we can do.
Shame they didn't try raising a little tax from the non-taxpayers though.
Retailers are a sitting duck.

We are paying 50%+ tax on our labour:

20%vat
15% employers ni
12% employees ni
20%basic tax

Sitting ducks.
Expect fewer shops next year -
Excluding the money launderers obvs

If you are talking as a business point of view rather than an employee.

What do you mean by 20% basic tax?

The employee is responsible for their NI not the business.

VAT you will offset and just bring your bill down?

 

[bikeworkshop]

If you are talking as a business point of view rather than an employee.

What do you mean by 20% basic tax?

The employee is responsible for their NI not the business.

VAT you will offset and just bring your bill down?

Aye I'm looking from the business/ employers perspective

PAYE:
The employer has to collect and pay the tax and ni for each employee,
(Although it's technically their tax liability, it's my legal obligation)
the employee gets the net in the pay packet.
The employer also pays another 14% employers national insurance.

The business pays vat on all purchases, and then are also liable for vat on all sales,
but can offset what you've already paid....
So if you turn over 240,000,
you will have paid 40,000 vat -
around 25000 on the bills to suppliers,
and a further 15000 in your quarterly vat returns.


Obviously there's nothing to Reclaim on Labour, a £12 charge has £2 vat liability.

If you throw in the income tax, 2x ni on top, it leaves around a fiver.

(Assuming the employee has got beyond the tax allowance)

Someone's got to pay taxes. I dont think it's amazon or deliveroo.