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.
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.
) or hardtail mtb.
