What do you think will happen to the UK bike retail industry?

[Alex321]

cant say that I am expert on bike industry. I watch GCN on youtube not that deters what market forces are, from what I can see is the industry focusing on higher end bikes. Aero bikes seem to be the latest thing, wireless gears, disc brakes. The majority of people just want entry level bikes that dont costs the earth and get you from a to b. I really think cycle manufaturers have their focus wrong you only have to look at the explosiion of second hand bikes on facebook market place to see there is a market for entry level bikes. Bikes that dont cost 5k plus to buy.

I think you will find that a large majority of the bikes in stock in most bike shops are under £1500, probably most under £1000.

I like GCN but they are no indicator at all, because they do tend to focus only on the top end, on bikes with innovations, or ones they are paid to "review".

And the explosion of 2nd hand bikes on Facebook marketplace doesn't actually say much beyond the fact there are a lot of people who bought bikes during COVID who now find they aren't using them. It says very little about what people actually want now.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I watch GCN on youtube

....

from what I can see is the industry focusing on higher end bikes. Aero bikes seem to be the latest thing,

I spy a connection.

GCN have to keep churning out content. So if there's a new whizzy aero gravel whatnot they make a video about it. Preferably a sponsored video.

 

[Fastpedaller]

cant say that I am expert on bike industry. I watch GCN on youtube not that deters what market forces are, from what I can see is the industry focusing on higher end bikes. Aero bikes seem to be the latest thing, wireless gears, disc brakes. The majority of people just want entry level bikes that dont costs the earth and get you from a to b. I really think cycle manufaturers have their focus wrong you only have to look at the explosiion of second hand bikes on facebook market place to see there is a market for entry level bikes. Bikes that dont cost 5k plus to buy.

I think a lot of what you say is correct. However, I've thought for years that bike retail must be very difficult.... If buyers are in two groups, there are those who buy expensive bikes with high quality parts and ride them regularly withmost of the parts lasting many years. If buyers buy a cheap bike they are maybe not doing many miles (or left in shed for many years) so there isn't much income either. Making bikes that 'go out of date' due to fashion and questionable upgrading may be the only route to serious income, so I can see some logic.

 

[rydabent]

Being in the UK recently I was able to visit a few retailers to buy a few things and get an idea of how they were doing.
It wasn't a very hopeful scene.
I visited Evans, J E James and Halfords, all in Sheffield.
While James had a few customers while I was there the other sites were very quiet. I was in Evans in a Saturday which should be their busiest day and just one other person was there besides me. The shop was stocked to the ceiling and offers abounded but it seems no one was buying. Halfords was very quiet too and nobody looking at bikes besides me.
So can the industry ride out this hiatus and survive or will more retailers and distributors go to the wall or will the way bikes are sold radically change.
What do you think?

Fall is a very slow time for bike shops. A couple of weeks before Christmas, gift sales will pick up. The sales will be slow until the spring riding season starts.

 

[DCLane]

The cycling clothing company CHPT3, of which David Millar is a director, is the next to go into liquidation: https://chpt3.com

They've a lot of creditors, according to the latest accounts, and quite a level of assets. But I wonder whether that's mostly stock?

It's probably reflective of a downturn in the industry, where these 'status' brands begin to struggle.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The cycling clothing company CHPT3, of which David Millar is a director, is the next to go into liquidation: https://chpt3.com

They've a lot of creditors, according to the latest accounts, and quite a level of assets. But I wonder whether that's mostly stock?

CHPT3 was a funny thing. A brand that seemed to be all branding and no products. Look! A limited edition CHPT3 Brompton! gosh. Look a CHPT3 limited edition jersey. Woo.

A bit like Cav's brand CVNDSH. Were there ever any actual things on sale? I don't know. Maybe a few zillion pound pairs of sunglasses or something.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

A bit like Cav's brand CVNDSH. Were there ever any actual things on sale?

They were, but you had to sprint fast to get them

 

[Punkawallah]

My guess is that bike shops will follow the path of tool shops.....relocate to the internet or close. I'm not sure where people will go to get their bikes fixed/serviced.

Bike Co-ops?
My FLBS is busy enough with repairs. I was in today putting a couple of bikes into order for sale, and the owner had five repairs to be going on with. He tend s to get referrals from the other two shops in town as he deals in second hand bikes only, and they deal with ‘upper end’ sales and repair. He can fix several ‘supermarket bikes’ while they are dealing with internal routing, waiting for Deore parts etc.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I bought a second-hand mirrorless camera last week. Truth be told; if it had come in a new box, I would not have told the difference. Saved over £300 on the new price. This week, I sold my old GPS which I no longer needed. I think we will definitely see a rise in more second-hand stuff being sold, beyond what's typical.

What's a real shame is seeing perfectly serviceable goods being taken to landfill. Just because someone no longer has use for something, doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be delighted to get something they couldn't afford new.

 

[Big John]

Our bike charity is once again benefitting from having Halfords just round the corner. Not only do we get servicing and repairs business from them (thanks to their long waiting times and high prices) but now they're unable to put new bikes together to complete customer orders within a reasonable time so the bike, along with it's box, comes to us for completion 👍

 

[markharry66]

For years decathlon have been peddling the

Our bike charity is once again benefitting from having Halfords just round the corner. Not only do we get servicing and repairs business from them (thanks to their long waiting times and high prices) but now they're unable to put new bikes together to complete customer orders within a reasonable time so the bike, along with it's box, comes to us for completion 👍

From personal experience I would never ever use halfords even to change a puncture.

 

[Drago]

"Hello Halfords. My puncture is broken, could you fit me a new puncture please?"

At least that's how I assume they hear it.

I may have mentioned before, when I was in charge of the fleet of bikes at work, and to comply with PUWER regs we had to keep them properly maintained by suitably competent folk and records kept.

I was Cytech L2 trained so could do running repairs, but for servicing and anything too time consuming we had a deal with a smallish LBS who were very good, but the powers-that-be decided Halfords would,d be better because they were less expensive.

It wasn't long before a bike went in for a new BB and was returned with both cranks pointing in the same direction, whereupon I shoved it in a van, drove it to the Dream Factory, lugged it up the stairs to the finance departments office and asked the Director of Finance what made her think she knew more about bicycles than a suitably qualified professional, ie, me.

The arrangement was immediately terminated with Halfords and I got a bollocking from the CI about my temper, albeit a mild one because he could see what prats Finance had been on this occasion.

 

[Kingfisher101]

For years decathlon have been peddling the


From personal experience I would never ever use halfords even to change a puncture.

I wouldn't use Decathlon either after being sold a bike with issues.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I wouldn't use Decathlon either after being sold a bike with issues.

The bike wasn’t fast enough when you pedalled?

 

[PaulSB]

The cycling clothing company CHPT3, of which David Millar is a director, is the next to go into liquidation: https://chpt3.com

They've a lot of creditors, according to the latest accounts, and quite a level of assets. But I wonder whether that's mostly stock?

It's probably reflective of a downturn in the industry, where these 'status' brands begin to struggle.

In this instance I wonder if it's no one has heard of them. I have never read or heard mention of, by anyone I ride with, CHPT3. I don't buy status brands but I do buy top quality kit.