Author Topic: Is This The End Of Retail?  (Read 64777 times)

ian

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #125 on: 31 October, 2018, 05:00:26 pm »
My wife and I bought our bikes from Evans. I can't say it's an experience I was keen to repeat. Mine made a kerrrr-chck kerrrr-chck for every revolution of the rear wheel. Took it back to be fixed. Rode away. Kerrr-chck. Took it back. Rinse and repeat. Eventually, I had a rant and they replaced the wheel with the minimum of good grace. I don't think they actually did anything beyond loosening/tightening the cones the previous times. My wife's bike had a creaking stem. They tightened it and tightened it. Never really fixed it. It annoyed me a lot more than her so a year or so back I took it apart and noted it was missing half the gnarly ratchety bit from the insides.

That said, I'm scared of local bike shops too. They're full of slightly peculiar men who demand is that a 1/8th inch or 3mm frenulator like it's a thing you should know.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #126 on: 31 October, 2018, 05:05:09 pm »
Lots of Dunlop shoes in our SD but not seen any Muddy Fox bikes. Mind you, I can't remember when I last saw a Muddy Fox anywhere. But wikipedia says:
Quote
Muddyfox is a bicycle manufacturer from Basildon, Essex, England, specialising in mountain bikes and other flatbar bicycles. The company produced BMX bikes in the 1980s before a slump in the market forced them to switch to mountain bike production. The company has been a brand of Universal Cycles since 2001,[1] itself since 2009 a majority-owned subsidiary of Sports Direct,[2] and produces Silver Fox bicycles for bigbox retailers such as Argos.

I had a Silver Fox for many years! I bought it back in 2002. I'd just returned home from Oz and had very little disposable income, wanted a bike, so I got me a Silver Fox for IIRC £89.99. It was actually alright! Obvioulsy shite in comparison to the much more expensive GT that I now have, but it stood up to much abuse and never let me down. It got given to charity in the end, so hopefully some kid in Africa is now riding around on it  :)
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #127 on: 31 October, 2018, 07:20:07 pm »
Marginally OT

Quote
That said, I'm scared of local bike shops too. They're full of slightly peculiar men who demand is that a 1/8th inch or 3mm frenulator like it's a thing you should know.

I do my level best to demistify the whole subject. I find honesty works . . .
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #128 on: 31 October, 2018, 08:50:02 pm »
I've only ever bought a complete bike from an lbs, and been grateful for the advice given.

Wiggle, Evans, CRC etc even the likes of sjs, OK for buying bits and clothing that you have already formed an opinion on in my experience
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #129 on: 31 October, 2018, 08:53:40 pm »
Agree with ED. I can't imagine buying a bike I couldn't at least sit on, see, prod and preferably take for a test ride.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #130 on: 31 October, 2018, 08:56:07 pm »
As for the bikes from Sports Direct (which I haven't seen, they don't seem to sell any in the one nearest us), I wonder whether a £50 bike for a six year old represents better value, or an almost £900 carbon road bike?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #131 on: 31 October, 2018, 09:10:44 pm »
Marginally OT

Quote
That said, I'm scared of local bike shops too. They're full of slightly peculiar men who demand is that a 1/8th inch or 3mm frenulator like it's a thing you should know.

I do my level best to demistify the whole subject. I find honesty works . . .

If you don't mind me asking, Tors - where do you make the most money? Repairs, accessories, bike sales etc?

The only reason I ask, is because of the few lbs left in my home town, I can only work out how two of them survive. One from the sale of really high end bikes (I guess there are enough dentists in town) and the other from selling kids bikes (Christmas is every year as are kids birthdays). The others - I have no clue...
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

ian

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #132 on: 31 October, 2018, 09:18:50 pm »
To be fair to Evans they offer(ed) the sort of shop that you could go into without feeling you had to know anything about bikes. My usual bike (because I've yet to get Mr Saracen fixed*) is the Ridgeback Flight 1 I got from there for about £350. No complaints once they'd replaced the back wheel. It's done a billion miles with no servicing and nothing falling off (other than the rider twice).

*case in point, crank started to wobble, took into a shop at lunchtime – asked if there was something they could do – a genuine suck of air through the teeth and well, well we can't just fix it like that... seriously guys, fuck off**. If I wanted that experience I'd dress as a woman and take my car to the garage. This may explain why the crank still wobbles.

**yes, I know it's not all LBSs***

***and of course, I prefer LBDs, though not especially wearing them. Legs too hairy but I reckon my butt would look good. All that cycling.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #133 on: 31 October, 2018, 09:31:58 pm »
You've confused me now, ian. Is Evans one of the Latter Day Saints?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #134 on: 31 October, 2018, 09:46:11 pm »
There's danger lurking in those abbreviations. It's probably best, of an evening, not to muddle your LBS, LBD, and LDS.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #135 on: 31 October, 2018, 10:51:07 pm »
@Bobb No secret. The vast majority of income is from getting my hands dirty.

The kids seem unable to keep their front wheels on the floor as they ride home from school. This leads inevitably to the derailleur getting stuck in the rear wheel.

Lots of servicing, resurrection and 'been so long in the garden it looks like it was in the canal' recommissioning jobs.

Lots & lots & lots of tube replacements

luv'n'stuff

John
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #136 on: 31 October, 2018, 10:54:08 pm »
There's danger lurking in those abbreviations. It's probably best, of an evening, not to muddle your LBS, LBD, and LDS.

Never mind LSD.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #137 on: 01 November, 2018, 07:50:28 am »
There's danger lurking in those abbreviations. It's probably best, of an evening, not to muddle your LBS, LBD, and LDS.

Never mind LSD.
isnt LSD all about mind altering?
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #138 on: 01 November, 2018, 08:00:07 am »
There's danger lurking in those abbreviations. It's probably best, of an evening, not to muddle your LBS, LBD, and LDS.

Never mind LSD.
isnt LSD all about mind altering?
No, that's LDS. The Last Department Store. Which brings us back to retail...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #139 on: 01 November, 2018, 09:22:16 am »
There's danger lurking in those abbreviations. It's probably best, of an evening, not to muddle your LBS, LBD, and LDS.

Never mind LSD.

I dunno. That would be an evening.

yorkie

  • On top of the Galibier
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #140 on: 01 November, 2018, 01:06:58 pm »
Mind you, I can't remember when I last saw a Muddy Fox anywhere.
Last time I saw a Muddy Fox was when I put my bike away last night when I got home from work!  :D Although in it's defence it is an MTB what I bought in 1995, back when they made bikes (and not BSOs) and it appears to have put up with the regular abuse meted out to it on the bridleways around York.
Re: Evans and SD, I'm not sure who I feel sorriest for - those who will be made redundant, or those who will be sucked unwillingly into the cAshley Sports Direct Fiefdom!  :(
Born to ride my bike, forced to work! ;)

British Cycling Regional A Track Commissaire
British Cycling Regional A Circuit Commissaire
Cycling Attendant, York Sport Village Cycle Circuit and Velodrome

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #141 on: 01 November, 2018, 01:09:11 pm »

Ben T

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #142 on: 01 November, 2018, 01:22:41 pm »
I'm not sure why it would be "catastrophic" or why we "need to stop the rot".
People don't want bricks and mortar shops any more, so no point moaning when they cease to exist. No point doom-mongering, that's just the way things are going nowadays.

Broadmarsh car park has been a building site for god knows how long. No idea what it's being turned into. Or what the state of the actual shopping centre is.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #143 on: 01 November, 2018, 01:39:02 pm »
That article could have been written 20 years ago. There have been failing shopping centres for as long as there have been shopping centres.

Why should Town and village centres be more protected? Because without them we become a nation of housing estates, simply a collection of individualistic people who think they have made choices, but in fact have had them made for them by Amazon, Facebook and others.

(The choices have also been made for them since the 1960s, in terms of retail development, but this is different. Maybe society is better off with the bottom half of the internet instead)
It is simpler than it looks.

Ben T

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #144 on: 01 November, 2018, 02:22:00 pm »
I personally agree with taxing Amazon (more).

Two difficulties with it though:

1) If people choose to simply pay the tax, what more can you do?
The tax would be pretty high for it to be worth me taking time off from other activities to go into town, park, go into a shop on the offchance that they happen to have the thing I want, repeat for however many times they don't have the thing I want and have to go somewhere else.

2) Would it only apply to online business over a certain size, or all online businesses? If the latter would it not penalize small independent traders?
But if  not, would you not simply end up with shopping being dominated by lots and lots of small, independent, online retailers?
Would this not be a worse situation - as you would still have online shopping, but just a multitude of small, crap, badly-written websites and different attitudes to delivery, customer service, and returns - rather than one.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #145 on: 01 November, 2018, 02:37:07 pm »
I always recommend mig welders and personally agree with taxing Amazon (more).

Two difficulties with it though:

1) If people choose to simply pay the tax, what more can you do?
The tax would be pretty high for it to be worth me taking time off from other activities to go into town, park, go into a shop on the offchance that they happen to have the thing I want, repeat for however many times they don't have the thing I want and have to go somewhere else.

2) Would it only apply to online business over a certain size, or all online businesses? If the latter would it not penalize small independent traders?
But if  not, would you not simply end up with shopping being dominated by lots and lots of small, independent, online retailers?
Would this not be a worse situation - as you would still have online shopping, but just a multitude of small, crap, badly-written websites and different attitudes to delivery, customer service, and returns - rather than one.

You can't really tax Amazon a lot more than it is already taxed. They'll just move their business elsewhere where the taxes are lower. Maybe I'm wrong.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #146 on: 01 November, 2018, 02:48:18 pm »

Would this not be a worse situation - as you would still have online shopping, but just a multitude of small, crap, badly-written websites and different attitudes to delivery, customer service, and returns - rather than one.

Well, that might be better than the one crap, badly written website and terrible attitudes to delivery, customer service and returns that  you get with Amazon.
It is simpler than it looks.

Ben T

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #147 on: 01 November, 2018, 03:01:59 pm »

Would this not be a worse situation - as you would still have online shopping, but just a multitude of small, crap, badly-written websites and different attitudes to delivery, customer service, and returns - rather than one.

Well, that might be better than the one crap, badly written website and terrible attitudes to delivery, customer service and returns that  you get with Amazon.

 :-\ what delivery/customer service/returns issues have you had with amazon? Not saying there aren't any, just curious as to what they are, 'cos I find them pretty convenient and quibble free.
My main issue with them is they tend to have an over-abundance of low-end / cheap chinese products, but are more lacking in higher-end, latest, quality, and well-known-brand stuff.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #148 on: 01 November, 2018, 03:02:58 pm »
You can't really tax Amazon a lot more than it is already taxed. They'll just move their business elsewhere where the taxes are lower. Maybe I'm wrong.

I don't think they can move their European operations to somewhere with lower taxes. They're already there. That's why they chose Luxembourg.

Of course - Brexit. We can then start taxing them, so look forward to that tat you buy on Amazon going up in price....
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #149 on: 01 November, 2018, 03:18:56 pm »
You can't really tax Amazon a lot more than it is already taxed. They'll just move their business elsewhere where the taxes are lower. Maybe I'm wrong.

I don't think they can move their European operations to somewhere with lower taxes. They're already there. That's why they chose Luxembourg.

Of course - Brexit. We can then start taxing them, so look forward to that tat you buy on Amazon going up in price....
Everything will go up in price on Brexit, either because it will cost more to import it or it will cost more to produce it at home. Prices for home produce my fall a little as employment protection falls away, but don’t bank on that because the fat cats will see it as a way to boost their profits.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.