Cyclelife is Closing

[krazygl00]

@GB 94355 wrote:

Great question. I think the future LBS is really a coffee shop / bar that services bikes and showcases gear. People come for the bikes but pay for the food. If Revolution and Java shack were co-located I’d spend more money at both. If Java shack sold beer I’d never leave.

This feels like it should be correct. It is probably the answer I would come up with. Yet experience contradicts this (maybe not always but often). It is what makes this question hard.

Cyclelife tried to marry coffee shop / bar with bike shop. It should have been my favorite place. It is what so many cyclists say they would love; yet the times I went there the bar was always empty, and the staff seemed almost surprised someone wanted to sit and have coffee.

The other thing I would say about this thread in general is that staffing matters. The two things that grate on me most from a shop are attitude from mechanics and lack of knowledge from sales guys. On the other hand the most successful shops I’ve seen have a few factors in common and I think the defining characteristic may be owner presence. This translates into things such as community involvement, social networking, the “theme” or “feel” of the shop, but I think all that boils down to a person or smallish group driving the experience.

[mstone]

I hate coffee and can’t imagine many things less likely to make me go into an lbs than that they advertise as a coffee shop. I’m also not convinced it’s a great model for those with different tastes: don’t coffee-drinking cyclists have non-cycling friends? Do they really want to spend all their time in a bike shop?

[KLizotte]

@mstone 95083 wrote:

I hate coffee and can’t imagine many things less likely to make me go into an lbs than that they advertise as a coffee shop. I’m also not convinced it’s a great model for those with different tastes: don’t coffee-drinking cyclists have non-cycling friends? Do they really want to spend all their time in a bike shop?

I dunno. Look Ma, No Hands in London is hugely successful marrying a Busboys & Poets vibe with a working bike repair shop.

[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6657&stc=1[/IMG]

[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6658&stc=1[/IMG]

[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6659&stc=1[/IMG]

[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6660&stc=1[/IMG]

[mstone]

@KLizotte 95113 wrote:

I dunno. Look Ma, No Hands in London is hugely successful marrying at Busboys & Poets vibe with a working bike repair shop

Note that they have real food and beer and wine, not just coffee. Much better.

[hozn]

@mstone 95114 wrote:

Note that they have real food and beer and wine, not just coffee. Much better.

Because coffee shops have “coffee” in the name, you assumed they only sold coffee…? I think if you venture into one you’ll find that most coffee shops carry other beverages (even tea — shudder!) and food. Even Starbucks has real food. It’s true that fewer on this side of the pond have beer; I trust that has more to do with our liquor laws and less to do with customer interest. But coffee and cycling are a pretty classic pairing. Rule 56.

I think the coffee thing is working for Green Lizard. As are, apparently, the spin classes they teach there. Helps them through the winter. It must be a tough business, though. That sort of thing makes a lot more sense to me than relying on selling bikes or over-priced components and accessories. The only time I buy non-trivial merchandise from a local bike store is when the merchandise has “Specialized” written on it, which means I won’t be able to find it [new] online for half the price. (I will say that Specialized’s LBS-only distribution strategy is a big support to the little LBS.) I suppose there will always be people getting their bike servicing done by an LBS; I am always shocked that there are folks that have multi-thousand-dollar bikes that have never installed a cassette.

I personally would support the sort of bike shop as romanticized by GuyC that rents work stands (and access to specialty tools that I’m unlikely to buy — like bearing presses) and sells pitchers of beer. Coffee might be nice too.

[cyclingfool]

Loaner locks FTW!

[sethpo]

@hozn 95119 wrote:

I suppose there will always be people getting their bike servicing done by an LBS; I am always shocked that there are folks that have multi-thousand-dollar bikes that have never installed a cassette.

FIFY

I am always shocked that there are folks that have multi-thousand-dollar bikes that have never fixed a flat tire.

[mstone]

@hozn 95119 wrote:

Because coffee shops have “coffee” in the name, you assumed they only sold coffee…? I think if you venture into one you’ll find that most coffee shops carry other beverages (even tea — shudder!) and food. Even Starbucks has real food. It’s true that fewer on this side of the pond have beer; I trust that has more to do with our liquor laws and less to do with customer interest.[/quote]

I chose the wording deliberately to distinguish between something that is microwaved out of a display case and something that is actually cooked from ingredients that were recently growing somewhere. Yeah, the coffee shop business is strong in general, but there must be an upper limit to how many places can survive as what are basically a 7-11 with couches. Just attaching one to a bike store doesn’t seem like enough to be a business model (unless you’re in that rare part of the country that doesn’t already have a coffee shop on every corner).

[lordofthemark]

I like LBS’s. For one I really did a lot of test riding when buying my Dew, and I expect to do a lot of test riding when I get my next bike. And for clothes I like to try them on before purchasing. And while I do like the advice I get here, it still helps to have advice right at the point of purchase with the item and the bike in front of me. When I bought my new light the Spokes employee showed me how to loop it through my helmet – I could have figured that out eventually, but why not get the help? And if I do need to return something, easier at an LBS than packing something up for shipment. And an LBS can be sort of a local biking community center – a place that sponsors rides, a place to pick up a map – and I confess on at least one occasion I have gotten emergency air at one, and I also have asked about the local biking scene in a neighborhood I was not familiar with. Maybe I am just old fashioned in how I relate to retail in general. As for fixing things, I am a total newb on that, and I also do not currently have a great place to do repairs.

Re: coffee. I was in a bike shop in Brooklyn that had wine, beer, coffee, and flavored milks. Something for everyone. I liked the vibe there. But it might be too “brooklyn” for some, I guess.

[DismalScientist]

@mstone 95142 wrote:

there must be an upper limit to how many places can survive as what are basically a 7-11 with couches.

Snob…
Tacquitos and 40s are what makes this country work.:rolleyes:

[KLizotte]

@hozn 95119 wrote:

I am always shocked that there are folks that have multi-thousand-dollar bikes that have never installed a cassette.

I for one have *no* desire to install a cassette or anything beyond the most basic chores of maintenance. I live in a small apartment with wall to wall carpeting and very limited storage space. I am more than happy to pay a LBS to make the repairs for me. I am almost always pleasantly surprised by the level of service I get from LBS mechanics (why can’t car mechanics do the same?); and it astounds me how much free service they have done for me over the past few years. I’d much rather tip bike mechanics than some other professions. If I had to completely maintain my bike from soup to nuts, I’d probably stop biking. The local shops have been great for service and advice.

[mstone]

@DismalScientist 95147 wrote:

Snob…
Tacquitos and 40s are what makes this country work.:rolleyes:

Hey, I love me a microwaved burrito. (Mmmm, lava-like cheese.) I just don’t want to pay a premium because there’s a couch!

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 95149 wrote:

Hey, I love me a microwaved burrito. (Mmmm, lava-like cheese.) I just don’t want to pay a premium because there’s a couch!

When my DD was at home, and needed to get out from under while doing her assignments, places like that with WiFi and a nice atmosphere of people doing work was a lifesaver.

But they certainly don’t serve all the purposes a 7-11 does – I mean can you hire day labor at a starbucks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place

The bike shop that functions best as a “third place” that I am aware of are the Bike Club in Falls Church – without coffee, but with I guess unofficial beer. I am not sure if adding coffee to a regular bike shop would make it work as a third place better than most bike shops, and better than a regular coffee shop.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@mstone 95149 wrote:

Hey, I love me a microwaved burrito. (Mmmm, lava-like cheese.) I just don’t want to pay a premium because there’s a couch!

Coffee shops are more than just couches. They’re also snooty young baristas with tats and piercings that would have been rebellious and interesting 20 years ago.

[dkel]

@mstone 95142 wrote:

I chose the wording deliberately to distinguish between something that is microwaved out of a display case and something that is actually cooked from ingredients that were recently growing somewhere. Yeah, the coffee shop business is strong in general, but there must be an upper limit to how many places can survive as what are basically a 7-11 with couches. Just attaching one to a bike store doesn’t seem like enough to be a business model (unless you’re in that rare part of the country that doesn’t already have a coffee shop on every corner).

You seem a little cranky…maybe a cup of coffee would make you feel better. :rolleyes:

[Author]

Posts