LBS or Wiggle etc

starseven

I like my local bike shops and try whenever possible to give them business.

Having just bought some new wheels , they were £105 online or £155 form the LBS, with a couple of days to deliver from the online retailer and a couple of days for LBS to get in stock there was no time gain from buying locally.
The difference was too much for me and I bought online. If they had been £120/£125 and the lbs had stock I would have bought them from him.

What sort of premium will you pay (if any) to buy your bikes or bike parts locally.

To get some perspective and just to try it out, I have added one of these new fangled polls on whether you spent most online or locally.

whyamihere

I shop online almost exclusively. The reason is that it's a lot cheaper. If I needed any work doing to my bike, I would use my LBS, but I can do everything I need to do on my bike anyway, so there's no need to use them.

penugent

I buy very little on-line.

Unlike the last poster, I know little about bike maintenance so I don't mind supporting my LBS. I firmly believe that if the LBS isn't supported it will disappear and I would be lost without it.

In any case, I always get discount from my LBS because I support them. Indeed, they have often carried out little tweaks to my bikes without charge because I'm a good customer. When it all adds up I don't think I would save much, if anything, on-line.

Greenbank

Mostly Wiggle until I moved offices and personal deliveries were banned.

Now I use LBSs (either near home or work), or anyone online that'll post via Royal Mail or Parcelfarce (I call them up and check).

[EDIT] Royal Mail depot is less than half a mile away, and the other courier companies are a nightmare to deal with if you're not in when they call. The depot is usually miles away in some god forsaken industrial estate.

Not being able to buy stuff on Wiggle has saved me a serious amount of money

domtyler

I work very near to a few decent bike shops in central London and so go to browse some lunchtimes when I'm bored and when I am after something that can't wait or is a small item. Otherwise I will save my pennies and buy online as I am a natural fiddler and don't mind getting my hands dirty.
________
Free Gift Cards

The BIG GT

domtyler wrote:

I am a natural fiddler and don't mind getting my hands dirty.

** Sniggers behind terminal like 12 year-old **

** Realises no-one else is so immature **

** Pretends to be coughing due to something in throat and not because of childish interpretation of sensible post **

richa

Recently had this very dilema...

I use my LBS (Hodsworths, Putney) for some small things, another nearby for larger items(Sigma Sport, Kingston) and online for the rest (Wiggle/Ribble).

So, wanted some new wheels. Discuss at my LBS and am umming-and-erring over some Fulcrums. Looked online and wiggle have them £40 cheaper. So what do you do? I asked the LBS if they could match and they wernt able to drop the price at all so I ended up getting them online. I would have liked to have got them from the LBS but 40 quid is 40 quid...

rohloff-rich

Try to get big purchases from my LBS to support him, and usually get good discount because of this. However, his bike stock is limited so my new road bike was an online purchase - £650 on a £1650 bike is quite a saving that my LBS couldn't match!

rohloff-rich

In fact I've just realised my new MTB frame and kit didn't come from my LBS either... oops! :oops:

vernonlevy

starseven wrote:

I like my local bike shops and try whenever possible to give them business.

Having just bought some new wheels , they were £105 online or £155 form the LBS, with a couple of days to deliver from the online retailer and a couple of days for LBS to get in stock there was no time gain from buying locally.
The difference was too much for me and I bought online. If they had been £120/£125 and the lbs had stock I would have bought them from him.

What sort of premium will you pay (if any) to buy your bikes or bike parts locally.

To get some perspective and just to try it out, I have added one of these new fangled polls on whether you spent most online or locally.

I use my local bikeshop because of the extensive knowledge that they can bring to bear when I have a problem with one of my older bikes. I can describe the thingummybob that I want and the doo dah that it attaches to then one of the members of staff goes into the workshop and emerges triumphantly with the bit that I want. Try that with Wiggle

The small bits that I want normally cost more from the internet because of the high minimum postal costs. Consumables aren't that much cheaper and, since the revamp of the postal service, I normally have to go and collect the packages from the sorting office as the postie rarely arrives before I leave for work now.

All in all I wouldn't desert my LBS, Woodrups in Leeds even though I have another emporium almost on my doorstep in the guise of an Edinburgh bike co-op.

Diogenes

Using online more and more but still about 40% LBS. The savings or not often great against the LBS and for big purchases I like the ease with which I can discuss my requirements and make sure I get what I need.

My tourer I built up myself from scratch and tend to do all the servicing myself. My road machine goes into the LBS, now theres logic for you!


D

skut

I really hate bike shops - they never have what I need, charge a fortune for labour, and are always far more expensive than online.

On the other hand as Greenbank says, courier companies are a pain too, so I will only order from places that use royal mail/parcelforce (Parker, Probikekit, chainreaction, gb cycles)

Edit: Or I look for 2nd hand stuff on boards like these