It all starts to seem the same...

Today I visited a competitor of ours, one that I've worked for in my past. This was a group of stores that really set the status for MTB'ing in SoCal for decades, and made the competition cringe at what they'd do next. The techs of ours that they lured away could always say "Well, because it's Blahblahblah bikes, it's cool... AND they don't sell Snappyhoppers like us".

That was then. Business has changed. The way to keep paying your techs is to have bikes in stock that actually SELL, and not to be competing over a discount on every part. This makes your customers loyal to the next ad, not your service and associates. Your competitor that does not know how to run his business will cut his price, and his profit margin. Alan Goldsmith recognized this, and sold Supergo to Performance Bikes. Performance has re-labeled those former stores, and has remerchandised them. The brands I saw there today were Fuji, Mongoose, Schwinn, GT, Iron Horse, and Rocky Mountain. Those techs used some of those brands as motivation for leaving US, and now those brands have followed them. Such cruel irony! There were a few boutique brand bikes and frames, but mostly on a "close out" basis. I asked about a range of parts, from weird to common, and they were out of stock or low on many of them. "I can order that for you". The great have fallen; how times have changed.

We are changing also, stay tuned for good things in April...

Wal Mart escapes Quick-Release danger

From Bicycleretailer.com

FEBRUARY 13, 2006 -- SAN RAFAEL, CA (BRAIN)—After nearly nine weeks of trial and about a day and a half of deliberation, a Marin County jury of eight women and four men exonerated Wal-Mart, Dynacraft and Dynacraft’s claims adjuster Carl Warren & Co. of all charges. The plaintiffs alleged that the three companies conspired to conceal that the quick-release mechanisms on Next brand full-suspension bicycles imported by Dynacraft and sold by Wal-Mart were defective and allowed the front wheels to come off.The jury found no fault on the part of any of the defendants, and therefore offered no compensation to any of the nine plaintiffs. The decision is important to the industry because it confirms that a correctly adjusted and installed quick-release is not inherently dangerous.“We are pleased that the jury overwhelmingly agreed that every allegation in this case was unsubstantiated and reinforced that these bikes were safe and not defective,” Sarah Clark, a Wal-Mart spokesperson, said in a statement. “It is unfortunate when anyone is hurt in a bike accident, but these allegations simply had no merit.”

An additional allegation was that they were using untrained assemblers, and were not giving Owner's Manuals to new bike buyers. Not much of that is mentioned here. Rumors are that all future Wal-Mart bikes will have some sort of locking front quick-release lever, making them a slower-than-quick-release lever that will likely break easier due to the additional parts.