Lets compare LBS to CRC

[Airborne]

Perhaps something that has not been mentioned is the fact that our LBS has to pay rent, water/lights, rates, staff etc, essentialy they have to cover thier over heads, so how can we realistically expect them to compete with CRC.

Dont get me wrong I am a huge fan of CRC, placed three orders and was very happy, but I make sure I also support my LBS for services, builds, kit,  etc...

 

My two cents worth.....

 

[Nimby]

I'm surprised someone doesn't open up a business as an order aggregator and after sales service provider for CRC locally. A brave shop could even do it' date=' with a workshop attached.

 

Pick up your shipment there, return warranty items, get maintenance work done if you can't do it yourself. Seems like a better business model than fighting with distributors over stock, pricing, terms, and losing any customer who knows how to turn a wrench to CRC.

 

Crucially, capital requirements would be very low, as you wouldn't be carrying much stock.

 

If someone did that, it would peel away a large remaining slice of the customer base for your lbs - people who are nervous about working on their bikes, or who are worried about after-sales service.[/quote']

 

This is the best idea in this thread yet. I don't mind paying more for quality service but I refuse to be ripped off on components. I'm not in the bike business - someone do it - I'll support you for sure.

 

What I don't understand about the buy-local argument is that the the Rands spent on components/frames/apparel/somplete biks etc. leave the country anyway because they are all imported by distributors.

 

So, rather import yourself and pay your lbs a bit more to install the components and service your pride and joy.

[Gerhardc]

We just landed an order from CRC

 

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Order value R 5546.85 so free shipping

 

Clearing & VAT R 905.98 or + 16.333%

 

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compare items we could find on the net in SA at cheapest price excluding shipping from CWC

 

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Campy QS Record FD carbon CRC landed R 832.04 CWC R 1270.00 - 34.5% cheaper. In fact up in JHB the cheapest i got quoted was R 1700.00

 

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SRAM PG970 9sp cassette 11-34 CRC landed R 273.43 CWC R 380.00 - 28% cheaper. In JHB the cheapest i was quoted was R 690.00

 

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Shimano HG93 (XT)?chain 9spd CRC landed R 186. 21 CWC R 299.00 - 37.7% cheaper

 

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I often wonder what value is lost by LBS to CRC every year.

 

 

 

MADMARC, You say you would rather walk than ride SHIMANO....then why the SHIMANO XT chain!!!???? Enjoy the walking...

[HowellingWulf]

The point is the buyer still has money in his pocket that he wouldn't have if he bought local. That has to be a good thing.

When it comes to "buy local" campaigns and other protectionist policies' date=' I stand with the great English economist David Ricardo.

I don't enter into nonsensical economic transactions for the sake of some fake sense of patriotism, which is why I don't pay "car guards" and why I don't buy goods from the LBS. [/quote']



When the local industry is dead, and theres no one to sponsor the races, or organise the clubs, who is going to be blamed?
The "why didn't the government step in " arguements will fuel forums like these.

would I buy from guys like Icycling or CWC, Darn right I will. They spend money overseas and add value and we buy it here so at least a portion of the cash stays here.
Do I buy from CRC, of course but only items I can't find  locally or have too long a lead time through my LBS due to stock issues. Then CRC is convenient.
But I do recognise that without my LBS and others like them, we won't have a cycling industry, therefore fewer jobs. Its got f**kall to do with patriotism and more to do with seeing the bigger picture beyond me me me.

Club100 = No shop but do organize rides, biggest club in ZAR if I'm not mistaken

DCM Chrome = not cycling related but major sponsor of teams

Neotel = used to sponsor team and not cycling related.

Garmin, MTN, Adidas, Jeep, P&P, Momentum. The list goes on and no shop involvement still they manage to sponsor teams & races.

I think your argument is flawed.

[Andyr249]

Do worry Icycling - some rich European will come buy a place in the Cape for R50 million and the money will come back into SA economy. Then he will sell it to a richer European because no local can afford the R70 million price tag.

[CAAD4]

[
MADMARC, You say you would rather walk than ride SHIMANO....then why the SHIMANO XT chain!!!???? Enjoy the walking...

 

Gerhard read the previous posts. The Shimano stuff was not for him, it was for me... We even got CRC to pack it in seperate boxes from his stuff...

[Icycling]

Andyr249 so we allow the Europeans to buy our wealth with our money - GREAT. Then some local raids the place to steel well at least the contents of it back!

[GoLefty!!]

 

The point is the buyer still has money in his pocket that he wouldn't have if he bought local. That has to be a good thing.

 

When it comes to "buy local" campaigns and other protectionist policies' date=' I stand with the great English economist David Ricardo.

 

I don't enter into nonsensical economic transactions for the sake of some fake sense of patriotism, which is why I don't pay "car guards" and why I don't buy goods from the LBS. [/quote']

 

 

 

When the local industry is dead, and theres no one to sponsor the races, or organise the clubs, who is going to be blamed?

The "why didn't the government step in " arguements will fuel forums like these.

would I buy from guys like Icycling or CWC, Darn right I will. They spend money overseas and add value and we buy it here so at least a portion of the cash stays here.

Do I buy from CRC, of course but only items I can't find  locally or have too long a lead time through my LBS due to stock issues. Then CRC is convenient.

But I do recognise that without my LBS and others like them, we won't have a cycling industry, therefore fewer jobs. Its got f**kall to do with patriotism and more to do with seeing the bigger picture beyond me me me.

 

 

Club100 = No shop but do organize rides, biggest club in ZAR if I'm not mistaken

DCM Chrome = not cycling related but major sponsor of teams

Neotel = used to sponsor team and not cycling related.

Garmin, MTN, Adidas, Jeep, P&P, Momentum. The list goes on and no shop involvement still they manage to sponsor teams & races.

I think your argument is flawed.

 

 

you miss the point.

 

Without the distributors we will have to import all parts and bikes ourselves. Most people won;t be bothered to do this and will simply move to another sport so will the sponsors.

 

DCM chrome , MTN etc sponsor cycling because of the number of eyes it reaches.

the sport is still underpinned by the people who participate and those people are the fairy's and rhino's who ride the argus cyclce toru for fun, not the weekend racer. The market is the people who ride occasionally and go down to an LBS to buy a bike and get one serviced.

Kill the LBS, you kill that market and the bg sponsors move on to other things where they can get the viewership.

 

people who ride at the back of the argus have never heard of nor car about CRC, but they do care about CWC, Bridge, Bowmans, Sportsman Warehouse, Mark cycleworks etc because they are the face of the sport.

 

take them out, and cycling shrinks back to where it was in the 80's.

bye bye sponsors

 

[CAAD4]

Hey Go Lefty, please clarify your tagline. Are you referring to the lighweight Giant ONCE frames or not?

[Tumbleweed]

Club100 = No shop but do organize rides, biggest club in ZAR if I'm not mistaken

DCM Chrome = not cycling related but major sponsor of teams

Neotel = used to sponsor team and not cycling related.

Garmin, MTN, Adidas, Jeep, P&P, Momentum. The list goes on and no shop involvement still they manage to sponsor teams & races.

I think your argument is flawed.

a lot of the shops do spoonsor or assist riders.

[Jules]

 

you miss the point.Without the distributors we will have to import all parts and bikes ourselves. Most people won;t be bothered to do this and will simply move to another sport so will the sponsors.DCM chrome ' date=' MTN etc sponsor cycling because of the number of eyes it reaches.the sport is still underpinned by the people who participate and those people are the fairy's and rhino's who ride the argus cyclce toru for fun, not the weekend racer. The market is the people who ride occasionally and go down to an LBS to buy a bike and get one serviced.Kill the LBS, you kill that market and the bg sponsors move on to other things where they can get the viewership.people who ride at the back of the argus have never heard of nor car about CRC, but they do care about CWC, Bridge, Bowmans, Sportsman Warehouse, Mark cycleworks etc because they are the face of the sport.take them out, and cycling shrinks back to where it was in the 80's.bye bye sponsors[/quote']

 

 

 

Let me get this right. You're saying the industry will die because a minority will stop supporting it? By your own version, most people aren't interested in importing parts, frames etc themselves. And it is because of these people that good bike shops will stay in business.

 

 

 

I'm not sure there is any causality between bike shops and people participating in the sport.

 

 

 

If one subscribes to this logic, then you could say that cycling has grown over the past 30 years because there were more bike shops. I'm sure you can see the flaw in that logic. What came first, the chicken or the egg, the bike shop or the cyclist?

[Capricorn]

Andy: that will not work. At some point, the LBS collective will appoint a single point contact, which i'm pretty sure the manufacturers will demand (not only to deal with moving product, but handle the local marketing campaigns as well), and the whole distributor --> LBS model will reinvent itself.

 

The trick is to either beat CRC at it's own game (i mean, why by only as good when you can kick ass?!), or adapt to accomodate CRCs presence, ie get strong where they are weak.

That dude who started the service center chose the latter option.

[Icycling]

Capricorn agreed on service centers - but now they need to charge an hourly rate similar to that of a plumber to service which they currently are not doing! So they still not getting ahead and a lot of these service centers will also close.

[HowellingWulf]

Club100 = No shop but do organize rides' date=' biggest club in ZAR if I'm not mistaken

DCM Chrome = not cycling related but major sponsor of teams

Neotel = used to sponsor team and not cycling related.

Garmin, MTN, Adidas, Jeep, P&P, Momentum. The list goes on and no shop involvement still they manage to sponsor teams & races.

I think your argument is flawed.

[/quote']

a lot of the shops do spoonsor or assist riders.

I know. There is a lot of races sponsored by shops and riders assisted by them. Was just trying to rev GoLefty up a bit. He seems a bit too on edge for a Friday .

Without Solomons in Woodmead I would be lost since I don't have the tools to service my bikes nor do I stock the not so obvious emergency components, accesories and spares. Without the guys from FPC I would've most probably been mugged on my morning rides by know and without any Specialized products or a new helmet for that matter since mine was smashed and I received discount on a new one on their crash replacement policy...

If it was not for Rushsports & Morewoodkid (distributor?) nobody would be riding awesome Morewood bikes. Same can be said about the 120+kg dude from Sandton who rides a Dogma courtesy of ag and the LBS.

The distributors ultimately pay for the adds in magazines too introduce us to new products since the costs involved would be to big for the LBS to bear.

There is a place for everybody.

Ricky Bobby2010-02-12 05:03:49

[CAAD4]

Capricorn agreed on service centers - but now they need to charge an hourly rate similar to that of a plumber to service which they currently are not doing! So they still not getting ahead and a lot of these service centers will also close.

 

Surely if they state what you get done for various types of services, clearly, and quote a labour charge per hour for additional work done, and communicate this to the customer, they will get acceptance.

 

This all of course goes out the window when the customer has to come back twice to get his gears, or brakes, or whatever sorted out, as their final qc is not up to scratch. I have tried many lbs and currently drive 20 minutes to one I am trying to get a relationship going with. So far so good. They also don't treat me like Sh!t when I bring my own parts in for them to fit. They don't ask and I am happy to pay them for their labour.

[Red Zone]

As I have made many comments on this topic in the past. Please remember for each rands spent our of RSA well certainly in the cycling circles it probably equates to 1 less R1 spent in the local economy. So directly you may be saving 50c but indirectly you are eroding the RSA economy - which in turn may cost even you your job if you work in RSA a part of the RSA economy and certainly reduces the TAX collection in RSA' date=' which is I think, the government is the biggest employer in this country. Jobs get lost crime increase - that's been shown.

It was the US presidents mission last year to get the US people spending again to boast the US economy. But if their spent all their money in China for argument sake it would have nothing for the US economy![/quote']

 

But Icycling, you buy your stock from Europe to avoid the local distrubutors?