I love a David vs. Goliath story, and when it comes to the bike industry, none has more saucy saga potential than the shadow conflicts that arise from independent bicycle dealers (IBDs) having to compete directly with their own suppliers, whether online or in a brick-and-mortar format. Usually both these days.

Trek, Specialized, Giant, and the PON Stars may have all hit pause on their store purchases and wedge openings in the post-COVID bicycle doldrums, but a rumoured reset is happening across North America, including here on Vancouver’s North Shore. 

{Cover photo: Life Cycles / Specialized, Abbotsford.}

Say Something Nice

Look, I’ll admit my bias right up front. As a long-time lover of unique bike shops and their individual personalities, or at least the idea of those things, I dislike brand stores – whether wholly vertically owned or partnerships. With bikes, in my experience, there are numerous ways that both models stack the deck against fully independent dealers. And, as a simple person, the world made more sense when bicycle companies just sold through shops – some minuscule, some massive – many of whom were their long-term partners. 

But, at the same time, some of those disadvantages for IBDs, especially when it comes to warranties and clear-outs, can play to the advantage of riders, and at the end of the day, I would agree that a fantastic bike shop experience comes down to the staff more than anything. 

To that end, saying something nice*, I want to shout out two brand stores that have amazing reputations for knowledgeable staff, solid repairs, and a great customer experience – privately owned Trek Pro-City, in Victoria, and corporately owned Trek Bicycle Port Coquitlam. I have had great interactions with both stores myself. 

*{Did I just make this an open-faced sh*t sandwich?}

{Above Photos: The Mass Extinction Of The North Shore Bicycle Mechanic}

[Sc]rambling

I’ve been writing a piece on this subject for years now. I can trace it back to at least November 2019. I also wrote a piece in 2022 called Selling Their Brand, Selling Your Shop that’s powered by similar themes. 

This was supposed to be something different. Something local and North Shore related. At one point it even had an epic five-minute opening preamble {Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz}. But, there is little (read ‘no’) advantage to gain in writing about this subject. Outside of a few bike shop owners and a few bike shop dreamers who even really cares? 

And with that being the case, what good is to come from potentially pissing in the pockets of the biggest bike brands, whose marketing mass is also the significant driver of cycling media monies, and who are understandably wary of criticism? Especially for someone working in the industry on multiple levels who has already torched too many bridges. 

*{Everyone loves independent media until it pokes at them – just ask Jeff Bezos.}

So, I’ll admit right now, in the face of imagined criticism, that this is a highly sanitized ‘musing’ of what I had originally set out to write. I understand the concern, cotton candy is voluminous but it’s hardly proper food for thought. Sorry.  

Dusting, Dusting, 1-2-3,

I am only blowing the soot off today because high-level representatives from at least one brand listed above have started swinging for the Shore. I reached out for comments on this subject from both Giant and Trek last week and at this time neither company has a comment for the fierce journalistic presence that is MEATengines and our handful of readers {hahahaha}.

I feel compelled to say something about the subject because a lot of local bike shops are hurting right now and I don’t see how more stores make things better. There’s a general shell shock from last season and malaise about the next one. Compared to a normal season, there are significantly more rumoured twists in everyone’s second favourite soap opera ‘As The Shore Turns*.’ Whose lease is up? Whose shop is going down? 

*{No offense, but ‘All My Builders’ has more interesting characters.}

Yet, it seems to me, that shops are taking on more bike brands, and more inventory risk, to hedge against the expected faithlessness of some of their biggest, and longest-term, partners. And the cynics {okay, fine, the realists} will say “That’s just business” but when a shop has been your partner for over a decade moving against them when they’re chock-a-block with inventory (your inventory) is cheeky. 

Especially since unlike an IBD competitor, suppliers have access to their partner store’s data – inventory, sales, and profit margins. What models sell, what models don’t, the average cost of models that move, etc. 

[Aside]

Aside from chatting to plenty of folks on the subject, I have first-hand experience working for a multi-shop business where one of the said shops was a brand store and others sold said brand. The difference in how inventory turns were managed – payment terms – and how dud bikes (clearouts) were processed, and even how warranty was run was a massive competitive advantage for the brand store and I’m extrapolating, perhaps wrongly, that all brand-store vs. non-brand-store situations are similar. 

[/Aside]

{Above Photo: VMBC}

History vs. Mystery

I understand that every brand-store situation is a bit different. Whether it’s bike brands partnering with private owners – existing partners or new ones, buying successful shops, assuming unsuccessful ones, or opening a fresh store next door, brands could rightly claim that every one of these situations is unique.

But, for suspicious folks like myself, well, we know what bad brand-store shenanigans vs. long-time dealer scenarios can look like already. If you want to journey down that rabbit hole further, here’s the Bicycle Retailer article that I always come back to when having this conversation.  

{Above Art: Cy Whitling}

Here, there, and everywhere. In BC now, Specialized, Giant, Trek, and Norco have brand stores using various models with only Norco currently represented here in North Vancouver. There are lots of rumours about the pending arrival of PON* Shops as well. I don’t think anyone can argue about the inevitably continuing rise of the brand-shop model from its early dawn. 

*{PON brands: Santa Cruz, Cannondale, Cervelo, Focus, & Urban Arrow amongst others}

What is this then? Certainly not any sort of brake on what is to come. I love tilting at windmills, but that would be futility at its finest. It’s also absolutely not a suggestion not to buy rigs & stuff from brand stores, particularly if awesome folks are working there. 

Still, inevitable as it may be, at least in medium-to-huge towns, I suppose I just don’t think that the IBD to brand store transition should not come to pass without someone acknowledging outright that it is happening. Even if it’s just a bit of musing every now and again. 

So, there you go. 

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