HARO BIKES

Whats your thoughts? Internet buying - give us your thoughts - time for a rant.

The importance of being local 

Before you read on, we appreciate we can’t sell or stock everything, but we try our best. 

We’re not against internet shopping – all of us have been known to put a little extra strain on the credit card when browsing on line.  Here’s the thing though – can you try on “virtual” clothing? Can you examine the quality (or otherwise!) of the gear you are buying on a laptop? Can you get advice from people who are passionate about cycling and making sure that the choices you make allow you to share the enjoyment it brings? These are all qualities that are unique to your local bike shop – so revered in the biking community that people in the know call them your LBS for short – and the service you can expect when you visit us is not available to internet shoppers. 

Occasionally, (fortunately not often!) we encounter people who fit the cliché of knowing “the price of everything and the value of nothing”. We hope you appreciate that it can be a little frustrating spending significant time and effort with people we believe to be prospective customers only to see them use their newly acquired knowledge to purchase a flat pack bike in a box from the internet. Sometimes these purchases find their way back to us for “servicing” which is usually a euphemism for rebuilding or rectifying faults.  All keen cyclists appreciate the benefits of having a LBS. We like to spend our time building a good relationship with these customers. We find it quite insensitive when someone stands in the shop quoting prices from a live internet site they are accessing from their mobile phone or simply walking round the shop using their phones to photograph products to later compare with online prices. 

We strive to keep all our prices at a fair level, however, in certain circumstances we are unable to match the prices that some internet giants advertise products at (this, of course, does not mean that these products are actually available to prospective customers – often it is a marketing ploy to hook you in).  We normally have a range of bikes and P&A on special offer and are constantly negotiating with our suppliers to get the best deal for our customers. We have a reputation that we are proud off for adding extras to our bike packages (free servicing, tubes, component upgrades). We are not an anonymous conglomerate where pricing is the only consideration and we believe that the customer service & advice that comes with all purchases made at Mikes Bikes represents good value.  

We rent our premises from a local company and occupy a place in our local community and economy. We support local events, employ local people and we are responsive to the feedback we receive from customers. 

So, before you buy online you should consider the following;

• Who will support local charity events and riders and provide for the tourist market?
• What is the ‘try before you buy’ policy and what after sales service is provided?
• Where will you get advice on your equipment, get bikes repaired and faulty parts/goods replaced?
• How can you be sure you have a European warranty?
• Why do we see so many internet purchase mistakes?

The best deal is not always about the bottom line………..  

If you would like to give us you views then email us here.