Supergo is dead

[bagtagley]

long live Performance Bike

I knew they were bought-out, but I didn't know they were going away.

Meh.

Yeah, I was lookin' at bike parts. Big woop, wanna fight aboudit?

[marshalolson]

btw: it is performance/nashbar/supergo now.

killing family owned shops one internet sale at a time

[bagtagley]

btw: it is performance/nashbar/supergo now.

killing family owned shops one internet sale at a time

Not according to supergo.com.

If anything, this bodes well for "family owned" shops. Performance sucks major ass, one internet sale at a time.

[marshalolson]

Not according to supergo.com.

If anything, this bodes well for "family owned" shops. Performance sucks major ass, one internet sale at a time.

i heard the nashbar deal is supposed to close sometime this spring... partial rumor...

(and yeah, totally agree w/ their customer service)

[Artie Fufkin]

Not according to supergo.com.

If anything, this bodes well for "family owned" shops. Performance sucks major ass, one internet sale at a time.

I have also been under the impression that Nashbar/Supergo/Performance have been run by the same company for some time. It looked like orders from all of them came from the same place and their customer service was in the same place, though they all had separate stores. I have been shopping at Performance for a while, I built up my S Works a few months from probably got the group close to cost and shipped in two days. They shipped the wrong size stem, but sent another one and credited me for the other one when I returned it.

I don't shop at Performance for knowledgeable sales reps, etc, I just shop there because it is cheap. I have found it cheaper and more enjoyable to get parts direct and intall and maintain my ride on my own(with some help from Zinn).

LBSs probably do not make the bulk of their profit on people buying a part or two, they make money on selling bikes, which for alot people will never been done on line. Nashbar and Performance have been around for at least 20 years, and likely longer and the LBSs are still around.

[Viva]

I remember when Supergo was Alan Goldschmidt's (I think that was his name) Bikecology, one of three cool local shops in West LA (Helens and Wilshire-West being the other two). Man, did they ever grow. But, still, they had loyal employees that the service provided by those long-term salespersons or mechanics is what I think made the place special. I last couple of time I visted the Santa Monica store, I recognized no one.

I discovered last week that Bikes USA (a small chain of 3 or 4 shops in the San Diego area- Chris Horner worked as a mechanic at one of them-) was sold to Performance. I was disapointed to see that.

[rideit]

LBSs probably do not make the bulk of their profit on people buying a part or two, they make money on selling bikes, which for alot people will never been done on line.

Well, that is the goal, but in fact, that premise is far from true for most shops. (I owned one for the last eight years, and have worked in them for 25 or so...)
Full retail margins on complete bikes are actually quite rare. In my case, i had a high end bike shop in a mountain town, with a small (but core) riding population. The bikes themselves, (High $$) were mostly window dressing...I rarely ever sold a bike for full retail, if you count off season discounting. The real money, (in theory, in my case) was in soft goods...rubber, clothing, camelbacks, tools, sunglasses, guide books, hydration/nutrition products, lubes, etc.
The money was NOT in hard good parts or bikes.
A good example is a pair of (name your brand) high end pedals. Suggested retail, let's say, $129.
In catalogs for, lets say, $119.
My price @ standard (non Japanese) wholesale? $109. SWEET!!!
The big catalog/web houses pay $65!! (Just an example)
however, the catalogs cannot fit people, and install for labor $$$...(not that we ever really could, either!!)
Point being, unless a shop is selling TONS of built bikes, the real money is in good purchasing on all of the other stuff, and being consistent with your local reputation and client base.

[SkiingBear]

The money was NOT in hard good parts or bikes.

There is however, a profit to be made on bike tune-ups. You do a good job of convincing folks when they buy a bike that they need this, and they'll be back for it year after year. There's really very little spent on part for those tune-ups, it's just time for the guys doing the work.

Of course, some riders will be doing this on their own, but like anything else...they're the minority.

While I do understand the "support your LBS" mentality...I do all of my own work on my bike, and typically build my bikes when they're new. For the relatively few folks that know what they're doing, it's nice to have online discount shops around to feed my habit. That said, I also understand the local support that LBSs provide, and try to get out for a few races/events to support the local scene.

[Frozone]

So here's my dilemma. I try to support local shops but also need to maximize gear dollars so price is my main concern. Add to that the fact that most local shops don't know what the hell they're doing and it gives me 4 to 5 shops to work with. These guys can earn my business but they'll really have to earn it with some bit of knowledge or skill that I don't possess if I'm going to spend extra money.

Case in point, I called every shop in Salt Lake looking for Chris King Ring Drive Lube, probably five even knew what I was talking about but don't sell it. Of those 5, three offered to let me come down and steal a couple squirts for my hub that was already disassembled, cleaned and ready to go. Those shops are earning my business, unfortunately, they're not conveniently located to me but I'd make the drive if I had to. (Buy the way, I ended up using Dumonde Liquid Grease, on a tech's recommendation, we'll see how it works)

Most of the time I call a shop looking for something, they tell me they can order it for me, my response, "I can order it myself" so they're actually sending me to the mail order shops. Granted I know it's hard for a local shop to carry all the stuff I'd need.

BTW, I don't particularly like Performance but I place a couple strategic orders there a year (usually combined with coupon and price match). I've never had a single problem, customer service has always been prompt and courteous (not knowledgeable but neither are most of the local shops I call).

Enough bike rant, I'm headed to Moab today to ride whatever tomorrow and White Rim on Saturday, yeeee haaaaa. (Course it's going to snow like crazy in the Wasatch, shoulda gone last weekend),