Back in the ‘80s I ordered a Shimano Deore groupset for a touring bike I was building. As I was still at school I couldn’t afford to pay it all in one go so I went to the bike store every Saturday morning and handed over my pocket money. Over the following six months every few weeks I came home with another component. This made the process of building this bike one of the most pleasurable experiences of my entire life and it may be one of the reasons I’m still in the industry now, almost 40 years later. I got to appreciate the parts and the time and effort it had taken to purchase them. At no point was there ever any discussion about getting some sort of discount, as I appreciated how the store had helped me out.
How times have changed. The bicycle industry has fostered a reliance on discounting and most consumers now actually begrudge helping out their local store by paying full price for something, much preferring to seek out discounted deals online. Part of this is down to the seasonal nature of marketing lead products, just like fashion brands. Nobody needs a new top spec carbon race bike every year. I’ve been riding the same road bike for the past 12 years with just as much fun as the first day I swung a leg over it. But the big brands need you to buy more regularly so they create yearly colour changes and market the hell out of every new detail change on this year’s model, no matter how small, with the World Tour riders the catwalk models of the cycling world.
Cycling Weekly’s Undercover Mechanic will be publishing his thoughts on the state of the industry once a month. He’s been working with bikes for over two decades, offering servicing on models from some of cycling’s best (and worst) marques. You’ll find him at all major trade shows and events, just don’t expect him to make himself known.
