Opinion: More standards, are dealers de-stocking because nothing is actually standard?

For those who follow me on twitter you will already know my views on the constant introduction of ‘standards’, mostly they are brought in to solve to problem that wasn't even there in the first place. Recently we had some more with ‘Boost’ hub spacing (with Boost chainset spacing), plus sized wheels and direct disc brake mounts, this got me thinking, if this is a nightmare for the consumer what is the effect on a dealer?

One thing we have learnt over the past few years as there is no such thing as a standard component any more. Replacement parts for bikes have now become a minefield of common and obscure standards, most so similar yet still completely incompatible, it’s a complete headache.

As a distributor this becomes a massive problem as we then have to invest in stock to cover an obscure standard that somebody may or may not want. We can do this as we have the advantage of a massive customer base, who in-turn have large customer bases so somebody somewhere is going to need that part sooner or later. If we look at it on a shop level the customer base diminishes so the chance of a dealer having the exact standard of component for that customer who walks through the door becomes a lot smaller.

We notice sales wise that we are selling a lot of headsets, headset bearings and bottom brackets, in actual fact more than ever. We also notice that the orders for these products are becoming more and more for single items, so dealers are ordering the exact part for a specific job, this leads me to ask the question ‘are dealers de-stocking because of standards?’ The simple answer has to be yes, we can already see this through patterns in our sales.

For dealers complex standards are a nightmare, why take the risk on stocking something which has a low stock turn when you could invest the same amount with a far higher stock turn. With this in mind de-stocking complex parts makes perfect business sense, but by doing so you risk losing the customer service element which consumers expect from an IDB.

Back in the 90’s I worked in a few retail shops and making a stocking decision was relatively easy. I have a demand for headsets so I need to stock headsets. When a customer walked through the door and you could sell them a headset (and hopefully fit it), you have a happy customer and hopefully he will return. Move forward to today and a customer walks in to a bike shop and asks for a headset for his bike. The first problem is that the dealer has is to work out what headset the customer actually needs; the second problem is you don't stock 'that one'; the third problem is that you have to call your supplier to order the headset in and hope the customer will wait and possibly pay the postage charge.

I have just used headsets here for an example, but you can easily substitute them for bottom brackets, bearings, chain rings, chain sets, hubs, free hubs and cassettes etc...

With every additional standard launched on the market my heart sinks a little, as I know what’s coming, dealers will continue to de-stock service parts as they struggle to understand the market. By choosing to de-stock the dealer risks losing customers to other sales channels.... But ultimately it’s the customer that loses as they can no longer buy what they want, in their local shop when they need it.

And the worst part about of it is, we as an industry are driving this trend...

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UPDATE: Following the publication of this we had a pretty good discussion on twitter with lots of great points being made, here are a few

@DanJones34 is the Bike Industry (ie Trek/Spec/Giant) end game dealerships a la BMW rather than IBDs?
— Dan Lees (@DanLees) April 21, 2015

@DanJones34 I think also depends on OEM (then replacing) on stock bikes. Certainly Trek/Spesh/Giant are in a position to push own agenda.
— Neil Cain (@Neil_Cain) April 21, 2015

@DanLees @DanJones34 Great point. Or it could just be increased drive to shorten the lifespan of bikes, and discourage fixing and updating.
— Kelvin Owers (@spittingcat) April 21, 2015

@danjones34 i second those emotions wholeheartedly. and i've even said so.
— brian palmer (@twmp) April 21, 2015

@spittingcat @danlees @danjones34 this is why I think @ShimanoMTB have played a blinder in making 11 speed compatible with 9/10 speed hubs…
— Gary Lake (@GaryLake) April 21, 2015

@DanJones34 @spittingcat Vaild and true points. Not helped by others (includes self) promoting the new shiny shiny.
— Greg May (@greg_may_) April 21, 2015

@DanJones34 I think shops will hold less in store and will rely on distro's/suppliers to hold it and get them the parts they need quicker
— Andrew Delahay (@Delbike32) April 21, 2015

Please sponsor me!

I get a lot of requests for sponsorship throughout the year and I'm often surprised by the quality of the emails and the lack of any real information. So this got me thinking, what does it take to get sponsored? Here are my top 10 tips to get past my delete button.

1/ Tell me something about yourself. Obviously I need to know about your cycling activities as that’s the point of the e-mail, but a little something extra helps to build a picture about yourself.

2/ Send me a proper e-mail, not just a couple of sentences from your phone.

3/ Please use correct spelling and grammar, I can’t take you seriously if you use text speak.

4/ nobody likes the ‘comic sans’ font or 'word art'...

5/ Include the links to all your social media accounts as we need to check out if your on-line footprint is as big as you say it is.

6/ Include your past race results and also a statement of your future intent, and please include a link to roots and rain helps if you have a racing bias.

7/ Include your current sponsors and what you do currently to promote them.

8/ Tell me why you think you should be sponsored? Tip, just saying ‘I will tell all my mates how good brand X is’ is not enough!

9/ Please don’t speak negatively about other brands, as how do I know you won’t do the same about ours?

10/ Always think about what you can do for us, not what we can do for you.

If in the event you are successful in sponsorship your commitment doesn't stop there, it’s an on-going two-way relationship that we take this very seriously.

Lastly, sponsorship is a privilege, never a right, train hard and always give back to the sport and those who support you.

this could be you! 

Wheel sizes

There is nothing like a good wheel size debate to get the internet in to proper melt down. Most people either fall in to the early adopter camp or the die hard 26" camp.

Over the past year I have had some great opportunity’s to try out all three current mtb wheels sizes and here are my humble ramblings...

image via www.bikerumor.com 

I have ridden modern MTB’s properly since 1992 and I have always been an early adopter to any new technical advances. My first full suspension bike was in 1993, admittedly it wasn’t that great and I went back to hard tail, but when Proflex nailed it with the 954 I never looked back.

When it came to wheel sizes I have never been anti, just I couldn't be bothered to invest in it. Changing wheels is not like fitting a suspension fork or a disc brake, to run bigger wheels you have got to change wholesale and getting bigger hoops was just not that important to me.

I first rode 650b in Lake Garda this year and to be honest the difference is not really detectable, the bike I rode had lousy tyres and a way too narrow handle bar (not to mention euro brakes) made more of a difference to the ride. I once actually measured the rolling diameter of my 26” summer tyres and they come up as big as XC style 650b tyres, so the difference is negligible. Still, the 650 hoop like for like is bigger and you (and I) may not care too much for that but for racers that are looking for marginal gains it could mean a second or two on a run.

the 650b Pivot and cool fork decals...

29” wheels are different, there is no getting away from it they are massive! Using this type of wheel causes manufactures headaches because of wheel base, rear travel, chain stay length and seat tube positioning. There are some modern bikes that have this sussed, the Transition Smuggler being one of them and this is the bike I have spent a lot of time on.

Transition Smuggler 29"

So what did I think? Well the 29” is the size I secretly didn’t want to like, but ended up absolutely loving it. 29’rs were always a little awkward and would take some modification of your riding style to get the most out of them. Not with the Smuggler, the bike is so natural you can just get on it and ride it quick. It just feels like a bike, not even overly tight switchbacks could upset it. I enjoyed it so much it made me really think about what I actually want out of a bike.

With the 650B bike the handling and playfulness of the bike is very similar to what you like about 26”, but you will benefit from the latest designs of suspension fork and tyres. If you are looking for a complete new bike it makes complete sense to go 650b as this is where all the development is going.

26" bikes still rule

Lastly there is absolutely nothing wrong with 26” wheels and I love them! I took my 26" wheel Transition Covert to France this year and had an absolute blast.
I will say that if you want to keep running a 26" bike, don’t sweat it, full suspension bikes didn't kill hard tails and 650b won’t kill 26”. Spares won’t run out as the aftermarket potential is so huge manufactures will keep making parts if people want to buy them.

Interestingly I did some data comparisons using Stava with the 29 and 26” bikes on the same route, and the results were a little surprising. Now the data is strava so not highly accurate and I rode each bike a week apart, however the 26” bike was quicker on both the downhill, climb and a pedaly farm track!  This was not what I was expecting as in certain sections I was convinced the 29 was quicker. To be absolutely sure I need to ride each bike immediately back to back to try and remove as many variables as possible.

Fun is not always about speed and hard tails are massive fun!!!

So I had all these things buzzing through my head, wheel sizes, data, speed etc, then it hit me, why does speed matter? The magazines are definitely guilty of pushing the ‘it’s faster then it must be better’ angle and this is certainly true for racers but what about the rest of us, the riders that ride for fun? If faster is better, then why ride a hard tail or fat bike, they are still fun, right?

Riding all the wheel sizes have made me realize its about the wheels, its about the bike, the rider and the experiences you have. The bottom line is regardless of wheel size if it is a great bike the wheel size becomes almost irrelevant. I get just as much pleasure out of riding my hard tail as I did out of the full suspension 26/ 650b/ 29er, each bike has different attributes and can be enjoyed for what they are.

If I could pick a dream garage I would probably keep a 26” hard tail, a 650b enduro bike and a 29er trail bike. But to coin a phrase from MBR, just pick a wheel size and just get out and ride…

Opinion: Bike Biz guest column

Recently I was asked to talk about my favourite subject for a feature in Bike Biz, maybe my tweeting of my displeasure of dumb standards hadn't gone unnoticed after all....

To be honest I was more than a little nervous about sticking my neck on the block so I was extremely careful not to point the finger at anybody. So far the reaction has been extremely positive from comment's on-line/ social media and also face to face at Core Bike.

A big thanks to Mark Sutton at Bike Biz for the opportunity to vent, follow him on twitter at @marksuttonbike

You can also read on-line here.

Opinion: Is coil suspension dead?

Recently I was asked by Singletrack magazine to contibute to a feature entitled "are coil springs dead?" this is what I said...
Dan Jones, marketing manager at Marzocchi importers Windwave.
“Absolutely not! In terms of outright suspension performance a coil shock or fork will outperform its air counterpart hands down; of course the answer can never be as simple as that.
Air forks and shocks are now well developed, easy to set up, lightweight and, most importantly for bike manufacturers, any bike supplied with an air shock requires no additional springs to get the bike performing correctly. Coil shocks and forks can be made lighter with the addition of titanium coils, however this adds cost and with the simplicity of an air spring set up you can clearly see why air has become so popular, especially as OEM fitment.
Coil shocks and forks for the aftermarket make a lot of sense, riders looking for higher quality suspension that will give a genuine performance benefit need to try coil – air will feel almost blunted in comparison.
Coils are more active, almost fluid-like in feel and take out pretty much everything, air forks work hard but feel dead in comparison, like sitting on your hands waiting for them to go numb then trying to type; you can type, but it’s all just a little vague…
The benefits are obvious, you are better isolated from the terrain so suffer less fatigue in your hands and forearms, get greater traction and more confidence. Stick a GoPro looking at a coil fork and an air fork and do the same run, the coil fork will look hyperactive; it’s not hyperactive, it’s just doing what suspension should do.”

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