Price is NOT the big difference between bike shops and big-box or toy stores!
People mistakenly think bike shops only sell expensive bicycles to enthusiasts and racers! The truth is most bike shop customers are casual, recreational riders. They’ve discovered that ill-fitting, uncomfortable, “toy store” bikes don’t get ridden and don’t last! What DOES make a difference is WHERE you buy your bike!
The Truth About Big-box & Toy Store Bicycles
| Bike Shop Bikes | Big Box Bikes |
|---|---|
| Train their people to match your kind of riding to all your different bicycle choices. | Their clerks are trained to stock shelves! |
| Carefully, proportionally fit your bike to you. This is vital to your safety, comfort, and fun. Quality bikes are built in many sizes to fit you OR a growing rider more safely and longer. | Bikes are “one size fits all!” NO frame size selection or choice. (That’s like Nike™making ONLY size 6 shoes to fit everybody’s feet.) Ridiculous!!! |
| Provide you honest information, have more types of bikes for different types of riding, and let you to test ride your choices. | Have few bike-type choices, no test rides, but MIGHT offer a choice of colors! |
| Quality bicycles are repairable, worth repairing, and are built with better, more durable parts less prone to malfunction or need for repair.icycles are repairable, | Big-box and toy store bikes often use un-fixable, off-brand, “odd-ball” parts, and ARE OFTEN NOT WORTH REPAIRING! |
| Bike shops have expert, trained technicians to build AND repair bicycles.. | Big-box and toy stores have none! |
| Correct, safe bicycle assembly by a bike shop takes an average of an hour or more per bicycle and is FREE! | Big-box and toy stores “throw together” 6 to 10 bikes an hour, and most charge extra for assembly! (A bike shop would charge up to $60 to re-build such a bike.) |
| ALL NEW BIKES need re-adjustment of gears, brakes, spokes, bearings, etc. after an initial 15 to 30 hours of use to operate properly and last. Bike shop warranties cover free adjustments, parts, and labor if problems occur. | Expect bike adjustments to cost an EXTRA $25 to $60…and Big-box and toy stores DON’T do them!DON’T overlook this “hidden expense! And, they can ONLY give you another bike-in-a-box when they sell you a “lemon!” |
| Properly assembled and maintained bikes last and last and last… | Big-box and toy store bikes often malfunction, need costly repairs, and DON’T LAST! |
| Bike shops teach correct operation, safe use, and care, and adjust your bike to you. ONE bicycle that fits, lasts longer and “holds-up” through many riders’ use (and STILL has a re-sale value!) costs less! | Clerks spend little or no time with you, and you get what you pay for! Their bikes fall apart, are sometimes NOT-fixable, are often disposable, and their frequent repair or replacement COSTS YOU MORE!!! |
| You BI-cycle for years on bike shop bikes. | You RE-cycle big-box and toy store bikes! |