Look, I mean, I totally agree with you, but we're living in this system, and I'm terrified of the what happened to the bookstore industry happening to the local bike shop industry.

You look at the towns that still have quality book stores. You have a few cities that have thriving bookstores: Boston (likely because of students) and SF (likely because of cultural nostalgia and real estate laws, but these are now failing). You then have the consolidation model, where cities have one good bookstore that can compete against amazon: NYC (The Strand), Austin (Bookpeople), Portland (Powell's).

My point is that i would rather the cities follow this consolidation model than fail. You have one, trusted brand within the town, whose entire business model is built on quality and trust, because all parties know there's a cheaper alternative. This is where performance bikes failed, as they sacrificed quality service for price competitiveness. I was actively advising my friends to avoid their mechanics like the plague. The Trek shop seems to be moving in the other direction, as a boutique, with reasonably trusted service, so long as your using their products and, like apple, the added cost premium they charge.

This is not idealism, this is a practical model based on what is honestly a sense of fatalism. The automobile system we have is a path-dependent clusterfuck, and we have to be, not just willing, but be happy to take less than ideal outcomes to fight for real alternatives.

God, that maintenance thing is really a huge factor.

I used to be a bike tech. Somebody ordering a $5000 mountain bike might take a full day to put together. But if you gave me $5000 in cruiser bikes, I could have them all put together well and get some maintenance done. I really loathe how cruisers look, but goddamn they're some of the sturdiest pieces of junk I've ever worked on

Yeah, I am sure they are.

I was actually thinking more of crappy $800 50lb "mountain bikes" with those cheap-ass all-plastic grip shifters and shitty "suspension" forks VERSUS an $800 basic city bike with low-end Shimano internal gear hub (or even single-speed).

I think many folks have developed a taste for actual practicality in their cycling needs and this is a good thing.

Oh definitely. Going back to that awful hideous cruiser. I hate it so much. But if you have a bad back, that's the bike for you no question. You sit upright and you can add a rack for pannier bags. Upright posture, no weight there.

It's an excellent design ergonomically speaking

one of the bike stores in my town was bought by trek, now you can only buy expensive parts there. they dont sell anything low end or for beginners. the cheapest kids bike they sell was $200, lowest priced helmet was $80.

> the cheapest kids bike they sell was $200

To be honest this is not an unreasonable bottom-end price. If your budget for a bicycle is lower than this you are better off looking at buying second-hand.

It’s not a reasonable bottom end because you can sell a viable kids bike for far less, and many people even in a wealthy nation like the US simply don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on a bike that will quickly become too small to use.

I agree with you that used is a better value, but Walmart will sell you a kid’a bike for a quarter of that price that is perfectly fit for many use cases. It will weigh more, be less durable and serviceable but if you’re looking for something that will be used to go around your 1/5 of a mile street a few times a week (a common kids bike use case) it’s fine.

The cost structure of an LBS isn't the same as Wal-Mart. You can't compare pricing equitably because the latter has a disproportionate influence over their suppliers. Also physical hard goods aren't the same as electronics. Their material inputs are always increasing in cost. Compare to prices these things sold for 40 years ago. A $50 kids bike in 1980 should by rights cost $160 today and they were never even that cheap back then. That Wal-Mart can sell a bike shaped object for $50 without any apparent concern for inflationary pressure is more indicative of significant compromises on build quality. The bicycle industry has an issue with ridiculous gouging on the mid/high end but the bottom end is reasonable if you don't set unrealistic expectations.

It would be much better for society overall to buy and sell secondhand, high quality, serviceable bikes than for everybody to buy a junk bike which is later trashed.