Quality Over Quantity

Our industry certainly is changing. We've been doing this for 15 years, some of us a bit longer, and we've noticed some good trends and some bad trends in our industry. Our sport has become more mainstream and more people are embracing cycling as a lifestyle, a way to stay healthy and as a practical means of transportation than ever before. So how have things changed?

Proper fit is something more people are more concerned with than they were even 10 years ago. Now most shops of reasonable quality have a fitting service and some of the major brands have begun using "fit" in their marketing campaigns. Truly accurate fittings were only available to professionals and most people didn't even know that this field of expertise existed. This is all great for the industry, it's great for us as well, in fact, every cyclist will benefit from this trend. Accurate bike fit as a term has changed a bit in recent years. The issue now is that there are many conflicting methodologies and techniques taught to people looking to become fitters. Many of these fit methods are based purely on numbers and are based more on mathematics than true observation. A number of the fit clinics offered throughout the country teach a very regimented, step by step system of fit that does not teach someone how to identify and address a cyclist's individual goals, strengths and weakness'. One method cannot work for all cyclists. The nice thing is that people are paying attention and as fitters, we've discovered many new ways of helping cyclists improve their performance while maintaining comfort and reducing the risk of injury.

Manufacturing is changing very rapidly and this is one area where we've seen some negative trends. How many people remember when Schwinn, Cannondale, and a few others were American made bikes? In fact, most of those companies have been bought and sold more than a few times by now. While demand for product has grown, manufacturing of high end bikes has shifted almost entirely to Asia. That is not to say someone in Taiwan is not a skilled welder, just that the odds are they really don't care what they are welding (or molding). The product has become more disposable and and the focus is on quantity over quality. This is also why companies now only offer four or five sizes when in the past companies offered ten or more. We've all been told that now five sizes fit everyone, this is simply a marketing tool and clearly it's cheaper to build five sizes instead of ten. There are more than five sizes of shoes right? Out of the dozens of American and European brands commonly known as high end bikes, most are made in the same factory. It costs far less to build a typical production bike than we are led to believe. Most of the costs are in marketing, team sponsorship (more marketing), and shipping. The companies that build bikes here in the states are passionate about building a product that is quantifiably better than anything else. They cost more because they are more valuable. They also just happen to ride better. There are reasons a lot of these companies don't want you to see their factories as well. The environmental and labor laws in Asia are vastly different than here at home. In fact, even after a lot of tedious of research I was unable to find actual photos of these factories.

Retailers have changed a bit too. Now there are many different models than in the past. We still have the traditional shop that carries everything from kids bikes to high end road and mountain bikes. We have shops that focus exclusively on low price point brands and we have high end shops as well. Our model is something that is more common now as well, a fit studio that focuses on service and bicycles of the highest quality only. Yes, we're spoiled, but we're also able to take better care of our clients with the product we offer.

So what about us, how do we fit in to all of this? Well, when we started talking about opening this business, we discussed all of these different factors. Our history has been in mostly high end but all three of us have worked in just about every conceivable version of bicycle shop there is. Those of you who have been to Bespoke know our model but for those who don't know, we are a high end fit and customer service focused business. We've made an effort to find the absolute best bicycle companies there are. We didn't want to be under the thumb of large brands that impose inventory requirements regardless of the economy. We want to offer products we would ride ourselves, products we believe in. We want the companies we support to be good, honest passionate cyclists just like us. We want to sell something that is the best possible option for someone, not the bike that's been sitting in the rafters for a year. We sell bikes that last, bikes that are better than anything else out there in every way. Quality over quantity.