I can’t understand why a bike shop would have $1000+ bikes, but doesn’t have a few less than $100 unicycles. I have bought 2 unis from different local bike shops. Just because they had them in stock when I was looking. Both places told me that when they sell one they order another. Most uni riders also ride bikes. Doesn’t really make sense not to have them hanging on the wall.
yeah but there’s probably only gonna be one person in the region of the shop willing to get a really expensive unicycle, so the chances of a sale is slim
-al
customers are customers
both ones I bought were less than $150, You can’t touch one of the bikes for that money. I paid $89 and $139, both for 20"…The Torkers are good and can be had for less than $100…stock a 20 and a 24 or a 16…My old girl friend got one for Christmas at age 14, at age 40 she can still ride it. One place says to me that they don’t sell many of them, I told the guy cause you don’t have any…a duh
I do think that if most bike shops had a few in stock, it would do a lot to encourage people to take it up. The trouble is, those shops don’t like having stock they paid for sitting around forever. It would be nice if you could sell unicycles the way they sell chips and bread- that is the store provides the space and does the selling- but the manufacturer does the stocking and shipping. The store doesn’t own the stock, just gets a fee from the manufacturer to show the product.
As a recent “first-time” unicycle buyer- I can attest that it took me about a year from seeing my first unicycle on amazon to actually buying one. Had I been able to see one in a shop. hold it, imagine myself riding it, and most importantly buy it and walk out with it that day, i think it would have taken less time for me to decide to buy.
It’ll be a matter of profit per area of wall space. In the area they could put one unicycle they could put a whole rack of bike components, lights, tools or other consumables. These will sell an awful lot faster than a unicycle or two, which may well sit there for months before being purchased. There simply aren’t enough people ready and willing to buy unicycles for a normal bike shop to bother stocking them.
Phil
One of the biggest quality cycle shops in my area (J E James in Chesterfield) has had a giraffe unicycle in stock since Adam was a lad. It will never be sold - least of all to anyone who wants a good quality unicycle.
Graham Reads (massive and reputable dealer in Nottingham) had a couple of cheap poor quality unicycles in. I gues they sell a couple at Christmas. Likewise with Samways in Derby.
The point being that people who don’t unicycle will assume that all unicycles are the same. Unicycles are a novelty. Cheap rubbish to be bought, played with twice then left in the shed, then brought out again for one barbecue in the summer. “What can we buy Jimmy? I know - a unicycle! that would be fun.” Etc.
A local bike shop will feel no responsibility to the minority unicyclist community. It will carry stock for its core market: either keen bicyclists, or family bicyclists, and may carry a unicycle or two as novelty items.
Meanwhile, people with a more substantial interest in unicycles will one day Google “unicycle”, find unicycle.com, unicycling.org and so on… and never need to buy from their LBS.
Bike shops in the Seattle area tend to keep a few Torker unicycles around. They don’t tend to carry other brands. That’s all good since Torker now makes a good range of quality unicycles, and much better than the days when Torker only made the CX.
Some of the Seattle area schools teach unicycling as part of PE so there is a ready supply of people willing to buy a unicycle. It’s all good.
Used to be that the only way to buy a unicycle was to go to a Schwinn dealer and get a Schwinn unicycle.
Well my uncle Bob’s bike shop ALWAYS has at least 2 unicycles in and always sells them as far as he tell me…appearantly people just walk in and look at the uni and say ''hey i used to ride one of those…i’ll show my kids how i can ride one" or how they can show their friends or whatever…he just got in a shipment of 7 torker LX’s and CX’s and already withting like 4 weeks sold 5 of them. People come in, Think the unis cool and buy one!
There’s a simple answer, they make more money filling the space with bikes for sale rather than unis. My local Pashley dealer has various unis and Munis in the shop, the shop owner said he never sells any, he only keeps them because he can;t get rid of them. Bike shops do not care about the growth of unicycling, why should they? Having said that my LBS both here and at home stock crappy no-name 20"s for around £100.
This is a good question, but I think I have an answer:
Bike shops should care about the growth of unicycling because if the sport grows, they will be the ones making money selling unicycles. At this point, bike shops compete with electronics stores, movie theatres, restaurants, bookstores, and anywhere else that sells stuff you buy with your discretionary income. Right now, i work in an outdoor gear store, where we really pride ourselves on educating our customers so they will have a good time doing whatever they want to do with the prroducts we sell. The reason for this is that if they have a good time and are properly outfitted, they will keep doing outdoor stuff and spending their money on that rather than spending those bucks on video games or DVDs. Bike shops are the logical place to expand into unicycles, and they can use unicycles to increase their share of the customer’s discretionary income that would otherwise go for something they cannot find in the bike shop.
Now, I’m not saying it is a terribly big market. Yet. Also, I think there are ways that an innovative shop could add unis without taking up wall space where components and lights are traditionally displayed- from hooks on the ceiling, etc. Also, just having a catalog out and one or two representative cycles (maybe even as rental or “try-out” units) might be good. Offering free clinics is another way to build the market. The store I work at does that with climbing gear. Teach 'em how to climb and you’ve got 'em on the hook for at least a chalk bag and some shoes, maybe a harness. Same idea with Unis.
Good answer mboulanger, i guess bike shop owners just haven’t seen the market potential. Unis will always take up usable space in a shop, my lbs hangs wheels and frames from the ceiling to display them. However, if they had 98 wheels and 2 unis on display instead of 100 wheels their wheel sales could quite possibly not be affected, whereas their uni sales would.
my bike store used to only have a Torker CX for sale, but now that there’s like 10 unicyclists in Moscow they have a Torker CX, LX, and a 20" and 24" sun, and a 5’ giraffe. Still nothing really really awesome, probably because there’s not much of a chance of selling a $500 MUni anytime, like, ever.
found one
I found a local bike shop 45 minutes away that had 1 and 1/2 in stock, now he only has 1 in stock. I bought the 1/2. He bought it to replace a seat for a good customer and was having trouble find a cheap saddle to replace it. He had the new black and yellow Torker in the 20", very cool looking.
I get along great with my local bike shop. I go there to get my cranks changed and although I have thought about getting a crank changer gadget, so far I have decided to stay with LBS as I enjoy a bit of bike and uni talk with them. They are impressed with unicycling and I’m quite interested in where they go mountain biking etc.
They do have one annoying habit though - telling me with utter conviction that I wont be able to get a wider 700c or a 20x2.5 inner tube than they stock. Now I may be a little woolley in some areas but I browse unicycledotcom enough to know this is not true.
Is it because I’s a woman? Or a basic refusal to admit thier ignorance? It is ofcourse my mission in life to educate them.
Cathy
I find some bike shops are just weird. I remember when trying to find a rim for my 29er (before Roger sold any) that one LBS simply could not believe 36 hole 700c rims existed. They went on at length at how I must have miscounted the holes in the hub, or when I showed them the hub that I needed a 32 hole hub.
They went out of business last year. That’s what happens when you tell people 36 hole rims don’t exist, you see. Harsh but true. Now I pour the contents of my bank account into another LBS which seems much more open to the idea of riding bizarre wheeled contraptions in unlikely places.
Phil
Unfortunately it is the only LBS in the village.
I had a big speel last time about how they wouldn’t have made batches of 20x2.5 inner tubes and tried to convince me to buy a 20x1.75. But I wasn’t fooled!
Cathy
My nearest LBS owner is a jerk - gives me looks when I’m in there, never nice. I went 30 miles out of my way to order shin pads recently because I refuse to give this guy my business.
just because
It seems that because the X bmx rider behind the counter can’t ride a unicycle, then nobody can. They try to learn in 5 minutes then say this is impossible.
People only do that when they think they can get away with it. If they know you and know that you know what you’re talking about, they’ll probably stop. It’s still anoying that you sometimes have to go through the trouble of educating, first yourself, and then the peoble at the bike shop in order to get what you want.
Not surprising the guy in Ohio reports that unicycles sell well (Ohio is probably the state that has had the most unicycle clubs over the years). Not surprising that Seattle bike shops carry Torker (parent company or formerly known as Seattle Bicycle Supply). Also not surprising that many shops stock crap unicycles and nobody buys them.
Obviously, the vast majority of bike shops are stand-alone or very small chains, and are run by individuals with varying tastes. But one common thread that seems to run through the vast majority of them is that they are owned, managed and run by bicycle enthusiasts. These people know a lot about bikes, and in most cases little or nothing about unicycles.
Remember also that the bike shop business is a lousy money-maker. Profit margins are small, and the people working in most bike shops would not be there if they weren’t serious enthusiasts. People don’t work at ski resorts because “it’s a job,” they work there because it’s easy access to the slopes, and the job lets them ski/board. Bike shops are similar.
The most common/logical reason for stocking cheap-o unicycles is that they sell much faster than expensive ones. The reason for stocking only one (or none) is that they don’t sell very fast at all.
But this is gradually changing. Now I am seeing higher quality unicycles in the shops, because they are available from common distributors (like Torker). Other bike shops, especially the Schwinn and former Schwinn dealers, now have a direct line into Unicycle.com to order unicycles, and are aware of what’s available out there.
They may know a wide range of unicycles exist, but still be a little reluctant to sell them, because of lack of knowledge on the subject, or an unwillingness to support cycles that use lots of non-standard parts. Harder to do replacement parts for them.
But I think the trend will be for bike shops to gradually increase their awareness and knowledge of the unicycle market, and the better shops will continue to be better places to get unicycle service.
For me, mostly I try to leave the local bike shops alone, because they don’t have much I need. They may tend to see me as someone always asking for obscure stuff they don’t have. Instead I try to use them as my resource for helmets, gloves, pedals, etc. I certainly don’t need them as a place to buy a unicycle!