Last year we decided to put together a quick survey to ask local cyclists about their experiences with local bike shops (LBS). This gave people an opportunity to sing their praises, but also to highlight what they could do better / differently.

We had a total of 48 responses, to the survey, which is not as many as we had hoped for, but when you consider that we only have just over 100 members, then it’s not too bad! We offered a £50 voucher to encourage people to fill out the survey – the winner drawn at random from the responses was Megan Winfield who chose a Bikelux voucher as her prize.

The survey responses highlighted a marked imbalance between the number of male and female cyclists, with women only accounting for 20%. This broadly reflects the split between cyclists out on the road, so it didn’t come as a surprise. However, there was a good split amongst all age groups and amongst the various cycling disciplines. There was also a good split in terms of the annual cycle mileage of respondents, from occasional cyclists through to dedicated high milers all represented.

We had feedback in relation to seven different local bike shops including a couple that are outside West Berkshire. However, it didn’t seem to matter which shop people visited, the responses were similarly glowing, with a whopping 85% saying that their experience had been ‘very good’.

When invited to comment on anything that was particularly good / bad about their experience, most people mentioned one or more of the following:

▪ Friendly, knowledgeable, helpful staff
▪ Great customer service
▪ Reasonable prices
▪ Fair and honest
▪ Advice and sales tailored to the customer’s needs.

This reflects our own experiences and shows what a great job our local bikes shops are doing. In these days of internet shopping, it is the customer experience that will allow shops to compete, and they seem to be delivering this in spades. You can find out more about what people thought of their local bike shops in our survey report.

And remember, Spokes members can get 10% discount on parts and bikes at a number of local bikes shops including Banjo, BIkelux and Specialized – just show your membership card when you make your purchase.