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The closest shop to me is more than an hour away. Factor in that all my stuff is campy, that shop can't do anything for me anyway. There is a place for shops, especially in service, but they have to service all kinds of bikes and drivetrains. The locals all ride SRAM or Shimano and are willing to hop in their cars and drive 90 minutes to have a broken cable replaced. I fix a lot of local bikes and keep stuff like cables, housings, tires, and chains in my garage. When I order parts, I usually add in some stuff the locals will need. I just charge them a few bucks over what I paid.
I wish there were good shops everywhere, but the direction that cycling has gone in the past decade has promoted just a couple of brands that don't speak to each other. Along with that is service aligned to a brand and dinosaurs like me that ride steel bikes end up doing our own work. I need a shop for headsets and occasional wheel issues. I need to learn wheels.
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