The Pro's Closet at it again

[November Dave]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

I feel you, bro

Thanks, it's all why I got sane and we've scaled back dramatically. Rotor shims with the occasional wheel build is a very nice side business!

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by November Dave

Thanks, it's all why I got sane and we've scaled back dramatically. Rotor shims with the occasional wheel build is a very nice side business!

Very smart.

Some of those wheels you guys built out during the peak days of rim brake bespoke bikes were just so wonderful.

The good old days!

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by November Dave

Because it's a complete pain in the butt as a business, with low margins, no barrier to entry, precious few ways to differentiate no matter how good you are at it, it's labor intensive and physically demanding, no opportunities for scale, access to vendors is marginal, inventory costs are high relative to turns, Chinese wheel brands are doing an awfully good job of competing these days, and customer expectations for sales and service are poorly matched with revenue and margins.

A reasonable selection of hubs would be +/- 10 lines across +/- 7 brands. Among them you have at least 4 different freehub options, 6 bolt/Centerlock/rim, an average of about 6 colors, 4 front drillings and 3 rear drillings, several axle lengths, and different end caps. Keeping hubs in stock is impossible. Rims aren't much easier. Spokes are a little easier but not much - if you have a cutter/threader you can get away with a few hundred spokes each of 3 types in 2 colors in about 8 lengths. Only about $10k of spokes, but at least you should turn them with some regularity.

And your labor price is constantly compared to the customer's buddy who will screw it all up terribly in return for a 6 pack.

It's tough sledding.

Years ago, there was a very different model and paradigm in place regarding wheels. A few decades ago, rims and spokes, quite frankly, sucked. Mangled rims and broken spokes were just a fact of life that everyone had to deal with on a regular basis. A rider might go through multiple wheel rebuilds on the same set of hubs. So, a rider getting their wheels rebuilt by the local shop was common. Until the 1990s or so, a complete groupset would not only include shifters, derailleurs, cranks, BB (and possible also headset, seatpost and/or pedals), but it would also include a pair of hubs. The groupset purchaser would then have the local shop build up a pair of wheels on the hubs with the rims and spokes of their choice.

Fast forward to today, and wheels are much more reliable. Unless crashed, a set of rims and spokes may last nearly as long as the hubs, so rebuilding wheels is less common. So it usually makes more sense to buy complete wheels, then it does to have wheels built on demand. Also add to that the increase in wheel gimmickry (primarily driven by the need to differentiate wheels), which means that wheels often contain proprietary components, which can make rebuilding wheels less practical.

[November Dave]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Very smart.

Some of those wheels you guys built out during the peak days of rim brake bespoke bikes were just so wonderful.

The good old days!

Thanks! I always had the thought of doing an Instagram post with a map showing all the places around the shop where I took product/Instagram photos. They're almost all within about a 1.5 block radius in Newport, but there were a few field trip locations.

Mark - I hear it. Back when I was first really getting into racing, Wednesday night of speed week was wheel truing night. Now Speedweek doesn't exist any more in that way, and people more or less justifiably expect to never have to true wheels. People would often ask me to build with some old rims for a classic look on an 11 speed hub and I'd be like "you know this is going to be terrible, right?" Mostly I'd say no thanks to those but wound up doing a few.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by prototoast

While they have closed, according to this article from Brain, they haven't declared bankruptcy. https://www.bicycleretailer.com/reta...eing-auctioned

I also haven't seen reports of creditors not being paid.

It seems quite plausible that they still have a potentially significant amount of cash on hand, but if they were losing money now and for the foreseeable future, it might have made sense to shut down quickly rather than continue losing money.

Homepage now says "stay tuned for more news...".

Did anyone score a deal at the liquidation sale? I'm scrolling through the top sellers and I don't see any screaming deals. Add the 18% buyers premium + 9% sales tax too.

Someone bought 400 Vittoria Zaffiro 700x23 tires for $2850 before fees.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

Someone bought 400 Vittoria Zaffiro 700x23 tires for $2850 before fees.

Probably an Amazon reseller.

[peanutgallery]

That is an awful lot of an awfully narrow 700x23 tire. Like a lifetime supply for the current marketof an entire continent. For not much more...a retailer can buy them when they need them. I'd be willing to bet that a large number of that lot wind up in a landfill within 10 years. A break even for the buyer if they're lucky

700x28...different story. The market has evolved quickly

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

Probably an Amazon reseller.

[nmrt]

Ya know, you're on Paceline, right?
Folks are still running steel tubed bikes from 1970 with DT shifters and 21 mm tires. They'd line up for 23 mm Zaffiro's for $12 at Amazon.

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

That is an awful lot of an awfully narrow 700x23 tire. Like a lifetime supply for the current marketof an entire continent. For not much more...a retailer can buy them when they need them. I'd be willing to bet that a large number of that lot wind up in a landfill within 10 years. A break even for the buyer if they're lucky

700x28...different story. The market has evolved quickly

[peanutgallery]

The slightly oversized beads will be so close together on their 30 year old, 12mm wolber aero rims that it'll cause a multitude of flats...and a 15 page thread

Originally Posted by nmrt

Ya know, you're on Paceline, right?
Folks are still running steel tubed bikes from 1970 with DT shifters and 21 mm tires. They'd line up for 23 mm Zaffiro's for $12 at Amazon.

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

That is an awful lot of an awfully narrow 700x23 tire. Like a lifetime supply for the current marketof an entire continent. For not much more...a retailer can buy them when they need them. I'd be willing to bet that a large number of that lot wind up in a landfill within 10 years. A break even for the buyer if they're lucky

700x28...different story. The market has evolved quickly

Once the industry is done brainwashing us that wider is faster and we've all stockpiled 700x35 slick tires, they will provide new evidence that thinner is faster and sell us 700x23's all over again. When happens, this guy with his universe-lifetime supply of 700x23's will be laughing as he rides his 2009 Madone 6.9 all the way to the bank.

Also, as nmrt pointed out, in seriousness or facetiousness I can't tell, there are still a great deal of people running 700x23's, and a great deal of people who just want decent rubber cheap. I know this because several times a year we tune bikes that need new tires, and the customer insists on the cheapest option available ($20ish), even if we tell them that by spending $50 per tire their bike will feel like a completely different, totally wonderful machine. Nope, $20 tops, and if we have something used that's even better.

Oh, and don't replace the tubes --they'll patch them at home later. But I'm digressing, unless someone bought 8000 Park Tool patch kits for .50 a piece at this Pro's Closet sale.