While I love the idea (and I'm speaking as a Riv customer, not as a (very part-time) employee of a DC bike shop), I'm just trying to figure out what the incentive would be for either the bike shop or the customer.
On the customer side, they already apparently get great service from Riv. The upside would be they would (theoretically) get to try out a bike beforehand. For the shop -- even if the customer did order through the shop instead of directly through Riv -- it doesn't seem that there would be enough of an upside to cover all the costs involved. And I'm thinking mostly in terms of the time involved in talking through the various models and set-up options. Given experience with Bromptons, customers either come in (i) knowing exactly what they want -- maybe the whole process takes 30 minutes, or (ii) wanting to go through every single option -- multiple times! There have been customers that have spent what feels like 2 days with a staffmember before pulling the trigger! or not!) The MUCH larger question to me is where would one of the DC-area shops possibly find the space to even highlight a couple models? At most you'd be able to have one or two built-up bikes. Not enough to really provide any kind of benefit to people who want to try one out, unfortunately. Maybe you could have a mid-size Clem and a mid-size Clementine on the floor, at best. (Clem and Clementine because (i) they're at least close to a price-point that people who think they're willing to spend "a lot" (their words, not mine) of money on a comfortable, city-oriented bike would be comfortable with and (ii) they would be available pre-configured, so to speak, and therefore appeal to precisely that market.) (Really -- space is the biggest cost in a booming downtown where landlords are able to charge truly outrageous, eye-popping rents.) Given space constraints, perhaps the best option to sell any of the _other_ Riv models would be to include Riv model geometry in the fit systems that shops have or are starting to have. (BicycleSpace will be getting the Guru fit system (?) at its upcoming shop in Adams Morgan (DC).) With that, a customer interested in a Riv would be able to come in with an idea of the model and set-up and "test" it using that. That might make them more willing to pull the trigger directly with Riv or order through the shop. The shop could charge an up-front fee that reflects the cost of that service, but if the person purchases the bike through the shop, it's deducted from the price of the bike. (That of course assumes that Riv would have some sort of dealer program.) Otherwise, hey, at least the cost of the fitting is less than flying out to the Bay Area! (Caveat: I have no idea if the fit systems actually work or if they're just a nice gimmick.) -- Liz S. Washington, DC p.s. Alan -- I don't think BicycleSpace's new shop(s) have opened yet! As of a week ago they were still in the temporary space in the old Burger King on 5th and G NW... It's not exactly a showroom! On Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 10:12:30 AM UTC-4, Alan Pickett wrote: > > What to DC-centric folks think about helping develop a local dealer for > Riv Bikes, as requested a bug-post or two ago? > > I love the gang at Proteus Bikes in College Park, and I know that College > Park Bicycles has an affinity with Grant/Riv, but somehow I wonder if a > place like Bicycle Space - which just recently opened a new shop right > smack in downtown DC, might have real potential, by tapping into a well > moneyed, bike-commutin' crowd with consumer tastes just precious enough to > make the gorgeous lugs and paint on Riv Bikes a beacon of irresistible > attraction. Does anyone know the Bicycle Space people? Could we talk to > them? > > Either that, or a few of us could quit our day jobs and attempt to open a > bike store... I would assume that we would all become filthy stinking rich > in short order, right? > > Alan in Silver Spring > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
