Opinion/Analysis

Santa Fe retailer Charles Verral says, "We should all be grateful for dealer agreements, preseason commitments, manufacturers' set prices, and other evolving systems like click-to-brick. "

"My challenge to you, the store owner or manager, is to begin paying your best mechanic one-third of your store's hourly labor rate," says James Stanfill.

As a U.S. manufacturer, there are unique major challenges that we face and because of this, we support the administration's additional tariffs on Chinese bicycle racks and components.

Tagged Tariffs

I founded Specialized on the belief that cycling changes lives. I’m living proof of that fact.

Fishman (center) is president and co-founder of Pure Cycles.

Michael Fishman provides a glimpse into how a small-business owner is dealing with the recent increase in tariffs on Chinese-made goods being imported into the U.S., including the e-bike tariff that took effect Thursday.

Tagged Tariffs / Electric bike

We should consider charging a consulting fee that is relevant and fair but should also be disclosed up front.

Tagged Retailer education

Anyone who operates a business within the bike industry knows how challenging things are today. My suggestion is to approach these challenges by viewing your business as a wheel.

U.S. consumers can often buy from non-U. S. sites without paying sales taxes or import duties. Sometimes that gives foreign retailers a head start of 20 percent or more.

WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — Now that the Supreme Court has (almost) resolved the state tax issue for online retailers, the time might be right to push to increase the collection of import duties.

This anonymous guest editorial first appeared in PBMA Mechanics Minute, a weekly newsletter from the Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association.

Barnett Bicycle Institute's Jeff Donaldson says recent industry reports point to the importance of investing in technical training.

Tagged Retailer education

Industry veteran Dave Goeppner says adapting to new buying habits will take courage, especially for purveyors of premium products.

Matt Powell.

Matt Powell, an analyst at The NPD Group, says he's never liked the term "omnichannel" to describe the new sports retail environment.

Industry veteran Dan Sotelo says, "IBDs need to bite the bullet, stop resisting and alienating online consumers, and just face the fact that the internet is here to stay."

Jeff Rowe, vice president of the Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association, says a trained service staff can turn lost sales into opportunities.

Where are you and your staff, at the IBD, getting technical training on an ongoing basis?

Tagged Retailer education

BRAIN's editor-in-chief says female consumers are going to vote with their wallets when they encounter sexist marketing campaigns, but it's not BRAIN's job to protect companies from themselves.

Stop means stop.

Responding to an earlier opinion column, Ray Keener says, "Americans love bicycles, they're just not so crazy about cyclists. I believe that, collectively, we as cyclists can't encourage a change in the law that further erodes the general perception of our ilk."

Photo by Bidgee, Wikicommons.

For 35 years, people riding bikes in Idaho have been allowed to do something they can't legally do just about anywhere else—treat stop signs as yields. Until June 2017, Idaho was the sole state that permitted this behavior. Now it's been joined by Delaware. Is California next?

Sarah Lamb analyzes some results from a recent PBMA member survey.

Drive Revenue and Sell Service. One simple idea from James Stanfill.

Tagged Retailer education
Sarah Lehman.

The CEO of Enve says accomplishments in Utah are threatened by recent controversies.

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