Hey Chainlink, know what I think is lame?

When a website that claims to be promoting local cycling in the city of Chicago has a banner ad for a site which is one of the many internet discount outlets that make it hard for local bike shops.

Way to go Chainlink, bravo.  Is the advertising dollar worth making things harder on the local shops here in Chicago?

Is this site about serving the local community or is it about being a profit center for it's owner?

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Permalink Reply by Bernard Joseph Hannigan on January 1, 2012 at 4:42pm

My experience with Rapid Transit on Halsted was not a good one...I bought a Bern helmet in the spring that was too small and did an even exchange for a larger one that was $5 cheaper. I noticed the price difference and the guy with the tatoo fingers said we were "even" after the exchange. Guess he needed the fiver to buy lunch...Asked both him and the mechanic some technical wheel questions, and they both seemed quite uncaring and useless...That was my 2nd and last trip to Rapid.

Permalink Reply by Michael A on January 1, 2012 at 5:06pm

the power button

h' said:

Does anyone know what I have to click to see the current score?


Matty Matt Matteo said:

+1 

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on January 1, 2012 at 5:07pm

Alt + F4 should do it.  


h' said:

Does anyone know what I have to click to see the current score?


Matty Matt Matteo said:

+1 

Permalink Reply by Gerry G on January 1, 2012 at 5:35pm

Chainlink: Supports local cycling this fact is obvious.

Chainlink: Accepts ads from LBS and non-local suppliers.  This act isn't mutually exclusive from my perspective.  People vote with their dollars every day.

Chainlink: Accepts post from members promoting services offered by an LBS, (that would be DUG).  If it's okay with the host no harm no foul.

 

I pay my dues to Chainlink, $60.00 annually, because I like this place and the people who frequent it.  So I vote with my dough that this site doesn't run in the red.  I don't expect Hochstaster to subsidize it, do you DUG?  Profit center, that's a good one, sounds like stranded bike broken key, idiot advice from Chainlink.

 

Please do not delete this thread.  DUG has been civil and doesn't warrant censure.     

It would violate free speech, which we should all work to protect.  If you do not care for my posts simply sidestep around them as you might manure in a pasture, same with DUG.

Permalink Reply by Dan Korn on January 1, 2012 at 9:17pm

Steel Driver said:

I pay my dues to Chainlink, $60.00 annually,


There are dues? I guess I've been freeloading this whole time.

Permalink Reply by Sol on January 2, 2012 at 1:00am
It is my understanding that the Chainlink has cost Julie way more money than it has produced. She doesn't get paid anything for the time she spends managing the site. She is just trying to break even without charging a fee to users so the site doesn't cost her any money. Even if she were making some money from the site, it would not bother me in the least. Think of all of the Chainlinkers who have moved away and commented that they wished there was a similar site in their new home towns. I for one am very appreciative of the fact that the site exists at all, even with the new ads which I mostly just ignore. Thank you Julie for all your hard work and effort.
Permalink Reply by Gerry G on January 2, 2012 at 1:53am

Dan Korn, you've just been unaware, very easily rectified.

http://www.thechainlink.org/page/support-the-chainlink

Many users have probably been unaware they can support Chainlink directly!

 

Thanks to DUG for the courage to post this thread.  He has inadvertently provided an important PSA, illuminating our community of the opportunity to properly support local bike driving, AKA Chainlink.  I think I ran a stop sign in that last sentence.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on January 2, 2012 at 2:18am
Permalink Reply by David on January 2, 2012 at 4:23am

This brings up something I've been really curious about.  Why do Chicago LBS's have such a terrible selection of good commuter accessories?  I would have thought that things like decent panniers have huge markups and are cash cows for an LBS, but there's only a handful of shops in town where you can buy something better than Banjo or Avenir, and even in those there's generally not much choice.  The idea of going to a Chicago LBS to, say, compare two or three good laptop panniers really isn't a possibility.  There's a thread going on next door about local sources for things like the PDW cupholder or good eyeglass mirrors, kind of obvious stuff for commuters I would have thought.

I didn't think much of this before, but this summer I was in Quebec, a relatively tiny city of 500K or so, and even the smallest out-of-the-way bike shop had a wide selection of good quality panniers, handlebar bags, etc., good quality stuff for people commuting to something other than a messenger job. It really stunned me.  The smallest stores I saw had a better selection than the even best stores here.   I've had the same experience in many other cities (all non-US, admittedly).

I'm not complaining, I'm just curious why this is.  Is it that the bike market is much more tilted toward the economic low-end here? Or is it that bike style here still leans strongly toward the hipster/fixie/messenger low-cost look, or perhaps that the crime rate makes people avoid nicer accessories?  Maybe shops here have lower capitalization and higher rents that don't allow for a larger inventory?  Or is it the tax structure that pushes people online for higher-cost items?  Or is it something to do with how manufacturers provide inventory here (i.e., purchase vs. consignment or something)?



James BlackHeron said:

Seriously, I don't really think there are ANY LBS's out there pushing dyno-hub systems much less carry many decent dyno systems or components.  This alone is one of the many reasons I prefer buying stuff online because the LBS's in Chicago do not really cater to such things.   Is it because there isn't much demand or because they just don't supply anything -chicken or egg?  

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on January 2, 2012 at 4:40am

I have an obligation to get my bike stuff at the best price possible.  If BIKE NASHBAR or BIKESDIRECT get me the same product at 1/2 the cost, it is my obligation to me to keep my $$ in my account.

See, you and I disagree about what obligation means.



notoriousDUG said:

...a local bike shop.

Yes, obviously, I have a vested interest in local bike shops, specifically the one I work at, but this is nothing new.  Even before I worked in the industry I have been a proponent of shopping via a local shop vs. online purchases.  I order almost nothing, bike related or otherwise, online because I think of it as detrimental to local businesses and to a small extent the local economy. Buying local is, in my opinion, 'the right thing to do' with your purchasing power.

I also feel that cyclists, as part of the small, often under serviced, community have an obligation to try and support local shops.  By extension The Chainlink, as a online cycling community has a certain obligation to help out local shops over out of state online businesses.

Michael A said:

As HE uses the site for free advertising to promote............

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on January 2, 2012 at 4:50am

OK, I want to say this again just to be crystal clear on it because I think people are misinterpreting what I am saying.

I have no issue with Julie making money off of this site; trying to turn a website or message board into a for profit site usually results in a good message board because the owner wants to pay attention.  I used to get paid by a service that message board owners paid to generate traffic so they were able to sell ad-space; it is a bigger industry than you would suspect.  Believe it or not you actually CAN make some money of a forum once it crests about 2,500 members and has a decent amount of traffic; Julie has not gone with a few of the routes that could do that, I hope because they do not let you control the ads that appear, and I appreciate that.  I just think that if she is keeping advertising selective it is a shame to promote things that move money out of Chicago.

Sol said:

It is my understanding that the Chainlink has cost Julie way more money than it has produced. She doesn't get paid anything for the time she spends managing the site. She is just trying to break even without charging a fee to users so the site doesn't cost her any money. Even if she were making some money from the site, it would not bother me in the least. Think of all of the Chainlinkers who have moved away and commented that they wished there was a similar site in their new home towns. I for one am very appreciative of the fact that the site exists at all, even with the new ads which I mostly just ignore. Thank you Julie for all your hard work and effort.
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on January 2, 2012 at 5:01am

There are shops that have stuff like that and they try very hard to have that stuff in stock but here is the issue:

It does not sell.

Stuff like that hangs on the wall for months and months and many shops cannot always afford to have inventory that does not move out the door.  It would be great to offer every retail option out there for all sorts of gear but it is not a financial reality for most shops.

I think there is one thing it is important to realize; as members of the cycling community and active riders we here all have a very skewed perception of bike shop clientele.  Again, I cannot speak for all shops but I can speak for where I work.  I would say that 75% of the year or more the vast majority of  our customers are not really very active cyclists.  Oh sure, you see a lot of bikes on the street but how many of them are 'into' bikes or care about bikes, the community or anything beyond getting to work?  Just look at the membership on this site!  The Chainlink has close to 6,500 members but how many of them do you see posting actively?  I bet that number is under 100.

It's hard to wrap your mind around but even though there are a ton of cyclists here int he city the number of cyclists who are 4 season commuting and using a bike for utilitarian means are still a very small group.  When I started working at bike shops I imagined meeting tons of people just like me who biked everywhere and were really dedicated to it...

Yeah, not so much. It's a small portion, a third or less, who are the people looking for commuter type stuff like lap top bags or nice fenders so with a limited budget and limited space guess what gets cut?

David said:

This brings up something I've been really curious about.  Why do Chicago LBS's have such a terrible selection of good commuter accessories?  I would have thought that things like decent panniers have huge markups and are cash cows for an LBS, but there's only a handful of shops in town where you can buy something better than Banjo or Avenir, and even in those there's generally not much choice.  The idea of going to a Chicago LBS to, say, compare two or three good laptop panniers really isn't a possibility.  There's a thread going on next door about local sources for things like the PDW cupholder or good eyeglass mirrors, kind of obvious stuff for commuters I would have thought.

I didn't think much of this before, but this summer I was in Quebec, a relatively tiny city of 500K or so, and even the smallest out-of-the-way bike shop had a wide selection of good quality panniers, handlebar bags, etc., good quality stuff for people commuting to something other than a messenger job. It really stunned me.  The smallest stores I saw had a better selection than the even best stores here.   I've had the same experience in many other cities (all non-US, admittedly).

I'm not complaining, I'm just curious why this is.  Is it that the bike market is much more tilted toward the economic low-end here? Or is it that bike style here still leans strongly toward the hipster/fixie/messenger low-cost look, or perhaps that the crime rate makes people avoid nicer accessories?  Maybe shops here have lower capitalization and higher rents that don't allow for a larger inventory?  Or is it the tax structure that pushes people online for higher-cost items?  Or is it something to do with how manufacturers provide inventory here (i.e., purchase vs. consignment or something)?



James BlackHeron said:

Seriously, I don't really think there are ANY LBS's out there pushing dyno-hub systems much less carry many decent dyno systems or components.  This alone is one of the many reasons I prefer buying stuff online because the LBS's in Chicago do not really cater to such things.   Is it because there isn't much demand or because they just don't supply anything -chicken or egg?  

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