Demo days are dead?
- Thread starter poita
- Start date
redbruce
Eats Squid
Yarra Valley Cycles (Lilydale), The Ride (Kew), Freedom Machine (Richmond), to name but a few.
coarselanguagw
Likes Dirt
I was still surprised by the differences between Giant and Trek stores in Sydney and Gold Coast.
In Sydney at 2 Giant stores and 2 Trek stores I was told that the demo days sometimes book out in a matter of hours and that to borrow a demo bike it would be $89 per day. Any money spent would be refunded from the final purchase price.
One Giant store and 2 Trek stores on the Gold Coast were the complete opposite. They offered free demo bikes that you could take out for a few days at no cost.
I was looking at and Trance and a Remedy.
It seems that in Sydney at least the shops are loathe to lend out demo bikes to take to the trails without charging as the feel they will be exploited if they don't charge for the privilege.
Even when demo days happen once a year or whatever by the time you find out about it everything is booked.
When I went to the Cannonball festival at Thredbo I thought that would have been a really good opportunity to have at least one of the big brands provide some demo bikes. Maybe even just 1-2 days before the event.
I think failing to provide demo bikes is only going to draw more and more people to nuke proof / polygon and canyon.
In Sydney at 2 Giant stores and 2 Trek stores I was told that the demo days sometimes book out in a matter of hours and that to borrow a demo bike it would be $89 per day. Any money spent would be refunded from the final purchase price.
One Giant store and 2 Trek stores on the Gold Coast were the complete opposite. They offered free demo bikes that you could take out for a few days at no cost.
I was looking at and Trance and a Remedy.
It seems that in Sydney at least the shops are loathe to lend out demo bikes to take to the trails without charging as the feel they will be exploited if they don't charge for the privilege.
Even when demo days happen once a year or whatever by the time you find out about it everything is booked.
When I went to the Cannonball festival at Thredbo I thought that would have been a really good opportunity to have at least one of the big brands provide some demo bikes. Maybe even just 1-2 days before the event.
I think failing to provide demo bikes is only going to draw more and more people to nuke proof / polygon and canyon.
Duane
Likes Bikes and Dirt
Those days are dying as the importers/suppliers don't offer as good terms and conditions for the shops as has been in the past.
I don't think it's reasonable for a shop to have to purchase tens of thousands of dollars of bikes (high end models in multiple sizes add up fast) to provide as demo bikes. They need to be provided at an importers level and could be rotated around the stores. Shops want demo bikes, they want to provide that level of service, but with every Tom Dick and Harry shopping online shops run on reduced margins already. Thinking it's the shops responsibility to provide you with a demo bike shows how little you know of the industry.
wavike
Likes Dirt
On the Gold Coast the one brand stores are competing against each other, not others stores selling the same brand. The Trek guys have 3 locations I think, giant 2 and Splesh store is massive and 500m from trail head. They all provide service and are good to deal. It's been interesting over the years seeing what brand is popular. Lots of giants, then splesh and now trek seem the most popular. The splesh store seems to be selling lots of road bikes and more high end mtb's. There was a big splesh test ride day a while back and the Bicycle centre had a lapierre and norco day before that. As you mentioned giant and trek have test bikes, so do splesh. The bicycle centre also has a few. So many good bikes, so little time and cash :baby:
