Why dont bikeshop people want to sell women good bikes

[rearviewmirror]

Being part owner of a bike shop I'll give you my perspective. We run across as many people who have no clue what they're talking about as those who do. Meaning we have guys coming in who want a DH bike because of the way it looks, but then tells us that their mates only ride on flat singletrack. In those cases we would say that it's not the right bike for them. If we let them buy a 45 lbs DH rig and they're only XC riding they'll be pissed. Telling someone who is in the know what not to buy is bad practice and generally doesn't happen. We ONLY sell the bikes and brands that we ride and race though. So we might also push someone to a bike that we think will meet their needs better based on what they've told us. I am the powerhouse rider on the team, we have some guys who use finesse, we have differing opinions for bikes on the same race courses so naturally we'll steer people based on their expectations.

 

[zstreetco]

Way of the sale at the place i work is 'The customer is always right'. I guess some bike shops, especially specialty ones may have big ego's, but the way it is where I work is if the customer wants a 45lbs Downhill bike worth X amount, then we will work to sell them that bike AFTER explaining what the bike is meant for..........who in their right mind would try talking someone out of a big bike sale if they had explained what the bike is for and the customer understood......crazy people

And in my opinion, fair call on being pissed off, shoulda bought the complete opposite of what they suggested just outta spite! Hope your bike shop experience has since improved

 

[mlsred]

Sexism and Ageism suck

agreed there, I sold a marin quake 7.9 dh bike to a lady the other day and as I was helping her to the car with it some bloke made a smart ass comment, thankfully she told him where to go and I told him she would ride circles around him (he went quiet very quickly).

also my pet hate, i'm 17 years old and have been offered jobs as a mechanic on multiple occasions but customers still ignore me and wait until someone older than me has free time so they can talk to someone "who knows what they are doing" and funnily it's either older blokes or younger women who say that to me .

 

[Chickpea]

I'm pretty lucky with our LBS as the guys who work there are all great & very helpful even the 17 year olds... lol.

It all seems strange that the guys who aren't interested when women come into the shop haven't work it out yet that if they get her set up & she enjoys riding it's not only the bike they've sold her but then we've also got to get all the accessories that go with it!!! And that means more $$$. And of course in my case you then you want to upgrade to a better (& more expensive bike) & then you want to keep on improving & getting fitter so you invest in a road bike as well.

So in reality I think women are really an untapped market for bike shops which a smart few have already wizened up to!!

 

[MrsH]

Hi ladies, I'm pretty lucky as I've had family in the industry (thus I was treated well at their stores!) but I've struck attitude in stores at times, sadly it's usually egos costing them sales! I came across a lovely young, female working at a store in the outer eastern sub's the other day. She was very nice, polite, helpful and not the slightest bit put out by my (mid 30's) newby questions.

 

[the_paradoxical]

I find this all strange... If I worked in a bike shop and I encountered a female asking questions about a high end bike the only thing she should be worried about is me hitting on her, because she suddenly scored bonus points for being into the riding caper.
Then I would talk bikes - good bikes - with her and sell her an awesome rig and ask if she was interested in going for a ride sometime...
A female that knows about bikes or at least wants to know about bikes is amazing! I guess as someone earlier said the sales people selling these cheaper bikes are probably not riders themselves.

 

[floody]

I've been looking around for a dh bike that i can ride. I've got a store guy who said to me that i dont want to ride DH cause that is for men. I should stick to the social biking because i'm to fragile. LITTERALY said that.

I have had 3 issues that being 1 of them

2. I came in looking for an Intense m3 prices. and i asked what he could do for me. said couldnt do much. My friend BoB* and i have heard about this unfair thing with girls so we thought we would see if it was true. So BoB* walked into the store after i left asked for price on m3 and asked if he could do a better price. the sales guy knocked 200 off the bike for him. We both had the same information.

3. i was out right told i was to short for them to sell me a decent bike. i'm about 5ft 2. no offer on another place to go or any help on ways to find a bike smaller

I reckon unless you have a time machine, or the store had some three year old stock, you'd struggle to price up a new M3 anywhere regardless of gender.

Poor form if it did happen. Can't apologise for those people, but there are plenty of shops that will sell you what you want, if you explain what you want.

Lots of male sales people will automatically assume you want an entry to mid level bike IF you don't make some attempt at explaining what you want. This IS the largest demographic of female bike buyers in my experience, so like assuming kids will want a BMX or DJ bike, gnarly dudes decked out in extreme sport apparel might want a FR bike, guys wearing 2XU skins under their sporting brand gear might want a racey road bike, until you explain somewhat about what you want, people will be flat out guessing.

Its not just a woman's problem, frankly.

So, just say what you want, or at least give a good description, to get what you want. Generally, unless you run into a bunch of sizist, sexist douchebags, but hopefully they are in the minority.

 

[carpo]

ill try to fix it

with bikes shops becooming more wide spread i tink that it might be time for girls to start working in bike shops because then they can make the changes that are needed and i know a bike shop that is starting to look at employing girls because of the gap in the industry

 

[wombat]

What I had in mind was active listening (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening)

I heard a quote that puts it nicely: you have two ears and one mouth - and thats the ratio you should listen/speak. Twice as much listening to speaking. Asking heaps of questions doesn't constitute active listening.

And listening without asking questions (or prompting statements) isn't always going to yield the information you need.

Sometimes you get customers who have a a good idea, or even just some idea, of what they need and want; that makes life easy.

Others have no real idea, and that can be difficult, but not nearly as difficult as people who have an idea of what they want (often based on image, or what Joe down the road is riding), and very little idea of what they need. At the end of the day the customer can buy what they want, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone spend $3000 on a freeride dually to commute on bike paths, without at least explaining some options and ideas to them. If after they've ridden some bikes they still want the 'mad shockies'; well, a fool and his money...

You are not diagnosing someone's problems - you are giving them a sales experience.

See, to me that sounds like jargonistic, marketing rubbish. A sales person might not have to diagnose a 'problem', but they do need to educate themselves about the situation, so that they can provide appropriate advice.
I don't want to be served by someone who spends hours fluffing up my ego in the name of a good 'sales experience', hoping I'll feel really good and waste more of my cash with them, I want someone who offers me the best, and most accurate advice on what I need.
I expect them to listen, but if I don't provide enough information, or can't articulate what I'm on about, I expect them to ask me questions. I expect to come away from a 'sales experience' knowing more than I did when I went in, and I think a talking salesperson is pretty important for that.

 

[jet-ski]

bad bike experience

you know, my favorite bike shop is exactly as was described - the roadie, the track bike dude, the gnarly BMX dude, the MTB dude. The roadie also happened to be a genuinely awesome guy and the owner of the place. The first time I went there i bought a flat bar roadie after looking at about 6 or 7 other bike shops with unhelpful sales people. At the time I didn't think the unhelpfullness was related to my gender. I just thought that good bike shops are hard to find.

 

[Short One]

Stereotypes in bike shops

Hi all,
I'm new on here and have just been looking through some threads. Thought this one was quite intriguing. In fact I wrote something about this topic in my studies last year. I've shared it with you below.
After reading through your thoughts, I'm pleased to know that it wasn't just me and that other women out there have had similar experiences.
______________________________________________________________

“Stereotypes are overgeneralized, exaggerated, and oversimplified beliefs that people use to categorize a group of people” (Allport in DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2004, p. 64).
I’m female, 27, short, fit and sporty. Now I can command respect in bike shops, a few months ago I couldn’t. Why? Stereotypes.
When I first started getting into riding seriously I was looking at upgrading my road bike. So I walked into a bike shop wearing a running singlet (tight and low), ¾ tights with cargo shorts overtop and my long hair out and in its usual fashionable mess. I had to wander around the shop for a good 5 minutes before anyone thought to ask if I needed help. They’d obviously assumed that I’d just taken a wrong turn, was in the wrong shop and being female (with blonde streaks!) too slow to have come to the conclusion that I was in fact in the wrong place. Little did the guys know that I had tried this ploy on purpose. How else to do you get someone to give you a dirt to detail rundown on a certain type of bike to see if they are going to take you for a ride simply because you are female? Shop after shop I tried it. Many were crossed off the list.
Now things are different. I’ve just completed my hunt for a mountain bike. When I walked into the shops this time I took in my new road bike (respect meter +1), it was still in a clean and noiseless state (respect meter +2), I wore lycra (respect meter +3), I had the right helmet (respect meter +4), I had the right shoes (respect meter +5) and I even took in reviews with specs to discuss options (respect meter +++!). Last time I was a lost female whom the bike guys grew to respect. This time I could carry the respect in with me. Stereotypes for you.

 

[uselsRemTulge]

First of all...stop fighting people...peace

Second of all to answer: I have always had this problem and Im not sure the reason why. I guess I agree with the people who said that a girl feels like that one day the guy will change. When a girl loves a guy she doesnt like to leave him or "give up on him". And she will hurt herself just to stay with him.

 

[MMelissa]

Gosh its just crazy how some of you have been treated and spoken to. I've always found bike shop attendants to be pretty surprised at first when they've realised I own and ride decent bikes. I find once they have made the realisation they've generally been really enthusiastic in talking about riding and have been really helpful. Though I don't doubt your stories.

I recently bought a car and you'd swear the salesmen were from the 1950's or some age when women didn't drive cars because they were at home looking after the kids. He wouldn't address me, even though the car was for me. When we went for the dealer finance, my partner's income was listed as the only income for the purpose of the loan application despite me being the primary breadwinner and earning nearly twice what he does.

I couldn't believe one of you was actually told that DH isn't for girls and that you're too fragile to get it. Unbelievable! In fact, that's a good case for the Anti Discrimination Commissioner if you wanted to pursue it. Though I think taking your custom to another store, buying a top end bike from them and letting their competition (and this forum and other riders) know how disgustingly you've been treated would be good enough revenge. I think you should have publicly named and shamed the store! I wouldn't go there!!!

 

[Space_Food]

I work in a bike shop and I see it happening ALL THE TIME.
Girls are lead towards the cruisers while men are set up with a kona stab deluxe.
Except I'm a girl and I have always found myself having a flowing conversation with the sales people in any bike shop, as long as you can get the message across that yes you can ride, and NO I DO NOT WANT AN ELECTRA TOWNIE!


Here's my advice:
-Know what you're looking for
-Have a little bit of product knowledge so you don't get rogered
-If you are new to riding you MUST EXPLAIN -> that you are a new but you want to get into heavy riding later on, this way they will set you up with a bike that will last through your begginer dings and biffos.
-Don't take your male friend along otherwise you will be put into the position where you man friend ends up being the customer, not you.
-Be friendly, the sales person will react well to kind words and subtle gestures rather that yellng and carrying on.

And remember... It's hard to be a girl in the mtb world, but it's so definatly worth it.
<3 good luck

 

[lichstars]

Read the posts and I just had to reply!
Recently I started looking for an upgrade and I've gone to a couple of shops but one turned out pretty terrible!

I walked in and they were pretty busy which was fine, so I stood in the XC section for about 20 minutes and no one came to serve me. So I decided to go to the front desk and ask if I could get someone to help me with buying a serious mountain bike, this older guy at the front desk straight off gave me this 'i dont think so' look and he replied with, what kind of riding do you do with the worst facial expression. I said around you yangs and woodend, and he goes ok give me a sec, so I figure he's gone to find someone to give me a hand, I follow him, and he goes off and helps another guy! which he spends another 15 minutes with, and by this stage I just figure stuff this I'm outta here!

But all other shops that I went to seemed alright and they were super friendly!

 

[Short One]

Hi Lichstars! Have you managed to find what you're looking for? Or been shown what you think you're looking for yet?
Fingers crossed that it all works out for you in the end. Feels good to walk out of those types of stores, but only if they aren't the only stockist of the brand that you're after...

Read the posts and I just had to reply!
Recently I started looking for an upgrade and I've gone to a couple of shops but one turned out pretty terrible!

I walked in and they were pretty busy which was fine, so I stood in the XC section for about 20 minutes and no one came to serve me. So I decided to go to the front desk and ask if I could get someone to help me with buying a serious mountain bike, this older guy at the front desk straight off gave me this 'i dont think so' look and he replied with, what kind of riding do you do with the worst facial expression. I said around you yangs and woodend, and he goes ok give me a sec, so I figure he's gone to find someone to give me a hand, I follow him, and he goes off and helps another guy! which he spends another 15 minutes with, and by this stage I just figure stuff this I'm outta here!

But all other shops that I went to seemed alright and they were super friendly!

 

[thecat]

I recently bought a car and you'd swear the salesmen were from the 1950's !

Just chipping in as a guy and a bike store guy at that.... I think the above could be on target. I know I don't want to be seen as the sterotypical used car sales man that has talked the girl into spending more money than she wanted to for a bike that's way over what she actually needs... so we may over compensate by down selling. I don't know

That said, I do try and treat every customer the same and the first 2 questions are usually "What type of riding do you plan to do" (maybe followed by where abouts do you ride) and "What price range are you looking at" and go from there

 

[Cypher]

Here are my recommedations for excellent service in bike shops in Sydney:

TBSM - The Bike Shop Mortdale - If you want t big bike, go here (put it this way, the floor staff a resisting getting road bike stock and they have the dubious honour of being the unfittest bike store in Sydney). They know their DH and DJ. They also have a lady floor manager and the older guys in the store are absolute gentlemen. Maybe avoid the younger blokes - they are nice guys individually... Service there will be great

The Bicycle Garage, Lilyfield - Just generally really nice guys - no matter your gender or bike orientation. And nice coffee. They would be the fittest bike shop people I have met (the mechanic can do jumps pedalling uphill!!!). One of the guys is a physio, so getting fitted to a bike would be easy. Although the shop is small, it is a bit like a tardis and they seem to be able to order in things with a day or two (unlike some other stores which need to lose your order at least three times, before messing up your order).

No need to get bad service!