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Life Cycles


PERHAPS THE largest of the independent stores visited, Life Cycles occupied an industrial unit, achieving an extremely well presented store with the floor space. In a first from Mystery Shopper's UK tour, signs were positioned at the door to deter muddy, or oily bikes trekking over the well-kept shop floor. The assistant who came to my aid was rather


generous with his time and went into great detail on what the store could do to meet my needs. The downside of this, however was the odd digression about sponsorship of certain tour teams and the occasional use of jargon. I did, however, admit to being a current cyclist, so I'll let the staffer off. Singling out the in stock Giant, I was correctly advised that the larger manufacturers have snubbed the low-end of the market, so for a brand name I'd be looking at £700 and above for beginner models. This was backed up with good spiel about the strength's of the likes of Giant and Trek, particularly at this price point. I left with a business card and directions of how to gain the best from the store's website.


Bicycle Sales and Service


FOUND ON the same road as Streetlife, though more orientated toward the service and repair of bicycles, I wasn't expecting to find much in the way of top-end gear here. Therefore I entered with a 'starter' bike in mind.


Met by two staff repairing a bike on the limited shop


floor, ideas were tossed between them about how to modify current stock in order to give me a strong base to build on. Cyclocross, however, wasn't a niche that the store had heard of, yet both staff went to great length to understand what I needed to achieve from the bike. Despite coming in early with the suggestion that I


may have £500 to play with, the assistants were on the shy side when up-selling a number of components suited to my brief. Not for lack of trying, the assistants did their very best to tackle my distaste for grip shift style gear changing, offering me both new and second hand trigger-style alternatives. The suggestions, however, lacked clear reason in some cases and Mystery Shopper got the feeling that my attempts to buy into a niche second hand were failing.


BIKEBIZ.COM


Streetlife


NOT FAR FROM Lowestoft’s busy beachfront, Life Cycles, like most others here, has a fantastic location for catching passing trade. With a counter overlooking the entrance each and every customer through the door was met quickly, myself included. Having stated my budget, I was surprised to have bikes discounted to a fair chunk below my brief flagged up. It was these discounts that were sold to me, as opposed to the bike’s features, for the most part, and it took a short while for the features most suited to cyclocross riding to be flagged up and for any minor modifications that may be needed to be discussed. I felt this experience could have been a lot stronger if


avenues such as ordering in bikes closer to, or above, my budget had been discussed. This was a ‘no pressure’ approach toward selling me a bike and while that’s preferential to overcrowding a customer, or over-complicating things with jargon, this was slightly too stand-offish, particularly as the conversation dried up.


Summary


THIS IS A tough one to call between Life Cycles and Mandarin, especially given the latter’s fantastic attempt to lure a deposit on the spot. Failing that, the business card with two prices for the same bike was a clever little trick that’d soon see most customers return within a matter of days. Life Cycles’ assistant left barely any stone un- turned in his pitch, only falling foul on account of giving perhaps too much information. Most customers won’t need to know who sponsors whom, though it’s nice to see an enthusiast clearly with a finger on the pulse.


BIKEBIZ NOVEMBER 1 1


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