32 33 34 36 CONSUMER DATA - Women in bike shops CIN04 2025.qxp 19/05/2025 08:34 Page 1
CONSUMER DATA HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CUSTOMER BASE
ARE YOU MISSING A TRICK? SMALL CHANGES COULD INCREASE YOUR FEMALE CUSTOMER BASE Emma Karslake has embarked on a mission to glean opinions from women cycle consumers and their views on bike shops. While we may already think we know the broad strokes overview (spoiler: there are reports of patronising behaviour), this ad hoc survey delves deeper into the topic, with specific experiences and notes on the implications, hereby shared with CIN readers…
T
en years ago, I went to a bike shop to get my front derailleur adjusted. I looked at what the mechanic was doing, hoping to learn. After a couple of minutes, he said he was done. “You haven’t checked whether it shifts to the big ring,” I remarked, slightly confused. He sneered back at me: “Do you ever use that one?” I wondered whether he would ever behave this way towards a male customer. I vowed to never go back to him even though there was no other bike shop within a 15km radius. For me, this became one of many examples. My motivation to learn mechanics was thus part guided by curiosity, part guided by the expecta-
tion of a less-than-pleasant encounter every time I entered a bike shop. I freed myself from bike shops entirely and bought parts exclusively online. I would gladly spend a whole afternoon struggling on my own rather than paying a mechanic £20 to change a cable. Fast forward 10 years, I still don’t personally frequent many bike shops, or rather, only one. I made my reappearance in the shape of a professional mechanic. Hearing my female road cycling clubmates complain about their bad customer experiences in workshops, I started to wonder whether anything had changed. I surveyed 93 individuals to try to get a picture of how people feel received by bike shops. Out of the total, 47 were women, 45 were men, and two
Have you ever felt like a bike shop employee was condescending or patronising to you?
No 31.2% Yes 68.8%
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preferred not to say. While this is not a representative sample, the consistency and depth of responses suggest clear trends that deserve attention. My hunch was confirmed when women overwhelmingly reported feeling talked down to and wanting to learn bike maintenance to avoid interacting with male mechanics. A slightly more surprising outcome was that most men also reported that they had experienced patronising behaviour in bike shops. THE SURVEY The questionnaire was circulated on LinkedIn and to a range of cycling clubs around the UK. Additionally, the last line of the survey encouraged participants to share the link with others. The pool is thus likely dominated by people who cycle as a sport or hobby, as opposed to commuters (although they can be both).
“I HAVE A TOP-OF-THE LINE, CUSTOM-BUILT ROAD BIKE AND MEN ARE QUITE PATRONISING TOWARDS ME, IMPLYING THAT I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT AND HAVE JUST SPENT A LOT OF MONEY ON A BIKE THAT I DON’T RIDE, WHEN IN FACT I RACED INTERNATIONALLY AS A JUNIOR AND HAVE BEEN CYCLING FOR CLOSE TO 20 YEARS”