In many cases. the LBS(local bike stores) are at the mercy of the bike manufacturer. I worked at PerformanceBike (corporate - MIS) for many years. There the e

In many cases. the LBS(local bike stores) are at the mercy of the bike manufacturer. I worked at PerformanceBike (corporate - MIS) for many years. There the economy-of-scale did help somewhat when negotiating purchases from the manufacturers and I wouldn't say margins on bikes were "razor thin" but I do agree the bulk of sales were accessories and services. However, I have no insight into their current operations. I was at Performance during several of their acquisitions such as Supergo, Nashbar and another chain in NOVA and all of those operations did have very low margins as the OP mentioned.