When we enter Bike Planet, we quickly feel that we are in a space where love for the bicycle is the feeling that hangs in the air: the bicycles displayed on one side, the workshop in the background and the Shimano Products in the spotlight makes us feel this love. We can see that there was a lot of care in building a store that wanted to be different. It wanted to be a space with conditions for all your bike needs and at the same time providing all the services associated with the purchase of a bicycle. This store with a; workshop, bike fit, massage room, locker room is a professional SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER.
As we explore the store, the following aspects stand out: the decoration and information regarding the SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER, the entire Shimano productrange in a spotlight, the decoration of the workshop with the Shimano logo and the mesmerizing organization of the workshop, one of the cleanest (if not the cleanest) and organized workshop you have ever seen in your life.
It’s in this workshop that we meet José Carmo (immaculately dressed in a blue SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER polo shirt), the mechanic at work. An easy-going person, the first words were around the shift system that was switching, and he was paying attention to the sound from the cable. There were few words but gentle. As soon as he finished adjusting the gears of the bicycle, he showed us all the store with the enthusiasm of someone who loves what he does. As we started talking, we immediately noticed his passion and ended up spending a good few minutes talking about bicycles and our favorite categories.
José started fixing his own bikes and those of his friends in the 90s. His perfectionism led him to seek more and more knowledge about mechanics, to the point that today he can identify just by looking (either by the cables or by the tuning) if the bike was fixed by him or not.
When José started riding a bike, he quickly became a fan of the brand Shimano, and then it was natural that BIKE PLANET became a SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER.
“I like the brand; I always had a lot of Shimano equipment myself. I really like the smoothness of the system, and when the opportunity came for us to work as SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER, it was great, because we started to see the brand in a different and more complete way. The trainings that we have access to help us to perform a distinguished service. For me and my colleagues, as mechanics, it’s excellent! We easily sell Shimano because we understand the brand and how they develop the product.”
With an increasingly global market, the brand's flag and notoriety are also evident when customers seek the store for the services it offers and the brands it represents. Whether for national or international customers. José proudly tells us the story of a Swiss cyclist who, while passing through Portugal, chose BIKE PLANET to update the engine of his bike. This choice was due solely and exclusively to the fact that he knew our SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER he would find a professional workshop that would know the answers to the issues on his bike, and he ended up doing a complete overhaul.
For a store like BIKE PLANET (where selling the bike is only one part of the business), having a series of added services like bike fit suited very well with the SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER. As José tells us "the hardest thing is not to sell the bike, it's to keep the customer coming back".
The PRO line of handlebars and saddles are an excellent addition to the existing service and, once again, we note that José's focus is building customer loyalty, not just selling. It’s the quality of the product that stands out and that’s what José wants to offer his customers: a good and reliable product.
At a certain moment, during a normal bike ride, he fell and the multi-tool he carried in the pocket of his jersey left body marks. this led him to become the biggest fan of saddlebags. The amiability with which he tells this story shows once again that we’re dealing with someone who lives the bike. For such a world class mechanic it’s easier to talk about these types of products to customers.
These characteristics (being a cyclist, mechanic, salesman, all in one person) make the SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER even more special and José has no problem talking about the products he sells because he trusts the Shimano quality.
As we talk about his journey in the bike world, we notice that this is a rider who started with an Alivio groupset on his first mountain bike and loved having a Deore. However, his eyes light up when he talks about what is his favorite system: Di2, a masterpiece when it comes to function, beauty and maintenance.
He tells us that one of the things he likes most about Shimano is having confidence in the product and its development. The cautious way in which they launch their new products, "gives the salesman a break when it comes to selling, because we know that even the entry level range has been thoroughly tested”.
If there were any doubts about how José feels about being a SHIMANO mechanic, they are faded by the words of affection we read throughout this text. José ends the interview with a confidence: he enjoys selling Shimano products, because he knows that they are the best that any bicycle can have.
In this SHIMANO SERVICE CENTER there is a pride in wearing the jersey. The dream of being a mechanic on a big tour, or the chance to work directly for the brand, feed this almost love story between José and Shimano.
