I think it's a deal where they have more net margin on the complete bikes, and that their dealer network much prefers to deal in complete bikes, because us internet nerds who will buy just a frameset because we think it'll ride the way we want a multi-thousand dollar investment to are s really tiny minority. So many more bikes are sold as complete because parking lot test has to happen, that it's not worth their effort to stock the things in any other way.
Within mail-order, I think there are real possibilities. ROSE bikes is a great example of the type of flexibility possible there, and I think the first larger presence direct-to-consumer brand that picks this up (likely among YT/Commencal/Canyon - Trek maybe at the Project:One level - CRC-Nukeproof-VItus perhaps) and offers limited customization on builds might become the media darling du jour, because at any price point group test, that will be the best bike there because it'll never come equipped with the wrong tires, brakes, or cockpit.
As far as why the framesets aren't a reasonable value - they're harder to stock, get sold primarily to people running high end stuff anyway (as in the ideal world of standards which are standards, instead of a flavor of the week specification -- these would be people moving over their XTR/XX1 grouppos and high end wheelsets/cockpits over to a new frame) - so they're just priced at what the market could bear.
I suppose I could try and bug one of the Zink's out here in Nevada to see if they'd be able to do a YT-Custom thing, where mixing and matching some components out of the box could happen. I also want to try and talk them into making a Pro Race Jeffsy (160mm Fox36, Float X2, RF SixC Parts, 30mm Internal DT Wheels), because once again that bike would monkey stop most everything out there for value.
May 13, 2017, 12:22 p.m. - Tehllama42
I think it's a deal where they have more net margin on the complete bikes, and that their dealer network much prefers to deal in complete bikes, because us internet nerds who will buy just a frameset because we think it'll ride the way we want a multi-thousand dollar investment to are s really tiny minority. So many more bikes are sold as complete because parking lot test has to happen, that it's not worth their effort to stock the things in any other way. Within mail-order, I think there are real possibilities. ROSE bikes is a great example of the type of flexibility possible there, and I think the first larger presence direct-to-consumer brand that picks this up (likely among YT/Commencal/Canyon - Trek maybe at the Project:One level - CRC-Nukeproof-VItus perhaps) and offers limited customization on builds might become the media darling du jour, because at any price point group test, that will be the best bike there because it'll never come equipped with the wrong tires, brakes, or cockpit. As far as why the framesets aren't a reasonable value - they're harder to stock, get sold primarily to people running high end stuff anyway (as in the ideal world of standards which are standards, instead of a flavor of the week specification -- these would be people moving over their XTR/XX1 grouppos and high end wheelsets/cockpits over to a new frame) - so they're just priced at what the market could bear. I suppose I could try and bug one of the Zink's out here in Nevada to see if they'd be able to do a YT-Custom thing, where mixing and matching some components out of the box could happen. I also want to try and talk them into making a Pro Race Jeffsy (160mm Fox36, Float X2, RF SixC Parts, 30mm Internal DT Wheels), because once again that bike would monkey stop most everything out there for value.