#!markdown
To be honest I don't think that those big brands should stay untouched. Many
of them do use their leverage (for example exceptionally high prices, or no
price drops even years after the model is outdated). Look at those big car
brands like VW, their margin per car is about 500€, on a 10000€ bike the
margin per component might be 500€ (ok maybe not on something like bars and
seats but on the big components that actually could be the case). In Germany
(where YT and Canyon are coming from, two of the biggest direct to consumer
brands, maybe the fist ones forcing this business forward) not that many
people would start a law case because they did a mistake building up their own
bikes (for example if you change a handlebar and don't mount the faceplate
correctly and therefore the handlebar then decides to take its own little ride
down the mountain, its obviously your fault) and if in the US people do this,
I can absolutely understand that brands wont take the risk of paying multiple
thousands of Dollars afterwards for the health bills, if whatever happened are
not their faults. And what are the benefits of a shop close by? (I do really
like shops but they have to step up their game, at least here in Germany) If i
want to ride a bike not only on the parking lot - I cant differentiate one
enduro or freeride bike from another. The differences and problems or
strengths the bike might have cant be felt there. Sometimes bad shop owners or
employees even influence your buying decision in a bad way by trying to sell
you the most expensive bike, not the best suited for you and your trails. I
for example wont buy a complete bike in my local shop because the Trek, Cube,
Rotwild and Specialized shop is really not the best (I'm really friendly
there), I can't change parts to my liking (for example a 160mm fox 36 for a
170mm one) - at least this is the case in one shop - and I just cant see the
benefits from having a shop close by (maybe if i have to buy a shifting cable,
but I'd do that only if really necessary, because the prices are just twice as
high compared to the internet price) and I cant afford that as a student and
there is no such thing as if you come regularly to our shop and your bike is
serviced once a year the warranty doesn't expire and we change your bearings
for free and just care about your bike, but that just isnt the case even when
buying bikes that are as expensive as small new cars, I have to do that ob my
own. I'd really like to start an discussion here because i don't even
understand what shops are for, now that im thinking about it (at least in some
cases… some of them are ok). With YT i had the experience of a friendly
customer service, they answered my questions in about 2 days the bike is very
well engineered with large bearings (really important if you think about that
a SKF or FAG bearing costs like 10€ and small ones just blow apart because
they cant take the load) they have a great progression ratio to them the
pedaling efficiency is good and constant development is happening (maybe not
layout wise but they just changed from carbon to aluminium) and the build kit
is most of the time really good, and now the most important part: they just
cost half as much as an comparable or even worse bike from the big brands. I'd
like to take Trek a little bit out of this because the engineering on their
bikes is good but they sometimes do little mistakes component wise, but hey,
that may happen sometimes. I'll just take specialized as an counter example:
look at the Enduro: nothing much has changed since since like 5 years, the
suspension layout really isn't great (not for racers, nor for recreative
riders) durability is ok, the price is huge and some components are just shit.
And why cant I change the standard speced fork for a longer or shorter one if
im byuing the bike at a shop, whats so hard about that-they can send the other
one back to fox with an certificate that it just has been delivered with a
complete bike and hasn't been used or better the brands send their frames and
recommended packages and you can build up your bike with an acceptable price
(not this stuff right now where the frameset is sent with a shock I don't
want, a dropper I don't want, the frame only is like 3-5000€ and the rest of
the build due to high component prices will be like 7000€ only for components
adding to that price. Look at car or planes or basically everything else … you
have a chassis (that can be changed sometimes - look at airbus A 320 series)
and can add in your components, another engine, another color, different
exterior package looks painting stuff like that if you look at pcs you can add
components the way you want (and that is not different compared to bikes) but
if you do it that way you can save a lot of money and those parts usually drop
prices after one year (in a huge manner). Id just like to hear an answer from
you, some discussion from some bike shop owners or workers, and want to
apologize for my weird writing style and bad English beforehand.
March 2, 2016, 3:03 a.m. - xlf v
#!markdown To be honest I don't think that those big brands should stay untouched. Many of them do use their leverage (for example exceptionally high prices, or no price drops even years after the model is outdated). Look at those big car brands like VW, their margin per car is about 500€, on a 10000€ bike the margin per component might be 500€ (ok maybe not on something like bars and seats but on the big components that actually could be the case). In Germany (where YT and Canyon are coming from, two of the biggest direct to consumer brands, maybe the fist ones forcing this business forward) not that many people would start a law case because they did a mistake building up their own bikes (for example if you change a handlebar and don't mount the faceplate correctly and therefore the handlebar then decides to take its own little ride down the mountain, its obviously your fault) and if in the US people do this, I can absolutely understand that brands wont take the risk of paying multiple thousands of Dollars afterwards for the health bills, if whatever happened are not their faults. And what are the benefits of a shop close by? (I do really like shops but they have to step up their game, at least here in Germany) If i want to ride a bike not only on the parking lot - I cant differentiate one enduro or freeride bike from another. The differences and problems or strengths the bike might have cant be felt there. Sometimes bad shop owners or employees even influence your buying decision in a bad way by trying to sell you the most expensive bike, not the best suited for you and your trails. I for example wont buy a complete bike in my local shop because the Trek, Cube, Rotwild and Specialized shop is really not the best (I'm really friendly there), I can't change parts to my liking (for example a 160mm fox 36 for a 170mm one) - at least this is the case in one shop - and I just cant see the benefits from having a shop close by (maybe if i have to buy a shifting cable, but I'd do that only if really necessary, because the prices are just twice as high compared to the internet price) and I cant afford that as a student and there is no such thing as if you come regularly to our shop and your bike is serviced once a year the warranty doesn't expire and we change your bearings for free and just care about your bike, but that just isnt the case even when buying bikes that are as expensive as small new cars, I have to do that ob my own. I'd really like to start an discussion here because i don't even understand what shops are for, now that im thinking about it (at least in some cases… some of them are ok). With YT i had the experience of a friendly customer service, they answered my questions in about 2 days the bike is very well engineered with large bearings (really important if you think about that a SKF or FAG bearing costs like 10€ and small ones just blow apart because they cant take the load) they have a great progression ratio to them the pedaling efficiency is good and constant development is happening (maybe not layout wise but they just changed from carbon to aluminium) and the build kit is most of the time really good, and now the most important part: they just cost half as much as an comparable or even worse bike from the big brands. I'd like to take Trek a little bit out of this because the engineering on their bikes is good but they sometimes do little mistakes component wise, but hey, that may happen sometimes. I'll just take specialized as an counter example: look at the Enduro: nothing much has changed since since like 5 years, the suspension layout really isn't great (not for racers, nor for recreative riders) durability is ok, the price is huge and some components are just shit. And why cant I change the standard speced fork for a longer or shorter one if im byuing the bike at a shop, whats so hard about that-they can send the other one back to fox with an certificate that it just has been delivered with a complete bike and hasn't been used or better the brands send their frames and recommended packages and you can build up your bike with an acceptable price (not this stuff right now where the frameset is sent with a shock I don't want, a dropper I don't want, the frame only is like 3-5000€ and the rest of the build due to high component prices will be like 7000€ only for components adding to that price. Look at car or planes or basically everything else … you have a chassis (that can be changed sometimes - look at airbus A 320 series) and can add in your components, another engine, another color, different exterior package looks painting stuff like that if you look at pcs you can add components the way you want (and that is not different compared to bikes) but if you do it that way you can save a lot of money and those parts usually drop prices after one year (in a huge manner). Id just like to hear an answer from you, some discussion from some bike shop owners or workers, and want to apologize for my weird writing style and bad English beforehand.