- Joined
- Dec 20, 2015
- Posts
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Do you know how many bikes I've had to sell below my cost to match Specialized's sale prices?
Sad to see that nothing has changed with how S treats its dealers (I've been out of touch there for ~8 years).
Do you know how many bikes I've had to sell below my cost to match Specialized's sale prices?
Oh. It's much worse now since as a dealer you are competing with your supplier for sales. And they control all the inventory.Sad to see that nothing has changed with how S treats its dealers (I've been out of touch there for ~8 years).
Did you listen to their 4 part podcast of how the industry was affected by the pandemic? A bit PTSD inducing for me.Not sure anyone here is a member of Escape Collective, but they have a great article on the costs of manufacturing composite bike frames and how prices compare to 20 years ago. It's a great read (and I believe it's a members-only article but I'll share it here anyway in case it does work for folks).
Why are modern bikes so expensive? - Escape Collective
Inflation is only part of the story; we delve into the actual dollar figures of what premium performance bikes cost to produce.escapecollective.com
Not sure anyone here is a member of Escape Collective, but they have a great article on the costs of manufacturing composite bike frames and how prices compare to 20 years ago. It's a great read (and I believe it's a members-only article but I'll share it here anyway in case it does work for folks).
Why are modern bikes so expensive? - Escape Collective
Inflation is only part of the story; we delve into the actual dollar figures of what premium performance bikes cost to produce.escapecollective.com
It is really not that complicated. You take the list price of a frameset produced in the same facility where Spesh, Trek and the others are made, in the carbon fiber capital of the world, the beautiful city of Xiamen, but sold under a different name, then divide it by two or thereabouts and with $500 per frame you won‘t be far off.
That applies to the lion's share of composite frame manufacture, but not all of it.
Time, Look, Colnago, Merckx, Factor, Calfee - they all roll their own frames in their own factories. Their sunk costs are higher, by the by, than anything produced by, say, ADK Composites or even Giant.
Hold on…about Colnago, they don’t make their carbon. They assemble the C68 as in glue it together in Italy but the carbon is made elsewhere.
And about the carbon-there is about only one company that makes ALL of the carbon fibre in the world and it is Toray in Japan. Unless Reglass are still alive which I am not sure about.
And the one Pogacar&Co ride is not made in Italy at all.
Factor bikes ARE made in Xiamen.
Look bikes are, I believe, made in Tunisia, the lower end ones-in China.
Merckx are made in China.
We should probably mention Festka here-another brand I’d very much like to a have a bike from-these appear to be made in EU but who knows really.
It's not about where the factories are or where the carbon fabric is woven. It's whether the brands' factories are their own and not shared with another brand.
I'm familiar with the Chinese "cities of bike fabrication," like Xiamen and Shenzhen and how a lot of brands rely on a handful of factories for most of their frames, forks, and finishing kit. The difference is that some more bespoke brands are more self-contained with regard to their carbon frame manufacture - e.g. Factor, Look.
So while some of these brands still do their frame manufacturing in the EU (or in the USA) there is still a lot of weight placed on Asia for materials.
Regarding Festka: their steel and alloy frames are made in the EU. Their carbon may have final point of manufacture in the EU but the carbon, as noted, is from Asia.
And the four-part story from Escape Collective on the pandemic's effects on the bike industry is super informative and sobering.
Time, Look, Colnago, Merckx, Factor, Calfee - they all roll their own frames in their own factories. Their sunk costs are higher, by the by, than anything produced by, say, ADK Composites or even Giant.
Yup, but I'll be the guy that wonders whether or not their frames are any better than those made by Giant.
Yup, but I'll be the guy that wonders whether or not their frames are any better than those made by Giant.
Better isn't required. Independently sourced so we don't have single chain failure again, and competitive on price is much more interesting to me.
It was a very interesting article. Yes, members only, but my free membership worked.Not sure anyone here is a member of Escape Collective, but they have a great article on the costs of manufacturing composite bike frames and how prices compare to 20 years ago. It's a great read (and I believe it's a members-only article but I'll share it here anyway in case it does work for folks).
Why are modern bikes so expensive? - Escape Collective
Inflation is only part of the story; we delve into the actual dollar figures of what premium performance bikes cost to produce.escapecollective.com
I have been wrapping handlebars for forty years and I still suck at it. That is all...