Specialized selling bikes direct to consumer - new news?

cassinonorth said:
Oh totally. It's dog eat dog with Trek making these exact same moves. I made a thread about their DTC box patent a few months ago that got crickets lol.

It just fuckin sucks to see is I think the general consensus from a consumer standpoint. As @Santapez put it best:
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I agree. But to be honest, the general enthusiast isn't the target. People will always want boutique brands and something different, and that's where the LBS will prosper. Shops like Halter's or Tenafly will have no issues at all.
 
cassinonorth said:
Oh totally. It's dog eat dog with Trek making these exact same moves. I made a thread about their DTC box patent a few months ago that got crickets lol.

It just fuckin sucks to see is I think the general consensus from a consumer standpoint. As @Santapez put it best:
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Solution: Don't buy Trek or specialized.

I am more interested to see what happens to the little shops that have specialized, a shop local to me is 75% S and 25% kona. They probably sell annually what hilltop does in a month.
 
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In the next move, they will start buying the Salsa and Santa Cruz sized mfgrs.
It makes sense. The owners and VC of those brands will be looking to cash-out, and the only way to get the value
out of the company is to IPO or sell it. They aren't large enough, or stable enough for an IPO.
While the owners might be more altruistic, the VC like to take advantage of the one-time deal when
the price is right.

This happened in the craft beer and specialty drink market. ie Vitamin Water purchased by Coke.
Keep the name, add their efficiency at the corp level, use their supplier purchasing power and distribution system.

There will always be room for the innovative independent. Sears was around forever, yet each town still had
an appliance store.
 
jimvreeland said:
Most of what they're doing is to make the Industry a more appealing environment for Employees. We've had a huge loss across the board because no one wants to get yelled at all day for $15 an hour, give up weekends, no 401k, no benefits of any kind, no Lunch Breaks, etc...Owners seldom do right by the people they employ and the only way to advance is to bounce from shop to shop for minimal gains. Now, they have a way to move up in the same Company with Trek or Specialized. It's the future of the Industry, you can join Netflix, or be the last Blockbuster.
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IDK. I’ve worked in a few loser shops to pay bills, but my first Shop and last Shop were pinnacle as where their owners. Total “team” shop mentality and fun-runneth-over type of employment. Some 30+years later I’m still friends with both owners.
 
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one piece crank said:
Not so cut and dry. I ride a Specialized 'case the Shop I worked at in the early 80's is a Specialized dealer.
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Let’s be real, getting a deal on something typically trumps any moral obligations. I would definitely ride something from the big S if it was dirt cheap.

That being said, it would either need to be free or I would need to be paid to ride a trek
 
cassinonorth said:
Oh totally. It's dog eat dog with Trek making these exact same moves. I made a thread about their DTC box patent a few months ago that got crickets lol.

It just fuckin sucks to see is I think the general consensus from a consumer standpoint. As @Santapez put it best:
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What is annoying to me is the fact that Specialized went from a brand that made bikes I would never buy to bikes I'd be pretty interested in. Instead of weird proprietary stuff they went all-in on normal on a couple bikes I'd be interested in. Threaded bottom brackets, normal shocks/forks, etc.

Stumpjumper checks all the boxes as does the Crux except for cost. If I was in the market for a new cross bike the Crux checks every damn box except for the crazy price and the LBS I buy from doesn't do Specialized.
 
cassinonorth said:
I was trying to find an analogy too, not sure that's really apples to apples.

Problem for mega breweries trying to soak up craft beer, their clientele is extremely in tune with who knows who and the 3 tier system can limit the damage AB InBEV or Miller-Coors can do to the craft beer segment. They bought up a handful of craft breweries 5-10 years ago and 200 new breweries replaced them immediately on shelves. Blue Point, Elysian, Breckenridge etc. sales all tanked the minute they were sold and were replaced by the new local place that got a canning line. Not so easy to start a new bike brand, unfortunately.

Are MTBers/cyclists as self righteous about who makes their bikes as craft beer nerds? Feeling less so.
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"Are MTBers/cyclists as self righteous about who makes their bikes as craft beer nerds?"
You mean they're not the same people?
 
jimvreeland said:
It's also interesting how polarized people are about bike brands being they're all made in the same 2 factories.
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I know Giant is one, who is the other one. Personally, I will stick with LBS or go other DTC company if the LBS cost is lot higher. I have zero knowledge/tools to take care of my bike but that is something that I will have to investigate/learn. I cannot afford to pay 70 dollars to install something like a dropper post with external cable routing.
 
cassinonorth said:
Which is why you really can only judge a company by their business practices.

I can't buy a NJ bespoke built frame like a craft beer. I can buy a custom build bike from a local shop. Specialized is going directly at those shops with this move. Hence...backlash.
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Wonder why people don't care about Shimano selling straight to Amazon while our orders are almost 2 years out? Literally the whole Industry is waiting for parts to deliver bikes to everyone everywhere and Shimano bypassed the whole system for Amazon. Zero backlash.
 
jimvreeland said:
Wonder why people don't care about Shimano selling straight to Amazon while our orders are almost 2 years out? Literally the whole Industry is waiting for parts to deliver bikes to everyone everywhere and Shimano bypassed the whole system for Amazon. Zero backlash.
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What Shimano components would I find on Amazon ? I couldn't find a 12 speed XT cassette, of shifter and the only derailleur available is like 2x the regular price (or maybe just the new MSRP)...
 
serviceguy said:
What Shimano components would I find on Amazon ? I couldn't find a 12 speed XT cassette, of shifter and the only derailleur available is like 2x the regular price (or maybe just the new MSRP)...
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I bought my XT Cassette there.
 
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