February Online Deals

 THIS MAN SPEAKS THE WOES OF ALL CANADIANS

 Our online shopping is limited to TBS bike parts now

 and dunbar....

 Anything in CAD is a deal for us

 Whistler's going to be soooo good this year.

 Except really busy, because all Canadians are staying in Canada

 There are times I want to create dummy accounts, just to add props to a comment. This, Gentlemen... is one such time.

 Up to however % off...too scared to list prices?

 Oh $51.99 US, that's about $700 CAD.
Great.

 Sure 40% of POC clothing but only in ridiculous sizes. Has pinkbike really turned to us clear the shelves. I see 40% off looking for shorts but they only have size 38s.

 You are definitely a bitch that much is true.

 BC Ferries bends everyone over, including us Canadians

 Rider: I wasnt aware that there is a different price for American Tourists... It sucks here, tell your friends.. don't come.

 We were in a recession too. Neg props because pinkbike. Lol at your chapelle reference! VI ferries are the shits.

 My apologies for the comment, was drinking some Murphy Stouts at the time. Thanks Ripper, was trying to be funny but didn't come out that way. Still love Candians

 humour on pinkbike doesn't work. between the 12 year olds and the bitter 40 year olds its usually lost.

 I guess we're not that bad if you're looking for NS Bikes & O1 products? hihihihi

www.lamacycles.com

 @lamacycles you are the cat's meow!

 Agreed!

 "NOTE: This is a sponsored news piece for Pinkbike advertisers."
Unfortunately...

 @swamper1

When I first saw these articles, I thought Pinkbike was doing us all a favour and scouring the internet for deals.

I see now, they are just in business (which is fair enough). This does explain how sometimes they aren't really deals at all... i.e. 10% off RRP

I wonder if they get click-through rates as well? Seems they are using partner links eg (www.chainreactioncycles.com/?PartnerID=3244)

 @swamper1 Lets hope the sponsors read this thread and act on it.

 Still good advice for the retailers. Smart companies listen to their customers. Maybe advertise cheap grips or something here, and then put a bunch of banner ads on your site for the DH bike for 50% off...

 Best deals... Whiskey Militia. One google search and you find them. Interesting concept of a site to only have gear categories for certain periods of time. Check it out

 I agree and disagree. I enjoy looking at items that I can afford right now. But if I had been wanting to buy a Banshee Darkside for months, and then saw that I can get one nearly 50% I'd be inclined to pull the trigger. It's also just fun to daydream about sweet stuff even if I can't buy it.

 A large percentage of my gear is from there or steepandcheap.com, like whiskey militia, but for 35 year olds haha

 It was plain as day that this was a pay for advertising piece from the get go. Normally I would never indulge in an article like this except for two reasons:
1. I like looking at pics of mountain bike stuff
2. I love reading the comments explaining how these clearly aren't deals

 That dark side is a pretty good deal

 I can't believe they're not sold out

 They better pay me to wear that

 Anything under 30% isn't even a deal they are probably still making 50% more at 30% off

 BIkes and frames usually only have between 25%-37% margins at the retail level.

 I'm calling CPS on your parents, they obviously didn't raise you right.

 And light bicycles rims

 @allix2465 What does, "utterly poor parts support" mean?

 It means the parts don't support his skills, because he's so blisteringly fast.

 @biking85
YT has stated that they will not being carrying a back stock of spare parts for anything but their most current models. By their projections you'll be able to get spares for about 3 years after manufacture. Conversely I could order pivot parts for any 2000 era Norco whenever I felt like it.

 So, pivot bearings then, is what you're talking about? Maybe deraileur hangers? That's a valid point, if true, that I was not aware of. I guess maybe they figure frames are disposable?

 Local bike shops do not make that much $ on bike sales. Sure every sale counts, but most of their profits come from accessories and service.

 Also you know that all of these deals are from online bike shops.... Just sayin....

 Hate to say it, but businesses have to adapt or die. Propping up outdated business models is a bad idea. But if you want to blame anyone, blame the consumer. Bike companies have to sell their bikes where people are buying. If that's online, than they have to sell online.

 I agree to some extent. However, there are some of us who are living overseas in areas where the quality LBS scene is limited or unavailable. In my case, the closest LBS that I feel good about throwing my hard earned money at is at least an hour drive from me. Jensonusa has shipped me some DiY parts so that I may service my bikes.

 Anyone who buys online shouldn't complain when they have to pay full pop at the lbs when they need a part in a hurry. Or if there is no shop near them any more.

 @BiNARYBiKE
The entire concept of "adapt or die" is a little more complicated in the bike world. We simply cannot compete with CRC when it comes to Shimano pricing. As a bike builder they can 'accidentally' over forecast their sales and order an extra couple thousand group sets at below dealer cost. Shimano does nothing about this, and as Shimano parts are everywhere we need to keep them in stock. Where we can compete is on service, and on products that actively support our shops. WTB, Bontrager, and Mavic are all awesome companies that understand that allowing online retailers to undercut the market is only making shopping worse for the consumer. All three of these companies price their products fairly and sell to dealers at a fixed rate. We've taken it one step further and will price match CRC and Jenson, but this is only possible due to our size. Smaller shops wouldn't be able to handle this.

 I'd imagine most people buy these bikes online and then go straight to the LBS to pay for it's assembly.

 Wait, dont most lbs have an ecommerce .com setup?

 I also don't have a LBS for atleast 70km. Why would I drive that far just to get a part when i can order from Jenson and get it the next day. Doesn't make sense for me to drive that far when I can be doing something else with my time.

 @emac227
Jenson might be best in your situation, but I would at least give the lbs a call. Most will ship you whatever small parts you need and many will match Jenson for price. It should show up fairly quickly and you'd be supporting a local business.

 @allix2456 I agree with the scope of competition that you highlight. It is difficult for an LBS to compete with a large eCommerce bike site. However I wouldn't through complete blame on those eCommerce sites, the suppliers that sell to them create the competition. If a supplier sold their products to every person for the same price it would be a game of who has the best service. There are some internet retailers out there that are out to get the little guys but I think the majority of them are just trying to build their business. Unintentionally pushing the LBS out. I think it would be really cool to open a shop that sells almost no bikes and focuses on service and gear. Teaching their customers where the cool places to ride are, hosting events, and being involved in the local scene. Bikes are too seasonal and difficult for a small shop to keep up with that kind of market.

 I worked all through college in an LBS that went under in part because of the rise of ecommerce, so I know how it feels. "Adapt or Die" hurts, but it's still necessary in business. When innovation allows products and services to be provided in new cheaper or more convenient ways, you can't expect businesses or consumers to to reject them for "old times sake." I hate big box stores even more than online stores, but no business can survive on the hope that their costumers will shop with them because they're altruistic. Some shops adapt well, others don't. But there's tons of room for shops to provide services and goods that online stores never can. Specifically repairs, tuning, build advice, installation, selling smaller things that are needed quickly and frequently, and more subtle things like fostering local MTB culture with rides, guiding, clinics, demos and other events.

 @Im-not-very-clever @BiNARYBiKE
And I agree that Shimano is predominately at fault for this. However, short of starting a house bike brand an lbs has zero chance of competing with CRC on pricing. Example: If my XT cassette dealer cost is $10 (not accurate) , I'll need to sell it for ~$15 to turn a decent profit. I can't get pricing any lower than this as a retailer. CRC is both a bike builder (nukeproof, vitus) and a retailer and as such has access to parts at both the retailer pricing, as well as the bike builder pricing which is significantly cheaper. They're not supposed to sell the parts they ordered for bike builds as single units, but they have been doing so. This is why their "sale" price is commonly below the cost that a standard retailer pays. Shimano has stated they aren't going to do anything as EU law prohibits any sort of controls of this sort in a contract.

I 100% agree that adapting is important, but when Shimano allows CRC (and co) to play the game by a completely different set of rules its not a situation the lbs controls.

 @allix2456 Totally agree and the reason I don't buy shimano any more. They don't set the up bike shops for success and they are so closed minded....

 The Darkside is a MY15 build. Not a MY16 model, hence the closeout pricing for old stock. Still a great deal, but not competing with dealers who have up to date stock.

 Everyone is bitching because this is PINKBIKE.

 Yes, I don't have a single Fox fork in my catalog that retails for under $1000

 Not at all. Their MSRP is $700. I was about to say if ChainReaction was charging $1200 for them, I pity the fools that did pay that much!

 Edit for my own stupidity

 why does a 50% off fork still cost more than the rest of my bike....