dawgrider99

see my comment above.

I disagree with your argument (or perhaps its just not clear) re: saying mountain biking is a luxurious sport and stuff should be expensive. We should be trying to grow the sport and make it more available to others. Sports activities need to grow and not be stymied by barriers to entry (i.e high cost products). We need to have quality products and a decent price, this is what eliminated barriers to entry(i.e. more people) . When we have this balance better, we have more people that are doing the sport , then we have the louder the voice and we have more trails we can get built.

What I’ve heard is MEC has gone with a European Brand because the LBS’ have pressured the Canadian bike companies and distributors to not supply MEC. Thus in order to get into the MT Bike market place they have had to look elsewhere, and the logical place is some of the quality products that can be found in Europe. I think they had the same thing happen when they got into paddling, and went to P&H (out of the UK) for Kayaks. It seems like a short sighted view by the LBS’ and hints of the LBS’ using anti-competitive behavior to try influence the market, which is not in the best interest of me (and you) the consumer. MEC has a the track record and service ethic to build a brand, evolve a market, and embrace competition. I wish the LBS’s would take a similar road. Competition is what bring improvement, this of it this way – “just because some highly skilled DH ride joins the DH race circuit, doesn’t mean you try to get him banned because you think he’s going to beat you every time, instead use that new competition to push yourself to go bigger and faster. In the end you’ll be a better rider.”

What I’ve heard is MEC has gone with a European Brand because the LBS’ have pressured the Canadian bike companies and distributors to not supply MEC. Thus in order to get into the MT Bike market place they have had to look elsewhere, and the logical place is some of the quality products that can be found in Europe. I think they had the same thing happen when they got into paddling, and went to P&H (out of the UK) for Kayaks. It seems like a short sighted view by the LBS’ and hints of the LBS’ using anti-competitive behavior to try influence the market, which is not in the best interest of me (and you) the consumer. MEC has a the track record and service ethic to build a brand, evolve a market, and embrace competition. I wish the LBS’s would take a similar road. Competition is what bring improvement, this of it this way – “just because some highly skilled DH ride joins the DH race circuit, doesn’t mean you try to get him banned because you think he’s going to beat you every time, instead use that new competition to push yourself to go bigger and faster. In the end you’ll be a better rider.”