neons97

@Fix-the-Spade: I'm from Canada and I continue to buy from CRC constantly. They used to be my go-to for Shimano, until they (Shimano) put an end to that. So all my Shimano purchases go to Merlin now. But I still buy a considerable amount from CRC. They just have such a wide assortment of brands/inventory and in-stock, unlike local bike shops. Yes, the deals aren't as good as they once were. But those were crazy days what some of their prices were. But that could be due to inflation, COVID bike boom, lack of parts and accessories for the distributors to clear-out at bargain basement prices. And yes, most likely the new owners want to recoupe their investment. But compared to buying ANY of those parts locally in Canada, even after the cost of DHL Prepaid Duty shipping, things are FAR cheaper for the most part. In the spring, I bought a Gloworm XS lightset for $240 CAD shipped via DHL including all brokerages/duties. Arrived on my doorstep in 4 days from the time I ordered. The cost here is $450+tax and shops would need a couple of weeks to get it in with their next order.

@Fix-the-Spade: I get that that were bought out by Wiggle. But the CRC we know today is largely the same as the CRC at the time they sold to Wiggle (well, they were actually better before Wiggle with even lower prices). The CRC today (customer experience wise), is largely unchanged pre-post Wiggle (other than prices are a little higher post-Wiggle acquisition...which only helps the local bike shops). So if CRC were still run as-is by the original owners, it makes it better than if they were bought out by Wiggle? Still started from a grass-roots shop out of someone's shed.

CRC was a small independent business...they were literally a local bike shop operating out of a shed in Ireland. They just happened to do well, figured out the market trends, secured the supplier contracts, and built the technology (i.e. website/ecommerce), and promoted themselves effectively. Why the hate for a grass-roots upstart company that made it big? Are small business not allowed to grow from nothing to something big, and be rewarded for that effort? When talking about CRC, we have to remember that this isn't like a Walmart or Costco that just swooped in to undercut everyone with their big muscles. CRC worked very hard to get to where they're at. Its the local bike shops that didn't/haven't adapted that are crying foul. Why reward those business operators that didn't see and take advantage of the market opportunity by supressing those that had the foresight and initiative.

Did Yeti get bought up by an old Germany car maker? The 120/140/160 releases make me think of the old-school BMW and MB days where you the lineup consisted of one sausage, three sizes. There's so little difference in the models. There's no personality to each bike. I'm literally looking at the 120/140/160 side by side on multiple monitors right now and the only visual difference I can see is that there is a longer stroke shock on each frame...and the forward shock mount is further up the top tube. All the swingarms and BB area/Switch Infinity look absolutely identical to me.

Yeti: "We lost our title of "worst value bike" to Rocky Mountain over the last 2 years. We want our title back. Let's introduce the SB120 at a shockingly eye-watering price point." Rocky: "We'll just release our 2023MY's with another 5-10% price increase with no change in spec...we can't let Yeti own the crown for "worst value bike" "

@justanotherusername: Have you heard of a pro-deal? I worked in a shop years ago, and manufacturers give shop employees below-cost pricing on many items. They know that the employee on the showroom floor has more influence on a customers purchase decision than sponsoring some big name high-buck racer. So if the shop guy is riding Brand X...they can influence a customer to also try / buy Brand X instead of Brand Y. As for the shop giving their employee 50% off cost on one bike a year...that's a very generous shop. My shop only ever gave me cost, or access to all the pro-deals from all the manufacturers/distributors. I have one buddy who is a rep for a big mountain bike brand. He gets 1 personal demo bike a year at 70% off. Sells it at the end of each season for ~30-40% off, makes a small profit, and rolls it into next years bike. My original statement that the majority of the $10-$15k bikes are bought by industry may be off. I'm now seeing that you guys see a lot of regular joe's on the trails buying $15k bikes. But...in my area of the world...pretty much every outdoor industry employed person (shop, brand reps, distributors, corporate outdoor industry, etc.) is riding these $10k+ bikes (except maybe the 16 yr. old kid who just got their first part time job).