General Cycling Discussion - Cannondales at Costco

A friend of mine who happens to be a Manager at a Costco just told me that their store is selling several Cannondales. He didn't know how his store got the bikes.
What's up with that? Am I going to start seeing C-dales at Costco's, Kmart's, and Wal Marts all over the country?

Cannondales at Costco is like Filet Mignon at McDonald's.

Then again, maybe we will soon start seeing McDonald's with a sports department.

Do they think we're idiots? (don't answer that...)

It can't be any good for their name. I really think that's what hurt Mongoose's reputation. They still build a good bike but now they're associated with Wal-Mart.
Didn't I read in a previous post or somewhere else that C'dale was going to close their bike line to concentrate on motorcycles?
Maybe this is a step in that direction.

It wouldnt suprize me. I dabble in the stock market, and have been watching the cannondale stock for the last two years, there down almost 60%! And the last 5 press releases, were about, you guessed it, there motorbikes, and ATV's...

Not only that, there sales droped by almost 20% in the 4th quarter, read the full SEC 10-Q report here (http://biz.yahoo.com/e/010515/bike.html).

I really hope the pull out of the current slump, i would hate to see cannondale go under, they make some great bikes. I really hope i dont start seeing cannondale bikes in the local x-marts.

If that's the case Joe,

We might even see the larger bike manufactures buying up Cannondale bikes...now that would be scarey :eek:

Rich

NO, NO, NO.... please don't tell me this is true!!! :cry: Joe P, are you in on another sick April 1st Fool's Day joke with Joe G, but this time in July???

No, NOT my BABY!!!! :(

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Marcy, but it's no joke. In fact, I just got an e-mail from my friend telling me that another Costco got a C-dale road bike with a full Dura-ace components. The price for this beauty is $3700.

Now who in their right mind would go into a Costco to buy a high end bike. This is a place you go to buy a 20 roll pack of toilet paper, not a $3700 bike.

I talked to my LBS yesterday about this and he says that Costco probably got the bikes through "grey" sources. C-dale's policy is to only deal with authorized dealers. Let's hope this is true since I'd hate for Cannondale to go the way of Mongoose. It will definitely make me think twice about buying that C-dale road bike I was looking at.

:thumbdn:

I would hope that C-Dale dealers are flogging their reps. Why carry a line if they are going to let their product show up at Costco?

Looks really bad.....

There is a sporting goods store in town called Scheels. They have a large mid-high end bicycle selection comparable to any bike shop. Scheels is a nation wide chain, but at the same time offers the same selection and service as the LBS. (When I say service, I mean they service bikes, not that their service is any good).

Here is the dilemna...why not shop at such a store?

Well, thanks for asking.

A couple of months after the store opened two years ago, my favorite LBS closed down. The owner said it was due to a drop in sales since Scheels moved in to town. So, now there are only two LBS left. I have never bought bikes/gear at Scheels, not that I haven't wanted to...they do have good prices and a very large selection. I am sure that nobody at Scheels would ever take the time to know my name and at the same time, I doubt if I would ever see the same face twice working there.

Long live the LBS!!!!!

Originally posted by Rich


We might even see the larger bike manufactures buying up Cannondale bikes....



Oh no, this should be the end off the world!

Servus!

This is shameful. And people honestly ask me why I moved to Europe!

Does it spell doom for the LBS? I tend to say no if only due to the fact that there is no further service from Costco and Wal-Mart and so forth. The folks who will buy bikes from these places will eventually bend, fold, spindle, and/or mutilate said bikes. They won't be able to do the repairs themselves and will be forced to go to, you guessed it, the LBS. That, coupled with folks who are like us and have a clue about cycling in general, will keep the LBS alive for genrations to come.

Coinsider this.... a German grocery chain (Edeka) has made a deal to sell Fiat automobiles from their stores. Needless to say, the dealerships are in a state of hysteria. And it won't last for just the same reasons I mentioned above! :D

i really dont think this was a move by cannondale.

costco is really crafty with some of their stuff. i remember a few years ago the local costco here somehow obtained about 20 really high end hand crafted canoes. these canoes are only sold directly from the company that makes them, NO exceptions.....but somehow costco was able to get 20 of them AND sell them cheaper than the direct purchase cost was.

i suspect this situation is another like that, just like that LBS says..."grey" sources.

Originally posted by biztyke

i suspect this situation is another like that, just like that LBS says..."grey" sources.
But...but...Costco here has a real live policeman standing right inside the front door! ;) :eek: :D

You gotta go fishin' where the fish are. I'm sure C"dale didn't make this move without analyzing the impact on sales to current dealers. I suspect it will be minimal. LBS's will still sell C'dales if that is what the customer wants, and the move to mass merchandisers will probably increase demand. Probably at less profit.
Maybe they'll do like J. Redding in the beauty business. Every couple of years he introduces a line of products "available only at beauty salons and barber shops" (RK, Jherimak, Jeri Redding Products, etc,). After the professionals establish the product in the market, he goes to the mass merchandisers with it. Hairdressers don't seem to mind.

I find the tone of this thread really fascinating.

Everyone seems to agree that Cannondale produces a good quality bike.

Still, there seems to be dismay that Costco is now making them available at even more reasonable prices.

Sounds like a Mercedes Benz owner complaining, "Now that Mercedes has become more affordable, even the commoners shall have one. Let's start looking for another motorcar of more prestige, shall we".

What's up with the gripes?

Got to agree with Mike on this one. So what? It is still a C-dale. Buy it and service it at the local lbs. Use the money you saved to buy accesories at the lbs.

Just my opionion.

Originally posted by mike

What's up with the gripes?
The way I read it, the gripes are well justified. Apparently these Cannondales may have been obtained contrary to what Cannondale would wish; service will be non-existent; components may be poor quality to start with.

On the other hand, if it's true that Cannondale is writing off its bicycle line, in favor of making more money off of fossil fuel consumption (motorcycles, after all, do burn fossil fuel, the last I heard) then it becomes more of a let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may situation.

The reason Cannondale is availible there is because they make so many and know body wants them. Left overs, the people that like them are the cannondale faithfall and those numbers are dropping quik.

There are so many bike that are far more simple and work as good or better.

My thoughts are it is bad for the authorized Cannondale dealers - these guys train their staff on the c-dale product, order certain minimum quantities every year and dedicate a portion of the their retail space to the c-dale product. They have a pretty sizeable investment in supporting Cannodale's product.

If c-dale started a direct purchase program at less than MSRP or allows nonauthorized dealers to undercut established dealers - why would any business want to stock the Cannondale line?

If it gets more people biking ... isnt that the main goal.



to bad they'll be on Cannonadales.

can you get matching spandex jerseys and shorts there.



just kiddin

The problem that I see is that Costco is not selling discounted c-dales. These aren't rebadged huffy's. They are selling $2500 Jeckyll's and $3700 road bikes. Yes, $2500 is the price they are selling the Jeckylls for and $3700 is the price of the road bike.

They are doing great diservice to the poor sucker who buys such an expensive bike there and then might get screwed if C-dale refuses to warranty their bike.

This also doesn't seem to make much business sense. I can see if they were selling the bikes at a third of their original cost but these bikes are still priced at over two grand. I doubt these bikes will be moving very quickly.

I would respectfully disagree with Mike that the gripes are founded in elitism. The majority fear, as I read it, is the effect on the viability of the LBS. Bikes are such a low markup product to begin with that any significant loss of sales to a Costco/Walmart is going to put the LBS in a bind, just like the Mom 'n' Pops that get bulldozed under when the homogenous Starbuck's/Walmart/Blockbuster juggernaut rolls into town. The thought that the LBS will recoup the loss in gained service may be a bit optimistic: in my neck of the woods (San Francisco Peninsula) the cost of living is stratospheric enough to make it difficult for the LBSs to find qualified mechanics that can afford to live in the area, and a number therefore limit service to bikes that have been bought there. Not a great situation, not one that I admire, but the situation on the ground.

If the Cannondale placement in a megastore hurts the LBS, then I'm "agin it," because lowest cost doesn't always mean best value, and because I want to continue to shop where I am confident that the person I'm talking to knows more about bikes than I do.

Well, I would agree that the strain or loss of local bike shops due to competitive pressure from a big chain like Costco would be a loss to local bicycling communities.

The same holds true for every small local business that goes under for the same reason. Lost is the passion of the local businessman and his relationship and service to the community.

It can be argued that demand is the compass for business success or failure. I think, though, that consumers often make unwise choices based on price alone and regret the loss of the local businesses when they are gone.

Sorry to say guys, but it really does look as though it could be a sign of Cannondale going down the pan.

In the UK I work for Halfords - A bit like Scheels (?) except we also sell car parts too - until 2 years ago GT wouldn't touch us as a supplier. They quoted the usual "Brand Name in large retailer not a good thing", but suddenly we got a memo from Head Office confirming a supply of GTs on special order (we have to sell one to be able to order one), this moved on to a proper retail supply. All our stores now stock at least 6 GT models and 4 Schwinns. But suprise suprise about 3 months back the European importers of GT/Schwinn went in recievership. This to me looks like we were a last throw of the dice. They obviously rolled a double 5 because although we are now GTs biggest order worldwide, they still mananged to go bust.

There has since been a buyout and things have improved, but as with all buyouts there is obviously a chance that things may still go pear shaped.

But on a less negative note, in the 8 years I've been with Halfords we've gone from a company I wouldn't use myself to one which I would buy stuff from. If you happen to live in the UK pop in and order the most obscure shimano spare part you can find(ie spring from a 1995 XT rear mech) and providing Madison have it in stock, we'll have it in a few days.

We've have gone from having Raleigh/Diamond Back/Saracen as our main brands to having Raleigh/GT/Dawes/Kona/KHS/Schwinn/Saracen as our main lines.

What I'm hearing is a general comdemnation of capitalism. There are basically 2 ways to make money in a capitalistic society--exploit labor or exploit real estate. You could be the best bike mechanic in the world but unless you have a bunch of bike mechanics working for you, you're not going to get rich. If the KMarts and Walmarts determine that bike sales and services are profitable, they'll hire a bunch of mechanics like they did pharmacists. If they determine that it's not profitable, well. . .the LBS's could have told them that.

Well, I e-mailed the customer service department at Cannondale regarding this issue of their bikes being sold at Costco and needless to say, I am very pleased with their response. Below is what I received back from one of their representatives:

Marcy, we do not offer our bikes through anyone but authorized retailers.
Every so often we hear of our bikes showing in places such as Costco and we do investigate! They are not assembled by an authorized retailer and do not come directly from Cannondale. They are not covered by any warranty. We caution anyone who finds one of these and is thinking of purchasing to
please remember that this is not a legitimate offer through Cannondale! We sell only through our retailers. If you will let me know any additional information, I will pass this along to our representatives for the area.

Originally posted by Joe Pozer
They are doing great diservice to the poor sucker who buys such an expensive bike there and then might get screwed if C-dale refuses to warranty their bike.


Joe - why do you think c-dale would refuse to warrenty the bike? If you have proper receipts this shouldn't be an issue, regardless of where you purchased.

Rider,
According to C-dale, they will not warranty a bike which is not purchased through an authorized cannondale dealer.
How strictly is this enforced? I don't know. But someone who purchased a 2k dollar bike at Costco may get stuck with the bill if they need a repair that would normally be covered under warranty.

Originally posted by Joe Pozer
Rider,
According to C-dale, they will not warranty a bike which is not purchased through an authorized cannondale dealer.
How strictly is this enforced? I don't know. But someone who purchased a 2k dollar bike at Costco may get stuck with the bill if they need a repair that would normally be covered under warranty.

That, of course, assumes Costco is not an authorised C-dale dealer.

I dunno, the argument can go either way for or against a big chain selling good quality, high end bikes. The real and undeniable fact is that the big chain stores do not have consitantly skilled assemblers. I end up looking at a lot of neighborhood kids' bikes from Toys-R-Us and am amazed at the goofy assembly and adjustments that go on there.

At times, they probably call Sarah from the Barbie Doll department to help assemble bikes.

From the reply Marcy got to her email to Cannondale, it sounds pretty certain that Costco is not an authorized Cannondale dealer, and that Cannondale would not honor a "warranty" from there.

There's been a lot of talk about this on some of the other boards. Apparently, these are not Cannondale-authorized sales, and I've heard that C'dale will not honor the warranty, leaving Costco to cover any issues. The posters say that the bikes were probably export-only, that somehow got diverted.

Cannondale makes only a few bikes for under a thousand dollars, I know that their stocks suck, but they know that too, and it doesn't bother them. Cannondale decided not to go with the flow and have bikes made in alien countries, they wanted their bikes made here in good ole America. So they invested a lot of money into new bike technology, one reason they have things like the headshok and the Lefty.Cannondale doesn't make the most money in the world, but I don't think they'd stoop to selling bikes at Costco. There is some fowl play going on.

Joe Pozer, have you actually SEEN some Cannondales in Costco? Or are you taking this a second-hand news ?

A friend of mine is a manager at a Costco in the East Bay and he called me up when the Cannondales came into his store.

damn, are you sure he is not pulling your leg?