kayakdiver

For me it depends... If I go into a shop and order a frame or complete.. I will absolutely negotiate the price. I figure I'm saving him the cost of flooring and floor space. He/she has a quick sale with little or no hand holding so being flexible on the selling price should be reasonable. He/she also has the option of passing. No hard feelings either way.

Now if I'm going to go and test ride 10 bikes and spend hours of his/her time..... I'm going to pay what they ask. His/her time is worth $$ in my opinion. I don't ever have a problem paying for hand holding/customer service. That is what MSRP is intended to cover when it comes to bikes.

If it's old stock... I will ask for sure. If I get a negative answer I will have them order the current model. At which time 9/10 some flexing will happen.

My 3 cents..

Eclectus

Lifetime tuneups may be worth a premium price. Me, I would go for a low price and do my own tuneups. You would have to get some tools, or figure out if you have them already.

On its face a $40 price-drop on last year's frame is not so great, but USD has dropped in value, what does a '10 cost?

I personally wouldn't buy Sora. I think for every price-point diminution, you are giving up something. It might be weight, it might be durability. Or both. " Lifetime free" tuneups are fine, except when the LBS tells you your components are worn past free adjustments and need to be replaced. These are not going to be free. I'd go for 105 or Ultegra.

noise boy

I am going to have to call shenanigans on this crap. The only difference between Ultegra and Sora (setting aside the thumb levers) is weight and price. I have put about 1000 miles on my CAAD 9-7 since August when I bought it, and the only adjustments necessary have been cable adjustments. The derailleurs don't suddenly fall out of alignment, or reset their own limit screws. The cables stretch out, and they will stretch no matter which group it is. Once you get beyond the initial stretching out phase, little to no adjustment is necessary. And when it is, they have convienently provide barrel adjusters to make them, while you ride no less Also worth noting, only the brifters are Sora, the F & R mechs are both Tiagra. Lastly, I have a 1994 Specialized Rock Hopper with Altus components, and it all still works pretty much flawlessly now, Shimano has no interest in putting out gear that doesn't work well. If they did, when people move on and buy new bikes/components they are going to shy away from Shimano in favor of other brands if their initial experience with Shimano sucks.

FWIW, I bought my bike for $875 and they threw in a couple of water bottles and gave me a break on the computer, cages, spare tube, pedals and shoes that I bought with it. If you are buying two bikes and all the accessories at one time, I would definitely suggest that you work a deal with the shop, keeping in mind that part of what you are buying is the shop's time to help you figure out what you want/need. That is a service, and costs money for the shop to provide. I honestly have a huge issue with people using local businesses as IRL fitting rooms for online retailers. Remember if the shops go under, nobody is going to have that masterlink/brake pad/widget you need to go for a ride tommorow

noise boy

+1 here, this is a totally reasonable expectation

Bearonabike

I say it depends on the LBS. My local LBS, the only one in this berg, prices very competitively. Much of his business is in wrenching so his margins on the bike are low counting on your return business. In the nearby big city, prices are higher and negotiation is possible.

W Cole

I didn't realize when I bought my Tarmac, but after seeing some of the deals my buddies have gotten, you can definately haggle a lot on price. Especially on the higher-end 4-5k+ bikes theres a lot of wiggle room. The markup on accessories is even more than the mark-up on bikes so your LBS should be willing to haggle on those as well. If you plan on buying accessories make sure to tell them you plan on spending X amount, this way the LBS can sell the bike to you cheaply and make their $$ off accessories. Call around to different shops and ask them what they will be willing to do if you buy two bikes from them and $X of accessories, you should at the very least be able to pay no tax and get 10% off accessories. Some of my buddies have done A LOT better.

Its really unfortunate that this is the way it is. I'm more than happy to pay a fair price for a good bike and even maybe go with last years model if I have to. But when theres other people out there getting these incredible deals I'm not willing to pay more than the next guy.

vontan

Last year I bought my first road bike, had no idea what to expect. Was looking for an entry level Trek and wound up with a Madone 4.5 leftover from the previous year. Guess it all depends on the store but this place I dealt with the owner and can't remember what it was exactly but he said something that made me think he expected a negotiation of some sort, which I was happy enough to do. They also give me a discount when I buy anything there.

bismillah

Dont listen to all of these people who are too afraid to do some bargaining. Go to a couple of LBS's, get different prices for the same bike. I got my CAAD9-6 for 930 bucks in sept of 09, before the 2010 came out. MSRP for it was 1119 or something.

The LBS should give away the bike and make a buck on the service and accessories.

kindablue

Their customer service sounds awesome, although I'd shoot for a bike with better components than sora, look at 105 if you can pay the extra (I have 2200, the step down from Sora and its... unpleasant at times).
IMO there isn't anything wrong with politely trying to haggle, and from your post it seems like you'd be the polite type. Go in with an offer and some reasoning to back it up. Good luck!

crhilton

Be polite and tell them you'd really like to work with them but you can get the bike for $x at y store. Tell them you don't expect $x, but you need them to get closer to it. If they get all huffy (or Schwinn) about it then find a store that employs adults.

If you don't have y store then forget it. If you didn't do your research you don't get to haggle. And if your research turned up that you have no leverage then pay the full price or look for a different product. It's embarrassing to have to walk away and then come back two weeks later to take the price... Not worth saving $100 from people you're going to be working with pretty often.

A healthy relationship with an LBS is an ongoing thing. They should provide you not only parts supply and service but they may also provide rides and community. Even without the latter, they're going to be more receptive to helping you out price wise in the future if they know you're reasonable to work with. Some shops just clearly don't believe in haggling (or setting lower prices to start): Since bike prices are so inflated I prefer to avoid those shops.

Also, people lie about the prices they get. I know people who "get everything at cost" and I'm fully confident that that's not the case... Haggling results are like golf scores. Subtract 10% or so from reality and that's what you tell people!

coasting 

some people are soooo timid.

i haggled with 2 of the biggest online bike shops. i saw a price on one and it was cheaper than the other. i called the more expensive one up and said..."i have purchased from you many times before. look at my purchase history. i wish to continue buying from you because i have never been disappointed by the product or the service. The only problem is, this other shop has it for £50 less than you. Are you willing to beat that price. If so I would rather buy from you than them."

No question of lying. Both shops' prices on display on their websites. I directed the expensive shop to the cheaper shops website to confirm.

Is that disrespectful? Perfectly legitimate business proposal. Just do it.

island rider

+1

There is nothing harmful, shameful or inappropriate about saying I would love to buy the bike, but is there any way you can sell it cheaper. Better yet if you can point to a price at another shop.

A frank conversation will never get you bad blood. But be prepared for them to say no, and for you to buy it anyway at that price, "too bad, but I like it, and I like you guys so, ok..."

You can also ask if they can give you a discount on accessories, etc. Really, despite what others may say, there is never a harm in asking. Being a D**k, on the other hand... is a whole different story.

NickDavid

EVERYTHING in life is negotiable. Anyone who pays sticker price is getting ripped off.

fskywalker

+1 hell yeah!! this is a buyers market, specially if there are a couple of LBS around where you leave so you can make them compete for the sale

pdedes

that's hardly a measure of durability. not even a month's worth of riding for me.

biffstephens

I think your best bet would be to pick a bike store and find out what local cycling groups the LBS supports. In my city there is a city wide bike "club" and my LBS offers discounts to members. Join right when purchase and negotiate a discount then. Most LBS's would be happy to offer the standard 10% or whatever it is they offer. Also you might get a better deal if instead you take the 10% in "extra" stuff....shoes or shorts or something like that. A LBS has more room there but cash is cash...your going to need the stuff anyway!! Enjoy the new rides..

BikeWise1

You wouldn't have a shop to have service done at if we gave away the bike. Selling bikes is a near break-even proposition as it is.

bismillah

Looks like your metaphor detector is broken.

BikeWise1

Sorry. No metaphor detected. :-)

noise boy

Wow, and your e-cred just went up a little. Doesn't really matter, I work with mechanical things for a living, and you can tell crap from inexpensive. The Sora brifters are inexpensive but not crap. Shimano is not interested in putting potential future sales off for a quick buck. As I mentioned, the Altus group (bottom group in MTB's at the time) on my MTB is 17 years old, and still works flawlessly despite some serious abuse over the years.

StanSeven

First of all, I should add negotiation is what I do for a living. Most people I know are not afraid to do some bargaining. So are we supposed to be impressed you got a $1119 bike for $930?

That statement says you are all talk and have zero business sense.

Eclectus

Here is the problem it's a social issue. Mfrs go to China and haggle. Distributors haggle with mfrs. Big-volume LBSs haggle. Small-volume LBSs take whatever prices are offered, then do their markup. They aren't hagglers. They don't want customers who are hagglers.

pdedes

age isn't the only measure of durability, it's usage.

Eclectus

Scott4957,

Dealers in SoCal dump last year's models when the new ones come in. They sell them at their cost. LBSs in other places not so much. The thinking is, "I've paid for it. Not much businesss now. In spring I can unload last year's bikes and restock with this year's bikes."

In May your bike will drop $100. In theory, you should be in a good bargaining position now, when sales are slow. Especially when the bike was paid for last year, so $800 in cash right now is beneficial to the LBS owner. $600 cash would be attractive.


The owner bought the bike as an experiment. The best outcome for his experiment would have been a quick sale at MSRP. Maybe that used to happen. Maybe the market dropped off. At any rate, he put out 6-7-800 and has a white elephant.

On the other hand if the market is soft, he's not necessarily going to use your cash to restock with a 2010 replacement. If he does want to do this, he has to figure the replacement cost

So say the price has gone up. Not only that, Cannondale is making him price the 10 at MSRP. Which may not sell, if the 09 is a measure.

Do you see how screwed up his life is? In a free market, he could set whatever prices moved the bikes. If he were smarter, he'd join a co-op and get mass-purchasing power, and pass on the savings to his retail customers.

If you don't have bike-fixing skills and don't want to develop them, lifetime free tuneups are worth a premium. They are actually simple, but some people aren't mechanically inclined.

BikesAreCool123

Free tune ups FOR LIFE makes the bike worth $900.