Originally Posted by
interested
...So what do you think of QPB? They own Surly bikes, Salsa bicycles and Civia. Are QPB a shady company? Are the Surly brand the same after they got bought?
I personally don't have any problems with a company owning several brands, or that old brands continue under new owners....
I don't mind that "Windsor" or "Motobecane" names are being used by bikesdirect. What I think is fishy is pretending to be a separate company, which bikesdirect clearly does.
The QBP brands don't do this. Visit the Surly web site, or the Civia one. If you search for Surly dealers, the web site states that they are part of QBP and most bike shops can order from them. The Civia web site has a page on the history of the company talking about how QBP decided to target the commuter market with a new brand. They don't hide the fact that they are part of QBP.
Try visiting motobecane.com, windsorbicycles.com, cyclesmercier.com, and dawescyclesusa.com and see if you can find information anywhere stating that they are exclusively distributed by bikesdirect.com, manufactured exclusively for bikesdirect.com, and in fact owned by or part of bikesdirect.com
It is just the misleading nature of this that rubs me the wrong way.