Originally Posted by
JonathanGennick
I disagree. It's not fantasy at all. Last year I purchased a couple of SLX cranksets online for $140 at a time when a nearby bike shop had them on the shelf for $240. I bought new-in-the-box parts. Even now you can pay $249 at REI or $153 at Chain Reaction. That is a significant price range and it pays to shop around.
OEM parts and closeouts provide even better deals. If one is not picky about brand and model, and is willing to settle for whatever handlebar, shifters, seatpost, crankset etc., might be on closeout at a given time, one can save a fair bit of money on parts. I've been buying LX cranks rather than SLX due to the pricing at Jenson. You do need to know your way around the bike though, and be able to do your own work.
If you`re going to bother to quote me it would be nice if you quoted be completely and actually came up with a valid argument.
Not only is the example you posted not a 3 to 1 ratio, I wouldn`t have much trouble finding a 2 to 1 price difference between some Internet prices. Internet sellers aren`t much different than brick and mortar businnesses. Prices aren`t uniform for everyone and in many cases price is negotiable.
And I did mention and excluded OE parts in my original comment, but since you want to go there anyway - let me point out that some brick and mortar businesses do the same thing. In fact Jenson USA actually has retail outlets in the US and for people living nearby - they`re actually a LBS. In fact some deals are ONLY available to walk-in customers.
So I`m not quite sure how or why you want to make such a distinct seperation when a lot of businesses are actually running their businesses both ways from the same addresses.