This whole argument (both sides) has been too simplistic. The fact of the matter is that the wholesaler financing this deal for Lynskey is no idiot, as they'll make money from the deal. The people who argued about not financing (0% financing) toys could also, to some extent, be right. It is very possible that you could get that $5000 bike from Lynskey for $4500 right now if you have the cash and the Lynskey general manager/owner decides to do the deal for other reasons (keeping a future customer).

The biggest misconception in all these arguments is that there are no extra cost with 0% financing. The way these kind of models are built looks at four or more kinds of income stream, namely, a little bump up in price from a reasonable profit per bike, the service fee charged by the wholesaler, packaging and securitization of the debt, and finally the bundle to be made from people who screwed up repaying the debt within term and conditions.

So, you see, zero percent financing is really not zero, as a premium has likely been added to the price of the product. Like I said, no free lunches!