Originally Posted by
Falchoon
A mate bought a Roubaix recently that came with 11 spd Ult Di2 and he took it to my mechanic friend for a service and the amount of dodgy stuff on it from the factory/LBS was amazing. The cassette was one piece (Sora spec?), chain was KMC, one brake cable was Jagwire while the other was Shimano, not sure what the BB was.
Manufacturers (or LBS) could offer just a frame option - I know some do but mainly the high-end frames like say S-Works, but not the lower level regular Specialized.
Don't lump the factory and the LBS into one entity. I've never seen a bike with a complete Ultegra or UDI2 not come equipped with something other than an Ultegra chain, that almost certainly happened at the shop. The housing is likely not a factory mistake either. Did he have the bars changed? The cassette being a grade low is pretty common on lower end bikes, but I would imagine 1) your friend asked the shop for a cassette gear ratio that was not stock, and they slapped on whatever parts matched the ratio he wanted, or 2) they needed the parts for something else and slapped whatever parts on the bike ( 2a) they may have messed up the Shimano chain install, and tossed a KMC on because they're cheaper and easy to install (though I do like KMC). )
Otherwise, when it comes to cheesy parts, it's because manufacturers are trying to deliver bikes at prices customers want, and the cheesy parts make the bike cheaper. Most bike shop customers don't know or care about the parts on the bike, the overall feel and the price are far bigger concerns. If cheesy parts or outdated frame designs were a turn off, bikesdirect would go out of business really quickly.
As for the lower end frame availability thing, I can only say again that clearly the economics aren't there, because few manufacturers sell lower end frames.