Reminds me of a good story. I saw my Merckx EMX-3 on CL and the price seemed almost below fair. Had to go, had to see it. Did some prior research, and it was one of the models offered by Competitive Cyclist. I liked it and made the 80-mile trip, one way. Seems the owner was an employee of Performance/nashbar. Seems he bought the bike and then realized that the "office" rides may be a little uncomfortable on a competitor's bike. Probably OK, but did he really want to go there? Then he wins a set of Zipps from a company contest, and he really, really wants to put them on the EMX-3 (and they would have been awesome, Barney). His wife chimes in with some wisdom: you work at Performance. you ride with co-workers, including management. you won the wheels they all coveted. you live here in Performance's home town. you show up on Competitive Cyclist's bike, with wheels you won from "the company." horses generally do not defecate where they feed; poor analogy, but better than biting the hand....
He thinks about it, buys a $699 nashbar carbon frame, no names, no applique, no decals, flat black. He builds it with DA 9000 and the Zipp wheels. It is major bad-ass, and I can tell you, equal to that EMX-3. At my level, his level, no functional difference. Neither of us are Tom Boonen.
I buy the EMX-3. He is wistful for about 30 seconds, regretfull until he clips in and rockets off. I'm happy, he's happy, his wife does not worry.
When nashbar was selling that aluminum frame/carbon fork for 99.99, there simply wasn't a better deal to be had around here. Not my cupola Tea (Leoni) but that was a pretty good deal.
Originally Posted by
mtnbke
Performance and Nashbar, and Supergo at the end were all owned by the same company. Obviously, Supergo and Nashbar were started independently, but they are now part of the same parent company, or at least were.
Whether the frame said Access, Scattante, Performance etc. if the price point of the frame was decent the frame was decent. You have to remember unless you're talking a Calfee carbon, or Litespeed/Merlin/Lynsky titanium, or Klein/Cannondale for aluminum most stuff is just everything else. My Access 23" 29er is every bit an amazing frame. Its not as light as my Cannondale M2000 26" bike, but its also from a different era of big suspension and everyone hitting everything harder. The worst part of the bike is NOT the frame. I hate the hydraulic brakes, the plasticky X9 components, but the bike came with Mavic 29er Crossmax wheels and a Reba fork. Taiwanese factories aren't just limited to producing frames for a single nameplate. Cheap house brand gets made on the same production line as expensive nameplates. Many frame brands now are just branding. There is nothing about that brand that actually built the frame. We just don't know and can't pronounce the factory that did.
The days of craftsmen in Chehalis, WA or Bedford, PA building bikes in house are over. For crying out loud most Rivendell's are either a Mark Nobillette or a Waterford. What makes it "a Rivendell" their lugs and paint? There are times where the frame/forks at Nashbar get stupid cheap. However, I think you can always find a better nameplate bike on Craigslist just the same if you are patient enough.