One big worry I would have personally with a DTC bicycle market becoming the norm is the liability on the customer with shipping and assembly.

I am good at it. It's 100x easier than assembling a hydraulic lifter cylinder head and shimming that stuff and firing it up with the risk of exploding $5000 on the spot. Not everyone is. Then Specialized is going to say "oh, so sorry, you screwed up" or the box shows up destroyed and "oh, sorry, you go deal with Fedex".

Some of these bikes are into used motor vehicle price territory now. Willy nilly shipping that direct and the customer then has to attach the integrated handlebars or bleed hydro brakes and such.........I don't think this will end up well for the bike industry or customers in the long run.

How will Specialized work around differing costs of labor and shop fees in somewhere like an expensive metro area versus the middle of nowhere? You standardize the assembly price for "ship to store white glove" ? You get $200 to assemble an s-works Venge.........in NYC or in Greenville SC. OK.