Originally Posted by
bikesdirect_com
Just to set the record straight:
I can not spell. However, I did go to school and got 3 college degrees; including a Ph.D. And I did teach as a professor for 10 years in two different universities. So I do not feel too bad about my lack of spelling ability.
Dawes frames are not crap. They have the same QC in the same factory as thousands of frames that end up marked Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale.
Motobecanes have and are reveiwed all the time. This year all reviews are on the new Ti models. We never submit Dawes bikes for review; as that is not part of my long term plan.
BRAIN needs news articles and would publish whatever I sent in. But that is inside baseball stuff and would not help in my long term plan.
I do have store fronts. I do not know why you think I do not. I sell thousands of bikes in my stores. For at least 10 years I was the largest dealer in the USA. Now I have more focus on internet sales; which I feel are serving many cyclists in a way that they can not be served in stores. Many customers buy bikes from us that they can not get anything like in their area. And many buy to save money; and some of these feel they have saved over $2000 on a single bike purchase.
Thousands of our bikes have gone way more than a single year of commuting; and hundreds of people have posted all over the net about that. Including mant coast to coast rides.
I am sorry you object to the fact that the exact same quality bikes sold by LBS are available to consumers on the net at less money. I am sorry you do not see that several requirements of cyclists that can not be meet locally are indeed easily meet on-line.
Welcome to the future. A future of choices for consumers
I like choices
Wow... thirty years in the bike industry? Three undergraduate degrees and a Ph.D.? Ten years as the largest dealer, in what I can only assume as bicycles, in the United States? Where DO you find the time?
Name your store fronts, give me addresses, phone numbers, or failing that give me the cities where you have storefronts, should you have any left.
How are your customers being better served by internet sales?
If you had storefronts your prices on your website would probably reflect that. By being higher than they are.
I give you points that you feel that you serve your customers well by giving them a choice. And I give you points that you feel you've given your customers a bicycle they couldn't get elsewhere. But, I will still contend that you've given them a non-choice. What record is there to set straight? You have your supporters here. You also have your detractors. And your current behavior is not winning over your detractors.
A thank you to m_yates for that
useful review of his Windsor. If he's anything like me then the funds he spent on tools and the time he spent learning how to work on his own bike was worthwhile. But, if he spent a couple thousand on the bike purchase, plus shipping, plus the tools, plus the time in research needed to learn how to work on the bike; I think the average bicycle rider would have given up and been profoundly disappointed in bikesdirect.com.