Been having some troubles finding online retailers that ship, well besides ebay that is. Anyone know of any? Would be greatly apprieated.

It would help if you mentioned what it was that you were hoping to purchase.
I'm guessing you are referring to complete bikes, in which case you will be very limited. Nearly all of the reputable bicycle companies prohibit sales of their bikes on the interweb.

Yeah complete bikes, been noticing that. No car and all my friend's go to college at different locations, and my old bike of 15 years finally came crashing down on me. So very much so limited right now.

CBO Sells and ships new and demo bikes. Also Supergo will ship as well but I do not like them(personal preferance). There are a few others you just need to surf around a bit.

You mean complete bikes like a Trek or Giant??? If you're talking about dealer bikes, you can't have them shipped. Anybody with a license is forbidden from shipping them. That's part of the whole "quality" deal.

You can get "house" brands and Iron Horse shipped. You can also have custom built bikes shipped (www.speedgoat.com).

This "no ship" policy is utterly ludicrous. There isn't any other retail product I've ever heard of with such an asinine policy because there isn't a single practical reason to do so. This is nothing more than pretentious, purist nonsense and the people responsible for the idea should be summarily sacked. IMHO.

This is to keep the local bike shops in business and is done to make sure you get a proper fit and assembly. Lets see you email GM, Ford, Toyota, any car for that matter and get it sold directly to you, that's not going to happen, there is your "other retail product".. I am sure that there are companies that sell direct but usually better deals can be had on previous yers model or through a retailer that is clearing out stock.

* All bikes purchased online must be shipped to a Kona dealer for assembly. Bikes will not be shipped directly to consumers. Please choose a dealer from our Dealer Locator and fill in their information as
the ship to address. Online bike sales are available in the USA only

Not direct though, it would be an intresting startup company that just did a direct distriubtion without a middle man, as it would save people some cash. However it's good to keep the LBS's around because if they crumble those who don't have the mechanical ablity to work on thier cycles will have to find a frined, learn for themselves or ride crappilaly. Sorry bout the misspelling of your hande in other posts.

Actually, I *can* buy cars online but I suppose I should have said "retail products that can fit in a box".

What I don't understand is why does it matter to Specialized if I purchase an 04 FSRxc from a bike shop 2000 miles away instead of my local shop so I can save myself $400-600? The shop 2000 miles away may not be local to me but it is local to somebody. It's still a retail shop and it's making a sale. So who loses? I get my bike, they get rid of old stock, Specialized has another happy owner and consumer advocate, and I save some $$ that can be put to good use elsewhere.

IMHO, this "no ship" policy hurts more than helps because it's only going to drive more and more people to the big mass markets like Walmart. So in the long run I think it's going to do more harm than good due to lost sales at the local bike shop.

Again, take my case as an example. I'm totally new to the mt bike scene but I'm ready to buy. I've done all my research and I've ridden several bikes and I've decided on an FSRxc. Unfortunately, I can't afford what my local bike shops are asking for their shiny new 05's and they don't have any 04's available. So I hop online and find several 04's in the $600-800 range. I go to purchase one from a bike shop 2000 miles away and find out they can't ship because Specialized has this silly "no ship" policy. So yeah, now I'm pretty upset because my options are limited to

a) spend nearly twice than my budget allows and get the 05 locally
b) drive to Texas to pick up the leftover 04
c) buy a hardtail locally, even though the FS suits my needs better
d) hit supergo and get an Iron Horse that I'm unable to test ride locally first
e) boycott mt biking altogether! (yeah, a little extreme but I'm steamed about this)

Anyway, sorry for the rant but the more I write and think about this the more steamed I become.
I was hoping my introduction to these forums would have been more along the lines of "Hi guys! New FSRxc owner here!"

I really feel that the manufacturer's are truly shooting themselves in the foot here and I hope this policy is reconsidered someday and seen for the hogwash it really is.

So if you send them a check and own the bike they have no right to say that you can't ship it. That is like a person on ebay, I would make that argument with them that as the rightfull owner you can have things shipped wherever you wanted them. This may squeak by, I would talk with the bike shop again.

HERE MAY BE A WAY AROUND IT - ask the bike shop after the sale to please box your item then ask for dimensions and weight, go to www.ups.com or www.usps.com and create a prepaid shipping label that is paid for by you the shipper (to be shipped from the shop to your house) and then send that to the bike shop to put on the box. They are not shipping that item it is you who is doing the shipping and if you paid for the bike you are the owner as well. This could be the loophole you are looking for.

I don't want to put the bike shop in an awkward position. It's not fair to them. This is my point--this complexity just seems so silly and unnecessary.

Anyway, I'll get them on the phone and see if there's something we can do. Thank you for your input!

adrenaline bikes sell complete bikes and frames

https://www.adrenalinebikes.com

Well some of you guys are going to give me crap, but I found my bike on Ebay.

2000 Specialized M2 Pro

16" Frame, which is good cause I'm a shortie. Has stock everything, tuned up a month and a half ago (he's including a copy of that reciept to me) for $325 Shipped.

It's a yellow frame with a black fork and black tires. Because I paid a bit lower then I thought I was going to have to for a bike, I went out and bought...

Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1 black/red tires w/wire bead
SDG Bel Air Comp Mountain Bike Seat Saddle 221E
Planet X Clingon Pedal- Red
Louis Garneau Wings Helmet Yellow/Black

Few questions left to ask if some of you guys wouldn't mind answering them for me.

1. I don't know the name of all the parts of a bike, is there a site out there that goes through it all? Really want to learn all of this stuff...hungry for this knowledge!

2. Anyone know where there's a list of the nitty gritty technical info on this bike? I know I should find all this out before purchasing the bike, but the price was too good to pass up and I'm sure someone else would have snagged it up if I waited any length of time. I read reviews that this frame kicks some serious ass and for the price I was between this and a 05' Trek 4300 which doesn't have as good as componets.

Here's a picture of it. I get most of the things I ordered in on Friday, so Saturday/Sundayish I'll be posting the final pics cause I'm just stoked.







To me, this looks like a hot lil bike that's just beggin to be riden!

Sheldon Brown is your man. Check out his Harris Cyclery page

even top of the line components aren't going to hold up well to 5 years of heavy duty MTB use. Hopefully those components are in good shape for you. And, a top of the line fork from 2000 is not even comparable to todays forks. Hot looking little frame though.

Don't know where you could score a component listing.

I doubt this one sell would be worth it to the shop to possibly lose the Specialized line. If someone at Specialized, Giant, Trek finds out that a shop sells on-line they will no longer sell to that shop. Some companies, namely Giant, actually search ebay and other places on-line searching for their bikes being sold, if it looks funny they will call the shop, trust me, I've received calls from them when a bike was on ebay in my area.

It's a way to help ensure dealer loyalty. The dealer network has been good to Trek, so Trek wants to be good to their dealers.

RFM

I imagine if dealers did sell direct, they would have to deal with countless phone calls starting off with "I can't put my bike together". Or do they ship it complete?

That's very true.

Oh and Q...

05' RST Gila T5 w/preload adjust, 80mm > 00' Rock Shox Sid XC, 3.15" travel

?

It's a bit short-sighted, IMHO. It reminds me of the music industry when Napster appeared and artists and producers/publishers warned that massive declines in CD sales were sure to follow any sort of digital distribution. Fortunately, some folks kept their wits about them and look at it now--CD sales are higher now than ever and continue to grow, despite iPod, Napster, Real, etc..

Iron Horse is available through a few online vendors.

https://www.supergo.com/itemlist.cfm?...7&lcat_id=7604

Warranties ...

The LBS handles warranty issues with the local customer. In return they get exclusive distribution and a territory.

Very few people would want to buy a bike without ordering it. That means the product must be on a shelf near where someone lives. The LBS fullfills this job. In return, they get the territory and effectively a "warehousing" fee for making the inventory more accessible to the consumer.

If the bike shops didn't have dealership arrangements, they'd go out of business because Wal-Mart would then be able to sell their product. The end result would be crappy bikes for everyone. The bike makers realize this. Only startups will sell direct. Once they get dealerships, they'll no longer do this.

It's all in marketing. The local bike shop is staffed by people who can distinguish quality from garbage (Huffy). Without this distinction in the marketplace, the only selling point is PRICE. That is not what quality bike manufacturers want.