Good advice.

Learn who to learn from.

Dude are you serious? really? there is alot better info you could give a new cyclist than that. i understand thats your brand preference but thats not really true as far as quality of the bikes.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._20000__400306

For example...this bike lists a "regular" price of $779 (I've actually seen it in the store with this price tag on it), but it's on sale for $599. I bought it on a previous sale for $450. Then it went on sale again about a month ago for $399! I took the receipt in and they refunded me the difference.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes...0_20000_400306

$2000 bike on sale for $1000.

Maybe it's just Performance Bike, but I routenly see bikes on massive discount sales.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._400001_400001

Performance is not a bike shop...

OK, what is it?

Forget about the Brand. Find a dealer you like and buy from him. Pick out something that fits your needs and you are comfortable with. As for the markup I am told a dealer gets around 30 to 35%. And they need that to cover overhead etc. If you find one that is advertised 50% off it probably is because it has sat on the show room floor for a couple of years and no one is taking interest in it. He may sell it at a loss just to move it.

Although I doubt a dealer is going to take a loss on a bike, my point earlier is that bikes ARE marked up significantly and that you can save a lot of money by waiting on a sale instead of just running out and buying the first bike you fall in love with. Would be a good idea to ask the dealer that if the bike goes on a better sale later could you get a refund.

What Bob Said.

Funny....they have a lot of floor space and a bunch of bikes and bike stuff about 2 miles from where I am. All those years I thought that constituted a bike shop.

Forget about brand look at color. That is more important.

Red=fast
Yellow/orange = slightly less fast
Blue = slower
green = slowest
purple/pink = sissy (unless you are a girl)

same holds true for guitar shops. the real profit margins are in strings, straps, cords, etc... The markup on guitars is around 30%, but a $2000 guitar may sit on the shelf for months or even a couple of years before somebody buys it. A high volume dealer like Guitar Center (Performance Bike equivalent) may get a bit better pricing from the OEM and they also may sometimes take a loss on something to get it out the door.

Don't know if bikes work the same way, but essentially most guitar shops are buying their guitars from the OEM on loan. The longer it sits on their shelves the less profit they make on it. They're also usually required to order a certain number of instruments in each price range. They sell a lot more of and make a lot better profit selling $500 guitars than they do the $2000 guitars, but they are required to stock a certain number of the high end models.

Don't ever open a bike shop, you'll be out of business in a month.

The first thing is to pick a price threshold. At full retail LBS prices, for most recreational/club riders $1500 might be about right. If your name is Moneybags McPhee, keep in mind that (IMO) above $2500 the ROI drops off a cliff. $1500 MSRP is really not a lot to spend on a bike if you plan on using it a lot. The bike you get will be a lot more fun, durable, maintenance free and better to use than a cheaper bike. To me, this is important: the bike has to be a pleasure to use. If my bike stuff is constantly malfunctioning or requires frequent adjustment/repair, I get annoyed and stop wanting to ride. If everything works seemlessly and feels good, it adds immensely to the fun. That's why to me the quality of assembly and durability of the bike trump most other considerations. Best bet is go to an LBS with a good reputation and let them sort you out. If you know what you want, you can save some money (a lot of money, in some cases) and go the factory direct route, "roll your own" using an Ebay frame or buy a used CL bike, but I wouldn't recommend this if you're just starting off.

Cycling gear is full, full I tell you, of hype. Everyone sells Apex, Rival, Force, Red or 105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace bike, the companies mainly sell based on frames. This means that they're forced to make outrageous claims about their frames or trumpet entirely irrelevant or inconsequential "features" of their frames. IMO, as long as a frame fits and the bike is comfortable to ride, 95% of everything else about the frame is complete hype. The specific geometry, stiffness and weight and materials of a frame can make a (tiny) bit of difference, but not nearly as much as the manufacturers would like you to believe.

Compenent-wise, everyone uses the same stuff, so no difference there. Some manufactures will try to save some bucks with cheaper brakes (Tektros work just fine, IMO) or cheap-o seatposts/stems/bars, but as long as that stuff seems durable it doesn't really matter. A comfortable saddle and good pedals are much, much more important.

To me, the most important thing parts-wise is to pick a bike with good, durable wheels. Beware of manufacturers cheaping out on wheels or bike shops that do a bad job assembling them. Wheels vary widely in quality and nothing is more irritating than wheels that are constantly going out of true. To me, bombproof 32 or 36 spoke 3-cross handbuilts with quality hubs are ideal for a recreational/club rider but not many companies spec that way these days. Anyway, make sure the spokes are evenly tensioned and tight before buying.

Again, if a shop has a bike listed at $2000 then has a "blow-out sale" and marks it down to $1000 (which happens all the time) it is safe to say that the dealer paid less than $1000 for it. Meaning that as soon as the bike came off the truck, the dealer marked it up significantly...which is fine because he/she is in the business of making money. Shop around, wait for the sale and do your research. Bikes are ALWAYS on huge sales.

That's not what I see around here. It's usually like this.

New bike priced @ $1599
A few months later, Blow-out sale tag says: Now $1000, originally $2000.

Which is pretty similar to what you propose here:

YES!! I can deal with being #2.

:rolleyes:

25-40% off is a pretty standard "sale", but I have seen quite a few 50% off sales as well. Hell, the bike I bought was listed at almost $800, but I got it for $399.

I wish I could get a new car for 50% off.

Black is the fastest of them all. It's been scientifically proven that black absorbs heat, and heat is energy and energy is speed.

I am in the heating and air conditioning business. Like my competitors and associates, if there is dead inventory it is better to get 50% on the dollar rather than holding it taking up space and paying rent on it. From what I understand is all business's have to do it from time to time. Your suggestion of the bike going on sale at a later time is a good suggestion.

I've only seen those kinda deals at the national level and some other online places: Performance, Nashbar, Supergo, Wheelworld, etc.

I've never seen a bike half off what they originally charged for it at a standard bike shop. About half off MSRP occasionally, but...

The big places like that can get deals that a normal LBS usually can't.

For any major bike brands and reputable shops, markup is pretty well fixed at 30 to 40% for regular prices. That means, if the bike is $1000 at regular price, the retailer paid $600-$700 for it.

At end of season, closeout bikes can be had by retailers from the manufacturers for some discount off their wholesale price. Usually this is not huge, 10 or 20%.

Where you see the deep discounts are when a retailer has to move inventory to make room for the next years' equipment. Retailers *will* take a loss on stale stock, as keeping it around for another year costs them money.

You can take advantage of this by shopping in the fall or winter when the new model year bikes are showing up. There will generally be wiggle room in the prices, *especially* if you are buying an appreciable amount of regular priced clothing or accessories at the same time. The downside is the retailer won't have full size runs, you're at the mercy of what they have left over, often odd sizes, unpopular colours, etc etc.

One way to think of it, is if you average out the margin on a retailer's bike sales, it isn't anywhere near the %30 markup that their regular priced bikes had. Does that mean someone buying a bike in the spring is a sucker, and has been 'had'? Absolutely not! A customer's time is valuable too. Being able to get exactly the bike you want, knowing the retailer will have it in stock, at the peak point in the season so you can get on the bike right away and start enjoying it is worth something.

It boggles my mind when people with large disposable incomes spend an appreciable amount of their spare time bargain hunting. If it takes me three or four weekends of concerted shopping around, visiting stores, making phone calls, and so on, to score a bike for a couple hundred bucks less, I would be annoyed. I'd rather spend an extra month riding my new bike! My spare time has a dollar value, when it comes right down to it. Another way to think of it, I'd rather spend my shopping time test riding several bikes equipped the way I want in my size back to back, instead of travelling store to store attempting to find just one bike in my price range in my size.

Some people enjoy trolling classifieds, scanning eBay and Craigslist, and visiting every store within driving distance to try to find the absolute best price on gear. It's *their* hobby. Nothing wrong with that! But there's nothing wrong with supporting your Local Bike Store, walking in with cash in hand in early April, picking out the bike you want, the riding gear you want, and hitting the road, even if it costs you a certain fraction more than the bargain hunter.

Ask the retailer who the *real* 'valued customers' are: The guy who comes in every weekend, only ever buying stuff off season at a sizable discount, or the customer who comes in regularly, but maybe less frequently, and doesn't dicker on the price. *Those* folks will get discounts without even asking for it.

As for stores that might fraudulently inflate the 'regular' price on sub-par goods so that they can offer them for "%50 off" all the time, I'd be wary about which other corners they're going to cut in terms of having worthwhile staff on hand, and having decent post-sale support (think warranty work).

To be fair, I never shop at my "real" LBS. Everything in there is really expensive. Their bikes start around $2000 and go up. I walked in one day, looked around, said "holy hell!" and then walked out. I did buy a set of tires there last week, but only because my local PB had them backordered. They were $10 more each at the LBS. I know it's good to support local small businesses, but I am not wealthy and I go with the shop with the best price...especially when the savings is in the hundreds of dollars.

Now this is the funniest post in this thread! Mine's white and red over naked carbon.....how fast is my bike?

No a whole lot of difference. The basic frame made form a given material and outfitted with the same level of parts from any of the major manufacturers is bound to be pretty similar. There are differences in geometry that may make one bike fit better for a certain body type than another. Decide what you want and can afford (for instance, an aluminum bike with 105 components for long rides might cost around $1200) Ride as many as possible, and get the one that feels most comfortable. There may be about a 10% price difference depending on the shop or brand of bike, but if you are going to spend $1000+, what’s another $100 to make sure it will be comfortable enough to enjoy riding it?