Certainly there are many many many exemplary bike shops who sell good wares at fair prices and provide expert advice and service.

However, with the surge in popularity of road cycling, there are also a lot of novice or inexperienced buyers falling prey to maybe unscrupulous sales tactics and as a result are probably making a lot of unnecessary bad purchase decisions.

I am often asked for suggestions on bike buying. I wish I could accompany each of these friends to the store to help them avoid mistakes. I can't.

But I am writing a blog post on a few things the general public or novice road bike buyers should be aware of when they are shopping for bikes.

I have so many personal bikes already that I am way out of the market and so am pretty rusty on the retail buying end of things.

But here's one example of trickery (at least that's my take on it) I've noticed.

Everyone seems to know that there are tiers of component models, that there is a premium to be paid for (in the Shimano lineup) 105, more for Ultegra and a quantum leap to Dura Ace.

I've seen a lot of bike suppliers and/or shops slapping Ultegra rear derailleurs on bikes (presumably because the model name is most obvious on the RD, the biggest billboard on a bike, the bit everyone looks at when they pull up along side) but then using cheaper components elsewhere, where they are less obvious - Tektro brakes, 105 FD, Tiagra brifters, Sora Hubs.....)
And the poor novice buyers walks out thinking they've bought a bike with "Ultegra".

So I'll ask you all. What cues you all have learned to look for over the years, nay decades? Or what sly bike selling tricks you have seen over the years that made you shake your head.

That's not a sales trick.

The mixed spec is done by the product manager of the brand to try to spec the bike to reach a specific target price. If they can save a dollar using a different brake and then invest that same dollar to upgrade the der they may do that as it adds to curb appeal.

The shop sells what is spec'd by the brand.

I don't think I've bought a complete bike since 1996.

Also, how many people really give a crap about the FD? I don't want a bike manufacturer wasting money on a high-spec FD that doesn't do anything besides shave 8g off. Same for the cassette.

Brakes and crank are a different matter.

As stated by the poster above, it's not a "Trick". The buyer sees exactly what they are buying so it's not like they pulled the bike off the floor with Ultegra everything and when they bring it back out from the service area the crankset is changed to FSA and brakes are changed to Tektro.

The fact is that the majority of bike buyers out there, especially novices that are just getting into the sport, don't have a sky high budget. Most of the time their budget seems to be the magical number of "$400". So in order to keep the price down on bikes, they will use lower end components like FSA cranksets and tektro brake calipers.

One can get a bike with FULL ultegra components if they want, but they will be paying a few hundred bucks more than a bike that is equipped with an FSA crankset and tektro brakes. So keep in mind that the price the customer pays for the bike is reflective of what they are actually getting.... no tricks there.

What he said. Some employees at local bike shops are very helpful and well meaning, it is difficult to asses what a new customer needs because the customer is unsure what they "want". What an experienced cyclist may "want" or "need" may be much different than what a beginner may need. If I was selling products at a local bike shop, I would consider a beginner bike purchase as a growth bike, something they will develop into and possibly continue to use throughout their cycling career.

no one that doesnt shift into, and out of the large ring. also you are a tri athlete, you dont climb. some folks like to make their bike as light as they can, 8 grms is still 8 grms.
' Cassettes can and do make a difference in weight and shifting.

Ya'll are looking at this wrong . the over spec derailuer is an upgrade

To be fair, it's not "y'all", it's just "that one guy".

In a sense that all brands do it and for the reason, sort of, as the OP mentioned, that newer buyers do look there after looking at the colour and brand of frame it's now SOP.

But it is an upgrade for the price point.

My direct experience here has been that a bike marketed as 105 might have ultegra parts on it. I know more than one person who has bought a 105 bike with an ultegra rear D. That seems to be a popular thing for manufacturers to do. None of those people were under the impression they were buying a bike with full Ultegra, and more to the point, they probably didn't care about the difference in the rear D.

I do think calling a bike a 105 equipped bike when the only 105 bit dangling from it is the rr der just isn't right. That's always bothered me.

I do climb; I just don't climb in races. There's a lovely local climb called the Triple *****es. I do climb it. And Heartbreak Hill out in Boerne.

But seriously, 8 grams is meaningless, and in my experience, most serious riders select the cassette they want anyway. And how much does a 105 cassette differ from, say, Ultegra, or DA? Other than material?

Agreed. I especially hate how loosely "full" is thrown around; it now seems to mean derailleurs and shifters. Should be that, brakes, and crankset/ bottom bracket.

To me FULL GROUP means shifters, entire drivetrain, brakes, crankset and BB. That's a full group. It used to mean hubs but the boutique wheel changed that.

If they are trying to hit a price point, why not put a 105 RD instead of Ultegra? In my mind, it IS a marketing trick. Put Ultegra where it is most noticeable and lesser components elsewhere. Just because it's the manufacturer vs. the LBS doesn't make it any less misleading.

yeah, new buyers needs to pick up on that. My first bike was from BD, so it became pretty obvious since the spec sheet is the only thing I can comb over again and again...

I wouldn't call it a "sales" trick. Like Bob said, manufacture swapped components to FSA and Cane Creek et al to skim cost. An ultegra bike usually means the brifter is ultegra, maybe chain, RD and FD. Rarely is the brake or crankset also ultegra. Coincidentally, crankset and brake are the 2nd and 3rd most expensive items in a group, after the brifters.

But skimming component also means cheaper bikes. Went to LBS today, the only bike in the shop with a complete group was a $5000 S-works Tarmac w/ Full Dura Ace. It is a 2006 bike and has just been sitting there gathering dust, even with a 35% discount. Full group = price premium -> no buyers.

OP's example is at best a Marketing trick, not a Sales trick.

I think the point of the thread was about Sales tricks, but so far two pages in, a single Marketing trick has been discussed.

Yeah, my 105 bike came with an Ultegra RD, 105 everywhere else (except the crank - BB30 frame).

good point about the Mixed Spec coming from the manufacturers. Maybe the misinformation really starts there and not in the shop. There seems to be much less autonomy at the shop level these days. retail sales prices even seem to be fixed from the factory and dealers made to toe the pricing line.

The sneakiest sales trick IME is the "fit trick." The "sure that bike is your size, we'll just raise the saddle and put a longer stem on" trick. It happened to me years ago, it's happened to people I know. Lots of great LBS and mechanics around here, unfortunately interspersed with places that are just trying to move product. Regardless of components, if it's the wrong size bike, you spent too much.

Agreed that selling a badly fitting bike is the most common rip off followed by selling a hard riding racing bike to somebody that needs a more upright endurance bike. Now there are more endurance type road bikes but that hasn't always been true and a lot of people get steered into whatever is on the floor. Understandable but sad.

Recently bought a tarmac in LBS. They didnt have the bike in-stock and my sales guy insisted I am a 52. I persevered in saying I am a 54 (by cc calculator). We pull out a 54 roubaix and voila, perfect fit. In this case the LBS had no incentive in pushing a particular size on me, they just honest-to-goodness didn't have a lot of experience with fitting.

well, might their incentive have been that if you were set on a Tarmac and they didn't have one in your correct size, a 54, they were going to lose the sale unless they could push you down onto the Tarmac they had in stock, a 52?
what did you do ultimately? Did you buy elsewhere or did they order you a 54 Tarmac and then you had to wait?

+1
The whole notion of trickery is bogus anyway. The bike is on display. Parts aren't covered up...lol. An uniformed buyer isn't going to make an informed buying decision. It doesn't matter if it is a bike, a car or a house.
It probably is a common pitfall for a newbie to get 'taken' a bit with a bike purchase. Guys around the sport for 20+ years know value better. There are also a lot of guys who riding higher bikes for decades and know very little about them. They just go in the shop and pick out the model...or rather color they like.