Afterthisnap- i hear what you are saying about the HS's being a glamour product, and i do agree. but when you work in a shop, why shouldnt you buy the best there is? if i didnt get parts so cheaply, i wouldnt have anything from king!

and onto the ISIS thing-- yuck. ive seen way too many failed ISIS BBs, and even ****ed up crank arms that start loosening up. IMO octalink is a better interface, and seems to have a lower failure rate from what ive seen. everything is going to 2 peice, but there will still be lots of people like me searching for that NOS titanium square taper BB, regardless of the added flex.

oh ya i thought of a couple more reasons why people who buy king products at retail can justify it to themselves. made in USA, environmentally conscious, they even contract US companies to make their accessories, like t-shirts, and they discontinued their beer glasses because they were made over seas, and wont resume production until they can find a US based company to make 'em. i think the extra buck can be worth it to buy from a company who cares.

the reasons listed by legalize it are some of the main reasons i'm buying a CK headset as well as Phil BB and Hubs

Even when I worked in shops I didn't buy a whole lot of CK new because of the price. I do miss wholesale pricing. I kinda wish I could flip through QBP catalogs still.

Oh, and I heart octalink.

No **** man! I recently bought a pair of Phil hubs through my bike shop, could've gotten cheaper online, but wanted to support them. Well they gave me a line like they weren't gonna make much of any profit off them, so they couldn't do me a deal below Phil's website prices. Well, I was OK with that, they've never done me wrong and even now, I'm glad I bought from them to have an easy way to get them sent back if anything messes up with them... well they accidently included the "confidential dealer prices" catalog with the hubs when I picked them up and I almost had a heart attack when I read what they paid for them.. Talk about profit!
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Nothing against them, based on these prices, everyone who sells Phill products makes a killing. I guess it's good though that Phill Wood has made the effort to help out the dealers by suggesting such a mark-up, but criminy! Still , I'm fully satisfied and would do it again. :)

And like stated above, It's worth the cost to buy with good conscience once in a while.

although the markup might seem like its a lot, it really isnt. the bike biz get the shaft. the gap will mark up their clothes 500-1000%! now thats a markup!

Unfortunately for your bike shop, they probably don't sell sets of Phils every day.

You are correct. They are basicaly a TREK/hybrid/cruiser shop with some really good employees. One of the mechanics though had never even heard of Phil Wood when I came in, but he was new. The regulars there who I've come to trust know his stuff and quality of it. They didn't have any catalogs on hand though, they had to call him to place the order. Still it feels good to support the only local shop in my area (maybe the only one in Norfolk I think - and they did make a pretty penny off of the sale)