Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
Is this still the case with SRAM and now Shimano actually instituting more effective global price controls? I would also there really aren't that many folks interested in actually putting all the parts on the bike, so if you want to upgrade or build a bike, there might be somewhat more recent uptake in volume of people doing this more fully thru the LBS that sells the frameset brand they want?
Not sure exactly what you're asking or saying. In our shop more people are buying high end components through the shop instead of online BUT due to the immense number of variants now almost no one is stocking anything in the shop. Everything is ordered for the customer and delivered next day.
There's just no reason to ever put anything high dollar on the shelf. If someone wants it I order and deliver next day. If they don't like that because they can do it themselves then so be it. I understand and it doesn't hurt my feelings. I didn't get into this business to try and get every component sale in this area. Even with better pricing controls the margins are still not really worth it. Buy it yourself and bring it to me and I will make money on the install. That's where my expertise is.
Most shops aren't trying to "compete" in that regard anymore. I had another shop owner in here the other day. He was going on about a new series done by Vosper over at BRAIN. "Rob, I decided right then and there that enough was enough. I stopped caring about who was selling what for what and went around and re-priced everything in the shop to be what I needed it to be in order to do well as a business. It's the best thing I ever did. The real customers haven't even noticed a difference and some have told me they are happy to see me selling things at prices I need in order to survive. Fact is people are going to buy from you because they want you around or they aren't. You can't fight it either way."
Another great example: tires. I sell the cheapest level of tire and then top end tires. On cheap tires I sell piles. someone comes in with a 50 yr old Schwinn and they need new tires. Each tire is roughly a $20 bill. No one even remote bats an eye. That's a basic unit of commerce - $20 bill. Margins on that are roughly 90%. Meanwhile someone comes in for the latest and greatest "Fz12000" tire and I'm going to net out a few bucks or about 10%-15% tops. What's more - those customers buying the nice tire are the ones that are going to hang in my shop for 2 hours talking to me about gear and riding. Taking all of the information they can from my brain and keeping me from really doing anything else. While i like those people and they are my people it doesn't make for a good business model. It starts to begin to describe why non of us care much about nailing that top end component sale. It's not about that.
So back to the thread: is there much of a difference in tiers? Yes. Saying there isn't just kind of ignores the reality. The real question is whether you notice enough of a difference to "justify" the price difference to yourself. To state there is no difference is incorrect though.
There is nothing better than riding really nice DuraAce that is tuned well. Is Ultegra great? Absolutely. Can 105 get the job done? Of course. With SRAM it gets muddier. Red - meh. Force? Sure. Rival? in most cases. Apex.....like Tiagra and Ultegra had a baby. There's just not much of a functional difference in the SRAM lineup at all. Big weight and material differences though. Sometimes huge differences.