Originally Posted by Spoonrobot

No apology necessary these discussions are more interesting than a lot of what gets posted here. Good points I think we both see where each other is coming from.

I've never seen a lot of Whisky stuff in person, I guess it's not popular around my area. When was looking around online it's obvious they're a brand searching for esteem. So much of their stuff is oddly expensive - as you mentioned. I think this is part in due to the folding of both Nashbar and Performance Bike - these two were doing enough lower-price business that it was keeping the cost of things like carbon forks significantly lower then they would be otherwise. Most of the current crop of retailers are more interested in getting MAP, buying products from OEM houses and so forth. Lots of Nashbar/Performance stuff was unique in that they had the volume to custom order a lot of good items for low(er) prices. Hell they had a tapered full-carbon gravel fork coming that was supposed to be ~$150 retail. Comparable models are upwards of $250.

I do wonder how close to MSRP All-City bikes tend to go from a physical store? I only know one dealer in person and they were tight lipped about actual sale price last time I asked.