mstateglfr 

Got an email making it official. Since Dback and Raleigh have been out of bikes basically all year, I hadn't really thought about it in a long time. And between being sold to a holdings company as well as the pandemic boom, its no surprise to hear the discount is ending.

For a few years there, about 2016 thru 2018, the Diamondback and Raleigh corporate pricing made for some incredible deals. Both brands were churning out some really awesome bike options for for the recreational to enthusiast level rider during this time too.
And both brands were, for a time, innovative too. For a few years,, Dback's Haanjo series of gravel/adventure bikes was continually refined and expanded to include anything from race setup to carbon bikepack with mtb gearing and bar end shifters.
and Raleigh teamed up with Guitar Ted to design the Tamland which was better design and equipped than most anything else coming from major brands at the time.

My GM at work bought one of his kids a Raleigh alloy frame road bike with full carbon fork, thru axles, and 105 5800 drivetrain all for $785 shipped. Deals weren't always that incredible, but often times were.

When Dback/Raleigh began the corporate discount, it really screwed with a lot of shops since Raleigh was a shop brand. Suddenly, bikes could be bought consumer direct for less than in the shop. It was a mess. But at the time, it was also one of the biggest consumer direct platforms an was wildly successful. It brought solid design, excellent pricing, and sometimes serious innovation direct to cyclists.

For a couple years on this site and around the internet, there was a constant stream of threads asking about the corporate discount and what the current code is.
The last couple years have been slim pickings on both sites. Inventory has been limited(pre-covid), innovation stopped, crestive/unique models were retired, and prices showed little value compared to shop brands.
I wonder what issue(s) led to the downfall and elimination of the consumer direct approach with 'corporate' pricing. Poor QC? Not enough revenue? Inconsistent inventory? Poor management affecting other things?

I owned a Dback Syncr for a couple years and assembled 5 Raleigh or Dback bikes for friends/coworkers. Quality was great for all of them and on oar with what I would expect at the pricepoints.



That was long. It was just a really interesting approach to business for a few years.

Pop N Wood

Man, shame to hear that. I bought a Tamland 1 gravel bike for $799.99 shipped to my door a couple of years back. I think at the time the MSRP was over $1800 and internet price about $1600.

I used to log onto the Diamondback and Rayleigh sites every few days checking for deals. Wanted a Hanjo with the hydro Ultegra brakes. One day it went on sale for something like $900. Was ready to order, but by the time I talked it over with the wife they sold out. About a month later they dropped the price of the Tamland from $1200 to $799.99. Entered the credit card number as fast as I could type and had the bike on my porch less than a week later. Absolute smoking deal, they bumped the price back up about an hour after I ordered.

it was a pretty good method for them to clear out old stock. They seemed to pick certain models, drop the price, and when gone dropped that model from their catalogs. I would see them on Craigslist advertised as "new in box" for months afterwards. Should have bought several.

DorkDisk

They had some great deals for the consumer. For the few dealers they still had, it was not cool to all of a sudden have the website be cheaper than what we were able to sell them for.

zen_

I waited a few months last year hoping to get a good deal on a Tamland (the green one, and the last one made), but ended up getting a previous year model from Erik's on closeout because they had a bunch they could barely sell. The discounts were good, but they were being pretty unfair to anyone who paid full price on the DTC website, and to their dealers.

It's unfortunate because like you said, the last iteration of Raleigh made some genuinely good bikes with their own history and following, and Diamondback also had / has good bikes as well. Just seems like both brands were mismanaged by Accell.

Gresp15C

I have what must be the low end of the Haanjo product line, and it's really the best bike I've owned. Not a racer, but I'm not a racer either. I found out about the corporate discounts, a couple months after buying mine from a dealer, but I have no regrets.

canklecat

I have a Diamondback Podium frame from around 2011 or so, when they were sponsoring a pro team (Phil Gaimon can be seen in some Diamondback promo videos from back then). Had it in the closet for about a year, and a couple of months ago finally slapped it together with some components from older 7 and 8 speed bikes just to see if I liked it before getting a more up to date group.

It's really good. I delayed using the frame because of the internal cable routing, figuring it would be a hassle to install cables. Nope, it was easy. It already has "permanent" internal cable housing, making it easy to route fresh cables. If I'd realized that earlier I'd have put the bike together a year ago. The cable housing clatters a bit on rough roads but not enough to bother me.

Yeah, I noticed in Googling for info about that era of Diamondback frames there was crossover with Raleigh, and at a glance the bikes appeared almost identical. I wondered whether that was a marketing mistake because Diamondback was really trying to make a dent in the market for serious roadies. They had the frames.

Hiro11

I bought a DB Sync'r Pro in 2017 with this discount. $1,400 for a tough frame with great geometry, Fox Performance 34 and an XT 8000 drivetrain. It even came with a dropper that is still working fine. That's an outrageous deal. One downside: the wheels were junk and needed replacement almost immediately, but at this price who cares. It's a great hardtail that has stood up to lots of abuse. It also handles really well. Best bike deal ever.

Russ Roth

Didn't know about a corporate discount but got some exceptional deals during that time as well and have watched the really nice offerings kinda disappear without being replaced which was too bad. Daughter got a raleigh rx24, which was 1x10 with an Apex group and disc brakes for 450.00. Son got a diamondback podium 24 which was low end but at 150 a bargain. Bought the parents a Raleigh Alyssa and the matching men's version which was a performance hybrid with hydraulic discs, 1x11, quality tires and wheels for 900.00 each. I'd hoped to get the steel cross frame but waited a week for a paycheck and couldn't find my size again. Same with the Grand Prix which I'm not big on the break away frame vs S&S but for 1400 for a bike I wasn't going to whine about it. But it seemed that even before the beginning of this year they were not replacing anything mid-range or better which is too bad, they've always been a favorite brand.

rebel1916

I got my wife a Clutch a few years back. It was stupid good for the money.

ARider2

With the current shortage of new bicycles buyers will not be offered discounts like in pre-2020 pre-COVID times. In 2019 and earlier there was an oversupply of bicycles and that prompted manufacturers and retailers to discount product to move them out. Now there is a bicycle shortage and with it price increases are being implemented across the entire supply chain including everything from raw materials (metal and rubber), components (derailleurs, cassettes, etc.) and whole bikes. Manufacturers and retailers will be forced to raise prices as well. If you want to buy a new bicycle do it sooner than later as 2021 prices will be higher and 2022 prices will be even higher.

freeranger

I wonder if post-covid bicycle prices might actually go lower! Will all the people who bought bikes keep riding once they are back to work, or will there be lots of not-so-old used bikes on the market, making the demand for new bikes to lessen, and pricing to return to something resembling normal? Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to see, but again, noone knows! One thing for sure-we'll all be happy when covid disappears.