Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Yes on both counts. I'm not sure where the estimate (bikes costing retailers about half of the selling price) that JohnDThompson gave came from. But I know that 1/3 or less is about right for the era when he was a bike builder at Trek, in the 1980s. Margins have crept up a bit since then, or so I gather. But I find it hard to believe that any dealers are consistently selling bikes at double the dealer cost.
I posted this in the other $14k bike thread shortly before it was closed...
I reached out to an old friend who has worked in the bike industry for many decades, and he had some factual information to share with me on this topic. Shop cost for high-end bikes is usually about 25-35% below retail (varies depending on the brand). For a $14k bike, the guess of $5k is a little high, but isn’t far off.
There’s some things to consider, however. Some bikes are delivered mostly assembled, and are fairly quick for the shop to finish. Others are just a frame, fork, and boxes of parts, which takes hours of shop labor time to build (especially with today’s current internal routing). Most shops aren’t selling very many of these bikes, and they may be still sitting in the window past the time when the manufacturer has required payment. It also isn’t rare for shops to offer discounts (10% is typical in my area) to local club/team members, and loyal customers, so the actual sales price might be a good chunk lower than full sticker price.
__________________
"Swedish fish. They're protein shaped." - livedarklions