GURU Continues to Grow, Launches Complete Bike Program

@NCMTB It’s just you! Prices are going up. Parlee Z-Zero is around $8500. Crumpton is around there if you start adding options. Euro carbon are the same story.

Sheesh…no wonder I feel so inadequate when I show up to group rides on my Specialized 2013 S-Works Venge RED

Bike prices have gotten out of control.

Warranty does not exist. Refused to replace my frame after the down tube started to buckle (very slightly). Frame was still in brand new condition and never crashed. First said they would replace it and then changed their mind. Totally unprofessional. I will never buy another GURU product again.

@ Rich W: As a FORMER Guru dealer I will tell you that what you experienced is par for the course. I picked up a few frames in my store and was pretty unimpressed with them. The real problem came in when frames started pouring in from other Guru dealers with a multitude of problems. The most common thing I had to deal with was threaded alloy BB inserts coming loose in carbon frames. One after another they’d come in, primarily tri bikes, with the threaded insert spinning in the frame. Of course, boxing and shipping a frame internationally isn’t cheap for repair, it would take weeks, and cost hundreds of dollars. Either we’d have to eat the cost or have an even more pissed off customer on our hands trying to charge them for shipping.

We drew the line when Guru opened another dealer less than 4 miles away without even talking to us first.

Terrible business practices. There’s a reason they’ve had financial difficulties time and time again.

Sweet bikes to dream about

Thanks Rich and CXisfun for keeping it real.
Saw the Guru frame segment on “How It’s Made” on the Science Channel. Definitely wasn’t impressed by that and the current stratosphere pricing. Must be another doctor/lawyer demographic they want or need.

@ST: those are KCNC Cobweb chainrings.

@CX – As yet another Guru dealer, I’ve had good experiences with them, and amongst the many reps that I’ve dealt with over time, I’ve found that my inside Guru rep has been extremely responsive and professional. I’ve ridden most if not all of their bikes, and though there might be a Dogma 2 out there that might handle just a little better, or another bike from Brand A that might be a little stiffer, on the whole, I think Guru bikes are VERY good. The Evolo R that I’ve been riding for about a year now just might be my favorite bike.

As stratospherically silly as these prices are, and as much as they might appeal to the vanity of a Doctor going through a mid-life crisis, they at least make sense when you consider they’re hand built and made custom to your individual geometry. What’s really nutty is paying $18,000 for a “limited edition” Specialized McLaren Venge. A Tarmac SL4 gets up to ten grand, and it rides like crap.

@lesalpes. I was sort of with you until your comment “Tarmac SL4 rides like crap.” I don’t ride one (I love my mid-range Colnago), but know enough high level racers that choose the Tarmac and love them to know that you are talking out of your a**. Obviously bikes like Guru are not for competitive racers (who don’t have a lot of money), bur rather for doctors/lawyers who have more money than time and are willing to send anything to make the climbs a bit easier in their next century ride. More power to them.

I ride a lot of bikes by a lot of manufacturers. I actually try to discern differences between bikes that I ride. The SL4 I rode ….it was very light, very stiff….uncomfortably stiff…ridiculously stiff. To be fair, a lot of bikes that try to get the weight down and the stiffness up by using very high modulus carbon throughout the layup have the same problem – they’re just unreasonably stiff and chattery. I think that lack of ride refinement in a bike that costs that much is just not acceptable. A BMC Team Machine is just as light, rides a lot better, and is half the price….and Cadel won the TDF on one if that really matters to you. TdF riders win on those bikes because they’re paid to ride them. S also pays big bucks to subsidize local racers and races. Lots of those guys get team deals. …and quite frankly, most people don’t know any better. Me, I’d rather have a bike that is light, responsive, handles great and rides nice.

@matt–whatever you consider the level at which doctor’s “don’t get paid that much anymore” is still a disgusting amount of money and certainly enough to afford a guru. And if someone had to buy a $10,000 instead of a $16,000 bike so a poor person could live I’m all for it. at some point the price of these bikes becomes unethical. wealth divide yo. racism yo. god yo.

@td, you sound like a hater. Sorry, if someone wants to put out a significant effort at significant expense over significant time to become a Dr, instead of sitting on their ass expecting handouts, than the compensation one can recoup is not disgusting. That same Dr is contributing significantly more taxes and most likely much more in additional donations than that person sitting on their ass. Ignorance yo. Getoffyourass yo.

You don’t have to buy the bikes. Yo. Capitalism. Yo. Consumer choice. Yo. If the bike is too expensive, buy a different bike. Yo. Gangsta talk infantile. Yo.