YT Industries’ DH, Enduro mountain bikes come Stateside w/ Consumer Direct Sales

Slight nood here…

What is IBD?

Can someone comment about the actual bikes?

Thisguy is lost in the last century. YT has been growing like crazy in Europe for years basically following Canyon Cycles who followed Dell’s model. If that sales/marketing method did not work, we would not be having this chat. Blame it on a neutral web site is asinine. Thisguy is butt hurt about a narrow focus company like YT coming to the continent?! Just wait till Canyon tees up their US / Canadian business and heads will roll. I am confident that even the brown nosers selling the big 4 will see former customers rolling Canyon’s in for a tune up and the mid size Co’s like Kona etc will feel it in a big way. If Canyon teams up with Amazon you could have your new Spectral delivered on Sunday by a US Postal helicopter!
“Change is the only constant in life.” Heraclitus

@ Zack – No worries. We get odd stuff all the time. Like those damned ‘*’ always attached to the ‘free shipping*’ tag….

YT Tues AL Comp $3800.
Trek Session 88 DH 27.5 $5500.
Giant Glory 27.5 $6600.

I’d be worried too.

@Ripnshread,

Do you work at a bike shop? Doubtful. Takes a great deal of ignorance to purport bike shops will profit off of “just service.” Most service departments break even, and are used to draw customers in. Most are lucky to break even. But you’re out of your mind if you think someone can afford the cost of overhead off of tune ups with (deleted) customers who bought their bike 70% off and won’t spend more than 25 cents getting it serviced, because it’s just a toy to them.

Thisguy…. I do not work in a shop, but a very good friend owns a small IBD. All he survives on is labor, not sure if you are referring to the big ‘IBD’s making their living on sales, but for a shop that does not have the financial blessings of one of the major companies and their finance dept, he ain’t making it on selling bikes and certainly not parts either, especially when Chain and BackCountry etc sell parts for less than he can get from SBS or QBP. So he cherry picks some small brands that customers want and does a lot of tunes…

@thisguy

I managed a very profitable bike shop in the past, and labor made the second most amount of sales, right behind new bike sales, but made a significantly higher margin.

I can’t imagine how poorly run a shop, which charges car repair prices per hour, and pays very little over minimum wage per employee, must be run.

Break even?! Show me the numbers.

I am sure the bikes are great and will have a place in the market. If a consumer wants to buy direct from the manufacturer they have every right to do so.

It is also my guess that these full suspension bikes are going to be a bit tricky to build, set-up properly and I know for a fact that maybe 15%-20% ( and that is inflated a bit) know how to build a bike and set it up properly.

With that said bikes shops should welcome a customer when they walk in with a bike like this to have it built or serviced but shops (especially the ones that know what they are doing) should raise labor rates to be profitable especially if they are losing out on sales of bikes, accessories, components, etc.

When you buy a car the dealer does not make much on the car but they sure do on the labor and the bike industry should follow suit.

The IBD is a very important to not only the new rider but as the experienced enthusiast. You better support them because if they go away you will all miss them and finally realize how much you need them.

I have worked for the same bike shop for 15 years, (service dept. manager), and I can say from our prospective these brands offering direct sales will bring change to my job for sure. I believe that brands like YT will force us to narrow our focus and be more responsive to customers needs if we still want to be relevant. A lot of people in the bike industry laugh and say that soon there will be no IBD’s left and all the people who bought bikes online will be screwed, they are wrong. I believe that internet direct companies will just open there own service centers to work on their bikes. The internet can not be competed with, they are like Walmart, but you can work with it. At my shop we are actively seeking ways to increase sales, (pricing, non-internet brands, ect.), and do the things that the internet can not do, (customer service, community building, ect.). Any shop that feels they do not have to step up will be left in the dust, and they should.

@Ilikeicetea

Maybe I’m lucky as where I live there are quite a number of great shops with great service departments.

The way bike shops will compensate is simple.
Charge what it is really worth.

If you come in and just want your chain wear checked, you pay.
If you bring in a god awful dirty bike to service, you pay to clean it.
If you bring in an internet brand to build, you will pay a premium because as soon as the shop touches it, all those stupid little things like creaky BB etc will come back to the bike shop and not the seller. So expect to pay a real fee to get them built.
Similarly, if there is problems with the Zipp wheels or shimano parts, don’t expect the LBD to be your warranty broker for you. Sort it yourself.

Sure things will change, but some of the things that change will not be liked by those that expect the LBD to do all the little things for free.
User pays will rule.

JNH is right, the big brands will continue opening their own stores as a way of recouping margin ‘given’ to dealers to better fund their marketing to compete against each other and companies like well funded, well run companies like Canyon and YT etc. The large companies don’t really care about the ibd as long as they keep ordering more bikes every year. If companies like YT and Canyon really start to hurt them the gloves will come off and the pseudo independent dealers will be elbowed out of the way in the fight for market dominance. It ain’t about bicycles all the time, it IS about human nature and the desire to fight and drive to win.

Yes the IDP will suffer, however I fell that the “Big 4” and all others will be forced to bring their prices down to stay competitive.It’s the only way the IDP will remain relevant. I mean whole sale prices are ridiculous and are ever rising, esp when all of the products made are produced in China etc and are made for pennies on the dollar. Direct sales are here to stay and will most likely be a game changer in the market place. After all why should one pay top dollar for a store bought bike when one could save hundreds, if not a couple of grand on direct sales for the same bike spec? Really I thing the big manufacturers will have to take a hit profit wise to stay viable whilst delivering good products with good margins for the IDP’s.