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Absoluteblack debuts lower cost Black Series components for Chain Reaction Cycles

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BLACKseries chainrings by Absoluteblack for Chain Reaction Cycles UK

The new BLACKseries by Absoluteblack is headed to Chain Reaction Cycles, one of the world’s largest online cycling component stores.

Starting with their oval shaped narrow-wide chainrings, the components will be made from the same materials and share the same performance features. For the chainrings, that means they use the same proven tooth profiles and ovalized clocking. Where they manage to bring the price down is by reducing the level of finishing work.

“BLACKseries products use the same raw materials, manufacturing techniques, quality control and teeth profiling as Absoluteblack. Difference is in the overall design. We were able to create more industrial looking products that save a considerable amount of CNC machining time, which lead to savings we can pass on to our customers.” says the founder, Marcin Golec.

BLACKseries chainrings by Absoluteblack for Chain Reaction Cycles UK

The products will be a bit simpler looking and not as light as the pieces sold by Absoluteblack and their distributors – they’re aimed at the price conscious rider. Options and colors are more limited, too, with only 32 and 34 tooth counts available, and only in black.

BLACKseries chainrings by Absoluteblack for Chain Reaction Cycles UK

For comparison, check out his premium oval chainrings in this post, which are also available in direct mount versions. The BLACKseries rings are 104 BCD only.

Absoluteblack.cc

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28 Comments
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Derek
Derek
9 years ago

I thought all that rough ball end milling looked really sloppy anyway.

Jonathan
Jonathan
9 years ago

I like their products but they were priced out of my range before. Im glad they are selling via online distributors to get the price down.

Thanks chainreaction and absolute black!

Patrick
Patrick
9 years ago

Chr*st, it’s a chainring. As long as it doesn’t look like sh*t and it doesn’t drop my chain, idc how it looks.

muf
muf
9 years ago

it seems just fine
now if they could do dual rings.

Andrew
Andrew
9 years ago

Great! Simpler, cleaning looking with the same functionality and minimal weight penalty. Available from one of the biggest and best online retailers. I never liked the machining anyway and went for Wolf rings instead of Absolute Black for that precise reason. A bit of a copy cat of the Tune/Wiggle product line, but copy with pride I say!

J
J
9 years ago

As a shop owner, I dare say I will no longer stock the AB products. Making a special, cheaper product for the online market is just a kick in the guts.

Peter
Peter
9 years ago

@J: So what you’re actually saying is that you will happily aid the online market further by no longer selling any AB products. Great logic!

don
don
9 years ago

J, agreed. We need to start compiling a list of companies like AB who do this stuff. One small shop won’t make a difference, a thousand small shops….might. I already spend time promoting products from vendors like Wolf who treat our shop like 1st class conduits, when they first appeared I sold a ton of their rings just from world of mouth. Most of our team rides them…which leads to lots of discussion at the starting line. What wins on Sunday sells on Monday.

don

SteveH
SteveH
9 years ago

I mirror those thoughts J & don – We are a small shop and we like to go to smaller manufacturers / brands to give us a more unique selling point / market. AB have just battered that but money is money.

I will keep giving mine to Burgtec and Works Components in the Uk and they treat me well – If they go to CRC then I think I would have to pull the plug, but I doubt they would care as the volume CRC will sell will outstrip my orders – Money talks.

Tom
Tom
9 years ago

They make some good stuff, but their three-gear cassette replacement “block” taking the big cog up to 40t was just junk, and the way they handled things was SO poor that they will never see another cent from me.

I bought two of the orginals, and to get my refund, I had to pay about 30% of the purchase price to ship them back across the ocean.

Andrew
Andrew
9 years ago

That’s messed up AB. Support the hundreds of
Thousands of hard working
Bike shops out there. YHE INTERNET WONT FIX YOUR
BIKE!

Michael
Michael
9 years ago

Buying on line saves you money in the short term and seems like a good deal. At the same time you are sending tax revenue out of your local community (ie raising your local taxes) and sending jobs out of your local community. So if you are unhappy about your local taxes, and can’t find a job, look in the mirror; your buying habits are a big part of the cause!

Callum
Callum
9 years ago

Yeah this hurts, take it a little bit personally. Shimano is one thing that we won’t get over anyways but Now ab? Seems like everyone is out to get us small shops. Seen a big rise In it lately. I understand the idea of saving some money but you are killing the little guy. I agree with Don, a list of companies and a ton of shops across the world speaking up may change something.

BMW
BMW
9 years ago

Going to chime in as well in the grumpy shop employee crowd. It is becoming painfully apparent that this industry needs to figure the eff out what they want. Either we go to a purely online sales system and kill the IBD completely, or we stop the undercutting online sales. It’s getting dangerously close to not being able to support both.

Charlie Best
Charlie Best
9 years ago

Hope people who buy these via Chain Reaction will put the money they saved aside to pay for return shipping when something goes wrong. Also make sure you buy two so you can keep riding during the protracted online return process.

Way to support the people who helped you build your business Absolute Black.

I’d look into how this worked for Race Face when they started selling cheap product through Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC) in Canada.

matt
matt
9 years ago

Well that makes my chain ring decision easy, it’s not going to be cheap CRC junk.

Tharbesnow
Tharbesnow
9 years ago

As someone who supports local business (but also occasionally buys online) I am genuinely wondering what percentage of a shop’s profit comes from selling parts? I always assumed that the majority of profit was from servicing, followed by new bikes with small goods making up the smallest amount. Can shops survive based on servicing profits (as I assume small auto shops do)?
Also, I understand that this is a big deal for shop owners, but please don’t paint us online buyers as the enemy. This hyperbole just creates an us/them mentality and makes shops look worse. The vast majority of us buy local when possible and understand the benefits of a local shop. If there are hidden downsides of buying online we are not aware of just explain them in rational terms.

Star
Star
9 years ago

Really hoping, AB, can sell them to LBS, at a price point where the LBS, can be excited to sell this XT, Ultegra, Force level item at a price, that makes it a win for everyone. Don’t put the LBS in this position.

arno
arno
9 years ago

No AB chainrings for me….support your local bike shop !!

Charlie Best
Charlie Best
9 years ago

@ Tharbesnow

Parts sales are very important to a LBS, with considerably better margins than complete bike sales (which seem to shrink year on year). Service is important too, but is far from the hugely profitable enterprise some think it to be.

I certainly don’t view online buyers as “the enemy”, if you view the situation from a purely economic point of view, it’s understandable that cyclists who do their own wrenching will go where the parts are cheapest, which is fine I guess, as long as they accept that if problems arise they are going to have to figure things out for themselves. When you start to consider how your purchasing decisions affect the community you live in, things become less straightforward, it’s worth asking yourself, “where is my money going” and using your deductions and your conscience to make the best choices.

Parts manufacturers who only sell through bricks and mortar stores “get it”, their quality product backed by quality service and decades of accumulated knowledge, it’s a great system, and worth a few dollars more in my opinion.

Tharbesnow
Tharbesnow
9 years ago

Thanks for the reply Charlie best. I’m in agreement with you most of the way, but I think the elephant in the room that needs addressing is price discrepancy/availability.
On my first build I knew What I wanted but frame wAs not available in my size in Canada from the shops(a 50cm – nothing too exotic). After pricing out the groupset I found it to be almost double the price of online from the cheapest shop in my town.
I was able to have the same frame delivered through Jensen in less than 48hrs. Why is this and how can shops get around it? I understand and support the ideas behind shopping locally but there needs to be a tangible benefit to take a justify massive price difference
Also, can bike shops order parts online (say from crc) and resell them legally?

mike
mike
9 years ago

If more shops would focus on GREAT customer service, hiring a great staff that was knowledgeable, friendly, and cared more about taking care of the customer than worrying about what online venders sell, and dealt with vendors that made doing business easy (warranty, ordering, good inventory, quick shipment, etc vs online or no online sales) they probably wouldn’t be so angry and grumpy all the time and would have a successful business. The internet isn’t going to kill the IBD grumpy owners and employees will. If you’re full of p*ss and vinegar you’re probably going to attract a similar customer base.

Mike, lifetime shop guy

Tharbesnow
Tharbesnow
9 years ago

Good call mike. I do think that contributes. There was a cynical comment above about MEC in canada, but in my city the MEC bike shop has the most knowledgable and honest staff I’ve found in the city. One of the reasons a big chunk of my bike budget is spent there.

Charlie Best
Charlie Best
9 years ago

That wasn’t a cynical comment about MEC, Race Face (the original company, not the current “reborn” iteration) made the decision to sell direct to MEC, cutting Cycles Lambert (up until then their sole Canadian distributor) out of the supply chain, Lambert retaliated by ending their distribution of Race Face product, and by the time QBP picked up RF distribution huge damage had been done to their business and reputation, this along with inferior “budget” product lines (sound familiar) ultimately led to the company’s bankruptcy.

I’m sorry if MEC is the best bike shop in your town, usually paying minimum wage doesn’t attract long-term or passionate staff, but “knowledgeable and honest” is relative I suppose.

@Mike

It’s great that you are a “lifetime shop guy”, you’re probably a superb wrench, that doesn’t really relate to your ability to understand the pressures of running a small business in 2015.

Chain Reaction, Pro Bike Kit, Wiggle and others commonly sell components at or just very slightly above independent retailer’s wholesale cost, The buy up overbought OEM parts, discontinued model numbers or out of territory stock and pile it high in warehouses where staff payed minimum wage walk the lonely racks picking product and boxing it to mail to customers they will never meet.

Why can’t IBDs buy product cheap from these online retailers and pass those savings to their customers? Because we sign agreements with manufacturers and distributors that we will not de-value their products by selling them with deep discounts. we’re even forbidden to liquidate dead or dated stock online ourselves. Somehow though the big online retailers have plenty of stock that they can sell at prices no independent can compete with.

I’m proud to say that none of the staff at the store I work at (both as a wrench and a senior sales staff member) are grumpy, unfriendly or “full of p*ss and vinegar”. They simply wouldn’t have been hired or lasted here if they displayed any of those traits. We value customer service and our good reputation above anything else, and we never take for granted that the customers will keep coming no matter what – we work hard to keep them coming, that’s good business, and it’s worth supporting.

@Tharbesnow

Do you know the definition of a cynic? Oscar Wilde said that it was “a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing”. Do you see the relevance of that in regard to this matter?

myke
myke
9 years ago

no direct mount, no point…. for me at least

mike
mike
9 years ago

@Charlie I can wrench but my time is much better spent managing my store. I worked my way up from the bottom and fully understands the pressures of running a small business and making sure my staff gets paid every week and that my clients receive great service and have a great experience.

Charlie Best
Charlie Best
9 years ago

@ Mike

I apologise for making assumptions.

And you’re right, poorly run independents don’t deserve to survive, and, in my opinion, neither do the stores run by the overweight, calculator toting “businessmen” that I see squeezing their “not seen a saddle in decades” behinds into seminar seats at the trade shows each year – their bottom line thinking is the seed that grows into a choking vine like Chain Reaction.

I lead a local club ride, and most of the riders are customers at our store, these people are our friends and they became our friends due to the level of service we provide and the passion we apply to our work, they don’t expect our out-of-work friendship to earn them a discount because they see the value in what we do.

The big online resellers are not people with a passion for cycling, if they can claim to feel passion it can only be for the dollars in cyclist’s pockets. Their business model is simple: sell huge volume for tiny profit in the clear knowledge that you are stealing business from others by preying on consumer’s simplest measure of “value for money”.

I sound bitter I know, but I’ll still go to work tomorrow and smile, and do my best, because I genuinely love what I do, and yes, it makes me angry that something threatens that.

Will
Will
9 years ago

The local shops can be ok, but i have paid full retail at shops for both bikes and skis ($6000 serotta), and the LBS screwed up the build. My crank arms fell off, my spokes were mal-adjusted, and the brakes were amateur at best. It was like the newest guy in the shop got to put together my bike. I figured the new guy gets to put together the 500 dollar bike until he knows what he is doing. I have had similar poor set ups in ski shops.

Sorry to say, brick and mortar stores don’t offer as much as you think because not that many people are tradesmen in their chosen craft for years. It is often some kid that is doing the work.

I am handy and started building all my bikes myself and mounting my ski bindings myself. I know it is done right, i save a bunch of money (because i buy online), and i enjoy doing the work.

If you have no inclination, you better go to the LBS, but if you are handy, the internet opened up a great world.

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