Xostxo

Not available at Xostxo

I'm not sure of the particulars but it appears that Dorel is still supplying Cannondale bikes to Costco. While that may help Dorel's bottom line I'm sure it hurts Cannondale's brand image and in the long run neither party is well served.

That said, I needed to pick up some things at my local Costco and I noticed that they had a bunch of their house brand bikes for sale, including a 29" hardtail with a SunTour shock on it. While the bike was far from being a pro caliber race bike for slightly under $500 it was pretty slamming. The house brand bike had a mix of SRAM 5.0 and 7.0 for it's drivetrain, Avid BB7s and a Truvative crankset, WTB rims, tires, seat, grips so, again, for slightly under $500, pretty nice bike. If some one was really motivated it would be completely worth taking the bike over to a bike shop and spending $130 for a pro build on it. Even with the additional labor cost, you would come out a head from what most bike shops offer on their sales floor.

Now, I'm not waving Costco's flag nor am I bashing bike shops, I'm just saying the industry is in flux right now. In terms of pricing there's very little an IBD can do in order to compete against a big box store or some online vendors but you do have the edge in terms of your technical expertise and customer service.

Your sub $300 bike here

I've built plenty of mail order bikes, more specifically bikes  purchased from Bikes Direct and I'll say this for the most part their house brand bikes are pretty solid. That said as with bikes from a bike shop there is a tilting point that once you get under the $400 threshold they are all going to suck  and any sub $300 is a pile.

If some one brings in a bike from Bikes Direct don't be a jerk about it but think of it as the first step to establishing a working relationship with a new customer because their next purchase is just a smart phone away.