# Cheapest Cervelo Dealers?



## jhl1963

What dealers give the best discounts?


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## hooligan

none as cervelo dealers are under contract to sell at the same price.


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## John Kuhl

Trek Bicycle Superstore in San Diego has some real good
discounts on 08 and 09 Cervelo bikes. However they don't
ship, so you need to go to the store. The web site is,
www.treksandiego.com

Best, John


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## garbec

Cervelo is super strict with their dealer agreements, so you won't see anyone blowing out bikes or frames for less than anyone else. I believe the dealers are allowed to sell there leftover '09 product for -10% at this time. If they are caught doing it for any less, they run this risk of loosing their dealership.


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## MG537

garbec said:


> Cervelo is super strict with their dealer agreements, so you won't see anyone blowing out bikes or frames for less than anyone else. I believe the dealers are allowed to sell there leftover '09 product for -10% at this time. If they are caught doing it for any less, they run this risk of loosing their dealership.


Agreed. It actually happened to the shop I bought my 2007 Cervelo R3 from. 
2007 Cervelo R3 Ultegra setup for $3700 Cdn. plus applicable taxes.


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## Bertrand

Have you checked out Cervelo prices at ProBikeKit?


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## stumpy_steve

PBK prices aren't much better than retail (maybe they were 6 months ago). I had a tough time finding anywhere that would sell even 2% below retail, and still never found anybody. I started a similar thread a few months ago, lol.


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## John Kuhl

I got my SLC-SL for a lot more than a
10% discount. I think it depends on which
dealer.

Best, John


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## garbec

What the dealer agreement / contract states and what the dealer does can be two different things. End of the year, in season product has a max discount of -10%. I'm not sure about product that's a season earlier. Cervelo has a history of closing down dealers, regardless of their size or reputation, who violate the agreement. I think they even have people watching forums just like these, looking for chat about dealers discounting beyond what the dealer contract allows.


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## PlatyPius

garbec said:


> What the dealer agreement / contract states and what the dealer does can be two different things. End of the year, in season product has a max discount of -10%. I'm not sure about product that's a season earlier. Cervelo has a history of closing down dealers, regardless of their size or reputation, who violate the agreement. * I think they even have people watching forums just like these*, looking for chat about dealers discounting beyond what the dealer contract allows.


They do. My former employer emailed me asking me to stop slagging off Cervelo on the forums... A Cervelo rep called him and told him it might affect his Cervelo account, even though I didn't work for him any longer.


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## jhl1963

thanks guys.


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## AJL

PlatyPius said:


> They do. My former employer emailed me asking me to stop slagging off Cervelo on the forums... A Cervelo rep called him and told him it might affect his Cervelo account, even though I didn't work for him any longer.


That's ridiculous! I had been thinking that someday I'd like to own a Cervelo RS, but this kind of manipulation really p*sses me off. That rep needs a lesson in 'freedom of speech'. Heck, you don't even work for the other company anymore - that's freaking extortion!


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## PlatyPius

AJL said:


> That's ridiculous! I had been thinking that someday I'd like to own a Cervelo RS, but this kind of manipulation really p*sses me off. That rep needs a lesson in 'freedom of speech'. Heck, you don't even work for the other company anymore - that's freaking extortion!


As a company, they're douchebags. However....the RS is a sweet bike. It's the only Cervelo I actually like.


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## John Kuhl

Yes I did get my SLC-SL on a year
end closeout.

Best, John


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## Cheers!

any dealer than has last year's model in stock. I got my 2008 Cervelo SLC SL in August of 2009 for 2499 USD. Frame + 3T fork + FSA Headset + seatpost + seatpost binder. Free shipping too!

Smoking deal.


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## otoman

A team with a bike shop sponsor can usually get bikes/frames from the store for the agreed upon sponsorship level - usually >10% off retail. But that almost always is a racing team, not a non-racing cycling club.


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## soulfly_nyc

The price-fixing practices of Cervelo were the reason that I decided against their frames.

They really put the dealers in an awkward position when we have the largest recession in recent history and they are asking top dollar with no flexibility to discount. 

Maybe it will help if they come up with some better paintjob options?


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## stumpy_steve

soulfly_nyc said:


> The price-fixing practices of Cervelo were the reason that I decided against their frames.
> 
> They really put the dealers in an awkward position when we have the largest recession in recent history and they are asking top dollar with no flexibility to discount.
> 
> Maybe it will help if they come up with some better paintjob options?


You can say the same thing about Ferrari.


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## PlatyPius

soulfly_nyc said:


> The price-fixing practices of Cervelo were the reason that I decided against their frames.
> 
> They really put the dealers in an awkward position when we have the largest recession in recent history and they are asking top dollar with no flexibility to discount.
> 
> Maybe it will help if they come up with some better paintjob options?


Just ask Tom Demerly from BikeSport Michigan.... he lost his Cervelo account for selling them for less than he was supposed to.


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## PlatyPius

stumpy_steve said:


> You can say the same thing about Ferrari.


Comparing Cervelo to Ferrari? Really?

Maybe Mazda.


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## AJL

soulfly_nyc said:


> The price-fixing practices of Cervelo were the reason that I decided against their frames.
> 
> They really put the dealers in an awkward position when we have the largest recession in recent history and they are asking top dollar with no flexibility to discount.
> 
> Maybe it will help if they come up with some better paintjob options?


Actually, it looks like Cervelo has increased the discount on left over 2008/9 stock to 20%. I guess the current economic times have brought them to their senses (somewhat anyway).


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## soulfly_nyc

stumpy_steve said:


> You can say the same thing about Ferrari.


Except that Ferrari's come with the engine  Now, if you were to tell me that I could get Thor Hushovd's 1-minute power / weight ratio then maybe i would consider a price-fixing company.

All said, i just think there are way too many great frame options out there to settle for a manufacturer whose business principles conflict with one's own. Do you see storck, parlee, or pinarello trumpeting their price-fixing policies? All of the above are good bikes (including cervelo), but i do notice and resent the difference in pricing policy.


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## brujenn

Competitive hasa some killer deals on complete bikes. I was on the edge of my seat clicking configure/buy for an RS w/Ultegra SL for $2,800. Yeah - but they only have it in 48cm. That's about 10 cm too few for me.


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## Cheers!

Excel sports has some good deAls on frames. Some are scratch and dent
or older year.


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## texascyclist

I could understand not being able to advertise prices below a certain percentage, but not allowing a person and shop to privately NEGOTIATE whatever they want sounds like very fertile ground for an awesome class action lawsuit.


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## STARNUT

not really that fertile, unless you're growing a frivolous lawsuit tree. The dealers are not going to sue over Cervelo making other dealers hold price. Having no price control leaves stocking dealers open to losses. Cervelo asks us to stock LOTS of bikes and we ask them to prevent our investments from being devalued. Simple. For what it's worth, Cervelo's dealer margins are not bad but they are not great either. 

Starnut


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## texascyclist

Diamond supplier debeers is about to pay $300 million to dealers and consumers for price fixing. If I understand correctly, all that COULD be required is one consumer and a capable law firm to send the shockwave through the industry. Now, I am no lawyer, so I could be comparing apples to oranges.


http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.c...ds/supply/e3i8ecb95ad2867bbdb57e97234e7845ca4

edit: on second thought, these are apples and oranges. However, they could end up sliced the same way.


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## PlatyPius

texascyclist said:


> Diamond supplier debeers is about to pay $300 million to dealers and consumers for price fixing. If I understand correctly, all that COULD be required is one consumer and a capable law firm to send the shockwave through the industry. Now, I am no lawyer, so I could be comparing apples to oranges.
> 
> 
> http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/njn/content_display/diamonds/supply/e3i8ecb95ad2867bbdb57e97234e7845ca4
> 
> edit: on second thought, these are apples and oranges. However, they could end up sliced the same way.


Except the mark-up on diamonds is HUGE, while the mark-up on bikes is pretty damn small. Of all of the parties involved, the actual bike company makes the least money on the deal.

Why do people complain about bike shops making any kind of profit at all? We're not non-profit organizations, ya know. I like selling bikes, fixing bikes, and all that, but I wouldn't do it for free. When a customer tries to talk me down to an insane price, that's the same as grabbing my wallet, taking out a few bucks, and walking off with it.

Why don't people try to talk down the grocery store?
Why don't people try to negotiate a better price at Best Buy?

Bike Sport Michigan tried to sell Cervelos cheap. Look what happened to them. I have my issues with Cervelo, but that isn't one of them. Bike companies SHOULD do everything to keep their prices at a reasonable level. If one company, that buys 2000 bikes at a time, is allowed to sell Cervelos at a price that is lower than other dealers can buy for, then it just cheapens the entire brand. That becomes the price they are worth.

I just get annoyed at people who would never think of demanding that an auto parts store give them 20% off of a brake caliper, but have no problem at all doing so at a bike shop. Why am I less deserving of a decent* living?

(* Decent, in bike shop terms, means making maybe $30,000/year.)


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## otoman

Having just remodeled a house, I was blown away by the price fixing that kitchen appliance companies mandate to their retailers. I was appalled. Like Cervelo, the appliance companies will yank the product line from a store that is caught selling below retail. Now I understand and gladly give the LBS whatever they want as they are a much lower volume/lower margin business, but when the appliance store lady looks me right in the eye and basically tells me to fook myself, well I just went to the less-than-honest dealer. Not a lawyer, but I would be interested to know how that is not anti-competitive.


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## texascyclist

PlatyPius said:


> Why don't people try to talk down the grocery store?
> Why don't people try to negotiate a better price at Best Buy?


'

We do not have to. For a can of soup, I can go to the grocery store with the best price. There is competition, which keeps prices low. I compare prices in Best Buy to the prices at Newegg and factor in the ease of return or exchange I get at Best Buy. Again, competition. I never have believed that bike shops make a lot of money. Your distributors are what are giving you problems. They are an archaic pimp. If it were not for them, you could be flexible in prices and increase volume. That volume would come from people like me that you never see. There have been times when I have walked in the LBS looking for something I didn't know I needed. I have always been shocked at the prices on mostly B or C grade product.

Instead of making $300 on last year's dusty frameset (over a period exceeding one season), you could make $600 on three of the current year frameset and kick Alibaba, Ebay, and Pedalforce in the rear......all before the season starts.


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## brol

This is not an uncommon practice.
Other companies do this: Bose, apple, ugg to name just a few.
These companies have good branding and don't want to de-value 
their products.
As far as a douchebag company, how many other bike company owners reply to customers on their forums?


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## STARNUT

Debeers owns 40% of the worlds rough diamond supply. Additionally, they partially own another 30-40% via other companies. Diamonds are a single good. 

It's apples to oranges and what you're arguing is a monopolistic pricing structure. "Price fixing" has not been correctly applied in this thread. For price fixing to occur we'd have to see most of the industry agree on some price for a certain bike (say ultegra equipped) and stick to it. Further, it'd have to be well above what would be "reasonable expected". To compound the problem, not every bike is the same. The monopoly stuff generally only works with a single consumer good or in a market built around a single good or service like oil, diamonds, and utilities. 

Cervelo doesn't own 40% of the road or TT market, they don't even own 4%, in dollars and especially units. No one is making you buy a Cervelo, you simply want one but feel the price is to high. There are enough people who disagree with you and pay retail for the bikes. It's not like if you don't have a Cervelo you don't have a bike. Look at Microsoft and the whole EU court case. There is a case to be made that if you have a computer you'll "need" their operating system. Abusive pricing practices, in that case, should be looked into. Cervelo managing their brand image........... not so much.

The answer to the competitive argument is simple. It's not as if you _had_ to buy _those_ appliances. There are complementary goods with in that market and _that_ is competition. The Price fixing you're talking about would be valid _IF_ those were the only appliance made, and you _had_ to have them. A one good market. What were you looking at, Electrolux? They are notorious for having a pricing policy like Cervelo. The appliance company is not exploiting a market inefficiency but rather capitalizing on a good product, no harm no foul. Diamonds are another story.

The argument from texascyclist is a classic example of the fallacy of margin protraction, or could be shown well on a PPF/transformation curve. He's making the assumption that a decrease in price would increase sales. Trading margin for dollars the first sign of market weakness or inefficiency. If that assumption were to hold true there are two very import points that need to be made. The first is that he would buy from his LBS and not price shop and buy from the lowest price. In that situation the manufacturer enjoys the increases but the dealer does not always see it. Second, there is the assumption that Cervelo could produce the needed amount of bikes to support those prices. If a decrease in price of 20% increases sales by 40%, there is a theoretical profit to be made but only if Cervelo can supply the extra bikes. The bike industry suffers (across the board) for a supply problem. There is hardly enough product now to support current prices and a decrease in price would overwhelm distribution channels. If Trek and Specialized were to follow this, they'd need their own shipping service to get bikes to dealers (like wal-mart). This of course assumes that there are even enough cyclists out there to buy this increased volume of bikes.


Starnut


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## texascyclist

Those are some very good valid points Starnut. 

A new S3 frameset would cost me $4300. That is a hard sell when a used but better looking SLC-SL goes unsold with a starting bid of $600 (kicks self). For $4300 I think I could score a used Look 595 PLUS a Colnago EP for that kind of dough. With that kind of MSRP, they have to be killing themselves and taking the dealers to the afterlife with them. That or the Tri market is keeping them afloat.


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## STARNUT

It's the tri market. They don't sell that many S3s anyway. If you made the P3 it's own bike company, it would still win the Kona bike count over everyone else. I didn't know they even made that many :lol:. At our local and regional tri's I see these people tie ballons onto thier P3 so they can tell which one is their's. Seriously. They're not anywhere near that numerious on the road side. The scary thing is they are still one, if not "the" bike all tri geeks "would buy next". To be fair, there is more choice in the road market but none the less, they have sold a mountain of P3s :lol:.

Starnut


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