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Boutique (non main stream) Mountain Bike Brands


Chitts's picture

By Chitts - Posted on 15 February 2011

Fellow Nobmobbers,

I would appreciate some feedback on the the bike buying process. This is about understanding how mountain bikers think and what they want.

What is your thought/research process when you decide to buy a new MTB:
1) Do you always go with a mainstream brand in Australia, prefer a boutique brand (smaller manufacturer)?
2) What resources/websites do you tend to look at for reviews?
3) To what extent do you factor in who the distributor is and their reputation for quality service?
4) In thinking about a boutique brand, or a larger brand but one which is not well know in Australia, what are your key thoughts/concerns /considerations?
5) Would you like more brands in Australia or do you think we have enough to supply the domestic market?
6) Are there any particular brands you know from living overseas etc that you would like to see coming to the Aussie market?

Many Thanks

Ian

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Fatboy's picture

Hi Ian

1) No - I prefer to be different
2) I keep an eye on the UK mags
3) Very important
4) Parts is number one on my list of concerns when buying boutique. Nobody likes to wait to have their broken bit fixed.
5) I'd like to see more options. If I owned a bike store I would stock a known brand and a boutique brand.
6) Haven't given it any thought.

Hope that helps a little.

Funkychicken's picture

1) Prefer a mainstream brand - don't consider yeti/santa cruz/scott/transition "boutique" just because they are less available here than giant/trek/spec.
2) MTBR user reviews - looking out for detailed reviews or bad experiences, any other mtb magazine or online publication where it looks like the reviewer has put some thought into what they say, other mtb discussion boards that provide insight into suspension design, etc.
3) Have not thought about this one much
4) Probably the distributor service - warranty claims are only as good as the people handling it on your behalf.
5) More brands would be nice. esp some of the european ones, they have some crazy ideas.
6) RB? Nox? nicolai(though i know rouler has them) - i want to see what all the fuss is about

Antsonline's picture

Canyon bikes

Thats it.

Noel's picture

I heard that if you have an American mate who buys a cool bike in the USA and then comes to visit you in AU and leaves his bike here that it can save you big $$. Is this true?

kiwiboy's picture

or if you take a trip there.
I bought a 2010 Yeti 575 last November for $2700 from Jenson USA while there, had it delivered to the hotel.
RRP locally from TBSM with the spec I got is $4500. All goodness!
Laughing out loud

Rob's picture

@Noel... your mate doesn't even have to visit you. Perhaps he just loves you and sent you a very generous gift? Eye-wink

It's sorry to say this just shows the very sad state of the bike industry in Australia...

Return flight to Denver, CO from around $1400 return (on Webjet right now, flying mid March with Delta).

Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon, XX with Fox RLC fork $5082USD from Colorado Cyclist.

Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon, X0 with Fox RLC fork $9345AUD from TBSM.

Take that $1400 flight, spend another $1500 on accommodation and other expenses for a kick ass week there (now for skiing, summer for riding) and still come home well over $1000 ahead. With the AUD actually stronger than USD right now it's a no brainer!

The only brand I can find that is almost comparable in price with the same parts sold overseas is.... Giant. This is probably why a lot of local stores have just about stopped selling anything but Giants - they seem to be the only locally competitively priced brand.

From what I can tell it's not the fault of retailers - somewhere along the line someone is taking a large bite out of your wallet Sad

kiwiboy's picture

cos you get stung for GST and such.
Really need to have "used" the bike first. In my case I told the nice man in customs I had ridden it around NY for while. (True! at least 10 mins!!). He said, hmm, looks pretty new to me mate, wink smile and thru you go.

philberesford's picture

On that note. (Sorry to hijack the thread)

GST - 10%
You only pay GST on NEW goods over $1000

Duty - 5%
Duty is payable on Complete Bikes, Frames or Frame and Forks but NOT wheels.

If you have no option but to declare the goods, ie you're not physically carrying your USED bike with you through customs then get your bike shipped in 2 boxes, Frame and fork in one, wheels in the other. If your wheels are worth say $950 then that's $95 (10% GST) + $47.50 (5% duty) = $142.50 less you'll be paying in taxes.

Now, back to talking about boutique bikes...

Discodan's picture

Just to complete the hijack.

Don't forget that US sales taxes vary and are rarely included in the quoted price so can be a trap when comparing US vs AUS prices. Having said that I picked up a Scott Sub 10 hybrid last time I was in the US for $500 less than I could get it here, if I'd gone for my other choice of a Cannondale Badboy (I couldn't stomach the name) it was $9000 less than what they're selling them for at Manly cycles. I just carried it through as standard baggage, all customs cared about was if there was dirt on the tyres that might have nasties in it

Rune's picture

I sure hope you meant to say $900 and not $9000 cheaper!!

I my recent bike build i bought a few parts online in the US and shipped to my parents house. When i was visiting, I picked them up and brought them back with me. Saved quite a bit of money on it that way! The wheels alone were about 1/2 price.

Discodan's picture

that would have paid for the tickets though

ADRIAN B's picture

so is it all really about price? or does customer service/warranty have any part at all??

Floydo's picture

I don't class those bikes as Boutique. I love Canadain bikes they build tought and are more willing to try new stuff. Alot of the new designs come from Boutique manufacturers, tapered head sets, slacker head angles on trail bikes, adjustable rear suspension geometry etc. Smaller bike manufacturers have to try new things to stay compeditive. Then the main stream brands just copy their designs, when they see it works, even their names thanks cannondale. Boutique manufacturers care about there customers and welcome there feedback. eg I had a couple of questions on my Banshee spitfire rear suspension set up, emailed Banshee, Keith Scott the bike designer got straight back to me. Take the new Banshee Prime 29er All mountain bike, this bike will be designed around alot of average riders feed back, and some great vision from keith. 36" staions, 140mm travel forks. Hopefully I will be lucky enough to test ride a prototype in oz later this year, and provide my feed back, and i am just an average joe blow rider. I am stick of hearing about main stream bike manufacturers, not caring about there customers, answering questions, or sorting warranties. Try a boutique brand, before you buy email them and ask alot of questions, they are more than willing to help you, my brother rides a chumba and he gets the same support.

Rob's picture

To answer Adrian's question... warranty does come into it, and this is another problem for Australian buyers. Not just of bikes I might add, also other items such as mid to high end digital cameras. In fact, I have seen the issue regarding cameras and other items described as "The great warranty scam". Basically, same manufacturer, same item, buy it on holiday overseas for half the price you'll pay in Australia and you won't get an Australian warranty and will be sh!t out of luck if it goes wrong. We've discussed this before - the fact you'll have to post it overseas to get their warranty in this case is a risk/reward ratio a lot will gamble on.

I think the crux of this matter is an argument that cost of labor in Australia is higher than elsewhere. Therefore when an item needs warranty attention the cost of providing that warranty is higher and someone has to pay. These perceived costs are passed on to the consumer.

Not wanting to upset anyone, but I have a slight problem with this. Even if one can accept the cost of fixing a warranty is higher here, just how much higher does the total cost of all warranties have to be to justify charging twice the price for the item? I mean, logically that is like the manufacturer saying that they will have to completely replace 50% of the items! My reasoning would be that warranty on any item should be a very small percentage of cases - even on a piece of equipment like a mountain bike that might get used roughly (although using an item outside of it's design limits clearly invalidates any warranty anyhow). So you take that extra warranty cost, multiply it by the number of failures you expect and spread it across the cost of all the items you'll sell. Surely this is a very small amount?

OK, OK... so that might be simplifying things, and there are import duties to consider too, maybe economies of scale (lack thereof) in the Aussie market? Does anyone in the bike importation business care to share some figures to explain any of this?

Putting all that aside which is something the manufacturer should be dealing with...

One thing you can look at locally is the level of service from the LBS. Good advice from a professional is something worth paying a little extra for. Good service too. Depends on your definition of 'good' and 'a little extra' and your confidence in yourself to make the right decisions or get by without either.

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