LocalBikeShop

As Sonja (media director of the Epic) said on TV - 10 000 riders tried to enter the Epic and 1200 were accepted. They are entitled to hike the price until only 1200 riders enter at, say, R40 000 a team. That's the free market capitalist way. Capiche?

Well done Hubbers for supporting Mark's Bike Shop. I sheme SKIM should have been specific! We were a tech support team at the Epic and we had a great time. We officially looked after two teams - one for free (regular customers) and one team paid (too little to quote). Over the week we ended up looking after 10 teams and lots of uncontracted individuals - locals and foreigners. All great guys. We are a small, newish LBS and we were there to look after our two teams and to learn. If the job was beyond our expertise (or our available resources) we simply did not take on the job (this happened rarely). I hope we don't have a bum rap from someone - it would be unfair as we did not have a single complaint. We loved the experience - there were at least 2 riders that would have been out of the race but we got them going again. Bottome line - we looked after our riders and we learnt a lot and the beers and partying were legendary! Well done to all the Epic participants - finshers and non- finishers.

As an Ultimate Hubber perhaps you should know the Wanted forum is the best place to post this

Hi Guys The increases in prices is alarming. I just got Crossmark LUST's in stock for the EPIC that retailled at R480 2 months ago and now go for R680. However, I must assure you is that is has nothing to do with Price fixing! Most retailers still have the same markups they've always had, regardless of what Cyclelab says. From what I understand is that the importers tryed to cushion the blow of the R7 to R10 dollar rate late hike last year, hoping it would be temporary. But it wasn't temporary and now all the things they ordered over six months ago (thats the order time lag) are landing at well over the expected prices. The other factor is that bike & component manufacturers around the world are fealing the Squeeze of the "global recession" and have up'ed their 2009 prices too. A double wammy. Now the Felt F1 is a top example, here a bunch of factors has increased the price. 1. the exchange rate, 2. increase in price by Felt at source, 3. slight improvement in spec, and (you may not know this) 4. a general shortage of Shimano high end components (which has resulted in Shimano increasing prices). i.e the F3 with SRAM Red (top of the range SRAM) is only R33999 - amazing value. (Side note and just an opinion - Felt arguably have the most beautifully built Carbon bikes - road and now mountain - at excellent value. How does one tell? They never cover the joins with stickers/paint so everyone can see the craftsmanship) And finally, the worst part is not the price increase. It's the drop in the amount & spread of stock and spares brought in by the importers as a result of increased prices and worsening cash flow. I struggle to get loads of spares (eg. hub parts, chainrings, chains, BB's just to name a few) and it is just getting worse. I don't blame CWC for grey importing stuff the importers can't supply.