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8 hours ago, Rock Guy said:

Thank you for putting together this nice list of products that Cool Heat won't be bringing into SA.

I wasn’t aware CoolHeat were bringing any Shimano products into SA anymore???? my conspiracy theory at least is that actually they are a subsidiary of SRAM, and they pay for the local distributorship for Shimano solely to make sure it’s never available on the local market.

 

Fear not. Things are changing. Shimano, although being the biggest player in bike components in the world, is also extremely traditional/old fashioned in terms of structure. In most larger markets, they have their own local headquarters and sales outlets, that as a rule only handle B2B sales. Although wholly owned subsidiaries, the individual regional companies are autonomous, and decisions around wholesale pricing etc is handled individually at regional level. Back in 2018, Shimano USA had a whine because a few major retailers, but specifically JensenUSA specifically was buying its stock from Shimano Europe, and Shimano Singapore, at much lower prices then they could get from Shimano USA. So instead of the Japanese giving USA a wrap on the knuckles and tell them to get their pricing in line with the rest of the word, they implemented Geolocking, and since then, Official retailers are only allowed to buy from their local Distributor, and aren’t allowed to sell outside of that distributors Market Zone. If they didn’t stop retailers from selling to external markets, big guys like Jensen would have just set up operations in EU, and ship from their to their US clients, or clients would turn to other major online retailers.
 

Coolheats market share is way too small that they could ever have achieved this themselves, but they got lucky on this, and currently have exclusive rights to distribution in South Africa by pure luck. 
 

The changes in the market and consumer behaviour driven by Covid, as well as their experience with their other brands, like Pearl Izumi and some of the fishing stuff as well, means changes will be coming. Obviously they first need to get their supply back up to spec, which is a seperate issue all together, and then also fulfill existing sales via the various regional hubs, before any major change would be seen. But industry chatter is unanimous that the geoblocking will soon be done away with, and more and more Direct to Consumer sales will also become available.

In the mean while, at least at consumer level - viva AremexGlobalShopper….

Edited by DonatelloOnPinarello
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2 hours ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

I wasn’t aware CoolHeat were bringing any Shimano products into SA anymore???? my conspiracy theory at least is that actually they are a subsidiary of SRAM, and they pay for the local distributorship for Shimano solely to make sure it’s never available on the local market.

 

Fear not. Things are changing. Shimano, although being the biggest player in bike components in the world, is also extremely traditional/old fashioned in terms of structure. In most larger markets, they have their own local headquarters and sales outlets, that as a rule only handle B2B sales. Although wholly owned subsidiaries, the individual regional companies are autonomous, and decisions around wholesale pricing etc is handled individually at regional level. Back in 2018, Shimano USA had a whine because a few major retailers, but specifically JensenUSA specifically was buying its stock from Shimano Europe, and Shimano Singapore, at much lower prices then they could get from Shimano USA. So instead of the Japanese giving USA a wrap on the knuckles and tell them to get their pricing in line with the rest of the word, they implemented Geolocking, and since then, Official retailers are only allowed to buy from their local Distributor, and aren’t allowed to sell outside of that distributors Market Zone. If they didn’t stop retailers from selling to external markets, big guys like Jensen would have just set up operations in EU, and ship from their to their US clients, or clients would turn to other major online retailers.
 

Coolheats market share is way too small that they could ever have achieved this themselves, but they got lucky on this, and currently have exclusive rights to distribution in South Africa by pure luck. 
 

The changes in the market and consumer behaviour driven by Covid, as well as their experience with their other brands, like Pearl Izumi and some of the fishing stuff as well, means changes will be coming. Obviously they first need to get their supply back up to spec, which is a seperate issue all together, and then also fulfill existing sales via the various regional hubs, before any major change would be seen. But industry chatter is unanimous that the geoblocking will soon be done away with, and more and more Direct to Consumer sales will also become available.

In the mean while, at least at consumer level - viva AremexGlobalShopper….

You may be onto something, and it could also be a end goal for Shimano increasing their production capacity recently .... and hopefully good for us the end users.

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3 hours ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

I wasn’t aware CoolHeat were bringing any Shimano products into SA anymore???? my conspiracy theory at least is that actually they are a subsidiary of SRAM, and they pay for the local distributorship for Shimano solely to make sure it’s never available on the local market.

 

Fear not. Things are changing. Shimano, although being the biggest player in bike components in the world, is also extremely traditional/old fashioned in terms of structure. In most larger markets, they have their own local headquarters and sales outlets, that as a rule only handle B2B sales. Although wholly owned subsidiaries, the individual regional companies are autonomous, and decisions around wholesale pricing etc is handled individually at regional level. Back in 2018, Shimano USA had a whine because a few major retailers, but specifically JensenUSA specifically was buying its stock from Shimano Europe, and Shimano Singapore, at much lower prices then they could get from Shimano USA. So instead of the Japanese giving USA a wrap on the knuckles and tell them to get their pricing in line with the rest of the word, they implemented Geolocking, and since then, Official retailers are only allowed to buy from their local Distributor, and aren’t allowed to sell outside of that distributors Market Zone. If they didn’t stop retailers from selling to external markets, big guys like Jensen would have just set up operations in EU, and ship from their to their US clients, or clients would turn to other major online retailers.
 

Coolheats market share is way too small that they could ever have achieved this themselves, but they got lucky on this, and currently have exclusive rights to distribution in South Africa by pure luck. 
 

The changes in the market and consumer behaviour driven by Covid, as well as their experience with their other brands, like Pearl Izumi and some of the fishing stuff as well, means changes will be coming. Obviously they first need to get their supply back up to spec, which is a seperate issue all together, and then also fulfill existing sales via the various regional hubs, before any major change would be seen. But industry chatter is unanimous that the geoblocking will soon be done away with, and more and more Direct to Consumer sales will also become available.

In the mean while, at least at consumer level - viva AremexGlobalShopper….

I was looking at Shimano SLX, possibly XT 1x11 sets today on Evobikes (just because I got their newsletter) .... nice options, nice prices, NO stock ....

 

Seems you can choose between the top of the range, or NX/SX sram (same at most SA shops at the moment).... then I will rather wait for Shimano.

 

Lets hope Shimano comes back strong in SA 

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3 hours ago, Hairy on a Davidson said:

You may be onto something, and it could also be a end goal for Shimano increasing their production capacity recently .... and hopefully good for us the end users.

The end user will be the one gaining the most when geoblocking falls away. Especially in smaller markets like ours. Unrestricted access to the global supply chain can never be a bad thing. The only ones who benefit are the ones playing gatekeeper. 

Look at the brands in currently under the C.H stable, over and above Shimano, they have:

Continental Tires - Excellent products, exceptionally well represented worldwide, very popular, but near impossible to get hold of locally (a bit better represented on the road side of things, but I can’t remember when last I saw a conti on a MTB in SA)

CatEye - Granted they have fallen off the bandwagon on the head unit side of things, still a super recognisable brand in cycling, and they make some awesome lights, but I’ve never seen them for sale locally. Cyclelab probably has some in stock, but can’t say I have noticed, and definately not in any other bike shops. Why not? We love night riding here. Okes spend big money on lights, and the CatEye rechargeable lights are really good value for money, well made units. 
 

Joes No-Flats - Pretty much the original tubeless solution. But until I went to check the coolheat website, I forgot they existed. The sealant market is pretty saturated, and there are some great local products too. But a brand like Joe’s should always be front of mind when you think sealant. I’m not sure who represents Stans in SA, but I do know they are doing a better job.

 

White lightning - Okay, guess we can cut them some slack on this one, If the sealant scene is saturated, the lube side of things is overflowing, and white lightning does sealant as well.
 

The fact that all those brands are so underrepresented in the South African market must raise a few questions? But by controlling the access to Shimano, they have the entire local bike industry by the short and curlies. If a bike shop wants to provide aftermarket service, or handle any warranty issues on bikes with Shimano components, they currently have no choice in where to go. This kind of cartel mindset has only ever been bad for any industry. 

 

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On 7/30/2021 at 3:43 PM, JA-Q001 said:

If I should guess, its for adjusting how freely the pedal spins.

 

When putting a foot down you would want your pedal flat again when bringing your foot back. If it hangs freely and contacts the ground it could spin a lot and you can struggle putting your foot flat on it again and nobody wants a foot to slip off of one of these pedals and it bites your shin.

It's interesting to see that its on the XT, but not the Saint pedal.

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On 7/30/2021 at 10:59 PM, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

The end user will be the one gaining the most when geoblocking falls away. Especially in smaller markets like ours. Unrestricted access to the global supply chain can never be a bad thing. The only ones who benefit are the ones playing gatekeeper. 

Look at the brands in currently under the C.H stable, over and above Shimano, they have:

Continental Tires - Excellent products, exceptionally well represented worldwide, very popular, but near impossible to get hold of locally (a bit better represented on the road side of things, but I can’t remember when last I saw a conti on a MTB in SA)

CatEye - Granted they have fallen off the bandwagon on the head unit side of things, still a super recognisable brand in cycling, and they make some awesome lights, but I’ve never seen them for sale locally. Cyclelab probably has some in stock, but can’t say I have noticed, and definately not in any other bike shops. Why not? We love night riding here. Okes spend big money on lights, and the CatEye rechargeable lights are really good value for money, well made units. 
 

Joes No-Flats - Pretty much the original tubeless solution. But until I went to check the coolheat website, I forgot they existed. The sealant market is pretty saturated, and there are some great local products too. But a brand like Joe’s should always be front of mind when you think sealant. I’m not sure who represents Stans in SA, but I do know they are doing a better job.

 

White lightning - Okay, guess we can cut them some slack on this one, If the sealant scene is saturated, the lube side of things is overflowing, and white lightning does sealant as well.
 

The fact that all those brands are so underrepresented in the South African market must raise a few questions? But by controlling the access to Shimano, they have the entire local bike industry by the short and curlies. If a bike shop wants to provide aftermarket service, or handle any warranty issues on bikes with Shimano components, they currently have no choice in where to go. This kind of cartel mindset has only ever been bad for any industry. 

 

Lazer helmets and Pearl Izumi fall under their stable as well .... Stans is through Two Wheels Trading, along with Lezyne, Momsen etc 

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On 7/30/2021 at 10:59 PM, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

The fact that all those brands are so underrepresented in the South African market must raise a few questions? But by controlling the access to Shimano, they have the entire local bike industry by the short and curlies. If a bike shop wants to provide aftermarket service, or handle any warranty issues on bikes with Shimano components, they currently have no choice in where to go. This kind of cartel mindset has only ever been bad for any industry. 

 

what ... like some sort of organised price fixing type of thing ... nah, they would never do that?

image.png.d3c878a875a07fdec2c7cd3ea639d567.png

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On 7/30/2021 at 3:48 PM, JA-Q001 said:

People that have felt the pain would understand. Although, I last had flat pedals on the bike I delivered newspapers with.

Please don’t take this personal, but I know a good number of folk (and I tend to agree with them), that will assume this means your actually not very good at riding a bike????

Im all for clips, and ride them on everything from my commute bike, to my 170mm enduro rig, but do put flats on from time to time to practice skills. If you cannot bunny hop over a 2 litre coke bottle without “cheating” by using your pedals to pull the rear of the bike up, You need to learn, before going back to cleats. Just do it, and thank me later. 
 

pretty much every skills course/trainer I know of refuses to train you with cleats, and for very good reason. 

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On 8/2/2021 at 2:01 PM, Hairy on a Davidson said:

what ... like some sort of organised price fixing type of thing ... nah, they would never do that?

image.png.d3c878a875a07fdec2c7cd3ea639d567.png

So they already facing the "heat" and it's not cool

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40 minutes ago, MajG said:

So they already facing the "heat" and it's not cool

This specific case was dismissed. They did get a wrap on the knuckles a few years before along with few big bike stores, sOme of whole shut up shop and moved into other sectors within the industry when their protected mark ups where removed. 
 

fact of the matter is there simply isn’t enough margin in bikes and bike part. I you have two or three players adding a 10-35% margin, regardless of taxes any duties, there is just nothing left in the deal for the final seller (ie: the beloved local bikeshop)

 

That is essentially why Spez is doing so well locally. Their model works, and works well. The end user doesn’t realise/understand how the supply chainfuntions, and they. Don’t need to. It’s just works, and at the end of the day everyone in the deal is happy. 

The concept stores are essentially franchises. They pay Spez for the luxury of access to their supply chain, at a reasonably affordable price (Spez has essentially the same price worldwide, give or take a few bucks for currency fluctution/duties and taxes etc). Essentially, if you buy a bike at your local concept store, or buy it in the states while on holiday (and claim sales tax back at the airport, as you should, and then declare your purchase and pay VAT and duties to SARS on arrival, as you should), the price will be basically exactly the same.

in reality, your Spez bought locally is somewhat subsidised, in order to keep the prices in line with ROW pricing. The shop, which is actually a Franchise, makes very little on the bike. But they can stay profitable because they have access to the rest of the specialised inventory - tires, bottle cages, tools, clothing, shoes etc etc etc. They also get to make money on servicing your bike, as the official brand recognised service centre. On the balance of trade, everyone wins here. The shops are profitable, the customer gets a good deal (like it or not, and take away all the fanboy hatred, rand for rand, you will battle to get a better deal in South Africa for a bike with similar components). That is why every third bike you see in SA is a Spez, and this is not collusion, it is just a good business model, and removes 1 or 2 players in the value chain. 
 

but if you want to talk about collusion/price fixing in the industry, forget about local distributors, look at the international market. How various international anti-trust and competition tribunals have not managed to stop SRAMs slow and steady buyout of the entire OEM market is almost laughable. To stay relevant, Shimano has to now focus more and more on the high end and aftermarket industry. 
 

If a bike manufacturer wants to get a good deal on RockShocks forks for their entry level bike, they have no choice but to spec that bike with a SRAM drivetrain, tektro of SRAM guide Brakes. Oh, but you have a race face crank, sorry buddy, still sram. 
 

I know some might differ with me here,  but quality wise, you cannot compare SRAM SX or NX with Deore or SLX. The entry level SRAM stuff is on par with non series or the other super cheap Shimano stuff (acera etc). But find a 40-65k dual susser with Shimano components, it’s a unicorn. That is the real anti-trust problem in bike industry… consumers are forced to deal with SX and NX rubbish because of this. Amd let’s not even talk about brakes. From entry level. Shimano stuff Is good, SLX are already really good brakes. SRAM level/tekto etc cannot compare. But to get a semi decent market accepted fork, The OEM industry is forced to go with the SRAM stuff. 
 

from GX up, SRAM compares with a Shimano SLX/XT/XTR, but you cannot with a straight face say SX NX compares with SLX/DEORE

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1 hour ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

This specific case was dismissed. They did get a wrap on the knuckles a few years before along with few big bike stores, sOme of whole shut up shop and moved into other sectors within the industry when their protected mark ups where removed. 
 

fact of the matter is there simply isn’t enough margin in bikes and bike part. I you have two or three players adding a 10-35% margin, regardless of taxes any duties, there is just nothing left in the deal for the final seller (ie: the beloved local bikeshop)

 

That is essentially why Spez is doing so well locally. Their model works, and works well. The end user doesn’t realise/understand how the supply chainfuntions, and they. Don’t need to. It’s just works, and at the end of the day everyone in the deal is happy. 

The concept stores are essentially franchises. They pay Spez for the luxury of access to their supply chain, at a reasonably affordable price (Spez has essentially the same price worldwide, give or take a few bucks for currency fluctution/duties and taxes etc). Essentially, if you buy a bike at your local concept store, or buy it in the states while on holiday (and claim sales tax back at the airport, as you should, and then declare your purchase and pay VAT and duties to SARS on arrival, as you should), the price will be basically exactly the same.

in reality, your Spez bought locally is somewhat subsidised, in order to keep the prices in line with ROW pricing. The shop, which is actually a Franchise, makes very little on the bike. But they can stay profitable because they have access to the rest of the specialised inventory - tires, bottle cages, tools, clothing, shoes etc etc etc. They also get to make money on servicing your bike, as the official brand recognised service centre. On the balance of trade, everyone wins here. The shops are profitable, the customer gets a good deal (like it or not, and take away all the fanboy hatred, rand for rand, you will battle to get a better deal in South Africa for a bike with similar components). That is why every third bike you see in SA is a Spez, and this is not collusion, it is just a good business model, and removes 1 or 2 players in the value chain. 
 

but if you want to talk about collusion/price fixing in the industry, forget about local distributors, look at the international market. How various international anti-trust and competition tribunals have not managed to stop SRAMs slow and steady buyout of the entire OEM market is almost laughable. To stay relevant, Shimano has to now focus more and more on the high end and aftermarket industry. 
 

If a bike manufacturer wants to get a good deal on RockShocks forks for their entry level bike, they have no choice but to spec that bike with a SRAM drivetrain, tektro of SRAM guide Brakes. Oh, but you have a race face crank, sorry buddy, still sram. 
 

I know some might differ with me here,  but quality wise, you cannot compare SRAM SX or NX with Deore or SLX. The entry level SRAM stuff is on par with non series or the other super cheap Shimano stuff (acera etc). But find a 40-65k dual susser with Shimano components, it’s a unicorn. That is the real anti-trust problem in bike industry… consumers are forced to deal with SX and NX rubbish because of this. Amd let’s not even talk about brakes. From entry level. Shimano stuff Is good, SLX are already really good brakes. SRAM level/tekto etc cannot compare. But to get a semi decent market accepted fork, The OEM industry is forced to go with the SRAM stuff. 
 

from GX up, SRAM compares with a Shimano SLX/XT/XTR, but you cannot with a straight face say SX NX compares with SLX/DEORE

Interesting insight into specialized business model and end of day the consumer benefits. Or is least impacted by middlemen markups. 

Always known bike profits are low, same like tiger wheel n tyre the profits on tyres are minimal but the additional items and add one is where money is made so its a fairly widely spread model too.

On the sram entry-level components I agree with you, just switched to Shimano xt from sram nx and it's worlds apart and was slightly cheaper than gx setup.

 

Always good to read your insider inputs ????????

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