What would you be willing to pay for a “grey” bike?

[TheoG]

11 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

Dude I'm gonna start importing cars. Will you pay R700 000 for them? 

Promise they're good. Other people drive them in other countries, some even race with them.

They have Michelin tyres, and leather seats. 

Promise they're worth R1.4mil if you compare them with cars that cost R1.4mil.

Are you starting to see how pointless this discussion is without knowing the brand? If it's a Ferrari I'm selling, absolute win. If it's a wang chong fui with ferrrary stickers on it, not so much. 

Agree, its not possible to give any kind of opinion or general commitment if we have no clue about the actual product.  It may be a bust it maybe not, but before we don't know this ...  pfff !

[mtbdave]

I'd be taun to put down so much cash, for a product I wouldn't be receiving any support for. Just a thought.

[eddy]

2 hours ago, Edge_Design said:

I see CRC coincidentally have bikes with very similar specs to that from a European brand that isn't supported here. The prices also appear materially lower than you are quoting. If that is more than a coincidence then why would someone not just order from there themselves? What value are you adding to justify anything more than an admin fee? Local support would answer that but you don't appear to be offering that. 

Keep in mind that everyone knows how to use Google so if someone can get it themselves for less than you are asking then you have to ask why they would pay you more.

I also saw that. If we are talking about the same thing, once you have added 100% duty, import VAT and shipping then the bike from CRC looks to be quite a bit more.

CRC GBP price - UK VAT + shipping x 20.04 x 2 x 1.17 

[DonatelloOnPinarello]

…

Edited August 5, 2021 by DonatelloOnPinarello

[AdamA]

3 hours ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

Also, as mentioned the bikes will be grey/parallel imports. They do not have brand support locally. You will however be fully covered by their international warranty. This is a 5 year multi owner warranty, and applies worldwide. But you would be needing to deal directly with the manufacturer in Europe on warranty claims. Our business would assist with warranty claims as far as possible, especially if sending the frames back to the manufacturer is required etc, but we would carry no liability/responsibility in terms of the warranty.

There would be two options, an aggressive trail hardtail, and short travel (130-140mm) dual sus trail bike as well. Both options avaialble in 29er and 27.5 options.

The hardtail is specced as follows: Fox 34 With Rhythm Damper(130 on 29, 140 on 27.5), SLX 12 Speed, a brand x dropper, WTB 30mm Tubeless rims, and Schwalbe tubeless tires (Magic Mary/Hans Dampf combo - 2.6 on 27.5 and 2.4 on 29er), and Shimano Deore 4 piston brakes on 180mm rotors front and rear

Dual susser would have the same drivetrain and brake set up, but with a Marzochi bomber up front and RS Monarch rear (140mm front and rear on both the 29 and 27.5)

 

Originally I thought it was VITUS bikes...

https://www.google.com/search?q=fox+34%2C+slx+12+speed%2C+wtb+30mm%2C+brand+x+dropper%2C+schwalbe+hans+damp

https://www.google.com/search?q=slx+12+speed%2C+marzocchi+bomber%2C+rs+monarch%2C+brand+x+dropper%2C+wtb+30mm%2C+schwalbe+hans+damp

 

BUT I see that VITUS don't come with a Multi Owner Warranty.

• Do your bikes come with Warranty?
• We offer a 5-year warranty on all our frames. On top of that we also offer an extended 2-year warranty on all components excluding wear and tear items such as bearings, brake pads, chains & cassettes etc. Our Warranty policy applies to the original owner and processed by our exclusive retail partners.To see their warranty process check: CRC & Wiggle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Robbie Stewart]

I just hit Woolies for something to eat and to get milk while I'm there and I left R400 poorer and (almost) nothing to show for it. Buying a bike these days seems a stretch too far. I just doled out some cash on my current full-sus on new bars, stem, dropper post, pedals and some lekker wheels, and I feel like I got a new bike. That all cost me around 16k. A far cry short from R50k odd. I would not be spending cash on new bikes any time soon.

[PhilipV]

The fullsus with that spec sounds similar to a Scott Genius 950, which retails for about 60k. 

I would rather pay 10k more on a bike with local support.  This is why I didn't buy a Nukeproof, Canyon, Orbea or a YT  at the start of the year and got the genius mentioned above. 

In essence you are offering second hand risk, on a brand new bike, so your price needs to be between 2nd hand and new. 

 

 

[ChrisF]

9 minutes ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

…

 

Tough crowd .... 

 

Fridays are worse .... 

 

 

Back to the hypothetical question, trying to check market interest ....

 

This is SA !!  People LOVE a bargain !!!!  

 

Did I say, this IS SA !!!!  People get all "CPA" when their bargain needs a maintenance service in the first 10 000 km ......

 

 

The SAD reality .... so we pay for "authorised imports with full backup" ..... and what do we get ?

 

SO MANY threads of useless dealers, and even worse spanner swingers .....  my most recent personal experience still leaves a bitter taste.  FIVE times I took the bike back to have the rear brakes sorted ..... eventually took it to a dedicated bike workshop, proper bleed, and properly bedding in the brake pads, 2 000km later no issues.  Mark 1, "dealer" 0.   And still I have to pay "annual maintenance" costs to keep the warantee going just in case of a frame issue ....

 

 

All that said, you bring in the container, YOUR NAME is going to get tarnished when a warrantee issue takes "long" .... go big or go home ..... not worth risking your name for a "small profit".

[Jewbacca]

IMHO it's a waste of money, time and effort.

99% of the people here won't buy a new bike. Everyone commenting, be honest, how many of you are realistically in the market for a new bike even at 75% pricing?

The trail/enduro crowd are often 'bring in the brands, offer us service' but realistically most NEW bikes are brought in for the same 11 people and their 2nd hand bikes are being circulated round the circles in various degrees.

So many Enduro/Trail brands have tried here and failed due to the nature of the buyer.

The real money is being spent on race bikes by non racers who don't know how to set up their own tubeless.

Rather fill that space with extra consumable parts and/or tires.

[PhilipV]

I agree with Jewbacca. 

If you want to make money out of this venture, you need to sell products to people that don't like their money. And they tend to ride 100mm FS bikes at Sani2C, not trail bikes. 

[Mountain Bru]

 

1 hour ago, PhilipV said:

The fullsus with that spec sounds similar to a Scott Genius 950, which retails for about 60k. 

I would rather pay 10k more on a bike with local support.  This is why I didn't buy a Nukeproof, Canyon, Orbea or a YT  at the start of the year and got the genius mentioned above. 

In essence you are offering second hand risk, on a brand new bike, so your price needs to be between 2nd hand and new. 

 

Yup. Probably closer to second hand too seen as you need to overcome the "R5000 more for local support and warranty from a shop I can take it back to" thinking. 

Having said that though, some bike brands do carry an appeal that adds value for some (like illogical value).
Some people don't want to ride a spez, drive a fortuner/hilux, and blindly buy whatever iphone is on sale, even if they're all arguably the best products on the market (or at least right up there).
For some people, there's an appeal to owning a google pixel phone just cos no one else has one, driving a lifted VW transporter because then you can tell everyone why it's better than everything else on the road in every circumstance, and owning an obscure bike brand that only real purists have ever heard of. If the mystery bike brand is one of those, there might be a market for it amongst that kind of person. Like someone mentioned Pole earlier, or Nukeproof, YT etc. But typically if you're that kind of person, you're by nature a bit different, and probably a bit obsessive, and don't need too much help getting your hands on your eccentric choices. 

But if the mystery brand is the equivalent of a chev trailblazer, you're gonna have to sell it cheap to sway people away from their beloved fortuners. 

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Mountain Bru

[NeverNotRolling]

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Edited August 5, 2021 by NeverNotRolling

[Hairy]

2 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

IMHO it's a waste of money, time and effort.

99% of the people here won't buy a new bike. Everyone commenting, be honest, how many of you are realistically in the market for a new bike even at 75% pricing?

The trail/enduro crowd are often 'bring in the brands, offer us service' but realistically most NEW bikes are brought in for the same 11 people and their 2nd hand bikes are being circulated round the circles in various degrees.

So many Enduro/Trail brands have tried here and failed due to the nature of the buyer.

The real money is being spent on race bikes by non racers who don't know how to set up their own tubeless.

Rather fill that space with extra consumable parts and/or tires.

What he said

[Grease_Monkey]

6 hours ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

Fully understand that, but this is just a hypothetical discussion at this point, to gauge what the kind of price point is that people are willing to pay for a mid spec trail bike from a non mainstream brand. Not wether you are interested in buying a specific bike. This is not an advertisement, just a discussion 

 

maybe is should frame the question to you differently: would you be willing to buy a grey import trail bike? If yes, what price range are you willing to pay for a grey import of a mid spec 140mm trail bike? 

Yes

 

But the price range cannot be separated from the brand of frame. Eg: a Yeti frame costs 90k, a Giant 40k. So with the same parts on that’s still a 50k difference… the price I’d pay depends on the brand.

[MORNE]

i'd pay the the same amount as for a red one...

????

[RocknRolla]

Problem is partially market, and partially terrain…

Do I want a 140mm plush slack trail shredder? Hell yes. Will I use it for its intent? Not up in Gauteng.  The lack of ski-lifts, or parks with sufficient elevation drives the market as much as the lifestyle marketers does. (Neverminfd the fact that I am not in the market,  and If I was, Rapide would have my money before you can say grey)

I’m sure if you bring in a couple of bikes, they will sell, easily. Like chris says, Saffa’s like a bargain. 
In “our” defense… you did ask the “serious cyclists” opinion, and of course they will tell you it will not work, as you are not serious enough to deserve their money.