On Jan 28, 1:18*am, " wrote:
On Jan 27, 7:12*pm, Nate Nagel wrote:



Paul G. wrote:
On Jan 26, 3:38 pm, Michael Press wrote:
In article
,

" wrote:
On Jan 24, 6:24 pm, Chalo wrote:
SMS wrote:
It's really annoying have so few bicycles come standard with basic
accessories, especially on commute and touring bicycles where it's
pretty well accepted that the buyer will be adding things like racks,
fenders, bells, bottle cages, etc. $100 worth of retail accessories
would cost the bicycle manufacturer about $8, which would end up adding
maybe $22-25 to the retail cost. I was kind of impressed that the
Raleigh Sojourn comes with most of that stuff.
Bike manufacturers have a symbiotic relationship with bike retailers,
which are usually service shops as well. *Retailers depend heavily
upon accessory sales. *When I was in the bike shop business, markups
on complete bikes ran in the 35% range, while markups on accessories
were usually 100%. *The margin on bikes might cover the cost of
keeping bikes on the floor, but it was the margin on everything else
that made it plausible to do business.
That's surprising to me (the bike markup, I had an idea what the
component markup was). *Are shops in the habit of selling bikes for
what they paid when they need to get them off the floor for the next
years model? *I think I paid around 65%, maybe 70% of MSRP for my last
bike and often see bikes on sale for 50-60% of MSRP. *I know when a
car dealer tells you they're actually losing money selling you a car
at a certain price it's hot air - do bike shops actually do this?
As an aside, I've never bought a car from a dealership but I've come
close and am ruthless in negotiations (I've also helped others
negotiate cars from dealers). *
I did buy a new car at a dealership; am happy with the car and the
purchase.

Car? I seem to recall that you were going to buy one of them gigantic
gas sucking pickups back when gas was $3.50/gal. *It stuck in my mind
because I thought at the time "This guy is nuts."
-Paul

Well, I too have a gas sucking pickup, but I bought it used and cheap.
Costs me almost nothing in add'l insurance, I think I put about 3K on it
last year, half of that just "taking it out for a spin" to keep
everything well lubed. *But when I need to haul something to the dump,
help clean out a stash of old car parts, pick up some furniture, etc.
it's great to have it around. *Of course I have a driveway that I can
line up 4-5 cars in, not everyone has that luxury. *(that was one of the
selling points of the place, really. *Unfortunately the lot is so small
that I couldn't get one with a driveway two cars wide... that's just
silly extravagant for northern VA) *But it is really nice to have a
spare vehicle and the ability to tow/haul large items (within reason) is
great.

What I don't understand are people who buy something like that and then
drive it every day... *unless you're a contractor or a service tech I'd
think that a nice small car would be so much more relaxing to drive, not
to mention economical.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel

I drive a regular cab 4x4 "off-road" model ranger. *It's economical
enough that it makes more sense than having 2 vehicles. *It's small
and nimble enough to be a plenty relaxing drive. *I like being able to
go wheeling on a whim and explore any trail that catches my eye. *I
also like to have a bike, dirt bike or kayak with me in decent weather
and a truck in bad weather. *I wouldn't want a box truck or a cargo
van as a daily driver, but I really like my ranger.

Back about 1972 or so, the Australian Volvo importers made up a
socalled "Surfer's Special", which was a Volvo 144 (or perhaps by then
already a 244) estate car with the rear seats removed, one of Volvo's
superior roofracks (I know it is superior because when our son was
born I bought my wife a Volvo estate to keep him safe), and suchlike
utilitarian fittings. It sounds to me like you need something like
that surfer's Volvo estate.

Andre Jute
Thinking outside the box