By Joe Fox

 

Searching and buying new or replacement bicycle parts is critical to a bicyclist. As with most things that are mechanical, items break and need to be replaced or upgraded. On many bike rides, people talk about the positive and negative aspects of buying from various places. Many people ask, “Where should I go?” Other people ponder, “Should I buy on the Internet?” The Internet is great for checking product reviews and specifications, but care should be taken when buying from online retailers. Internet fraud is just the start. Buying locally allows products to be tested and ensures the manufacturer’s warranty will be honored.

 

As with many purchases, most people select their bicycle retailer with the best prices. Now the interesting point: The three bicycle shops in town have the same prices as any legitimate online retailer for identical products. “How can this be?” many people ask. For people that only know the law prior to 2007, they may still think price fixing (price setting) by a manufacturer is a violation of anti-trust laws. Well, in June 2007 everything changed, when the Supreme Court in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS overturned nearly 100 years of federal precedent by declaring that manufacturer price fixing was no longer automatically presumed illegal under U.S. antitrust laws. 

 

With this in mind, almost all the major bicycle part manufacturers have agreements with wholesalers and retailers that forbid retailers from offering discounts. Yes, some parts can be found online for lower prices, but these items represent the gray-retail market and in many cases are closeouts, last year’s models or imported knock-offs. Just remember any online retailer that is selling the identical item for a lower price than your local bicycle shop is probably doing so in violation of their agreement with the manufacturer.

 

Some people think, “Who cares if the online retailer is breaking their agreement with the manufacturer. I get a better deal.” But is it a better deal? If a retailer is lying to the manufacturer about their business practices, then they are defrauding the manufacturer where they have a written contract. These retailers’ contracts specifically state they will not discount the products. Logic then dictates, if the online retailers are lying to these large manufacturers, what will stop them from lying to their retail customers? 

 

Another question is, “How do warranties work?” The online retailer by selling a product for less than the agreed amount may have also voided the end-user warranty. If the shopper is buying a $5.00 bell, then the warranty may not be that important. On the other hand, if the customer is buying parts that cost $100 or more, then the warranty becomes very important.

 

Finally, though many bicycle parts are legally manufactured in Taiwan and China, many knock-off products are also produced in China. An article a few years ago in Time magazine, explained how another sporting good product, The Big Bertha II golf club, was copied and sold in the underground wholesale market for $39 to online and unscrupulous retailers. The golf clubs looked identical to the real thing. Plus, online retailers could sell the pirated “Big Bertha” along with all forged documents for less than the $500 suggested retail price of legitimate retailers. Of course, the end customer would never know the club was a fake. Another concept to think about before purchasing deeply discounted bike parts is that a fake golf club that fails will not injure anyone, but a knock-off bicycle part that fails, could cause serious injury.

 

Where will you buy your bicycle parts? Everyday we ask ourselves questions before making purchases: Do we save money? What is the warranty? What is the risk? How do I know this is real? Is this too good to be true? The real question remains, “How will you answer those questions?” Buying bicycle parts from your local bicycle shop gives you the peace of mind that you are receiving genuine products with full warranties from a reputable dealer; rather than cheap knock-offs from illegitimate Internet retailers.