Big Specialized price increase

One factor are batteries. The supply chain right now has dried up for high quality battery cells inside the batteries. No one can get them. Not even Specialized. I had a load made for me with premium cells and BMS by catching wind a bit before the crunch. Let's see how it plays out. In the US the Right is against Green Energy and the Left is against Mining to get the raw materials.
 
One factor are batteries. The supply chain right now has dried up for high quality battery cells inside the batteries. No one can get them. Not even Specialized. I had a load made for me with premium cells and BMS by catching wind a bit before the crunch. Let's see how it plays out. In the US the Right is against Green Energy and the Left is against Mining to get the raw materials.
The left isn't uniformly against mining. It's against child slavery and child labor to get it, as well as devastation to local ecosystems.
 
One factor are batteries. The supply chain right now has dried up for high quality battery cells inside the batteries. No one can get them. Not even Specialized. I had a load made for me with premium cells and BMS by catching wind a bit before the crunch. Let's see how it plays out. In the US the Right is against Green Energy and the Left is against Mining to get the raw materials.
ANytime Fear is used as a Motivator . It's either a Lie or it's way to late ;)
 
The left isn't uniformly against mining. It's against child slavery and child labor to get it, as well as devastation to local ecosystems.
So why not use Nuclear Energy ?? Answer because that would be honest and nobody could make billions like they do with Green Crap . Just switching the lame lies every 10 years . We were supposed to have an ICEAGE by 2000 Now we are going to Burn up ???
Do you honestly think an all knowing God would give us the knowledge to access energy more effectively then burning Wood and Candles . Right about the time Population was starting to explode . Forgot that we'd destroy our planet in less then 200 years by using it ?
 
My brother in law said he went to the store for service and he saw the 2021 Giant Explore has gone up $1000 bucks since he bought a 2020 last Summer. I have started buying spare moving parts for our bikes in case they become scarce or the prices inflate egregiously.
 
My brother in law said he went to the store for service and he saw the 2021 Giant Explore has gone up $1000 bucks since he bought a 2020 last Summer. I have started buying spare moving parts for our bikes in case they become scarce or the prices inflate egregiously.
The new Explore has the Pro motor now, instead of the Sport. But regardless, everything has gone up quite a bit.
 
A bike shop owner did a YouTube video about the Specialized bike price increase on Feb 1. He discussed it from a bike store's perspective and how it's going to make it be much harder for him to sell their bikes now.
Specialized bikes already were expensive and many of them are consistently out of stock with long wait times. The price increase also puts bike shops in a hard spot. Anyway, I thought it was interesting and am passing it on.
I'm afraid this will not end well for the OEMs or local bike shops in the long run... once the overheated Covid Market effect subsides, they may have priced themselves out to the market. ;)

The returns of Morningstar US Market Index sectors since the onset of the pandemic imply that investors expect widespread societal changes.
exhibit-1-adc1fdf34d4762a302c89c0c0dd57038.svg
 
The left isn't uniformly against mining. It's against child slavery and child labor to get it, as well as devastation to local ecosystems.
One bike company I worked for had a line of Kids Bikes. Inside the joke was Made By Children for Children.
 
The local bike store called today. The part I ordered in August arrived! And I got to behold a $14,499 Specialized eBike.
When I am wrong Thomas I like to be the first one to find out and correct myself. Let's see at the end of Spring how battery supply looks for top-end cells. You could be right. I could be stuck with a load of batteries. That would be proof enough for me. I do a local only service, hands on. It is a service that requires batteries like a local plumber needs pipe fittings.
 
I'm afraid this will not end well for the OEMs or local bike shops in the long run... once the overheated Covid Market effect subsides, they may have priced themselves out to the market. ;)

The returns of Morningstar US Market Index sectors since the onset of the pandemic imply that investors expect widespread societal changes.
exhibit-1-adc1fdf34d4762a302c89c0c0dd57038.svg

' Widespread societal changes ' is wonk speech for 'SHTF', I think.
 
' Widespread societal changes ' is wonk speech for 'SHTF', I think.
Yeah well that's what THEY think. America is so spread out and heterogeneous that there really cannot be a SHTF event that sweeps the land. Not that some cities could not suffer horrible events. Maybe lots of cities. Bringing it down to ebikes or just bikes ... every local bike shop should be thinking ahead. They should be diversifying every which way and dropping off the forays into this or that ... that do not pan out. Seems to me that lots of people with disposable income and some that just went into stupid debt have bought a lot of insanely priced ebikes. That cannot go on. That CANNOT go on. The truth is you can create one heck of an ebike for under $3k and more and more people will figure that out. No you cannot maintain a Trek or Specialized milieu at that level but those guy's days are short lived. The local bike guy that wants to survive should be learning to convert decent framed bikes with kits. The way things are going in the West an awful lot of people are soon going to figure out thy cannot afford to raise kids and also afford a car and the required insurance to drive it along with shelter costs and food. This will be a great shock to Americans but it is nothing new to Europeans. Americans just turn up the heat in winter. Europeans put on a sweater. Americans drive big trucks. Europeans drive sensible small cars.
 
Yeah well that's what THEY think. America is so spread out and heterogeneous that there really cannot be a SHTF event that sweeps the land. Not that some cities could not suffer horrible events. Maybe lots of cities. Bringing it down to ebikes or just bikes ... every local bike shop should be thinking ahead. They should be diversifying every which way and dropping off the forays into this or that ... that do not pan out. Seems to me that lots of people with disposable income and some that just went into stupid debt have bought a lot of insanely priced ebikes. That cannot go on. That CANNOT go on. The truth is you can create one heck of an ebike for under $3k and more and more people will figure that out. No you cannot maintain a Trek or Specialized milieu at that level but those guy's days are short lived. The local bike guy that wants to survive should be learning to convert decent framed bikes with kits. The way things are going in the West an awful lot of people are soon going to figure out thy cannot afford to raise kids and also afford a car and the required insurance to drive it along with shelter costs and food. This will be a great shock to Americans but it is nothing new to Europeans. Americans just turn up the heat in winter. Europeans put on a sweater. Americans drive big trucks. Europeans drive sensible small cars.
We may be saying the same thing, Reed. I think the last year has been a 'SHTF' moment for a lot of Americans. Health care, higher education, retail stores, the church, and the major financial institutions are all in trouble. That's pretty widespread damage, if not quite the Hollywood version of 'SHTF'.
If I owned a bike shop, I'd honestly be looking to sell it. Or maybe repurpose it towards a service oriented business, adding motors and batteries to customer's bikes as you mentioned, or only sell bikes to the top tenth of 1%, who always have money for high status toys, and don't shop at Amazon.
I hope I'm wrong about this, and that everything bounces back.
 
Yeah well that's what THEY think. America is so spread out and heterogeneous that there really cannot be a SHTF event that sweeps the land. Not that some cities could not suffer horrible events. Maybe lots of cities. Bringing it down to ebikes or just bikes ... every local bike shop should be thinking ahead. They should be diversifying every which way and dropping off the forays into this or that ... that do not pan out. Seems to me that lots of people with disposable income and some that just went into stupid debt have bought a lot of insanely priced ebikes. That cannot go on. That CANNOT go on. The truth is you can create one heck of an ebike for under $3k and more and more people will figure that out. No you cannot maintain a Trek or Specialized milieu at that level but those guy's days are short lived. The local bike guy that wants to survive should be learning to convert decent framed bikes with kits. The way things are going in the West an awful lot of people are soon going to figure out thy cannot afford to raise kids and also afford a car and the required insurance to drive it along with shelter costs and food. This will be a great shock to Americans but it is nothing new to Europeans. Americans just turn up the heat in winter. Europeans put on a sweater. Americans drive big trucks. Europeans drive sensible small cars.
We may be saying the same thing, Reed. I think the last year has been a 'SHTF' moment for a lot of Americans.
Health care, higher education, retail stores, the church, and the major financial institutions are all in trouble. That's pretty widespread damage, if not quite the Hollywood version of 'SHTF'.
If I owned a bike shop, I'd honestly be looking to sell it. Or maybe repurpose it towards a service oriented business, adding motors and batteries to customer's bikes as you mentioned,
or only sell bikes to the top tenth of 1%, who always have money for high status toys, and don't shop at Amazon.
I hope I'm wrong about this, and that everything bounces back.
Agreed... I like what this LBS is doing with EBike conversions of used bikes. 😉

"The best electric bike in the world is sitting in your garage and all it needs is a motor, battery, and assembly by the most experienced team of mechanics and technicians in the Greater Bay Area. We are the only electric bike manufacturer that specializes in converting standard bikes to electric bikes. We have converted well over 1000 bikes to electric and to date we have only encountered two that we could not convert. We have converted tandems, recumbents, road bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes, cargo bikes, city bikes, cruisers, folding bikes, carbon fiber bikes, adult trikes, adaptive bikes, chopper bikes, titanium bikes, and even vintage bikes. When we convert a bike to electric each one will always be a custom build. We machine all of our own parts and adapters so matter what size or type of bottom bracket your bike may have, we have the adaptor to make it work."
Alvin Carpenter, PhD
CEO, Island City Bikes
 
Because we have no plan to handle 10,000 year half-life of waste
What ? Nuclear waste is called Uranium : Where did you get confused ? URANIUM is 90% Plus of Nuclear waste and is 100% Re-usuable . Forever . Just Google it and you'll see . It seems when you respond to me you do so from bias
 
Agreed... I like what this LBS is doing with EBike conversions of used bikes. 😉

"The best electric bike in the world is sitting in your garage and all it needs is a motor, battery, and assembly by the most experienced team of mechanics and technicians in the Greater Bay Area. We are the only electric bike manufacturer that specializes in converting standard bikes to electric bikes. We have converted well over 1000 bikes to electric and to date we have only encountered two that we could not convert. We have converted tandems, recumbents, road bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes, cargo bikes, city bikes, cruisers, folding bikes, carbon fiber bikes, adult trikes, adaptive bikes, chopper bikes, titanium bikes, and even vintage bikes. When we convert a bike to electric each one will always be a custom build. We machine all of our own parts and adapters so matter what size or type of bottom bracket your bike may have, we have the adaptor to make it work."
Alvin Carpenter, PhD
CEO, Island City Bikes
This is one of their conversions. Look for weight distribution and handling. That is a 750W BBS02 hanging up in the air out front. This bike also has a rear suspension to bounce the motor in front of the steering from the other end with a heavy battery. Will drivers see it? How about the brakes? Are those clip-in pedals? Thrilling!
 

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