These bikes have been at the current preorder price since at least Spring 2020. These are new models that came out in 2019. Demand means you have to wait about a month or more for delivery. Espin had bern selling bikes through some dealers, hence I think the higher list price was partially due to markups for dealers. They also moved their manufacturing to Taiwan. I do not know if that effected costs. I think they are trying to avoid any tariffs that may be imposed on Chinese goods. The owner, Josh Lam, seems to have a lot of close contacts in the bike manufacturing industry, is bilingual. I do not know their marketing strategy. They are a small company not as well known as some others. Maybe they think this lower pre order price point is more competitive. I would say their bike is somewhat similar to a Ride1 up 700, but less expensive. It is well made, has lots of good components. Comes with a preinstalled rear rack and fenders and hydraulic disk brakes. I think they need more aggressive marketing. It doesn't help that the new 2019 models share the same names (Sport and Flow) with the slower less powerful models by Espin in 2016-2018.