is mtb a rich kids and working peoples sport??

[dunk]

Australia has some crap parrallel import laws that do'nt allow people to just import the latest FOX/Shimano gear from where ever they want. Australia has one Distributer and they all get it from the same place. IT"S THE LAW.

I might be wrong here but my understanding of parrallel import was that you were allowed to import a product from an official overseas distributor of that product into this country for retail sale.

You would be right and it is not permitted in lot of cases in this country.

Once upon a time anyone could go to taiwan and buy bulk shimano gear and bring it back by the container load. This is no longer allowed.

What law constitutes what can and can't be imported in parallel to the local distributor. I know a while ago local distributors used the the threat of suing under copyright act to restrict the sale of imported goods, as the parallel import did not hold rights to use the packaging artwork in Australia.

 

[toodles]

Nah my orders are custom so they're usually limited to 10-100 kind of quantities. But yeah I think the margins between moto and mtb shops are a bit different. I'd say I wish MTB shops had smaller margins so they were cheaper but I'd be hit with comments from a million people saying how bike shops are just scraping by as is. So I'll wish MTB shops and MTB component manufacturers could find the efficiency to lower prices.

 

[Silver Wahoo]

I think you may have answered your own Q, I believe that is still the threat/law :?:

 

[Silver Wahoo]

I'll pose another Question.

Are the majority of bike shops on STRUGGLE ST??? Or is it what they would have you believe.......

 

[dunk]

The copyright act was ammended in 1997 to remove copyright control over packaging, labelling and related accessories, thus freeing up parallel import.

Interestingly, the only thing given protection under this ammendment was the Olympic logo and symbols.

 

[Silver Wahoo]

Wow!! To the olympic bit of info..


Maybe i'm getting confused with larger companies such as Shimano/Fox etc only allowing one distibutor per counrty. My point being that moto shops don't get there gear form differrent suppliers compared to push bike shops so why the big difference in clothing/armour/gloves/ pricing.

 

[dunk]

Large international companies usually only allow one local distributor for their goods in each region/country. Local laws though codify what the local distributor can do regarding the protection of their market share, but they must act within the trade practises act.

The major inhibitor of successful parallel importation is the ability to find an authorised distributor of a product in another region that is willing to supply. The local distributor will complain no end to the manufacturer that they are being undersold by the other distributor in their local market. This leads to the manufacturer then pressuring the other distributor to either not supply, or raise the price, making it uneconomical to import the product into Australia.

The parallel import laws were supposed to make CD's cheaper and increase competition in the local market. Hasn't worked :cry:

Getting back to the container of Shimano gear, that would look real nice up the back of my warehouse....mmmmm

 

[RCOH]

I'll pose another Question.

Are the majority of bike shops on STRUGGLE ST??? Or is it what they would have you believe.......

My LBS is definitely not on struggle st, but then again 90% of his business is selling & maintaining high end road bikes, I am the only person he has sold a 'good' MTB to in the past 3 years.

At the moment he has a Yeti AS-X frame, two Yeti DS XC bikes, 1 yeti HT XC bike, and a couple of mid range Scott HT XC bikes. Rest of the stock is sub $600 mtbs (trek) and A LOT of very expensive road bike frames, bikes & componentry, inc. Lance armstrong/US postal TREK replica $10k+

 

[dunk]

Frank Conceicao?

 

[Rik]

I reckon this bike shop discussion is very intruiging and worth starting another thread about... anyone volunteer to do so? I'd like to promote more discussion about it.
Otherwise I might try and learn what this "split thread" button does, maybe later though...

 

[naz]

what does this page have to do with parents by bikes for their children?

 

[RCOH]

Frank Conceicao?

you got it

I find he is a pretty good bloke, but know fark all about MTB. He told me the rebound adjust on my fox shock was a lockout switch. But he has been good to me with services & parts (when he gets them in, which normally takes ages)

I really want that AS-X frame, going for 2700, says i could have it for 2400ish, but alas i am broke

 

[fiddler]

With regards to parallel importing. The laws were changed a few years ago to allow anyone to import a companies product into Australia and not just through the approved distributor. For example, when I worked for Duracell anyone could bring in Duracell from overseas and sell it on the local market. However Duracell overcame this problem by having a company policy whereby any distributor who was caught exporting local product overseas had their distribution rights cancelled and the account manager responsible was also fired.

Maybe this is how the CD and major bike companies (shimano) are restricting the number of parallel imports entering Australia.

 

[schmook]

ok, the threa on from bitching about the rpice of mtb'ing for the under 18's, but I can't resist an opportunity to justify my opinion one more.

i'm only in my early 20's (making me almost immune from leftfield analogies of kids wantign to race maclaren racing cars& mountain bikes) so i'm aware that you can get a job. im not completely ignorant. Infact I've had my fare share of shit after school jobs with a poorly hourly rate. about $5 an hour I used to get for working both in a newsagents, then later when i was a kitchenhand. thursday nights and all day either saturday or sunday. in my personal experience, after paying for public transport to and from school I would have had about $40 change for the week. Buy a cd, or go to the movies and your poor again. saving is hard, but if your got an keen objective of course you can save up for a bike. Its just a hard slog. do it while you dont have to pay rent. character building i guess.

and remember, ebay is a lot of fun if what you want is on auction and you don't wanna pay bikeshop prices. haggle with shop people. if something is for sale in cash converters and its half decent defintely haggle with them because they are wankers and they have usually no idea what they are on about. laybuy! everyone knows these things, of course.
p.summm, parallel import laws suck too (for consumers)

 

[Rik]

if something is for sale in cash converters

Then you should wear oven mitts when handling it.

 

[schmook]

its probably from interstate if its in cashies actually.
i've never actually bought something in cashies, its bad karma.
but i know you always haggle them.

 

[dunk]

With regards to parallel importing. The laws were changed a few years ago to allow anyone to import a companies product into Australia and not just through the approved distributor. For example, when I worked for Duracell anyone could bring in Duracell from overseas and sell it on the local market. However Duracell overcame this problem by having a company policy whereby any distributor who was caught exporting local product overseas had their distribution rights cancelled and the account manager responsible was also fired.

Maybe this is how the CD and major bike companies (shimano) are restricting the number of parallel imports entering Australia.

Yep this is the type of practise that is sooooo close to breaching the trade practices act. It's a pity the ACCC doesn't act on these sort of practises and test them in the courts. They only seem to like petrol, freight, and music companies.

 

[Archi]

what does this page have to do with parents by bikes for their children?

because we were talking about the cost of the sport and how rich kids get spoilt silly with high end bikes.

i saved long and hard for my bike and i love it. unlike other kids i know ican ride too. i know a guy who gets what he wants, when he wants and subsequently has a sweet machine though unfortunately does't have the skills to back it up. i was riding the other week with him and afew other guys and he was too pussy to go off a three ft drop(yet he has a fully built up freeride rig).

it not only pisses me off, but also older more experienced riders( even those who work in high end bike shops. wont name names though).

 

[wombat]

Hmmm, to me this all stinks of jealousy. I personally don't think it's right for kids to have everything handed to them on a platter, but that's just my personal value system and I don't really think that that's even the issue here.

So often I hear people bitching about "oh so and so has this ghardcore bike but can't ride for shit; he doesn't deserve it." I don't quite understand where people draw a connection between a rider's skill and the level of machinery they ride. I know that I see some awesome riders around on crap bikes and think "wow, it'd be great if that guy had a good bike to ride, he'd rip it up" and I'll admit that I used to wonder why people bothered with top notch gear when they couldn't put it to use. I realised though that they ride it because
a) they want to and
b) they can.
Who are you to say that somebody doesn't "deserve" their bike? What if they worked their ass off to save the money for their bike? I don't think that's any less deserving than somebody who it stupid fast and got a bike given to them by their sponsors; they've worked hard too.

I know I'd love to be driving round in some very flash cars, can I drive well enough to do them justice? Shit no! But that doesn't mean that if I work bloody hard for it and hock off everything I own to buy it that I don't deserve it.

Have a look in the mirror guys, you're turning bright green.

 

[S.]

Wombat is right. Everyone fantasises about having lots of money and buying everything they want, but as soon as they see someone who is actually in that position, they call them spoilt. Who honestly doesn't wish that their parents could afford to buy them a friggin awesome bike?