[MendonCycleSmith]

So here's a hypothetical question, up for all to debate. If you live in an area, that has only one dealer, within say, and hour or two drive, do you feel that you will be adequately served, in all capacities, or would it be nice to have a second place to get information, sales and service. Just like car dealers, there's generally more than one Pontiac dealer, and if one doesn't work for you, another will be happy to try to assist you. Just wondering what the breakdown is. Anyone out there have a monopolistic dealer in their area, and find it frustrating, or fantastic? Or do most folks have access to multiple options? Also, if you are in a single dealer market, do you think Cannondale is remiss in their duties to you as a consumer, and your right to choose whom you deal with?

 

[Gripshift]

So here's a hypothetical question, up for all to debate. If you live in an area, that has only one dealer, within say, and hour or two drive, do you feel that you will be adequately served, in all capacities, or would it be nice to have a second place to get information, sales and service. Just like car dealers, there's generally more than one Pontiac dealer, and if one doesn't work for you, another will be happy to try to assist you. Just wondering what the breakdown is. Anyone out there have a monopolistic dealer in their area, and find it frustrating, or fantastic? Or do most folks have access to multiple options? Also, if you are in a single dealer market, do you think Cannondale is remiss in their duties to you as a consumer, and your right to choose whom you deal with?

I have at least two that I know of within an hour. There are probably four dealers, I don't get to the other side of the city, but I know that there are other shops. For me it worked out good to have another dealer because when the first shop would not work with the price I went to another shop and at least got the tax off for paying in cash. That saved me over $100.

 

[slowrider]

Monopoly

In my area it's not a problem but I've seen it be an issue especially in resort towns. The Cannondale dealer in Mommoth Ca for instance posts a price 30% over msrp and then when a holiday rolls around and the town fills with tourists they put them on "SALE" for msrp, which is still more than most others end up selling them for. The nice thing about the info age is that if youre local dealer is trying to lay it too you you can go to C dales website and find any dealer you like. Another thing is they use to have a 5 or 10 mile minimum between dealers so in small towns you're limited not only by market but by the dealer agreement.

 

[applegreenheckler]

Dealers sign an agreement with they become a dealer with Cannondale or any brand for that matter. The agreement lays out how big of a territory the dealer has. There are a few factors that decide on how big of an area a dealer gets. Dealers in a big city such as New York may only get a few blocks where as a rural dealer may get 50 or a 100 miles. Most dealers get between 10 and 20 miles but if that dealer does a really high volume they may even get a bigger area.

 

[mtbykr]

Well

I would prefer to have another c-dale dealer where i am. The one that we have is dishonest and a [email protected]# all around. I will not deal with them anymore and there isn't another dealer less than 1.5 hours from here. Thanks to this site i was able to hook up with Mendon to rebuild my lefty and fox rear (props to mendon, he's the man! )

I understand the dealer restriction, but nothing would make me happier than to see c-dale pull their line from this guy---if there was competition, i think he would be out of business! I understand why they don't but i think if they would allow 2 in any area (per say) and to set a price that they must sell the bike for ( unless old stock ) i think the service would dictate which shop stayed in business, and compitition is always a good thing to a point.

ok, rant done and my $.02 is spent,,, i am out

 

[The_Missile]

Here in Geneva Switzerland I have 1 about 2 miles away (new this year) and another about 20 miles who is a friend of a friend.

There was another one but he got so fed up with dealing with Cannondale Switzerland that he said f&%* you. They place very high quotas for dealers and if you dont sell enough... well you are no longer a dealer. My friend of a friend also confirms that Cdale is difficult to deal with and has had thoughts about stopping the relationship, even though they sell many bikes. The 'cost per bike' to sell and deal with aftersales etc is much higher than with other brands. He has been in the business for years so he has the experience to relate.

I definately think more is better from a consumer pov. More choice = better deal. Monopolies have no reason to give you a better deal (service, price) etc if they know they are the only show in town. Obviously a good business man should strive to give a deal where everyone wins = happy customer and happy seller, but that small bit of common sense is often overlooked.

There is a Trek dealer locally who is the worst. Ultra arrogant and a real piece of work. I refuse to deal with him except to piss him off. He is such an a-hole that when I was a Trekkie I purposely FORCED him to deal with me on warranty of a bike I bought in the USA. He hated me for it but Trek Switzerland forced his hand and I left with a new frame, a pissed off dealer who got 0 $$$ from me and I was happy. I actively tell people not to go to HUBACHER cycles in Nyon. Now he is not the only show in the area.

Monoploies are bad.

 

[MendonCycleSmith]

The nice thing about the info age is that if youre local dealer is trying to lay it to you, you can go to C dales website and find any dealer you like. Problem with this is, that you them have to drive there, or ship you stuff there for service, as, technically speaking, No Cannondale dealer is allowed to sell (whole bikes) via the internet. They must be built fitted and sold out of a brick and mortar store. Good for the product, as it forces dealers to talk to consumers, instead of having a huge warehouse, and just eBaying everything, ignoring the education of the consumer on the unique, salient features that not every rider knows about but should, to get maximum useage out of it.

 

[elgordo]

a few thoughts....

In my case I have two cannondale dealers in close proximity (10 miles) The first carries a large portion of the cannondale line but specialized in road bikes, and in my opinion treats mountain bike owners like second class citizens, and the other is a ski shop which carries a limited number of cannondale bikes with limited service capabilities. Personally I prefer neither shop and would enjoy a third to choose from. Perhaps filling the mountain bike sales, service void in my region.

In my opinion, noting that I am not in the bicycle business, proximity should not limit dealership density as it encourages "monopoly" style dealerships. Rather than limiting dealerships based on geographical proximity which encourages monopoly behavior and discourages quality customer service I think cannondale should consider the type of service/expertise provided by a shop to a region. This "regional" approach could allow multiple shops to find/fill/maintain a niche while (hopefully) providing consumers more purchasing options and better service (due to some area competition).

I apologize for the preaching, just hits close to home...

 

[jm03]

best cannondale dealer on east coast

I feel that this comment will hold true to anyone who tries this dealer. http://www.grouseland.com/
He doesn't stock anybikes, but you call up, he will order your bike, for me it was a new brown prophet 1000, sell it to you at 15% off(try finding a prophet for more than $100.00 off ), he then picks the bike up, builds it, fits you too it( seat fore/aft, bars, stem, etc.). And then to make it better he takes you for a ride on his personal singletrack that is behind his shop. He's out of the way, but worth every mile of the trip.

 

[jdcamb]

........he then picks the bike up, builds it, fits you too it( seat fore/aft, bars, stem, etc.). And then to make it better he takes you for a ride on his personal singletrack that is behind his shop. He's out of the way, but worth every mile of the trip.

I know a dealer who will do this too. But he won't be able to sell cannondales soon unfortunately I wouldn't even walk into the local cannondale dealership here in Rotenchester. He treats me like dirt everytime I have walked in there in the past. He won't even look me in the eye and I don't like the way he treats his staff. If we had another dealer here I would surely own a cannondale. I would love to own a prophet.....jdcamb

 

[mudluvr]

I live in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area & the main Cannondale dealer is Erik's Bike who now has 6 stores around the Twin Cities area. There used to be 4 or 5 other small Cannondale dealers, but they have been squeezed out by Erik's. It's a shame because one of those shops, Ocel's was a nice family owned shop that stocked older, hard to find Cannondale parts as well as the new stuff & they were honest. Sign of the times I guess, what a shame.

So here's a hypothetical question, up for all to debate. If you live in an area, that has only one dealer, within say, and hour or two drive, do you feel that you will be adequately served, in all capacities, or would it be nice to have a second place to get information, sales and service. Just like car dealers, there's generally more than one Pontiac dealer, and if one doesn't work for you, another will be happy to try to assist you. Just wondering what the breakdown is. Anyone out there have a monopolistic dealer in their area, and find it frustrating, or fantastic? Or do most folks have access to multiple options? Also, if you are in a single dealer market, do you think Cannondale is remiss in their duties to you as a consumer, and your right to choose whom you deal with?

 

[bmxer72]

Does not make much difference for me

Does is it make difference having one ,two or more Cannondale dealers around ? Because most of them they don't know how to fix a lefty suspension ..

 

[KERKOVEJ]

We are a Cannondale dealer. The closest one to us is about 50 miles away. There really is no competition, cause everyone in the Midwest bleeds Trek and Fisher. Most of our Cannondale customers want cutting edge technology, a USA made bike, or a bike "that not everyone else has." That is easy to give them through Cannondale.

 

[SuperBad]

We have 2 dealers in town. One is a total elitist prick, the other shop is nice people, but they really only know roadies and tri bikes. When I got back into bicycling a few years ago, based on a recomendation I went to the elitist shop, not knowing the truth. I had not been on a road bike in 15 years and was totally wobbly. I have long arms and shortish legs, well they sold me a bike based on standover only. Once I had ridden my R700 for a few weeks, I noticed I was not getting any more comfortable on the bike and I felt like my head was way out over the front wheel. I went back to the shop, and all they would do was offer to sell me a new stem, not loan me one to try or even apologize for selling me a bad fitting bike. They just said I needed to buy a new stem and all would be good, I had my choice Easton carbon or Thomson as that is what they stocked. I went and found another shop. I sold my bike on Roadbikereview and bought a Cinelli frame with Chorus group, I went from hurting trying to ride 16 MPH and being completely wobbly to maintaining 21MPH overnight. I have bought several bikes since then, all MTB's but I will never buy another bike from the elitist shop.

I have to give props to Chris @ Mendon, he got me a stem for my new chase, quickly and with no hassles. Wish he could sell me my next Cannondale.

 

[mtbidwell]

Hypothetically it would depend on how helpful the workstaff is on whether it would matter like before mentioned. I have two dale dealers approx. the same distance away but prefer this one for many reasons. It is nice to have a positive crew supporting cannondale in the shop and on the trails. Knowledge beyond the pricetag is great for this relatively newcomer. Oh yeah, and they service lefty's inhouse.:thumbsup:

 

[prodigalcyclist]

Interesting topic. I thought that maybe the LBS I bought my 'phet off of was a monopoly however they really are not. There are four C-dale dealers in Toronto alone. With 10 in total in the GTA. So I guess the variety of different dealers is available to me if I needed to go else where. The shop I bought mine from is just a five minute walk from work, which is why I ended up there.

So far they have been pretty good.

Yesterday I popped in because I thought that maybe my headset was loose. One of shop guys checked everything over and commented that the back wheel needed tensioning. So he gave it to a mechanic who tensioned and trued the wheel in about ten minutes. The floor guy took the time to explain to me that the SI headsets don't usually come loose and require very little maintenance or adjustment. He commented on my new Dangerboy levers for my Juicey 5's too, which he liked a lot.

All and all a positive experience. I have been in there before and have kinda been given the cold shoulder occasionally too. I think just because of their location on the heart of downtown in a city of millions they deal with a high customer turn over rate. Thus they don't really develop relationships unless you are regular customer for a few years and they get to know you.

 

[ToastR]

I know a dealer who will do this too. But he won't be able to sell cannondales soon unfortunately I wouldn't even walk into the local cannondale dealership here in Rotenchester.

jdcamb out of curiousity, is that Rottenchester, MN or NY?

I'm in western WI and have the good fortune of having a great Cdale shop only a couple miles away. I got my Rush there and they were super cool about me stopping in all the time to "check" if my frame had arrived The staff were very helpful, did alot of nice little things during the process of the build like calling to verify what I wanted to do when an issue arose, recommended parts for good fitment, threw in a few freebies, etc. Awesome stuff. I will say that with some of the more technical questions, the shop hasn't necessarily known (though they are more than willing to find out for me) the answer. There is much I have only been able to find here with all of you great resources.
I don't know what I would have done, if I didn't have a Cdale shop close - probably head over to the Twin Cities and the Eriks monopoly......