S-Works SL7 Tarmac
 

Are there people that pay retail for these S-Works bikes?

$13K for the Sagan edition
$12K for the "regular" S-Works

Geezus!

Some people pay enormous amounts for cars, that lose half their value within a month, so people probably pay enormous amounts for bikes too. The good news is that, with both cars and bikes the law of diminishing returns sets in pretty early. A $3 or 4K bike is 95% of a $12K bike, minus the fashion.

At that price just go custom.

We've already had two orders.

counterpoint - if one wants to spend that much and get something that is both light and aero, one wants something with thorough reserach and design behind it, on a platform that's seen iterative development for years to refine and improve various little elements throughout it.

I'm in the shop only a couple of days a week but I noticed this morning there are 2 SL7's that have been sold and are in the pickup rack.

RBM Richardson?

Yes it is....:)
I can do a lot of paperwork from home.

well, I came across the first 2021 SL7 to bite the dust at 5:30am. Rider was supposedly on the maiden voyage when during a downhill section braked and heard an all mighty snap followed by a series of other disturbing sounds.

guessed the rear disc caliper hadnt been torqued down properly and had pulled out of the mount under hard braking with the rear caliper and part of the chain stay in the spokes, lightweight disc rear wheel spokes snapped, super record eps rear mech caught up.

the owner was surprisingly calm about it, though Id hate to be the mechanic that put it together !

That is rather shocking. The failure mode you describe, though, doesn't make sense: the rotor is rotating in a way that would force the caliper down under braking, not lift it up. Further, the caliper is "clamped" onto the rotor under braking by pads, meaning that it literally can't twist (e.g., if only one bolt came off) or slide to one side or the other. And on Shimano, the bolts themselves are clipped after install, so even if loose, the worst thing that can happen is that the caliper rattles a bit - but only when the brakes are "off". The design is pretty robust. I'd be surprised if Campy was much a much different design.

For this to have happened as described:
1) both bolts would have to come off of the caliper somehow, meaning both under-torqued and unclipped;
2) while the brake pads were clamped hard on the rear disc, the caliper would have had to miraculously slide forward off of the disc, and then twist into the wheel;
3) hydraulic brake hoses aren't noodles, so the slide forward part would take some force, and it would need to come forward ~1.5" or more, which is a lot.

This is a very strange accident and I'd love to see pictures, and learn what the actual failure mode was (as a disc brake user!).

I wonder if there wasn't a frame defect or damage and something broke in the vicinity of the caliper. That makes a lot more sense than the caliper coming loose under braking, which I don't think (as described above) can physically happen.

as my kids say "ooofity oof oof oof....."

dang that sucks.

to the OP's question: I'd love to know the distribution of sales that occur at full retail vs. pro/bro-deal pricing.

The increasing amount of conspicuous consumption in cycling is getting me down. Shouldn't be like this.

Steel is STILL real. And rim brakes.

How do you ride that stuff? You probably have 23c tires, too! :D

i wonder if the insurance companies will get wise to the trend of bikes costing significant amounts of money?

i mean - my BRAND NEW DUCATI cost significantly less than this bicycle and i was damn sure i wanted my insurance coverage in place before i drove it away from the dealership.