The Pro's Closet at it again

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Kind of a weird fit for a place that is called "the pro's closet" to start selling a brand that has no pro associations.

Yeah, think of how weird it would be if Competitive Cyclist started selling stuff that wasn't for competitive cycling. And, don't get me started on Bike Tires Direct ...

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by charliedid

I always assumed they'd expand, sell new and eventually open stores.

What's in a name anyway?

Agreed. They have an established name, why change it? Specialized's full name is actually Specialized Bicycle Components. At this point, components are a very small part of their business, unless you include the OEM stuff on their own bikes.

All-City is a curious pick up. I'd have expected them to start distributing one of the more prestigious Euro brands that seem to get bounced from distributor to distributor in the USA (Ridley, Wilier), and sell them under an almost direct-to-consumer paradigm.

Has anyone here been to the TPC store in Colorado? I wonder how that place functions day to day, as an LBS.

Edit: Oh, and for what it's worth, I've sold several bikes to TPC and have always been paid reasonably for them. They gave me over $6200 for a well used 2021 TCR Advanced SL 0 in size ML, which had some very small but very noticeable spots of cosmetic damage on the down tube. I would expect to get more on the private market, but for a reseller to offer that much is excellent.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by raygunner

As for All-City, I was always shocked what a used All-City was listed for on TPC.
But hey if someone wants to pay between $3k to 4k for a gussied up Surly have at it!

Interesting, I dont think Ive ever heard AC referred to as 'a gussied up Surly'. They seem pretty different overall in tubing, fork style, design, and intended use.

[slosh415]

TPC did, in fact, start out selling the used bikes and stuff of actual pro cyclists.

This was back in the mid-00s when there were legitimate professional teams racing in the US and it was still reasonably affordable to live in Boulder. So a guy, Nick Something, who was plugged into that scene started selling his friends' stuff on consignment and the rest is history.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Interesting, I dont think Ive ever heard AC referred to as 'a gussied up Surly'. They seem pretty different overall in tubing, fork style, design, and intended use.

I think he's mistaking the parent company ownership (QBP) for being the same product.

QBP also owns Salsa and 45NRTH, but the brands don't really overlap anywhere except maybe using the same suppliers.

[spoonrobot]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Interesting, I dont think Ive ever heard AC referred to as 'a gussied up Surly'. They seem pretty different overall in tubing, fork style, design, and intended use.

The difference is branding, and segments for which each company chooses to have a model. The bike designs and tubing where there is overlap, are essentially the same.

The Pro's Closet hasn't been The Pro's Closet since about 2016, they've been buying up old stock/dead stock brand runs for a long time. They moved a ton Diamondback stuff in 2017/18 and dead stock Bombtrack in 2020 and 2021, for example.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

I think he's mistaking the parent company ownership (QBP) for being the same product.

QBP also owns Salsa and 45NRTH, but the brands don't really overlap anywhere except maybe using the same suppliers.

Exactly. I have viewed those two brands(and Salsa too) as 3 distinctly different styles, in spite of being owned by one company.
Salsa- Carbon and aluminum. Adventure and MTB.
Surly- Steel. Basic and reliable, yet also innovative. Touring, MTB, and throwback riding.
All City- Steel and some with carbon forks. Distinct paint. Some higher level tubing. Road and gravel.


Some AC bikes have things like tapered head tubes, carbon forks, HT tubing, di2 routing, flatmount, thruaxles, and brazeons as well as more unique dropouts.
I am not saying those things make an AC Zigzag or Cosmic Stallion better than a Surly, but it does differentiate the two.
Or compare an AC Space Horse to a Surly Straggler- the geometry is different, mounts are different, AC has thru axles and flatmount, etc.



I guess that is 'gussied up', but it also seems distinctly different. Just a matter of perspective, like most things, I guess.
ETA- if I were to buy a new gravel frameset right now to replace my Fairlight Secan, I would heavily consider a Wilde, which is the company owned by the guy that started All City. So there appears to be a bit of bias on my end in how I view things.

[RoosterCogset]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

All-City is a curious pick up. I'd have expected them to start distributing one of the more prestigious Euro brands that seem to get bounced from distributor to distributor in the USA (Ridley, Wilier), and sell them under an almost direct-to-consumer paradigm.

.

FWIW, they seem to have at least an awful lot of "New" Orbeas on their site -- which I would say qualifies as a fairly prestigious Euro brand.
Overall, about 17% of their bike inventory is New

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by slosh415

TPC did, in fact, start out selling the used bikes and stuff of actual pro cyclists.

This was back in the mid-00s when there were legitimate professional teams racing in the US and it was still reasonably affordable to live in Boulder. So a guy, Nick Something, who was plugged into that scene started selling his friends' stuff on consignment and the rest is history.

Nick Martin and Pete Lapinto started TPC selling used pros stuff out of a VW bus and also on their front yard on the weekends.

TPC is a dealer for All-City..they didn't 'buy' the brand. And they are looking into more DTC type stuff.

Baron B-

Has anyone here been to the TPC store in Colorado? I wonder how that place functions day to day, as an LBS.

Ya mean their warehouse in Louisville? Been there many times. Not really an 'LBS'.
To say this operation in an Amazon sized warehouse is impressive is an understatement.

Never been to their place in Denver.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

Agreed. They have an established name, why change it? Specialized's full name is actually Specialized Bicycle Components. At this point, components are a very small part of their business, unless you include the OEM stuff on their own bikes.

All-City is a curious pick up. I'd have expected them to start distributing one of the more prestigious Euro brands that seem to get bounced from distributor to distributor in the USA (Ridley, Wilier), and sell them under an almost direct-to-consumer paradigm.

Has anyone here been to the TPC store in Colorado? I wonder how that place functions day to day, as an LBS.

Edit: Oh, and for what it's worth, I've sold several bikes to TPC and have always been paid reasonably for them. They gave me over $6200 for a well used 2021 TCR Advanced SL 0 in size ML, which had some very small but very noticeable spots of cosmetic damage on the down tube. I would expect to get more on the private market, but for a reseller to offer that much is excellent.

I think All-City plays very well on The Radavist which is of course one TPC avenue (a direct to demographic one) for the brand for sure.

[peanutgallery]

Gussied up Surly I find that a pretty good description

Wet paint vs. powder coat, a tube or 3 of butted tubing vs. 4130 straight gauge, lots of utility, carbon fork...but not really a refined ride among some of us lightweights. But the prices, though...and they're heavy

Hate to say it, but I think Jamis has All City covered. Check out a renegade S2, $2500 and they're in stock. Nat a bad value for plain with some utility

https://www.jamisbikes.com/bikes/adv...ture/renegade/

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

Gussied up Surly I find that a pretty good description

Wet paint vs. powder coat, a tube or 3 of butted tubing vs. 4130 straight gauge, lots of utility, carbon fork...but not really a refined ride among some of us lightweights. But the prices, though...and they're heavy

Hate to say it, but I think Jamis has All City covered. Check out a renegade S2, $2500 and they're in stock. Nat a bad value for plain with some utility

https://www.jamisbikes.com/bikes/adv...ture/renegade/

I looked into buying a Renegade steel frame back in early 2019 and there wasnt one to be found in my size...anywhere. I am sure I would have been very happy with it, had one actually existed.

The current S2 is neat, but the 1x only option is pretty lame. Having to drop down to the S3 just to get 2x, and it then being a lower level?...weak.

Anyways, I just figured I would chime in with something I saw on that link the last time I visited the site- they show the carbon bikes and the S2 with Redshift stems in the pics. Kinda funny since they dont spec any of the bikes with that stem. What promo shots are those pics from anyways and who was like 'yeah we could take pictures of the bikes with what is actually spec'd, but we have these already taken so lets just go with that'.

[Andy340]

Originally Posted by RoosterCogset

FWIW, they seem to have at least an awful lot of "New" Orbeas on their site -- which I would say qualifies as a fairly prestigious Euro brand.
Overall, about 17% of their bike inventory is New

I’m looking at the new Orbea bikes on Pro’s Closet and was expecting a blowout of old inventory (or at least discount) but the 2022 models on PC are same price or more than 2023 models on Orbea website

PC - Orbea Orca M20iTEAM 2022 @ $5,499.00 https://www.theproscloset.com/produc...am-51-carb-tit

Vs

Orbea US - ORCA M20iTEAM 2023 @ $5,399.00
https://www.orbea.com/us-en/search-r...+M20iTEAM+2023

Is there a good strategy to get value on Pro’s Closet based on others experience of buying there e.g. focus search on road bikes over 2 years old? Focus on steel/ti bikes as premium on carbon bikes?

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Andy340

Is there a good strategy to get value on Pro’s Closet based on others experience of buying there e.g. focus search on road bikes over 2 years old? Focus on steel/ti bikes as premium on carbon bikes?

It seems kind of Random to me. Sometimes they have good deals, sometimes they have terrible deals. I was also just targeted with an ad for this Squid Gravtron: https://www.theproscloset.com/produc...uid-gravtron-m

I have one of these frames, they're great frames, but new from Squid painted however you'd like, they're only $1450. And Squid has really quick turnaround (I think mine was about 3 weeks, with a custom paint job, and half of that time was figuring out what I wanted). Not sure who's in the market for a used bike for more than MSRP, but maybe TPC has found them.

[Blown Reek]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Not sure who's in the market for a used bike for more than MSRP

Just like Tesla! Why would you pay more for used when new is cheaper? Someone's always left holding the bag.