I don’t often get up on my soapbox, largely because I never really come down off it in the first place, but my vex du jour in the bike industry is actually a personal one. I’m pissed off about the trade war currently raging in the bike industry.

No, not that one–though, yeah, I suspect it’ll be a while before consumers in China develop a need for King headsets.

I’m talking about unique import practices–like the BMWs sawed in half you see up there. Doing that doesn’t do much for resale value, but it does let you import a BMW into the Ukraine for much less than a whole car would cost in fees.

As long as there have been different governments and currencies, somebody’s been making out on the differences, and it’s pretty common in the bike industry. But today I’m not talking about China, or even the Ukraine.

I’m talking about the problem of Irish imports.

Maybe best I be specific: I’m talking about Chain Reaction Cycles. It’s utter bullshit that a company like Chain Reaction can be based in a country that permits zero pricing regulation from distributors or manufacturers while still being allowed to sell into the U.S. market–a market where both online and brick and mortar dealers have their hands tied when it comes to pricing. Sure, the story of Chain Reaction is hard work and smart planning, but there’s also something to be said for handcuffing your opponent before proceeding to beat the living shit out of him, and that’s been their business model for years.

Reps tell tales of this company’s shipping rates being subsidized by the Irish government because they employ like a tenth of Ireland or something. Some say they’re all eight feet tall and can rip phone books in half (also provided free by the Irish government). Others say one year employment there automatically makes you a member of Irish parliament and gives you papal dispensation to kill in the name of God.

Reps sometimes exaggerate.

At any rate, bullshit, this, or bollocks. Whatever. Sour milk, sure, but there’s insult amidst the injury here, too.

Last Friday, one of the more recognizable companies in the bike industry lurched back into their three year cycle of baseball batting the knees of online retailers in the U.S.. Meanwhile, almost all their products are available at prices at or near our cost from Chain Reaction, who’ll gladly ship them right to your door here in these Americas.

But the worst is shoes. Back when Chain Reaction was first starting to advertise in the U.S. market, I literally had a rep for a shoe manufacturer tell me they were–and I am serious–“poor potato farmers just trying to sell anything they can to survive.”

Um. OK.

Fast forward over a decade and now we’re being told we have to raise prices even on shoes that have been replacing with newer models here in the U.S., lest we be able to sell those shoes into parts of Europe, where they’re still current.

So up we go to MSRP.

On the shoe in question, Chain Reaction is advertising it openly for $100 less than MSRP.

Sympathy isn’t the goal here. I’m a “mail order” guy by brick and mortar standards, and though my path to bike ecommerce was carved through the solid rock of custom bicycle assembly and absurdly time-consuming phone and email customer service, I still get that some shops hate the online guys. Guilty. We send shit in the mail.

But seriously. There’s a big difference between any online retailer in the U.S. and one free to operate with no pricing rules. It’s bad enough that we have to compete with both hands tired behind our back. I’d be nice if the manufacturers helping drive both online and brick and mortar bike shops out of business didn’t pretend it was a level playing field out there. It’s not.

We’re not even playing the right kind of football.

Any thought I had of making it through a Portland winter without getting soaked to the core were quickly dispelled on my thirteen mile ride home last Tuesday. The rain started in earnest about a quarter mile from work and varied little the whole way home, allowing me to achieve that unique sensation of feet literally suspended and floating inside my shoes. Big thumbs up to the Showers Pass Elite 2.0 Jacket, though. Glad I bought local on that one.

Speaking of local, BRAIN was in town recently and included a stop at our brick and mortar store, and a little conversation with The Main Man about that store (which shall remain nameless, lest Google insert its ads here on my blog ’cause of something I did, thereby causing a rift in my personal space time continuum). It’s complicated.

They also mentioned Velotech, the parent company. Check out the article if you’ve ever wondered what I do for (part of) a living. There are some other great projects, of course (I’m involved in many things, not even counting my performance enhancing drug, bovine growth hormone powdered shake, and pro peloton bullying enterprise and the skate shoes I sew myself from the pelts of roadkill to sell on Etsy) but Velotech’s the day job. Reading about it in BRAIN’s article probably won’t shed any light on what the company actually is, but it’ll at least put you confusion at exactly the same level as that of my friends and immediate family. Just what is Velotech? Even though of us who work there only know that our jobs seem to involve bicycles.

Have to give a shout out to The Main Man for working an Amazon throat punch into the interview. If there’s one thing that brings all of us together–ecomm bike shops and brick and mortars alike–it’s hating on Amazon and what they’re doing to the bike industry and countless others. Jay is always on point, throwing elbows like a boss. Add his mega-nerd programming skilz, and yes sir, I will go into battle with this dude. Even against the dark, unstoppable armies of Amazon. Let them may rain hell fire down on us. After a winter commuting in Portland, fire from the sky is starting to seem like a good time.