I was hellbent on not posting anything today before remembering a question a friend had asked me at Interbike. That’s his photo above, depicting a–let’s go ahead and assume “frightened and confused”–Cannondale mountain bike on sale at a Costco. Here was his question:

“How does something like this happen?”

While I can’t claim to know all the details, I do know it involves nefariousness, though not really the illegal kind. The best answer I’ve found comes from our friends across the pond–no, not the UK: fly fishermen.

Here’s an article that explains the tactic of “diversion purchasing,” and how it’s used.

Before blaming Cannondale, this is a worthwhile read. The article explains how difficult it can be for some companies to keep their goods out of places like Costco–even when it’s doing real damage to their brand.

Real victims? Retailers of course. And the consumer. Here’s a bike with hydraulic disc brakes being sold by a big box retailer who didn’t even bother to remove the shipping padding after hanging it up for display. Those things tend not to end well.

Like the time a “sporting goods store” near me suddenly came into a glut of closeout Cannondales bought out from a defunct dealer’s inventory and ended up pumping them out into my market. A new Cannondale dealer at the time, I was not impressed–particularly when the “new bike shop” started giving out sage advice like, “Just fill a cracked Cannondale frame with epoxy.”

I’d just like to take this opportunity to remind Independent Bike Dealers to be “independent,” which is the opposite of where a lot of them seem to be headed vis-a-vis “close partnerships” with big bike brands. If you think your big brand’s distribution channel will always look the way it does now, you’re wrong. Pity the poor bastard who purchases his or her first hydraulic disc brake mountain bike from Costco, and pity Cannondale, but don’t think it’s the last time you’ll see this happening.

Don’t sell brands. Be the brand.

I used “vis-a-vis” didn’t I? Damn. Knew I should’ve skipped today.