Yes. What is truly factory-direct?
To set it aside first of all, I insist that Canyon and YT are consumer-direct, not factory-direct. They don’t make their frames, they distribute their frames. BikesDirect is the same way, contrary to their advertising, they are a distributor, not a manufacturer.
Can we as consumers ever get straight to the source without taking a trip to the Taipei Bike Show and talking to a factory rep? I realized that import & export companies which market open molds are also not factory-direct, and they charge almost twice as much as cost of manufacturing just because they have to handle warranty and share the costs of opening molds. For example, I found out that almost all carbon frames actually cost $100-$300 to make before getting shipped from the factory to the import export company, yet import export companies charge $400-$800 when shipping to consumers or brand headquarters, brands charge dealers $800-$3000, and dealers charge consumers $1500-$4500. What is up with all this inefficiency? Can’t there be anything better?