Thank you. Thank you Sir...
You have just addressed the single most significant problem to profitabiltiy in this industry, and also the area where most manufacturers leave the retailers hung out to dry.
First, to answer your question, and I can only speak for my own store here. If a customer wants a P3SL in here but with an Easton fork we subtract the fair value of the original fork from the price of the bike and add back in the selling price of the new Easton fork, that way the customer does not have to buy two forks.
Now, a couple notes here on the language: "Fair value" is a loose term- I would define it as the amount I could get on E-Bay, less my seller costs and shipping (about 7% of total gross), for the original fork. That is the amount of credit I am willing to give. If it weren't for a ready venue to sell the unwanted fork in less than 10 days for real cash, this type of exchange could not be profitable and we couldn't do it.
What manufacturers/distributors don't realize, especially one fairly large one, is their component spec is terrible. I know what they are doing- they are putting 170mm cranks and 110 stems on bikes that have no business with them (who rides a 55cm bike with 170's, especially a $6000 55cm bike?) just to get the units out the door to meet their month end figures. They are trying to be bike companies when they should just stick to being frame companies since they are doing a poor job of component spec.
When the bike lands here we just pull the parts kit completely off now and start over it is so bad. The aerobars, stem, base bars, gearing, crank length, saddle, seatpost afoten have to be changed for sizing anyway. So what happens to all the "take off" stuff? We're stuck with it.
Now, in fairness, Felt, Cervelo and Guru are very good at component spec. If we order a 51 cm Guru Cron-Alu with 175mm crqnks, a bit of a long crank on such a small bike, the bike shows up with the correct component spec. If we order a 56 cm Felt S22 it comes right out of the box with 172.5mm cranks. That is much more likely to be correct than just tossing some 170's in the box since that is most of what is laying around and calling it a day.
So, being at the pointy end of the industry spear, we get the shaft most of the time. We are the ones who are expected to look the customer in the eye and say, "I'm sorry Ma'am, Sir, that will be another $359 for your new Easton fork on your new bike and we can;t give you any credit toward your existing fork..."
This is 2005. In the time it takes to type "www......" a consumer can be in a hundred retail stores. The expectation that bike companies can just ship us a box of seemingly random parts hung on a frame and then a consumer willl walk down rows of bikes and say, "I want this one!" then carry it to the regiister where it is bar-code scanned then wheeled out the door is absurd and out of touch.
Every credible resource advising consumers on how to buy a bike reinforces the notion of bike fit- and that is good and correct. Now the bike companies have to get on board. They have to stop ramming mis-sized components down retailers throats.
Bike companies: Take a lesson from the Guru's, the Cervelos, the Felts- there is a reason they are kicking your ass, there is a reason they can open 6 new dealers in every territory this year, increasing their volume by 35%+ with more on the way: They pay attention to detail.
When you send a retailer a 55cm frme with a 80 mm stem and 170 mm cranks you are telling them, "Tough luck, do what you can...." But you aren't supporting them.
Now, that rant aside- I think most good retailers are like myself- they will provide reasonable credits (but not full credit since they are perfroming a service and there is fair value to that) for component swaps. One thing to remember from our perspective: We swap out about $300,000.00 to as much as $450,000.00 worth of components every year. It's the cost of doing business- part of it.
Good question.
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com