I've just finished building the custom Campagnolo configurator. Now you can go into the pre-order store and spec, price and buy a custom SRAM, Shimano or Campagnolo bike of your choice.
We had to make some pricing decisions when setting up the custom configurators, the most important of which is base pricing - or what to charge for the least expensive build we offer across each of the gruppo brands. The Max Perkins is a pretty outrageous deal, and we're not able to offer the same value in custom builds since each one takes a lot more time and mental energy to sell, organize and fulfill. But at the same time, the configurators and our new shopping cart make the selling and organizing a lot easier, so we're still able to get pretty aggressive. For example, the Max Perkins with a Force / Rival mix is $2285. A custom SRAM Wheelhouse with the same spec except for full Force is $2487. Still a good deal, but not the same value we can offer with the Max Perkins. So one way to cheat the configurator - on a SRAM bike at least - is not to use it and opt for the Max Perkins instead. But not everyone wants to do that.
There are a couple of ways to squeeze more value of the configurators. One is to not buy something you already have. Let's go back to that Force bike for $2487. Maybe you already have a nice Ritchey WCS cockpit and post at home that you'll use. You can opt not to include the stem, bars and post in your custom build and your price comes down to $2345. So functionally, you're going from the Max Perkins to a full Force build for only $60 more. That's not a bad upgrade price at all.
But the real loophole comes from the wheels. Our wheels are really popular, but we elected to offer all our bikes without wheels since a lot of our customers bought wheels from us first, and are now coming back to buy a bike to build around their November hoops. Our standard spec on all bikes is with the FSW 23 alloy clinchers, but if you go with no wheels you save $300. You don't save the full $485 from the wheels because we cut the margins on wheels when they're part of a complete bike. (And we cut margins on the frame, and on the gruppo and build kit.) So buying a bike with the wheels is a better value than buying a bike without the wheels, and then buying the wheels separately.
To wit: The Max Perkins with a RFSC 58/85 combo is $2735. Let's say you don't want any wheels - you pay instead $1985. But your buddy is lusting over a set of RFSC 58/85s. They're available as an option in the RFSC 85 page for $835. If you buy the bike without wheels and your buddy buys the wheels, between the two of you you're spending $2820, or $85 more than you'd spend if you bought the Max Perkins with the 58/85s.
The lesson here is that if you want a bike without wheels, find a buddy who wants wheels and split the savings (or try to keep it all, hoping he doesn't read this). And if you're looking for a set of our wheels and have a friend who is shopping for a bike to place on top of some wheels he already owns and loves, see if you can't swindle a savings on your wheels by talking him into a Wheelhouse with the hoops you'd love to roll next season.
Is this legit? It must be - you read about it on the interwebs.
Race Smart.