I was speaking to a cycling apparel brand who's factory is based in China. Like the majority of brands. They told me they can't get their new summer collection here to the USA because of the tariffs.

I asked them:
1. The factory wont ship, because they are waiting on how to proceed with the tariffs?
2. Or the factory wants you the brand to simply to pay high price tariffs to release the shipment?

The brand said it's a combination of both - the current tariff is 145%. So there is no way the factory would eat that cost (nor would it be fair to make them eat it). That's basically the brand's entire profit margin. If not more.

I bring all of this up because TanTan would probably fare better in the eye of consumers if they just offered a little more transparency. I don't think the issue is rooted in SL8 IP. It's that they don't wanna eat the tariff costs on prepaid pre-tariff frames, while also not pissing off customers in queue. All they have to say is: "Hey we are waiting on the tariff situation before proceeding."

I've been riding my SPCycle R088 since January. Bike rides great. It's practically the same frame as the X68 with EPS molding, but UDH, mechanical cable routing and a standard looking head tube design (no air sniffer head tube). It's also weighs less (mine weighed 790g in size 52cm with hangers) and it costs a bit cheaper.

You know what? I hadn't really looked at SPCycle, let alone the R088 frame. It really does look like the SL8 but without the obvious butt sniffer. Same geometry, BSA BB, seatpost, and fork design too.

This might actually be the way to go for consumers looking to avoid any stigma of riding a straight up clone. How much does the frame cost?

^^^^^^

My Tarmac SL8 Pro in a size 56 came in at 827g.

What was the cost + paint + shipping for a frameset?

I realized tariffs just started lol

What do you mean?

Joe was Winspace's primary marketing force during the pandemic. Basically the face of Winspace when he worked there.

Sweet color, don't drop it.
I just saved a hundred bucks! Want some tequila?

Haha I stopped drinking 16 months ago. Ironically the last drink I had was tequila I think. It sucks tbh. No spirit-free cocktail can replace the taste of a good old fashion...

I'm speculating that Winspace is starting to prioritize profits over everything and their customer experiences are about to get much worse.

If I were to guess...sponsoring that women's conti team while also not exactly innovating on their primary sellers (wheels) has really put them in a bind. The competition especially for wheels has surpassed Winspace. And what was their response? Increase prices LoL. We basically have reached peak carbon spoked wheels for the time being.

Just like with the western brands Winspace was making huge profits coming out of the pandemic. But eventually they were stuck with large amounts of inventory they couldn't move, as the consumer moved on to other brands. You really don't hear much about them anymore like we did back in 2020-22.