Buuilding up a bike for a mate and we’ve come across a small issue of having to get a special adapater for the stupid lower bearing on the 2010 Stumpy(amongst others) headset. I require the middle solution

Seen this come up before on here yet no prices divulged.

So, I sent the web enquiry off to Specialized – My local store came back to me with a total price of £57 for the 3 parts required.

Yet I spoke to Spesh Brum on Saturday – They returned the call today after speaking to whoever they needed to – £75+vat

I questioned the Birmingham guy as to the price difference and was told that he was quoting the RRP of the parts I am after.

I dont know either store, so its a random enquiry but why the hell should a manufacturer store be charging different prices?
Is this normal practise across the brand. Eg: Would a pecieved larger/better store charge more or less for parts.

Not sure I can answer your specific question but I went through this ordering the non-Specialized fork adaptor – part no. SO92500004.
I think I rang Specialized, got the part number from them who told me they had them in stock, then went to Cycle Surgery who ordered it in for about a tenner. The bearing and race are standard sizes and I got these as part of a Cane Creek headset for about £40.

since when did bike shops start quoting prices + vat.

its not like spesh brum will regularly be dealing with tradies to need to do it…. is it done because they know their price is rediculous and its to try and seem less stupidly expensive ?

Yeah I’ve found the part from HiBike online for 10 euros, just the postage chucking it up a bit.

I’ll have a word with Cycle Surgery….so once I’ve got the adapter, are you saying a normal IS52 headset fits? That opens up a lot of much better options

I don’t remember whether it was IS52 but I got a Cane Creek 40-series headset (top and bottom bits).
Again, from memory I think the S-Works Stumpy headset is a Cane Creek one anyway (that’s what Specialized had on the shelves in their Gatwick warehouse).

Brakes thats wicked mate. Yeah the top is std is42 (or Campy style) so there is a plethora of headsets available for that….just need to sort the bottom one.

Once I get this adapter it should all become clear.