In the bike-parts and other speciality manufacturing businesses, there's a fourth barrier to entry for new competitors: reputation for quality. Quality matters

In the bike-parts and other speciality manufacturing businesses, there's a fourth barrier to entry for new competitors: reputation for quality. Quality matters a whole lot for the kind of products PNW makes. Not every cyclist has the ability to figure out whether a part was manufactured correctly (no cracks or voids in castings, etc etc). Maybe they outsource them. But finding contract manufacturers who do a good job is a highly skilled business. And cyclists depend on stuff like this to work. I once had the top of a cheapo seatpost break off on a road bike, in the late fall, far from home. Cheezy metal manufacturing. Cold couple of hours waiting for a rescue. Happily I didn't crash. I learned my lesson. Now I buy stuff from my local bike shop, or sometimes REI if I'm far from home. The possibility of counterfeit parts is frightening. I know I can trust the local bike shop to source decent parts.