Can't help wondering how come a new company like Switch that has to invest into new equipment and molds (even if they've skipped the R&D part by snitching their design from North) can stay afloat while selling their bar for 275$? (And make profit of that!) Meanwhile North's bar went up to 550$ with absolute ZERO invested into R&D and new equipment since what 2007? Can somebody from North justify that? And in real life, these two bars will most likely fall apart at about the same rate.
Let's take Cabrinha for example, who actually have done some designing and custom manufacturing for 2012/2013. Their bar still costs 500$ while being the most innovative on the market to date. How do North and SS and Naish and LF fit in by only changing colors and adding swivels?
Here's a reality check. An item costs as much as the donkey-customer is ready to pay for it. And there's a break-even point in price jacking-up where you sell less product at higher price and make more profit than if you were to sell for less but more. And don't forget that for every unit sold there's warranty which comes out of the manufacturer's pocket, so technically the less they sell - less aftersale hussle there is!!!
You didn't really think that things like Best's lifetime warranty simply comes out from some saint spirit did you? At the end there's always somebody paying for the goodies!
That being said, the really embarrassing part is that even in 2013, these idiots (Cabrinha, SS, LF, etc.) are forcing everybody into buying bars for 450-500$, that are not even adjustable in width!!! While North's has been since what? 2005? Want to justify the price with innovation? Well, how about actually doing some innovation to begin with???!!!