Sort of off the main topic, but chiming on on the recent posts...

Being a cheap bastard for everything I buy, I look at pricing like this:

MSRP > Sale pricing > Friends and Family > Cost > Below cost

Here I would say "Racer Pricing" takes the place of "Friends and Family" 'cause we ain't shopping at Best Buy.

I would HOPE to be able to get everything I need somewhere between Racer Pricing and Cost. As a new rider with very few connections, I accept it will be somewhere on the upper end. If I can get sponsorship from a vendor, I would hope it moves down closer to cost, depending on what value I bring.

To Oscar's point, I would hate to be the shlub paying MSRP so Racer Fast Guy gets his tires at cost (the vendor's gotta make money somehow, I get that). On the other end of the scale, I don't think I would admit to getting tires below cost - that's just bad karma!