The company also presented a sense of urgency to their sales, advertising "final days" clearances which were in fact no different to standard prices.
Bike Barn spent about $2 million a year on its advertising campaigns, according to the summary.
Judge Sharp called the offending "calculated", "misleading" and "pervasive", stating that consumers were disadvantaged by the false representations contained in Bike Barn's advertisements.
Bike Barn's turnover was "significantly increased" during the time the campaigns were running.
However, Judge Sharp said he was unable to see this as an aggravating factor as he did not know enough about the companies' operations.
He acknowledged the companies' early guilty pleas and cooperation with the Commerce Commission, giving them a 33 per cent discount from his $1.2 million starting point.
Commission lawyer Alysha McClintock said Bike Barn's campaigns were the "essence" of its business model.
She said staff took the price they wanted to sell the bike for, doubled it and put that on the sticker.
"At its core, what Bike Barn did was to represent that they had bikes on very special deals that were not usually available. In fact, often the opposite was the case - they were usually available at that so-called discount price," she told the court.
"The sticker price was entirely illusory."
She said senior management were well aware that the discounts were being overstated, yet the "sales" continued, nearly constantly, for some two years.
"It was a deliberate strategy that they adopted," she said.
The Commission's other lawyer, James Cairney, said each of the charges encapsulated thousands of representations, with one particular ad being broadcast some 3700 times across the country's largest radio stations.
After the Commission launched its investigation, Cairney told the court that Bike Barn staff were offered a $50 bonus to sell bikes for the full price.
"The Commission says simply that this is serious conduct ... the offending strikes at the very heart of the Fair Trading Act."
Bike Barn lawyer Rob Coltman said the company had "gone beyond" co-operation with the Commission's investigation, and had shown genuine remorse.
"There's been willing compliance and active change and change in personnel," he said.
Bike Barn's "unblemished" record to date was also relevant.
"I suppose the issue that, if anything, rankles with Bike Barn, accepting as it does that it is guilty of the charges that it faces today, is that there does not appear to be evidence of consumer complaints," he said.
Bike Retail Group was ordered to pay $720,000 and Bikes International $80,000.
Bike Barn today apologised for any confusion caused by its advertising.
"The company has co-operated fully with the Commission throughout this process and voluntarily changed Bike Barn advertising in late 2015 to address the Commission's concerns.
"The company says that a bike is a significant purchase and it would always encourage customers to compare prices for bikes before they purchase."
Bike Barn has 15 company owned stores around New Zealand.
