Originally Posted by patentcad

All of the morons who really think that no-name Taiwanese frames are identical to bikes from companies from Cervelo, Specialized, Scott and Cannondale should watch that video. The big boys spend millions on engineering, testing and development with the assistance of the top pro teams in Europe that they sponsor. THEN, after that lengthy and expensive process, they find a factory in Taiwan to build the bike to their exacting specifications. After all that, it's then up to the other little guys to TRY and reverse engineer and mimic the performance and fabrication of those high tech new frames.

Good luck with that.

THAT is what you're paying for. Not just marketing. Engineering, R&D, innovation. Why does everybody love their Cervelo? Because they're great friggin bikes. And nothing demonstrates what it takes to engineer a great friggin bike quite as succinctly as that video. The Cervelo Carbon Soloist went through something like a dozen prototypes that pro riders in Europe tested before they developed the one that became the bike that I'm riding now and that took one 'best product of the year' title after another from readers of major cycling publications throughout the world. I have really never met a rider who, when I asked him if he liked his Carbon Soloist, didn't respond 'I love it'. I've asked dozens of riders that question, I always get the same response. Ditto for the other Cervelo models.

I would argue the company's remarkable success as a manufacturer of high end road bikes (and that's all they make, no MTBs, cruisers, commuters, etc. ) has more to do with making a product that consumers and dealers love than coffee shop poseur appeal. And if their bikes have the latter, so what? Whatever sells bikes.