Originally Posted by
mpath
If you're saying it's close to meaningless to you personally, yes, everyone's entitled to that and you're not buying the marketing/branding rhetoric that goes on in the market.
But brand value, equity, and identity are what a lot of companies are counting on. Simply do a blind test of identical Giant frames, one labeled Giant, the other not. See which one people pick. Even price out the Giant a bit more, and most people will still pick the one with the known brand. That's the power of brand.
I don't think you guys are disagreeing. Hiro11 is saying that brand name (or lack thereoff) doesn't correlate much with quality and you're saying that, regardless of the point above, many people like buying certain brands. I agree with both points.
After fit, I think that which components are on the bike are more important (IMHO) than brand. Many people here are very happy with their
Bike Direct bikes.
Cheers,
Charles