Originally Posted by
Jaywalk3r
If no one was buying them, then international companies wouldn't be making more models available.
Trek dropped most of their USA available IGH bikes. They sold very much less than their derailleur equipped bikes. Derailleur equipped bikes are still a vast majority of bikes sold by international companies. Breezer went back to derailleur drivetrain bikes. Spot Bikes make sure their mtn bikes can be derailleur-equipped and sells complete derailleur drivetrain bikes alongside their belt-drive IGH models.
Originally Posted by
Jaywalk3r
Then you don't know who is.
There exist many bicyclists who do not utilize co-ops. Some people only go to bike shops. Some people do all of their own repairs. Some people only let their friends do their repair work. Co-ps are not going to provide a representative sample.
Further, not all bikes require the same amount of maintenance, so we can't look at repairs to figure out what people are riding, at least not without controlling for a many other variables.
You had someone from a co-op tell you that IGH bikes are not popular and I work in in a regular shop... where IGH bikes are not popular. And I'm a fan who as a salesman will try to sell the heck out of IGH bikes. They are an uphill, tough sell to most consumers. And we don't see that many in for repair. I am the IGH-repair-guy in the shop, served a similar role in the shop before that, and I can tell you that people riding IGH bikes are few and far between. And don't even try to tell me that it's because IGH hubs need less maintenance -- the rest of the bike needs just as much as derailleur equipped bikes and IGHs are not maintenance free.