Originally Posted by
Psimet2001
I have to laugh otherwise I'd cry. I'm starting to think that many of you have this vision of what the "big back bicycle industry" is really like as being this room of suits trying to figure out how to drive profits and only consulting the marketing department for ideas. How they somehow make this plan and determine that all that will drive it is going to be some narrative that they have to make up to "pull the wool over everyone's eyes" otherwise no "intelligent" person would ever "fall" for it.
Sweet geebus that's a depressing world to imagine exists.
Here's the reality though - it's a small handful of guys and gals. Usually in their 40's/50's - super skinny - trying to carry off whatever clothing the hipsters are trying to pass off these days. Some have some serious personal issues, career stress, marriages falling apart, too much travel, etc. most love riding and racing their bikes. Honestly. Lots.
The discussions don't start with numbers. They start with engineers. The engineers, guess what, also ride and race....a lot. They come up with ideas. They make prototypes. They ride them. They test them. They race them. They fix them. They stack up 'innovations' as they see it. Product managers help figure out how to stack those innovations in a way that makes sense and try to stagger when and how they are going to be introduced to the market. How fast can production come up to speed? How long will testing take? Do we need to refine this more?
They talk about model years (MY) in the late teens to 20's as product comes down a long development path.
The way you guys talk it was simply a marketing idea that someone thought would trick the market and they cobbled something together overnight to steal market share from their competitors so they could be the first one and then they relied on marketing to make it happen.
The real people are guys and gals that I get to BS with before a race, put a medal around their necks afterwards and hand some prize money to - not because they have some secret component on their bike that made it possible but because they are fabulous riders and racers who have a long established record of being among the best in their field. These real people often hand me back the money and tell me to donate it to a charity.
These are real people who are a part of our community that would instantly squish up their nose at reading 90% of what's been put into this thread. What they love is bikes. They love making parts for bikes and they are good at it. They honestly could care less if a rider wants to stick with their old downtube bike, they'd think that was awesome and would probably pull out 4 or 5 of their own bikes to show you how much they love theirs as well.
So....if you're one of the people sitting there and thinking, "it's an answer to a problem that didn't exist! it's unfair that 'they' are pushing this 'technology' down my throat!" then I think you probably need to step back and realize it's not always about you. You can continue to ride whatever the f you want to ride. Not all new products succeed in the long run and not all ones that do are welcomed with high acceptance. I personally remember thinking twist shift was the stupidest thing ever. I still think it is, but there's a really big hometown company that was built on it.
At some point you're going to have to realize that these are in fact some of the products and product changes that people really do want and that the fact that you don't agree with it, well....is meaningless. Disc brakes are here to stay for a while at least. If you hate it...just move on. Take your toys and go play somewhere else. Just enjoy the ride.
Sorry, I had to condense your excellent snapshot of an industry scullion. I hope others read what you write because we all have families, or ourselves and loved ones, to feed and shelter. Those fortunate enough to have the talent and passion to carry on the challenging business of bicycle manufacturing and sales, should be recognized as champions of cyclists, not a bunch of scheming leaches.
The bottom line is that "enemies" are extremely useful on Internet forums because the lack of information is taken as supportive of theories. "Why should the theorists bother," I write sarcastically, "with the evidence of overwhelming consumer support?"
Last edited by cale; 04-07-15 at 10:57 AM.
Reason: improve word choice