StephenH

My observation is that people tend to assume that everyone is like themselves.
So I'm comfy on my Brooks saddle, and I just assume that if everyone had one, we'd all be comfortable.
Some other guy got professionally fitted and is comfy, and he assumes that if everyone got professionally fitted, they'd all be comfortable.
And some other guy tried everything under the sun, couldn't get comfortable, and he just assumes everyone on an upright bike is riding around in agony until they get a recumbent, too.


I've seen rather mixed results on the switch to recumbent, by the way. One friend switched to a recumbent to solve neck pain, only to start having knee pain. She finally got things adjusted to avoid that, but is still slower. But now, she's also riding upright gravel and mountain bikes. Two other friends rode recumbents because one of them had such bad back issues they couldn't possibly ride uprights. Then they moved out of state and started riding upright mountain bikes and think that's the greatest thing since sliced bread. One local friend rides a recumbent primarily, but most recently rode an upright bike when he did a cross-country ride. And he has problem with hot-foot on the recumbent. And on the most recent ride, I noticed he was mostly riding one-handed, not sure if that was a hand issue going on or what. Another friend couldn't find saddle comfort on an upright bike, rode recumbents several years, but is now riding upright bikes for reasons unknown. Anyway, the switch to recumbent is not always a rainbows-and-unicorns deal, is not always a forget-your-upright deal, either.


FYI, I read this forum periodically when things get slow, which they are right now. So yeah, I was reading the Utility Forum and all, too.


A sales lesson: Long ago, for some reason, my mom started getting sales literature from TroyBilt Tillers. Now, I never used a Troybilt anything. Depending on how you looked at it, their sales literature was either the most wonderful or most awful literature ever. The reason: EVERYTHING about Troybilt tillers was COMPLETELY FABULOUS in EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY!!! After your read a few paragraphs of that tripe, you knew that was either a product that made Rolls Royce seem shoddy by comparison, or it was the most overhyped product on the planet. And if you went with the second option, it made you hesitant to believe anything they said about their product. So to this day, some 40 years later, I still have a negative impression of Troybilt because of their sales writing. Maybe it was a good product, a great product, a lousy product, I don't know and I don't care, but I'm not buying one.


I remember several years back reading of shaft-drive bicycles, and I believe it was a Dynamic brand that was pushing them, and that was the feeling I got from their sales literature. I get that sort of feeling from CruzBike's sales pitch. Meanwhile, there's some other recumbent manufacturers that don't give me that impression. Maybe I'm the exception, and that's actually a good way to sell stuff. Or maybe they turn more customers off than they turn on and just don't realize it.