Originally Posted by
genec
Actually in quite a few places in Europe, bikes come ready equipped with lights, racks, locks and fenders, as people regularly commute and use bikes just like Americans use cars. In fact such bikes were quite the norm in Finland, and finding a "stripped bike" like that typically seen in America was a "special order."
So it's not as if such things don't have a market... it is more like America just isn't the market for them. (or at least so we've been told...
)
Agree, but we
are talking about the (North) American market, presumably? We are not talking about Finland, or Copenhagen. Here, there does not appear to be a demand for such appliances. If and when there is, I've no doubt at all some mfg will pop up to fill that demand. Mr. Bill pointed out one such mfg in his area (Boston).
Here, the bicycle as a 'sporting' item appears to be the norm, and that fact consequently influences the vast majority of sales in and production for the NA market. Just the way it is; neither 'right' nor 'wrong'.
I certainly fall into that marketing demographic. I do not need, and I most certainly do not want, a bicycle festooned with fenders, locking and other security devices whether mechanical or electronic, and so on from the shop floor. I assume my attitude is representative of the vast majority of NA bicycle purchasers, for good or ill, and that consequently Brinks-truck type bicycles will be a best a niche market here, at least in the foreseeable future.