Old 01-10-19, 11:46 AM
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Campag4life
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Originally Posted by FlashBazbo
"...future shock is really the press fit BB of headsets."

Sadly, it seems that the marketing department's goal of product differentiation is the root of most mechanical and safety issues with new bikes. (Okay, the non-standard BB was borne of a cost savings per bike, so we can't necessarily blame that on the marketeers.) Non-standard BB's, poorly functioning concealed seatpost clamps (and other "integrated" gimmicks), various shock absorbing gimmicks, . . . the list goes on. They don't ALL malfunction, but enough novel "innovations" fail to make their purchase unnecessarily risky. I cringe now anytime a manufacturer touts new levels of "integration." C'mon, manufacturers! Cut it out!
Exactly. And what this 'hustle' does, is put more onus on the consumer to decide if these so called innovations are worth it. A bit of a con job really to the uninitiated. Average roadbike buyers aren't guys like us. I help so many that don't know anything about bikes. Of course brand new innovation is hard to gauge if the benefit versus cost aka value is there. But that is the dynamic at play. Specialized for 'years' struggled with their 'proprietary' version of 'narrow' PF30 on their 'top of the line' flagship S-works bikes. A self induced wound born out of greed. And for what? Pure market diversity from their Pro and Elite versions of essentially the same bike. In this case the customer got 'much much less than more' A PITA to keep on the road. Specialized who couldn't keep the thing from creaking ultimately spec'ed 'Epoxy' for the BB. Then they finally relented because of all the fall out. So many unhappy customers who paid $8K for a race bike only to have it creak on every pedal stroke. What do they do now? They put the same BB in the S-works as they do the Pro and Elite. They gave up this market differentiation. In other words a S-works with one tick of carbon modulus difference and handful of grams is the same bike as the Pro and the Elite that you pay $1-2K more for.

Btw, Specialized isn't the only company guilty of this. Campy who also makes a superior product in my opinion and does the same thing. Record and SR cost much more than Chorus and most that understand the brand know that Chorus is the sweet spot by far.

So the customer has to be 'very careful' and truthfully can't possibly know what he/she is getting themselves into. Average Joe who is overweight with little core strength and too much weight on his hands takes a new FS Roubaix around the block and over some rough roads and goes gee, this thing rides like floating on a cloud. Of course the cost of ownership maybe something much different.

Last edited by Campag4life; 01-10-19 at 11:55 AM.
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