Originally Posted by
Dan333SP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMnegeYuLW4
TL;DR- Yes, they have adequate R&D and quality control. They bought Guru's assets when that company went bust, moved it to the US, and hired a bunch of really talented engineers. Everything is top notch. I'd trust their carbon process as much or more than anyone in the industry.
Campag4life has articulated my concerns quite well, but I readily admit my concerns could be overblown, as we are almost certainly dealing with a case of diminishing returns, as to what can be done to improve a bike.
Plus I guess one needs a certain level of skill to bring out the best in what the "best" bikes have, and I know I don't have that skill.
When Trek, Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, Cervelo, Colnago etc bring out new models like Campag4life's R3, or Giant's new Defy, Trek's new Madone, Specialized's new Roubaix, Cannondale's CAAD12, pretty much everyone declares them noticeably better than the models they just replaced, so it would appear that having a very large R&D budget pays off.
How do these boutique makers compete on the R&D front, with so much smaller a R&D budget?