Originally Posted by
UniChris
$500 is simply not an acceptable price for basic capability. It needs to cost half of that, and given that there are things on the market for a quarter of that, half seems achievable.
So what do you suggest cutting in terms of features to reach this $250 price point?
State Bicycle makes $300 single speeds. That’s the features that you have to get rid of to make it affordable. Single speed might work for young, athletic riders but not for most. The world ain’t flat. The Trek FX 1 I gave as an example above is about the lowest price you could go for a multigeared and still get something that hasn’t be cost cut to the point where it is a danger to the rider. Even it uses very low quality components.
I'd rather consider how to move them from being part of the problem to being part of the solution.
Good luck with that. HelMart makes no money on the bikes they sell. At $100 per, they probably lose money. But the buyer that is willing to buy from HelMart is also going to buy some other stuff that
does make HelMart money. Bicycles are a loss leader. Bike shops barely make money on the actual bicycle
Neither the stores nor the purchasers can alone climb out of one grove and drop into the other; it would have be be an organized effort of multiple players in partnership - stores and their supply chains, organizations like coops to provide mechanical support and education - including why you want the simple one, and not the 21 speed with suspension.
There are simple ones. See the Trek above. I would say that a single speed is useless so they have to have some kind of gearing. Gearing, whether 10 or 21 or 30 speed, doesn’t cost that much. But the lower the cost, the less the quality. That’s where HelMart is at now. Too low a cost, too low the quality.
Case in point, over on the streetblog article someone observed:
To which I'd simply say, don't use indexed shifting - it's a delicate and unnecessary feature. It never worked right on my college-era big-box MTB, so I just switched it to friction mode and shifted by feel and ear.
How much do you think index shifting adds to the cost? You buy SRAM MRX grip shifts retail for $20. You can get them wholesale for about half that. In bulk quantities, for a manufacturer, probably a quarter of that price. Friction shifters cost about the same. Index shifting isn’t delicate and it does make shifting easier. Anyone who can’t make it work properly...even the appallingly bad ones on HelMart bikes...just isn’t trying hard enough. Again, I have lots of familiarity with these BSO and have no problem with making them work properly.