Originally Posted by
Dahon.Steve
From the article:
>>>Not everything worked as planned. Research showed that the ideal price for the target market was $300 to $400. "It turns out that was too aggressive," Webster says. The cost of the auto-shifting mechanism pushed the price for even the lowest-cost bikes to $450.<<<
If the Trek Lime was to make ANY impact in the market, the bike would have to sell for $89.00 dollars. The fact they considered $300 - $400 dollars, "Aggressive" is insane! I have yet to see any Trek Lime's on the streets because it's overpriced.
I don't know why Trek gets interviews in major magazine when it's the department store bikes that have a much greater impact when it comes to introducing bikes to the low end consumer. There will be 1000 more Next department store bike sold for each Trek Lime.
What I would like is an article asking Pacific bikes why they are building such a crapy bike. Maybe if we put the spotlight on them, they might change their ways and sell reliable 3 speeds hub bikes or light single speed coasters for $99.00 dollars. This would be far more productive then spending time interviewing Trek on how they are going to impact the market with an overpriced $500.00 dollar beach crusier.
Profit margins...also why there are multiple grades of Schwinns.
You can get a basic 3 speed cruiser from Wallymart for $119, single speed fat tire is around $90. The 3 speed is sans fenders the single speed has them, both are aluminum frames. I haven't ridden one but the components and the finish quality scare me. One I looked at had hair line cracks in one of the welds. Everybody likes to hold up the Raleigh Sports as the poster child of 3 speeds and for good reason. But they forget about inflation and the lack of the dollars unfavorable position in the world market at the moment, as well as the fact that it was not an inexpensive bicycle it's day. A 1970's Raleigh Sport in today's market would sell for around $300. I believe there are a few quality bikes hitting close to that today. The
KHS Green appears to be one.
Breezer Freedom is another but the prices seemed to have jumped a bit for 2008.
I also think that as people's perceptions of cycling change and fuel prices continue to escalate we will see a resurgence of the more comfortable bike become available. As far as pricing...who knows. Some raw materials have doubled in the past year, stainless being one of the ones that I am most familiar with, as well as increased energy costs associated with manufacturing and transportation.
Aaron
