srvblues00

I have to do a video tape presentation for my business communications class here in college. I decided to do it on why you shouldn't buy cheap bikes.. this presentation doesn't need to be super long, 4 to 6 minutes is all I need to worry about, but if it goes over, that's fine too. Below is the outline that I have come up with so far. If you have any suggestions for additions or omissions, please feel free to say so. This is due Wednesday, but the only time I'll have to do it is tomorrow morning. Yes, I know, I am waiting until the last minute. However, I think with my current outline, I can make it long enough without a problem. Just thought I'd share here in case I'm missing anything important.

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Intro
*Initial Cycling Comment
*Did you ever wonder about cost of bikes?
*Comparison of bikes to another sport
*Bike shop can fit a bike to you and your riding style

Frame
*Usually made of steel
*Heavy
*Generally one-size-fits-all

Components
*Cheap stamped steel (cheap) vs. light aluminum (nice)
*Low precision manufacturing à hard to work on, usually performs poorly
*Low durability
*Safety issue of cheap brakes
*Low precision bearings and races

Wheels
*Heavy steel
*Single wall
*Low spoke tension à durability
*Can’t take the abuse that is usually given to them

Maintenance/long term ownership
*Harder to work on, thus more labor charges for repairs
*Repairs quickly add up à usually exceeds cost of the bike after 1 or 2 repairs
*Resell value of cheap bike vs. reputable brand

Post-Sale Service
*No service after the sale at department stores à ex. of RAB discounts, etc.
*Department store staff is not knowledgeable
*Basically no warranty à usually a cheap bike is replaced by another crappy bike

Conclusion
*.............

kerk

Your conclusion should include that all the stated reasons lead to an overwhelming number of people that become so frustrated with their bikes that they never become cyclists. They spend so much time fighting with the store over repairs and adjustments or trying to do it themselves, they miss out on the reason they bought the bike - to ride! Hence, buying a bike from the department store is actually detrimental to their enjoyment of riding said bike and a contradiction to the reason they spent their money. - Or something like that.
Good luck!

jacob

more to the point, focus on (also )
why you would buy a bike or not buy a bike with regards to the fact that most people who buy stuff don't seem to have in mind the fact that they will eventually have to deal with themselves relating to the fact that they bought it.
For example, with steel vs. aluminum, cromoly is said to be more strong than steel but less so than aluminum.
Now, why would you purchase steel?
Maybe because you want a smoother ride than aluminum, but there is also the possibility that one does not know that a bicycle is not made of copper, boron, uranium, or whatever.


Jacob

Jay H

I wouldn't focus on the quality of the bike parts themselve. Sounds like you're knocking steel bikes when in fact, a lot of cyclists prefer steel. My Tange Prestige Marin is sweet and my Reynolds 853 road bike is known as "poor man's Ti" I would focus more on the people that build it as that is the main sign of dept. store bikes, perhaps salespeople selling people the wrong type of bike. Some people want indestructable bikes that aren't high-zoot or necessarily light. Commuters are known for that.

Perhaps state in the beginning that you're focusing on recreational riders and then you can focus on lightweight fancy smanshy bikes rather than assuming that everybody wants light aluminum bikes or something like that.

You can state that you can get a decent $450-$600 mountain/road bike from a LBS rather than a bikeshop and with that you get a quality bike from a brandname and pro. quality service and installation.. which is not much more than the cost of dept. store bike and service costs because they wont service them for you.

Jay

Poguemahone

Some cheap bikes are made of aluminum, as well. The guy who owns the local pizza place has an aluminum huffy which weighs a ton (okay, thirty plus pounds). One day, I rode the PX10E over there, and he was stunned that such a light bike could be made of steel. Prediction: long after the Huffy moves to the landfill, the PX will still be spinning.

By the way, I think uranium bikes would have deleterious effects on one's ability to reproduce, much more so than a saddle.

srvblues00

Thanks for the replies.. good ideas there! I'm not knocking steel, I am knocking the quality. Don't worry, I'm not against steel (in a high-end bike), so you can call off the dogs

Hunter

Jake,
Cro-Mo alloys are steel. If you are speaking of Cro-Mo alloys being stronger than Hi Ten then yes. Also there are several types of Cro-Mo alloys that are stronger than current 6061 or 7075 Al alloys. Also since they are alloys you will get various othe elements in them. Boron for example is used in Al. alloys and makes some exotic road frames, although it has been proven it is a little fragile for a MTB application.

Mtn Mike

Just went to good ol' Walmart, and after reading your case against cheap bikes, started looking at what Walmart had to offer. In fact, I was hard pressed to find any steel bikes. Most of the bikes proudly displayed "Aluminum!" or "Alloy!" in bright letters on the top tubes. The rims could have been steel, I don't know. The components were indeed crappy. Good luck with the presentation.

Walter

Since you're doing this for a business class. I would focus on the economics. I'd take what Kerk said and go in a sligtly different direction.

Cheap bikes cause a high degree of frustration (customer dissatisfaction) and are an economic detriment to the overall market. How so? Well, after the customer reaches X amount of frustration what does s/he do? Park the bike in the garage for the next 10 years and then donate it to Goodwill. No opportunity to sell accessories or repair/service/parts. Also no opportunity to get an enthused customer to consider a higher line bike after X amount of time of satisfied riding.

It all comes down to $.

kerk

You got that right, Walter!

jacob

>Some people want indestructable bikes that aren't high->zoot or necessarily light. Commuters are known for >that.

Yes, I am also.

Jacob

kerk

So how did the presentation go???