Ex engineer leaks how marketing works in the bike industry
- Thread starter steve
- Start date
I think that guys is full of BS about him creating all those ideas, in fact after watch it I watched it again and noticed his body language and facial expressions, he was lying like crazy to get laughs!
However, having said that some of the points he made are absolutely true, but I'm positive he didn't create most if not all the ideas. The tire size thing is indeed nonsense, but the fat tire thing is actually not a bad idea, a bike with fat tires is actually lighter then a bike with a shock front suspension with the same or darn near the same shock absorption, and you don't have an expensive shock that wears out, plus the fat tire can go onto surfaces that ordinary mtb tires cannot.
I agree that the disk brake thing should have been mentioned! As well as threadless headsets!! I have threadless and quill style, I can't tell the difference except for three things, 1, it's easier to change handle bars but there was a quill stem that did the same thing; 2, it's a lot more difficult to get a threadless design set up properly; 3, the quill style looks a lot nicer. But in todays world it's all about having the industrial look so looks no longer means anything today, make it black and dull and you have a cool bike. There are a lot of marketing forces at play to get people to spend money and lots of it, and most of the stuff is highly unnessarily unless your racing and get your stuff for free. There have been pros that have said that they would never buy the bikes they ride for either training, or if they were no longer were racing, and just wanted to ride bikes. This same marketing hype went on with golfing too, once the golf companies realize that corporate types were taking up the sport the cost to play went skyrocketing over time, with $2,000 per golf club with fancy scientific names splattered all over the club to improve your game...none of which ever improved anyone's game! This now is happening in cycling.
(this section is only my opinion) I can't count the number of times that I've been riding on one of my older vintage steel bikes and passed some rich guy on a $8,000 plus super carbon fiber bike with another $1,000 in clothing, sort of like the time I was driving a Ford Bronco 2 up a winding mountain road and had to pass some old gray hair dude driving a Chevy Corvette ZR1! Yeah I know I'm odd about thinking that way, but I think a person should only buy what they're capable of using. I use to race bikes but I'm no longer capable of that sort of speed so for me to buy a $8,000 plus wonder bike is a waste of money even though I could afford it; I use to race cars and still do to some degree, I could easily get behind the wheel of a car like the Acura NSX, Lotus Evora, etc and use the car to it's fullest abilities, but I can't afford those, on that same note even if I had the money and wanted to I would never buy a car with 1,100 horse power because that would be over my abilities as it is for everyone who has ever bought one that I know of. It's like that retired pitcher that crashed his airplane, he had the money but not the skills to be flying like he was, his wealth caused him to be stupid and he over flew his abilities and the plane's too. I understand if a person has the money but no abilities they can drive, fly, or ride whatever they want, I'm not taking that away from them, but they look stupid, in my opinion, in doing so, and it can lead to unintended problems like death, and while the bike may not lead to death but they could be more comfortable on a cheaper bike since it won't have as aggressive racing position and thus would it ride longer in terms of miles and time. I'm a bit practical, and look at things with that slant, I never buy impractical things just because I can; this is why my last bike I purchased was titanium which may seem impractical, but at my age and back issue I was looking for the most amount of comfort and that material has delivered on that, but I didn't go for the highest level frame, or components and wheels, I got the bottom of the line Lynskey called the Peloton, I got 105 except I changed the rear to Ultegra, I got wheels that for the set retails for about $250, and I'm more than happy with the results.
However, having said that some of the points he made are absolutely true, but I'm positive he didn't create most if not all the ideas. The tire size thing is indeed nonsense, but the fat tire thing is actually not a bad idea, a bike with fat tires is actually lighter then a bike with a shock front suspension with the same or darn near the same shock absorption, and you don't have an expensive shock that wears out, plus the fat tire can go onto surfaces that ordinary mtb tires cannot.
I agree that the disk brake thing should have been mentioned! As well as threadless headsets!! I have threadless and quill style, I can't tell the difference except for three things, 1, it's easier to change handle bars but there was a quill stem that did the same thing; 2, it's a lot more difficult to get a threadless design set up properly; 3, the quill style looks a lot nicer. But in todays world it's all about having the industrial look so looks no longer means anything today, make it black and dull and you have a cool bike. There are a lot of marketing forces at play to get people to spend money and lots of it, and most of the stuff is highly unnessarily unless your racing and get your stuff for free. There have been pros that have said that they would never buy the bikes they ride for either training, or if they were no longer were racing, and just wanted to ride bikes. This same marketing hype went on with golfing too, once the golf companies realize that corporate types were taking up the sport the cost to play went skyrocketing over time, with $2,000 per golf club with fancy scientific names splattered all over the club to improve your game...none of which ever improved anyone's game! This now is happening in cycling.
(this section is only my opinion) I can't count the number of times that I've been riding on one of my older vintage steel bikes and passed some rich guy on a $8,000 plus super carbon fiber bike with another $1,000 in clothing, sort of like the time I was driving a Ford Bronco 2 up a winding mountain road and had to pass some old gray hair dude driving a Chevy Corvette ZR1! Yeah I know I'm odd about thinking that way, but I think a person should only buy what they're capable of using. I use to race bikes but I'm no longer capable of that sort of speed so for me to buy a $8,000 plus wonder bike is a waste of money even though I could afford it; I use to race cars and still do to some degree, I could easily get behind the wheel of a car like the Acura NSX, Lotus Evora, etc and use the car to it's fullest abilities, but I can't afford those, on that same note even if I had the money and wanted to I would never buy a car with 1,100 horse power because that would be over my abilities as it is for everyone who has ever bought one that I know of. It's like that retired pitcher that crashed his airplane, he had the money but not the skills to be flying like he was, his wealth caused him to be stupid and he over flew his abilities and the plane's too. I understand if a person has the money but no abilities they can drive, fly, or ride whatever they want, I'm not taking that away from them, but they look stupid, in my opinion, in doing so, and it can lead to unintended problems like death, and while the bike may not lead to death but they could be more comfortable on a cheaper bike since it won't have as aggressive racing position and thus would it ride longer in terms of miles and time. I'm a bit practical, and look at things with that slant, I never buy impractical things just because I can; this is why my last bike I purchased was titanium which may seem impractical, but at my age and back issue I was looking for the most amount of comfort and that material has delivered on that, but I didn't go for the highest level frame, or components and wheels, I got the bottom of the line Lynskey called the Peloton, I got 105 except I changed the rear to Ultegra, I got wheels that for the set retails for about $250, and I'm more than happy with the results.
"I think that guys is full of BS about him creating all those ideas, in fact after watch it I watched it again and noticed his body language and facial expressions, he was lying like crazy to get laughs!"
IT's an overdub / caption of some Euro TV show. You know...like the ****** rant videos on YouTube. It's not real. Just some cyclist's humor.
IT's an overdub / caption of some Euro TV show. You know...like the ****** rant videos on YouTube. It's not real. Just some cyclist's humor.
The IPotato version...and there are lots of others. It's been around for awhile.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCP4Bgef2zA
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCP4Bgef2zA
Geez, I knew something was screwy when this guy claimed he did all that stuff. I never seen that stuff before, weird what people do with their spare time.
A container of tractor tires? That would be funny especially if you don't live on a farm but in a city! LOL
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