more like cervelo and zipp, less like mavic, cannondale and trek.

[frenchcycling]

Does anyone else wish that bike/wheel companies acted more like cervelo and zipp? They seem to spend far smaller percentage on marketing and far larger percentage on delivering a quality product and R&D. cannondale is all over the press, maybe the could save a little money. mavic is all over the tour and all over magazines too. I believe that zipp wheels are far surperior to mavic and at the same time we do not see as many zipp adds. Their products speak for themselves.

 

[rek]

I think if Cervelo and Zipp were as big revenue-wise as Mavic/C'dale/Trek you'd be seeing them all over the place...

I agree with you on the Mavic wheels not being all that.. top shelf wheels built with DT Swiss stuff end up being almost half the price, lighter, more durable, more serviceable, and much cheaper and easier to service than the comparative Ksyrium or Crossmax wheelset. The Mavic stuff looks shinier though

 

[frenchcycling]

I think if Cervelo and Zipp were as big revenue-wise as Mavic/C'dale/Trek you'd be seeing them all over the place...

I agree with you on the Mavic wheels not being all that.. top shelf wheels built with DT Swiss stuff end up being almost half the price, lighter, more durable, more serviceable, and much cheaper and easier to service than the comparative Ksyrium or Crossmax wheelset. The Mavic stuff looks shinier though

yes it is easier to spend money when your revenue is higher, however, i am speaking in percentage of revenue

 

[artmichalek]

yes it is easier to spend money when your revenue is higher, however, i am speaking in percentage of revenue

Do you have any numbers to back this up, or are you guessing?

 

[frenchcycling]

Do you have any numbers to back this up, or are you guessing?

yes i do,

Mavic
"Annual Expenses for the 2003 Fiscal Year

Advertising 18.34%"
(i found it in french so i had to translate it)

Zipp

"Annual Expenses in Percentage

Marketing 7.72%"

 

[JohnO]

Why worry about it? Each has their own marketing model, and apparently is happy with it. Zipp just updated their entire wheel line, so they seem to be doing enough business to fund a fair amount of development.

I have a set of 404's - they're terrific, but you do have to watch what you ride over, and they need the occasional bit of truing. Rode them all last fall and this spring, just couldn't take them off, and didn't flat a single tubular. I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of smooth roads - wouldn't want to ride these in NYC.

It's interesting that some of the best road cycling wheels you can get are made in Indiana...