"ryancycles" <ryancycles@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:f84eb0e1-4b45-4a22-ac27-f50f6b9c1d49@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dolan wrote:
>> In the early days of re***bency there were several small manufacturers
>> who
>> built relatively cheap re***bents. They too never sold well which
>> convinced
>> me there was no market for such bikes. Your Ryan re***bents were for a
>> niche
>> market from the beginning and never had a chance in hell of ever
gaining
>> a
>> large market. There is nothing wrong with that but, please, do not
blame
>> any
>> of your woes on the lowly bike shop owners and employees.
[...]
The thing about bike shop employees is that just
> about all of them are young males that are into bike racing. If it
> isn't a full suspension mountain bike or a 15 lb drop bar road racing
> bike it isn't a bike. My negative opinion of these people has been
> reinforced many times.
I have been around bikes and bike shops for over 30 years. I remember when
the bike shops just had the racing style of bikes, but that changed almost
overnight when the mountain bike made its appearance. It wasn't too long
before most bike shops were carrying nothing but mountain bikes. That
phenomenon was not due to racing or racing types of bike shop employees.
It
was due to the need for a more comfortable and practical bike. I think
they
are called hybrids these days. I now notice somewhat more racing bikes
back
in the shops, but such bikes are for the few, not the many.
A hybrid bike make the most sense for the vast majority of folks who just
want something to ride around town for a few hours. It doesn't matter if
bike shop employees are into racing or not. You cannot sell those type of
bikes to the public at large.
[...]
The best example I can give is the time I was
> invited to a bike shop event, (featuring free beer, thereby
> guaranteeing a good turnout) given by a well known shop employee in
> the Boston area, (he is the re***bent guy) at the shop. He asked me to
> bring a bike to the event. There were about fifty people there, all of
> them were bike shop employees. And one re****ter for a local bike
> publication. They had a tape of the tour de france playing on a
> relatively small screen tv. These guys were so into racing they could
> identify the individual racers on this small screen tv.
In my not so humble opinion anyone following the Tour de France is a
complete idiot. It is as dumb as viewing a soccer game on TV.
[...]
All small businesses suffer from employee problems, but it
> seems to me that the bike business is somewhat unique in having
> employees who actively discourage customers. I know just about everone
> in the re***bent business, they all have mentioned similar experiences
> with shop people.
> I don't think it's paranoia on my part in blaming the "lowly shop
> employees" for at least some of the difficulties of getting re***bents
> into the market place. I should also mention that I attended the
> industry trade show many times and saw first hand the glazing over of
> the eyes of shop employees on the rare occasion that there bosses had
> some interest in the bikes and stopped at our booth to ask questions.
Mr. Ryan makes some good points with respect to re***bents, but still the
example of the mountain bike (hybrid) proves that bike shop employees do
not
have the final word on what sells. They cannot sell the racing style of
bikes except to the very few. They have to sell what the public wants and
is
willing to pay for, i.e., hybrids.
I can't help but think that the main argument against re***bents was
simply
their very high prices. A product that is needed and/or wanted and is
priced
right will sell itself. It does not depend on bike shops and their
employees. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to review the advent of the
mountain bike which occurred in the early 1980's. You will never see a
racing style of bike in a department or discount store anymore. Nothing
speaks louder than that.
The world needed a $200. re***bent just as it needed a $200. mountain bike
to demonstrate what would or would not sell. A $2000. re***bent is not
even
in the ball park as far as the larger public is concerned.
Regards,
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota
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