Re: unabashed plug, Crumpton

In article 
<8fc057fb-8852-46e5-b164-d8b333a2c4fa@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 Chalo <chalo.colina@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> A Muzi wrote:
> >
> > Chalo wrote:
> > >
> > > To me, the only tangible benefit in the whole deal is this:  Some
guy
> > > who works hard making the nicest bikes he knows how to make doesn't
> > > have to go broke to do what he loves (which is a pitfall I have
> > > witnessed time and again in the bike business).  The bikes
themselves
> > > are about as banal as can be-- like a yet fancier and more expensive
> > > set of chrome 22s on an SUV.
> >
> > "Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It
is
> > what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not
> > quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as
> > manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay
> > only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else
> > constitutes quality." -    Peter Drucker
> 
> A corollary of the above is that superior quality should not
> necessarily cost extra (and in my experience, it often doesn't).
> 
> Chalo

Yes, but it also means that small marginal increases in quality can 
cause large increases in the value of the product to the end user. 

Drucker's point could be rephrased as saying that customers will pay in 
accordance to the value they get from a product, and with almost no 
regard for what it cost (convincing them a product was costly to make 
can be a useful marketing approach, though).

The majority of the market for bespoke high-end bikes like the Crumpton 
can largely be explained by the fact that the cost of a high-end bike 
will easily fit into a great many fairly middle-class budgets, and that 
means there is a market for an even higher-end bike, if only a 
differentiation can be created.

It's not even a small market: I have a club-mate who amiably pointed out 
that buying high-end bike gear isn't a big deal, because he "loses" far 
more money by not being able to do billable work during his 
training-or-racing hours than his (generous) equipment budget. He's 
certainly doing well, but his lifestyle is of the comfortably 
upper-middle-class stratum, and by no means plutocratic.


This leads to the corollary I'll repeat until someone takes me up on it: 
lots of people (like me) are now commuting by bike, and basically the 
price range for "serious" commuter bikes is something like $300-2000.

Considering that these bikes replace $20,000 cars for many of their 
purchasers, someone has to figure out the parameters of the $3000-6000 
commuter bikes.

My theory of the day revolves around some combo of an electric-assist, 
using typical Crumpton-like materials and bespoke construction on a 
commuter-oriented frame, or perhaps a white-glove concierge service that 
was tied to the bike's owner****p.

Hm. What about a one-stop commuter nexus in a downtown core? Valet bike 
storage, on-site showers and lockers, bike shop with same-day service 
for repairs, and (oh, why not...) a bit of coffee service? The trick 
would be getting a central enough location that you had a viable 
customer base, but such a business would have a chance of being a 
game-changer: actually creating bike commuters by virtue of easing some 
of the pain.

Plus, you know, the stick of gas at 1.30/L

-- 
Ryan Cousineau rcousine@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."