-
Ee, you nippers don't remember all the BS that got talked about the supposed benefits of bendy stays back in the olden days, when they were only there to make frames distinctive before the makers were allowed to adorn team bikes with foot high logos. The main benefit is that people buy into the BS and make frame manufacturers richer.
Benefit or not to curly stuff, surely it's easier to build frames with straight tubing... meaning more frames can be knocked out in a given time so maximizing profit? Did i once read that on here?
-
surely it's easier to build frames with straight tubing... meaning more frames can be knocked out in a given time so maximizing profit?
If you can persuade people that some feature of your frame which costs you $50 to manufacture is worth $200 more at retail, you'll make more profit than somebody knocking out basic frames.
-
"if you can persuade..."
I guess that's why BSO's are so popular in the UK. ;)
Actually, it does explain one aspect of the BSO; the ridiculous objects which squeeze suspension and disc brakes under the critical £100 barrier. Clearly, the manufacturers are adding these features because their attractiveness to consumers exceeds their cost of production. The real difficulty, it seems, is persuading the BSO customer that some non-obvious upgrades in materials and manufacturing quality are worth even more.
I am simultaneously impressed and horrified by the BSO. To include so many features in something which retails at £100 is both a marvel of mass manufacturing and a sickening example of just how low you can drop quality if you get your marketing right.
-
^ yeap. When I worked at Bikehut (and I make no apologies about this) people would wander over with £300 in their pocket and I'd point them towards a Trek 4500 or something, they'd inevitably say 'but you can get full suspension for £250 down the road'. Yeah you can, but that's not a good thing, who's it made by, 'Barracuda'? It was hard trying to persuade people otherwise, but I suppose they're not cyclists.
I do wonder how they manage to get them so cheap. I saw a full suspension bike on amazon or something for £79. I imagine sweatshop labour could have something to do with it.
On a slightly related note, I got bikesnobbed by someone on a Barracuda MTB today. Someone was locking it with a Fah and I said 'hey snap, we've got the same lock'. He was like 'yeah but my bike needs it'. Then I was like 'my wheels cost more than your bike' and felt like a real man for the rest of the day.
-
I do wonder how they manage to get them so cheap
Take a good long look at one in Asda or Tesco and see if there's a single component you'd accept on your pub/beater bike. The genius of the marketing model is that they are so horrible to ride that nearly everybody will have given up before the deficiencies in manufacturing turn from unpleasantness to failure.
-
that cake is amazing. I saw one a few weeks ago in a bakery near Hyde Park Corner that basically looked like it had a dead baby on top.
But a perfect height for a brakeless hipster fixie skidder who has no idea how uncomfortable their bike is until they end up riding more than 10 miles in one go.
can't believe no one beat me to that.
-
Take a good long look at one in Asda or Tesco and see if there's a single component you'd accept on your pub/beater bike. The genius of the marketing model is that they are so horrible to ride that nearly everybody will have given up before the deficiencies in manufacturing turn from unpleasantness to failure.
I know what they're like, I used to work on them!
I was thinking more of the manhours it would take to weld them and put them together.
-
I was checking out the BSO in Tesco the other day - it had plastic brake calipers that you could bend easily with your fingers
-
Actually, it does explain one aspect of the BSO; the ridiculous objects which squeeze suspension and disc brakes under the critical £100 barrier. Clearly, the manufacturers are adding these features because their attractiveness to consumers exceeds their cost of production.
I'm with you all the way. The number of kids bikes I have to deal with that are heavier than two of my bikes combined is untrue. Yet the kids (and their parents) are fed a message (I don't know where from?) that Suspension etc is essential.
Isla Bikes have it right. Most parents don't see the value though, they see bikes as Toys so go buy the cheapest ass product they can get hold of.
If only there was a way of undercutting BSO's with an Isla type bike.
-
Bike fancy dress ride? Where the effort goes into turning your bike into my little pony.
-
.Isla Bikes have it right. Most parents don't see the value though, they see bikes as Toys so go buy the cheapest ass product they can get hold of.
If only there was a way of undercutting BSO's with an Isla type bike.
Well for the vast majority of children, their bikes are toys and only get used for going up and down the street. You hardly need a £300 Isla aluminium racing bike for that. Also with younger kids most parents can't afford to buy them an Isla that they'll grow out of in two years.
Isla have got it right in terms of a top-end kids bike - but they're for the children whose parents like cycling, not the children whose parents might do 5 miles every other sunday between June and August. I think cheap steel-framed singlespeeds using half-decent parts could be sold for around £100 and would be mure more suitable for an everyday child's bike.
You've also gotta think that most kids, or specifically most boys, will want a proper mountain bike with suspension and a million gears.
gets pen and paper and starts scribbling down designs for cheap, sensible but cool-looking-to-a-nine-year-old bikes
MaxC
EEI
cake
rhb
lae
gbj_tester
t-4003
vinylvillain
Erik
dancing james
Aleksi
JordanD
letrekk-
Post a reply
About
Bike Anti-Porn - When Things Go Wrong
Posted by
@flickwg
Why did I even bother posting?! ^