Quote:
Originally Posted by benb
I mostly think the bike guys are blowing a lot of smoke when they try and compare themselves to car and motorcycle engineering and advancement.
I don’t even think bikes have innovated/improved as much as as cars and motorcycles in the 20 years I’ve been cycling.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark McM
Pretty much this. And the car and motorcycle folks are blowing a lot of smoke too, when most of their "new" innovations actually came from the aviation industry.
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My €0.02:
Most of the new innovations in motorcycles came from Formula 1 and MotoGP. The big changes in motorcycles in the last 15 years have been in the areas of electronics and aerodynamics: sophisticated traction control (I'm not talking about the stuff that comes on a Toyota), yaw control, wheelie control, active electronic suspension, computerized fueling systems for 16,000 rpm optimization that will blow your mind, active data logging, etc.
The author of the article and some of the people he quotes are simply not well informed. The guy who heads the mountain bike company can pat himself on the back all he wants but any objective observer of both industries can compare the number of finely-machined parts on a mountain bike vs even a garden-variety sportbike. Then let's add the electronics sophistication.
I've been close to the bike industry for a long time and I'd guess that a proper economic analysis would show that the pricing is a function of economies of scale, a seasonal business, very inefficient distribution channel, and mfg getting to overcharge for a halo bike (e.g. Specialized offering the $20,000 McLaren, or whatever Colnago and Pinarello are charging for the latest Super Record bike).