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#1
03-15-2018, 01:49 PM
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Which brands have maintained or improved their products?
Obviously inspired by "fallen" thread.
What brands have managed to stay relevant in the market, possibly even improved their reputation and/or offerings. High end frame makers- Moots has really done a good job maintaining and improving their product line ver the years. Production- Specialized has just got better over the years I think, even though they seem to be jerks to other companies. They had some bumpy years but have consistently come up with new and interesting bicycles in a lot of market segments for a while now. Random entry- Surly has elevated the cheap and useful steel bike to an art form.
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#2
03-15-2018, 01:52 PM
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All City has started putting out some nice higher-end options.
Spooky - the latest reboot is really nice.
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#3
03-15-2018, 01:59 PM
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good thread.
few small examples: Black Mountain Cycles - Mike is quietly bringing very affordable, very capable frames to the market. they are not full on race bikes or full suspension mtb's - but nice bikes that ride well and are at attainable price points. Boyd - though i dont own any of his stuff personally, i saw the display he put together at NAHBS, and it's impressive how he has grown his business and is offering rims and wheels that people want right now. Weigle - a master of his craft. he just gets better every year and isnt afraid to try new things. Compass - they have a small niche, but they are bringing some super high quality parts to market. their tires are practically iconic at this point for showing it's OK to ride fatter tires. Panaracer - as above. they have a tire for every discipline, and i've never ridden a bad panaracer tire.
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#7
03-15-2018, 02:08 PM
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Continental tires. I've been pretty happy with them ever since I started riding.
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#8
03-15-2018, 02:10 PM
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Quote:
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#9
03-15-2018, 02:18 PM
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I think you have to include some of the old-dude framebuilders who are not only still relevant, but doing great work that in some ways surpasses some of what they used to be known for: Steve Potts, John Holland, and Paul Sadoff all come to mind.
Nitto is also still knocking it out of the park and adapting to trends without diminishing who they are and have been. Last edited by Clean39T; 03-15-2018 at 02:20 PM.
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#10
03-15-2018, 02:22 PM
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+1 on mentions of Spooky (always an amazing bike; just better thought out detail now) and Norco (which were junk 20 years ago and amazing now).
Broadly, the entire industry has improved because materials and design have improved. Sora or Rival is better than Super Record of a couple decades back.
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#11
03-15-2018, 02:24 PM
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Maintaining/improving products is much easier for smaller, domestic operations, but so far as the larger players:
Louis Garneau Continental Heck, I'll even go with Shimano, and I'm a Campy guy. Their low end stuff used to be Fred Flintstone-ish, and now it's pretty darned good. (and yes, I would mention Campagnolo, except I started riding all alloy-9 and 10 speed gear and still prefer it to the newer stuff...but that's my own weird personal bias) And yes, Nitto. Last edited by veggieburger; 03-15-2018 at 08:01 PM.
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#13
03-15-2018, 02:45 PM
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It is worth adding that there is a price factor that needs to be considered. It's easy to produce an awesome product that retails for >$5,000, and easy to improve it by adding $1,000 to the price tag. Much harder to maintain excellence and keep prices reasonable. Della Santa and Rock Lobster are two that jump to mind when thinking about products that are fully custom and don't break the bank.
Let's all remember when Landshark moved from metal tubes to carbon, and the price jumped 100%. I was browsing the Zanconato website for fun the other night (no way is a custom bike in my future any time soon) and was impressed to see that he can build a steel frame for $1850. To me, that is a hell of a bargain.
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And we have just one world, But we live in different ones
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#15
03-15-2018, 02:53 PM
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I would say that nearly all brands have improved their products over time. In the face of competition, those brands that don't continue to improve their products soon disappear.
If you made lists of older brands that are still around, and those that have disappeared, it will nearly match the lists of brands that have improved over time, and those that have not.
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