I recall Grant saying back in an early publication, "We are product driven, not market driven," meaning they design things for use and not merely for sale.
I think this is a key element of the overall design, production, and sales method of the company that sets it so far apart from most companies where (to pick up on one of Mark's remarks) as they grow they get further from their original purpose and focus more on self sustainment -- which in most cases means sale, and therefore design and production, for profit instead of for use. Granted, focus on sale has produced, by accident, many great improvements; but obviously it does not do so consistently and generally. Carbon fiber is probably a great improvement for some uses; for a city hybrid bike? I don't think so. 1X12 drivetrains may be useful for some situations; does the rider of the urban hybrid need 3X9? And so forth. Many Rivendell products don't particularly appeal to me; tho' I'd rather ride a Clem than a Madone (I think; I've not ridden either). And there is undoubtedly an element of whimsy in some Riv designs and products that may or may not appeal on simple aesthetic grounds. But I can't think of anything they sell that isn't also useful in its own way; overpriced for the market segment, perhaps -- I'm thinking of $400 cheese boards and $300 axes for suburban duffers to whittle with -- but still useful. Aside, re axes and knives: I personally would be more interested if Rivendell set up their own forge and produced distinctly home made style axes and cleavers and utility knives at good, blue collar American wages. I used to play around with forging, or at least re-shaping metal bits heated in the coals, when I was in high school. Made knives but not no axe, but family owned a locally made, small vendor produced axe that worked as well as the admittedly very dull and abused Sears axe brought with us from the Homeland. Point of this: crude is fun if you are doing it yourself, or buying it from someone you know. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
