There have indeed been some cool collaboration frames, though I feel like they all suffer from the same sales-related issue as Rivs themselves often have: they're ahead of their time. Rivendells from 5 or 10 years ago would fly off the shelves today compared to their sales at the time, because their features and geometry are now the hot thing. I feel like bikes like the Soma San Marcos suffered in the same way. I love that Grant keeps pushing forward with his newest ideas rather than making bucks off the older ideas.
Totally agree that the lack of a TIG medium-duty bike is, at least to me, a huge gaping hole in the lineup which maybe isn't as attractive to fill to Riv as it seems like it would be to me. I feel like a TIG version of a Hillborne, with the longer front center of the Platypus, would be basically the perfect everyday bike. Nothing really exists like it currently. Nothing like the Charlie exists either (swoopy tube road bike with long wheelbase? Never seen it before), which is why I'm real sad that the world will have to wait a bit longer for it. On Wednesday, 16 June 2021 at 13:50:40 UTC-7 Lucky wrote: > Grant has designed more than a few bikes for other companies. The one I > can think of off the top of my head is the Brooklyn Bike Company Driggs. > But I know what you’re saying…there’s something about that Rivendell name > on the bike. > Funny enough, I recall that back in 1994 or so, when I bought my Atlantis, > it was because I reallwanted a Riv, but I just didn’t have the scratch for > a “real Rivendell AR”. > > On Jun 16, 2021, at 13:17, Tom Wyland <tomw...@gmail.com> wrote: > > If I was Riv President for a day, I would ponder if adding a lower-cost > all-rounder bike would cut into sales of the other models. Clem and > Roadini (tigged lower-cost frames) are on the rough terrain and road ends > of the spectrum. The premium equivalents are the Hillibikes and AHH. All > of the bikes in the all-rounder territory are the premium type, and there > are quite a few models that functionally overlap (Platy, Sam, Atlantis, Joe > Appa). Adding a lower-cost alternative for the already overlapping premium > models would just cut into the sales of those without further > differentiation. > > > I would partner with a brand that made lower-cost frames and offer those > without Riv branding. Then capture all of those other brand's customers > and offer them to ladder up to a Rivendell. Basically use the lower cost > brand as a channel to sell the more premium Rivs. And you wouldn't dilute > your brand with a lower-priced model with little differentiation. > Companies like Handsome or Soma might make sense. > > The good news is 1) I'm not Riv President for a Day and 2) due to the > current bike boom they'll sell whatever bikes they ordered in an hour. > Boom. > > Tom > > -- > > 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 rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/8f0bfb0e-d82b-4fe7-b246-26190a4f7f15n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/8f0bfb0e-d82b-4fe7-b246-26190a4f7f15n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- 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 rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/46a9068f-dd03-42e9-a00f-46e2ef6dfc81n%40googlegroups.com.
