While I as well as others were able to do well with the sub $400 blemish bikes it cast a hue over the early sogn line, and will keep the prices low for these in the future. This is unfortunate, but pricing has an impact on perception. While these are very good bikes for the money, and IMO better than the second round of offerings due to the vertical dropouts, But the marketing of each model as a one time run without continuation, combined with blowout pricing dents the long term customer impression. Example, if you loved your Rivendell Road and lost it to a wreck, you can pick up a Ramb, Hilsen, Roadeo or Custom and be assured that you will be in the ballpark of ride and customer experience. If you go to the store and pick out a Trek and split it at the BB 10 years later they will give you a new frame. But with the Rawland the impression is such that each round is it, and if I were to loose my dSogn in a wrek it would have to be replaced with something completely different or custom. Even if they offered me a replacement frame it would now have rear facing drops or possible low trail geometry. Again, the bike is a great bike and may roll on for decades, but resale value is affected by lack of apparent long term commitment to the offereing. At this point you would not know from Rawland that these bikes were ever for sale if it were not for flickr and web forms, and they were for sale less than 2 years ago.
I am not trying to knock down the business model Sean is using, he offers a decent price on styles of frames that are somewhat unique in the market, you just have to realize that you may be getting into a one time deal. Keeping this on topic. Rivendell offers a more complete and sustained customer experience, and therefore is able to build a culture around their product line. Taking that further, Grant's approach of widening the pond with other companies in the culture, e.g. Rawland, Minnehaha, acorn and what I am starting allows this culture to flourish. Rob - http://oceanaircycles.com/ On Dec 16, 8:37 am, Ray Shine <[email protected]> wrote: > Rob -- please elaborate re Rawland possibly hurting the pricing of their > bikes. > > ________________________________ > From: rperks <[email protected]> > To: RBW Owners Bunch <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, December 16, 2010 8:34:00 AM > Subject: [RBW] Re: FS: Rawland Sogn, Bike Friday FT: Tikit, Nitto stem > > It is not just Rawland, although I think Sean did things with his > pricing and timing that hurt the value of these bikes. Have you > looked at the price of bike on ebay or even here? You can get a used > surly complete well under $500 and the prices here for good Ranbo's in > my size on this list is astonishing. 1 year ago bikes were still > apreciating, but things are starting to dive in our world too. It > always happens in the winter, and you could always throw the dice on > spring and summer prices coming back up. > > Rob > > On Dec 15, 10:04 pm, Esteban <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Ah, unfortunately I teach in June and PBP is at the end of August. > > I'd be broke if I paid for food in Euros for two extra months while I > > panhandled in front of Notre Dame. > > > I *am* planning a SR series this year, so you never know. I want to > > do the Paris-Roubaix route, though. > > > The Tikit should find a home - its really darn useful. The market for > > the original Rawlands was kind of week even before the rSogn was > > announced. I'm not sure why except that it was orphaned rather > > rapidly. I've never heard a complaint about that bike and i certainly > > don't have any. That's one I wouldn't mind keeping, with Kirk Pacenti > > being involved in the design. I'd certainly take it over any Surly. > > Its a nice pathway to a Bombadil. But it *is* for sale! For now... > > > Esteban > > > On Dec 15, 9:00 pm, Roy Yates <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Is it a planned coincidence that you're teaching in France in a PBP > > > year? > > > > On Dec 15, 9:25 pm, Esteban <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > haha -- I teach in France this summer, and when the coupled Riv Road > > > > custom came up with couplers, I couldn't pass up the idea of running > > > > around the French countryside this summer on a Riv. I also may be > > > > teaching in London in 2013, in time for the London-Edinburgh-London > > > > 1400K. The Tikit is awesome -- really, awesome. But I'd rather be on > > > > a big boy bike for brevets! > > > > > On Dec 15, 6:18 pm, Seth Vidal <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 9:17 PM, Esteban <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > So... I'm putting my Rawland Sogn and BF Tikit for sale to help pay > > > > > > for a Rivendell. > > > > > > Wait - what riv are you buying now? Has your ebisu even come in, yet? > > > > > > -sv- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW > Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
