The industry standard makes potential buyers categorize themselves by marketing efforts with catalog, print ads and POP materials in the shops. Their self-qualification make it easier to sell them a bike. Shop employees can be untrained in salesmanship, just word match: customer says "comfort" they walk to the big sign and ask how much they want to spend. I saw this yesterday when I went in a local shop like that. Actually heard people telling the staff that their riding less "urban and more comfort". They pre-establish expectations in the buyer which makes it easier to appear that you are facilitating their cycle of satisfaction.
More psychology than cycling. It emphasizes the marketing materials and deemphasizes the local shop and employees to the perception of buyers, the resultant bikes appear as such to the experienced eye. Latitude of use does not have value or place in this forum, it confuses and delays decisions and purchases, especially in novice riders. The most intriguing bicycle product in those places are the employee bikes where, behold, many Rivish builds which shame the corporate floor units. That was part of what was so attractive about Bridgestone; smart parts to discerning shoppers, each picked for tangible benefit. Not for the shopper looking for something in a color to match their car/truck. Rivendell is thankfully not like that. Here's a bike, it's limitations have more to do with tire size, rack/fender/bottle cage braze-ons. I suspect that with a wise build, a blind pick of frame in the right size could provide a customer with at least 90% of best possible outcome. Add a few frame tubing options to cover those ends of spectrum buyers and happiness is achievable among veteran riders and those who appreciate the value structure. Not only is a rider happy with the build, it can change so if an opportunity to take a trip like a Riv Rally or begin commuting with the bike a new one isn't the answer but rather one of the most joyous: accessory shopping. Marketing MBAs would assess RIv "too versatile" because corporate bikes don't focus on lifetime satisfaction of the buyer with a quality product, but rather the ease of moving units facilitated by brand identity without degrading the brand perception in the marketplace. I have these conversations with my wife, one of those marketing MBAs, who I met at my backwards-to-the-marketing-model outdoor shop where she chose to have her bike sent for assembly when moving there. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh -- 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 http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
