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Re: 2017 Shiv is now on Specialized web page [BryanD] [ In reply to ]
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Crowie rode the current Shiv at Kona in 2011, when he broke the course record.

ETA - Trek seem to be paring down their Speed Concept offerings too.

29 years and counting
Last edited by: Jorgan: Sep 22, 16 7:54
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Re: 2017 Shiv is now on Specialized web page [Jorgan] [ In reply to ]
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Jorgan wrote:
Crowie rode the current Shiv at Kona in 2011, when he broke the course record.

ETA - Trek seem to be paring down their Speed Concept offerings too.

Both of these companies made MASSIVE investments into triathlon on the marketing side. The Trek-K-Swiss team was big. Specialized likewise sunk a lot of marketing dollars into triathlon; there was a time when they had, probably, half of all the "big name" pros in the sport. In 2011-14 (roughly) these companies seemed to be all in on triathlon. And what did they net out of it? As best as I can tell, not really all that much.

In Trek's case at least, the only investment above and beyond what they had to do anyway for their UCI riders is a new fork/aerobars. Specialized made an entirely dedicated frameset.

Bike Count 2012 (with 2011 & 2010 data) from http://www.triathlonbusiness.com/...-at-kona-bike-count/
Cervelo: 483 / 2011 #1, 488 / 2010 #1, 468
Trek: 211 / 2011 #2, 185 / 2010 #3, 108
Specialized: 170 / 2011 #4, 122 / 2010: #2, 113

Bike Count 2015 from http://lavamagazine.com/bikecount/
Cervelo – 522

Trek – 275

Specialized – 218

Obviously the Kona bike count is not necessarily reflective of the sport in its entirety. But still, that was a lot of dollars spent. In six years, Trek has close to tripled their presence, but some of that is likely just reflected in the overall growth of the field in Kona. Specialized, on the other hand, has not even doubled their presence.

People obviously don't buy a new bike every year, but still, over a six year period, especially one in which significant investment was made, I think you'd have to think that both of these brands were hoping for more than this.

With the growth of gravel bikes and gran fondo and the decline in triathlon in North America, it just wouldn't surprise me if these companies were electing to put resources elsewhere.

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
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