Power13 wrote:
gabbiev wrote:
Dilbert wrote:
leegoocrap wrote:
Why are you making disc aero wheels? BECAUSE YOU NEED THEM
But why do we need them?
BECAUSE STOPPING IS A PROBLEM IN TT'S AND TRI'S.
Why are you yelling?
BECAUSE THIS IS THE EXXXTREME SOLUTION TO THAT PROBLEM ATHLETES HAVE BEEN HAVING FOR YEARS!!!
Tri isn't a growing sport. And everyone in it has already bought wheels. How do we sell them more wheels?
HEY I HAVE AN IDEA!
I tend to agree with this.
In over 10 years doing product development in the bike business, never once did I ever hear anyone come up with any idea to make products that nobody wanted just to sell more stuff. Not a single time...this myth / perception of grand puppet masters in the bike business moving consumersa round like pawns is just that....a myth.
Product guys in the bike biz just want to make cool bikes....be it a $300 entry level MTB or a $3K tri bike. They want to come up with ideas / product strategies that meet their customers demands (both consumers and dealers) as well as potentially sway them over to their bikes form the competition.
I'm 99% sure that I came out with the first disc-brake cross bike back @ the '99 Interbike show. It wasn't because we were trying to force new stuff down consumers' throats, it was because we thought it was a cool idea and no one was doing it yet and we could use it to bolster our exposure at the show. pretty simple.....no massive conspiracy.
So...you're admitting that you produced something just to "stand out" (whether it worked better for the purpose or not) in the hopes of selling things? Got it ;-)
My problem is when the "cool idea" is half-baked and not well thought out, and then the bandwagon effect starts because people don't want to be seen as "behind the times" in their product offerings :-/
edit:...and then we end up with things like the most common MTB wheel being a mere 12mm larger in radius than the original "standard"...and people are CONVINCED it's "better" somehow <smh>
http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/