I posted this on the article but wanted to move it here as requested:
Dan, great article. But there are a couple of points that are important to understanding the plight of the Plasma 5.
We’ve done well with the Plasma4, and like R&A, a Plasma5 has yet to leave the shop that didn’t get di2 on it. We have done better with the Plasma 10 at $3749 than the Plasma 20 at $3249.
First of all, this bike isn’t a year old. It was impossible to get fulfillment on this bike at any non-inflated (read, not the overly expensive Team Issue bike with Red22) price point until this spring. Framesets and the Plasma Premium became available mid-March - just three months ago and after most riders that were upgrading had already made a purchase decision. We had a number of riders that would have elected to purchase a Plasma5 had it been available but chose alternatives instead. Just because Kienle could ride it does not mean that the average triathlete could ride it. A midwestern dealer called me in February with a number of frustrated pre-orders on the Plasma5 because what was initially promised as a 2014 delivery kept slipping.
Second, the bike is a bit overpriced - certainly at the 105 and Ultegra levels. Were the 105 bike $2800 or even $2999, and the Ultegra bike more in the $3500 range, it would compare a bit more favorably with its competitors. One has to articulate superiority to justify an increase in price, and Scott has not done that effectively with the Plasma4. The Plasma5 price for the Plasma Premium is $7000, not $6000 as mentioned in the article. The Team Issue version of the bike with Red22 is $12000, not $11000.
Third, all of Scott’s marketing is centered around the Plasma5, and very little of that marketing is ground in the science of the bike. Instead, is ground in the performance of riders like Kienle. And compare that to another bike in that range that sells like hotcakes, such as the Felt IA. Felt has made an engineering case for the superiority of the IA and delivered on its ship dates and with good numbers. This has resulted in, effectively, a sell-through of the IA. You simply can’t get it - frameset or otherwise - at any level, in certain sizes (the 48 has been gone for a couple of months). You’d figure that with the success of Cervelo and Felt in the triathlon space and the means through which they’ve built that reputation, other brands would seek to market in a similar fashion. But no, the marketing spins like a broken record.
Fourth, the packages on the Plasma5 are the least compelling we sell across every brand. We sell more triathlon bikes for a single store than anyone, and we have yet to have a single rider demand Red 22 on their bike this year. We have not sold a single Dura-Ace mechanical build this year either - in every case a Dura-Ace spec was upgraded to di2. In most cases, it was upgraded to Ultegra di2 with brake lever shifters and the Dura-Ace crankset, chain, and cassette were preserved. Were the two Plasma5 options instead spec’d with Ultegra di2 and Dura-Ace di2, sales of that bike would probably be 3x or 4x.
Since Shimano has created such a pricing mess with it’s absolute refusal to regulate the European online market, upselling di2 makes shops no money and requires significant work. If the shop isn’t savvy with di2 and the routing complexities and brake complexities of a superbike aren’t well known, the labor required to install di2 can be prohibitive. The Plasma5 and the inferior (and problematic) di2 routing Scott recommends is a perfect example of this.
As a result of where the market is, it’s imperative that bike brands offer those options out of the box as a consequence.
Fifth, expecting reps to provide value in selling bikes - especially triathlon bikes - is utter folly. With all due respect to the great guys and gals out there working the roads, the days of the outside rep with bike brands are numbered. The breadth of a territory a rep must cover and the breadth of knowledge they have to have in order to provide real support to the shops out there that do well in triathlon makes it impossible for them to be very useful to my shop. Over and over, they come in and present a PPT slide deck full of information we’ve already read via the marketing info or Slowtwitch. One thing about reps that nobody wants to really mention as well is that my shop, largely, has the same exact reps it did three years ago. Except now, they all rep different brands than they did when they first opened us up. That happens less frequently with inside reps. Brands that choose to keep their reps outside, like Scott does, are at a significant disadvantage.
You nailed a couple of points spot on. There is no excuse for a modern bike brand not to provide a fit calculator and an armpad stack and reach table with ranges of adjustment on superbikes. Frame stack and reach is effectiely useless for superbikes since the relationship the armpad position has with the geometry of the frame isn’t the same as a bike with a traditional stem and steerer tube and is different from superbike to superbike. That said, the number of shops that can really fit a person effectively on a superbike can probably be counted on your fingers and toes as well. A number of local shops have all manner of fitting equipment and very little skill. It’s akin to buying a hammer and screwdriver set and proclaiming to the world that you’re a carpenter.
The Aeria bars are terrific, and the adustment and comfort of the entire Profile Design bar range is without peer.
This bike is a very well-engineered piece of tech. The Profile Design integrated drink is very well done, easy to remove, and large enough to support real hydrational needs. The bike is fast in the tunnel and fast with a rider on it.
And last, you’re absolutely right - this bike should sell better and should get better support from Scott USA and Park Cities. We’ve been a Scott dealer for nearly four years and, most years, are the largest Scott dealer in a very large metropolitan area. But I’ve yet to meet a single person inside Scott that designs bikes, that designs marketing efforts, and that designs the means of connecting with customers. Every other brand we carry has solicited our advice and, in many cases, used it. Scott is the exception.