I’ve been curious about this for some time. Triathletes seem to lust after the latest Felt, Cervelo, etc, and are willing to spend many thousands of $$ to get those bikes. If we (as a group) are willing to spend that kind of money on a bike, why not get a custom bike? Serotta & Seven never seem to show up in the Kona bike survey (I don’t think Yaqui does either) which is one place you’d really expect to see heavy investment in bike $$. I see a few here and there at local races, but for the most part triathletes seem to be more interested in mass produced bikes.
Here’s some obligatory bike porn to liven up the discussion: the Serotta Ottrott ST, road version:
I don’t want to make any guesses as to why the numbers are so small for Serotta and Seven, but more amazing are some other number around them. When these counts are published, usually the smaller numbers just don’t get listed. Below is where some other brands “fell in.”
before buying my Bianchi Centaur (she’s hot!), I looked into Serrota. It seemed ok, but the price seemed high for the return. Sure, others could argue fit fit fit, and I get that. but, for a steel frame I was looking at 1K more than my bianchi for a comprable bike. So, it didn’t make sense. And, the bike shop pissed me off when I was in there (elitest and rude IMO). Then, the final straw was when I saw that you know who has one. So, automatically, I wasn’t getting one. The Bianchi was an excellent decision and I LOVE HER! (gush gush)
These are road bikes not tri bikes. When I eventually give up tri I’ll then sell off every piece of tri gear on ebay and invest in a high end Campy fitted custom steel frame as the “rest of my life bike” and pedal off into the sun set (and old age) on her.
do you know how much jack a seven elium race goes for? there are several small countries whose GDPs are not that high. for that much you could get a custom elite razor, with lifetime service, top of the line everything, and still have $1500 - $2000 in your pocket.
for the record, seven will make any of their road bikes with tri-geo and an aero downtube. that said, if you want ti might as well get a lightspeed blade.
FYI, we actually build more custom bikes than many other brands, and certainly more than most people think. Blades and Tiphoons for example are very popular in the custom shop in terms of longer/shorter toptubes or headtubes and sometimes completely different geometries alltogether.(ie road geometry or super steep)
As for the QR Santo, a very popular customization other than sizing and geometry is the addition of S&S couplings.
Cheers,
Herbert
Litespeed/QR
Identity. Many serious cyclists see the bike as an extension of their identity … their choice of framebuilder says a lot about who they are as a rider and person. A Serotta or Seven (or, Richard Sachs, Spectum, etc) sends the message that the rider is a sophisticated devotee of the cycling lifestyle. Also, these builders don’t focus on aerodynamics; instead, they place their emphasis on build quality and some of their other more ethereal aspects of the framebuilding art (ie Richard Sachs’ lugged steel frames for $3k).
To a large degree…MARKETING. I worked at a pro shop in college and also a advertising agency after I graduated. Do not underestimate the power of advertisement. Serotta/Seven/Tiemeyer/Land Shark/Steelman etc. all make fabulous rides. They do not, predominately, market to triathletes however.
You need look no further than all the posts on this site that include pics of bikes to realize that men (and on this forum I suppose the ladies as well, ref the Normann thread) are visual creatures and we lust after things that we believe to be aesthically pleasing to us, see the hottie thread, carbon P3 thread, interbike thread, etc., etc. Custom framebuilders often appeal to our intellect not our loins (so to speak). I’m sure Gerard would agree that Cervelo’s full-page glossy ads in the major mags do not hurt sales. Those are very expensive and if he didn’t feel that they influenced, somewhat, your buying decisions he wouldn’t invest his hard-earned dollars there. Look at the bike ads in the magazines, they are mostly visual with very little text to “sell” you on the features and benefits of their product. They want you to want their product based on how it looks (see Argon’s ads). Many companies have sexy ads and produce a fine product…BUT there are an equal amount of companies who hire slimy ad execs (no offense if you’re out there…I used to be one) to get product to move out of the warehouses. Most smaller framebuilders don’t have extra funds to allocate in this fashion so they must rely on bulding a good product and keeping their customers happy (see any threads about Ves & Yaqui or Dave & Elite).
Ask Senor Tibbs…we’re all just sheep following the shiny P3C!!! Not that there’s anything wrong with that…if that’s who you are.
I’ll have to say marketing, cost and the whole steel thing. As much as I hate to say it we’re definitely drawn to what the pros ride; what we see the fastest guys riding. When was the last time you saw some bigshot riding a Serotta or a Seven?
I am a VERY satisfied owner of a custom Serotta CIII. It has completely renewed my love for cycling and to be honest, I know that if I were to get a new bike I would check out Serotta first. BUT the fact is they’re pretty expensive bikes (don’t get me wrong, the build, the welds and details are beautiful) and I’d have to consider my bank account before I just run out and buy another bike.
Last but not least triathletes, well, we’re equipment junkies. The newest and most popular gadgets are always wanted. Serotta’s only tri frame is steel, the CXII. Reading all the interbike reviews and bikeporn, who wants steel? You know you want carbon. (affordable carbon, not Serotta Ottrott 7000$ carbon) Without appreciating what a custom steel ride can be like I think its an automatic turn off for most. Even with my loyalty to Serotta I gotta admit the CXII is NOT on the top of my list of tri bikes.
Anyway I have no problems with this. I’ve gotten numerous comments about my bike and its nice knowing I have a bike that nobody else does (size, color, design etc.)
I ride an Eddy Merckx. At bike rides, I frequently hear ’ awesome bike … Eddy’s the man (or similar)‘. At tris, ’ Eddy who … what kind of bike is that?’ Not saying tri-heads aren’t intelligent, but they tend not to be knowledgable about cycling history.
I have 9 bikes–carbon, Ti, Scandium, etc. But my newest is the neo-retro Quickbeam by Rivendell. Fixed gear, lugged steel, but with 21st century flexibility–2 chainrings + flip-flop track hub (Phil Wood) = 4 possible gears. Most fun I have had on a bike in 30 years. And great training. I propose a fixed-gear division for triathlons to educate tri-geeks about cycling, history etc.
I would agree and add that they are not mass production manufacturers therefore cost of advertising in relation to sales might not be there for custom shops. Comes down to issue of supply and interlinked to issue of cost of workmanship.
Also, personally, I would be inclined to a Serotta or Spectrum or Sachs b/c of the process of customisation not the bikes themselves however nice they might be. I would be very interested in having a Paul Levine, Richard Sachs or Tom Kellog measure me and fit me to one of their designed bikes, if for nothing else just pure curiosity.
But realistically for the riding I do and this might hold true for a lot of other people: I need a light stiff bike that I can afford to lay down in a crash which is something like an alu frame with ultegra and open pros for under 2000$, and then sell it after a season or two and get another one.
