Rating bicycle brand image

In article said:

I need to quickly get an understanding of the bicycle industry, and the positioning of different
brands. Is there a common view of how separate brand images compare?

Companies that sell at Walmart suck. Companies that sell at bike shops are mostly pretty good. The
largest bike shop brands sell a wide range products from adequate to very good. There are also a few
small volume brands that sell only high end products (usually starting at about $2000).

On Thu, 30 Jan 2003 16:27:45 GMT, "j_hellaker" <[email hidden]> wrote:

This is one man's view only.

Quoted message said:

I'd be very thankful to anyone providing his/her own ranking of brand image among bicycles!

There are too many makers and models to make that a straightforward task. Normally the price tag
tells you all you need to know - and if you think the price tag may be out, you simply weigh the
bike and see how light it is :-)

Well, that's not strictly true. I suppose most countries will ahve their own favourites (Cannondale
was never as popular in the UK as the US). In the UK Dawes have a good name for making reliable,
functional bikes - the Galaxy has been the benchmark for tourers for decades. They are barely known
outside the UK, as far as I know. Raleigh has a terrible reputation here, but are well thought of in
the USA according to Shaldon Brown (may his beard increase). My local bike shop -
awcycles.co.ukawcycles.co.ukOpen ↗ - have a fairly wide range, you won't find anything truly nasty in there,
and they cater for, in my estimation, most of the racing and touring cyclists in Reading (population
something over 140,000). They lead with Colnago, but also feature Principia and Bianchi quite
heavily. Bianchi sell a wide range of bikes, but Principia and Colnago seem to specialise in road
racers, so would attract more cachet - but once you move out of the budget bikes (under $500) the
fit is everything, and you buy what most closely matches your own body geometry.

Also in the UK there are craft cycle makers like Evans, Longstaff, and the excellent Chas.
Roberts, who make bikes for a certain market. Roberts, for example, has a peerless reputaion with
audax riders - they make really well crafted, finely balanced and light tourers. How many bikes do
they produce per year? I'm guessing, but I'd be surprised if it was more than one or two thousand,
and even that might be a huge overestimate. These are exceptional bikes, but rarely seen outside
of the UK.

Is the Trek brand stronger because of Lance? I don't think so - maybe it is, but I still want a
Principia or a Colnago. Plus a New Series Moulton, a Windcheetah, a Bike Friday tandem. Spot the
bike weenie....

One thing, though - in road cycling anything with Campagnolo kit is usually reckoned to be a step up
from a Shimano-equipped bike.

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. chapmancentral.comchapmancentral.comOpen ↗ (BT ADSL and
dynamic DNS permitting)
NOTE: BT Openworld have now blocked port 25 (without notice), so old mail addresses may no longer
work. Apologies.

j_hellaker said:

I need to quickly get an understanding of the bicycle industry, and the positioning of different
brands. Is there a common view of how separate brand images compare?

Any significant differences between Europe and North America ? Racing vs off-road ?

I'd be very thankful to anyone providing his/her own ranking of brand image among bicycles!

Campagnolo = good. Huffy = bad. Lance's ride = good. Greg's ride = was very good. Price can equal
quality. More often equals more money than sense. Bowden Spacelander = top of the heap. HTH
--Karen M.

Quoted message said:

Any bike sold by somebody who "needed to quickly get an experience in the bicycle industry",
becsause he couldn't tell a bad bike from a good one, I think would be virtually guaranteed to be
a real dog.

" I am not in the process of buying a bike, " .. and neither am I going to be marketing/selling
bikes, so don't worry 🙂

Anyway your first part was very helpful for my purpose. (I liked the Shimano/MS analogy)

It is interesting - and refreshing - to find an industry that, from what I hear here, is driven only
by real product value, and obviously does not suffer from any marketing hype at all. Really
interesting.