Since Dale's away, I'm cuttin loose with an OT rap -
I totally agree with Don here - and a trip thru the back pages of "The dancing chain" will bear out his asssertion that the Japanese did a fabulous job of market analysis and engineering during the "derailleur wars" of the mid 80s, putting a serious dent in Campy's market share and totally dominating the mountain bike market with the "slant parallelogram derailleur".
And as Don observed, this careful approach to marketing and engineering is not limited to the bikes, or even the cars, and frequently the top of the range Japanese products are not available in the US, probably because of an unwillingness to compete at the high end of the market. Lexus, Nikon, etc are exceptions to this trend.
Example - I'm a watch collector with about 30 watches. I have 6 or 7 Seiko dive watches (yes there is a Seiko collectors group as large and entertaining as CR) and today I am wearing a Seiko "Marine Master 300" which is a model not available in the US. It has a number of unique features which I won't go into here, and is in my opinion superior to its direct competitor, the Rolex sub, at about half the price. But it is not available in the US and Seiko USA has no interest in selling the Marine Master here. Why? Several reasons, but advertising and distribution costs vs. size of market are among the main ones.
It seems to me that to compare the quality of say a Honda Accord to a VW Jetta is a ludicrous exercise. The mid-range european manufacturers have had to go to offshore assembly (mexico) in order to keep costs in line, and as a result product quality has suffered dramatically. I think Campy is an exception - they had their wake up call in the mid 80s, and as a result their products are competitive on quality and features at any given price point. But in general I think the European products definitely lag behind the Japanese on quality, and may be coasting on prestige based on name recognition.
Mark Petry Bainbridge Island, WA
Donald Gillies wrote (snipped)
The one problem i have with japanese equipment is probably a cultural thing. Japanese equipment is often technically superior but "boring". Somehow some European and American products manage to produce a product that is "sexy or exotic". Campagnolo is a good example of sexy. Leica is a good example of exotic. The one thing that Japan could do better in America is to market their products better to americans.
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