Steve,
What is this "marketing hype" you speak of??
Are you saying that people in general make choices as consumers using "common sense" as a guiding light? DOOOOODE, people are sheep, and buy what is "new". For all the BS about how long stuff lasts, most consumers rarely "wear out" anything on their bikes. For the 700 people on this list, that's not true, but for the other 600 million consumers in Europe and North America, let's not kid ourselves.
The global economy is based on the priciple of new=better. Don't blame the bike industry.
Quality and craftsmanship have changed, yes. The quality goes into pre-manufacted components that can be assembled effeciently. But in a general sense, i'd say the "quality" of any consumer product today far exceeds anything from the past, yet ironically there is less profit in it, not more.
Yes, it's a global economy, it's a world wide web.
Grant McLean Toronto.Ca -----Original Message----- From: Steve Neago [mailto:questor@cinci.rr.com] Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 1:17 PM To: Grant McLean Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Re: How the mighty are fallen - OT Raleigh comments
Unfortunately, marketing hype over aluminum & carbon frames has exceeded common sense over how much these materials actually benefit riders and how quickly they actually wear out. Steel is real and will last far longer than carbon or aluminum under similar conditions.
In today's over-commercialized US economy, quality names such as high-end Raleighs and Masis have gotten to be commodities in the USA market. Perhaps we can all blame this on mass merchandising techniques from companies such as Wal-mart and customers who have ignored local bike shops that are shrinking in number across the USA. (Please see my earlier CR archive posts on how Wal-mart low end bike needs killed Raleigh sales through Huffy in the 1980s).
Quality craftsmanship has changed to mechanized profit and maximum throughput in bike factories. A rider use to be able to say a Raleigh came from England, Peugeot from France, and Bianchi came from Italy, but this is no more... There no longer seems to be a national pride in the which countries stand behind what bike products or brands. This is a direct consequence of a world economy where price and cost dictate production and availability over workmanship.
Regards, Steve Neago
Cincinnati, OH