My biggest beef with the US bike industry is the lack of vision of what a bicycle is and can be. The bicycle was stolen by the sport market and they are now seen large and wide as a hobby and/or toy.
But things are changing.
I spent a lot of time the last three days at Sea Otter speaking with the decision makers of several bike companies. Lot’s of discussion on what new products are on the horizon, where marketing dollars are spent and the message we should be conveying to the public in-mass.
The realization that they need to back off on selling bikes to people that already have them and work on getting new people on bikes is one they are slowly but surely coming around to.
You and I can make great strides, but the people selling the bikes are the ones with money. And they will benefit the most by spending that money on advocacy and providing bikes that will people get from point A to B. It’s nice to see them coming along.
So put yourself in their shoes. If you were the marketing director of a medium to large bike company, what would you be spending your money on at this point? If you were the product guy, what bikes would you be building?