A small company can't be all things to all customers. RBW probably has a corner on the new-production, non-custom, lugged-steel market. It's hard to imagine what RBW could do with TIG that Surly hasn't done already (Surly bikes are wonderful and smart and high quality, and a $100 powdercoat remedies any color complaints). Of course, Surly is not alone in the TIG market... If Riv doesn't do lugs, and do them well, then what is their brand identity?
I seem to recall that the older reduced-price offerings - i.e. Romulus/ Redwood - were thought to cannibalize Rambouillet sales. I suppose when GP considers new frame offerings, he has to look at the potential for bringing in new customers to the brand, rather than giving current customers lower price alternatives. Back when we had Atlantis frames and bikes for sale, it was the lugs (and a certain amount of name identity) that justified a frameset that, at $1400 a couple years ago, was 50%+ more expensive than a nicely equipped complete LHT. On Dec 10, 3:52 pm, eflayer <[email protected]> wrote: > think about staying in business and making money. sell more framesets, > sell more parts, sell more complete bikes. > > surlys are sorta ugly. surly have ugly decals and are heavy, and don't > think there are quill stemmed ones either. > > think about a bike that looks as great as an orange or green Sam, that > rides great, looks great, and cost 30% less. > > On Dec 10, 1:40 pm, Seth Vidal <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 4:38 PM, eflayer <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I know it goes against the grain of everything we stand for here. > > > Actually, what do we stand for here? But don't you think Riv/Grant > > > could do a really really good job on a tigged frameset. No need to > > > sully the Riv name or brand, but maybe a Toyota type thing...and the > > > lugged Rivs could be the Lexuses. There are currently a lot of > > > entries in the tigged Riv-like bike set. But somehow I think Grant's > > > attention to color, geometry, style could equal the best of the lot. > > > > Just thing a beautifully tigged Riv bike at maybe $650? > > > > He could call it the Tiggua brand. > > > I thought the name for that brand was surly. > > > Seriously though, what would be the point? Rivendell made it's name as > > lugged, steel. Changing that now doesn't do anything than dilute the > > brand as far as I can tell. > > > -sv -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
