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The Vital MTB Crew
Demo events!
I can't remember the last time a local dealer hosted a demo event here, what happened?
I could believe Session because DH is at the forefront of investment and media again now that Enduro has been axed at the international level.
The point of the Rail is that people out there do want full-power e-bikes. Another, perhaps more cynical thought, is that the Rail is what would be competitive for E-Duro, which (again leaning cynically) could be pushed to the forefront with the decline of 'traditional' enduro.
Covid and then the industry’s bubble bursting.
Demos seem like a great thing to do with all that extra inventory right? Is the bottleneck getting van drivers? I'm just not going to commit thousands of dollars to a high pivot trail bike without taking one out for an actual ride first. I feel like this mentality also applies to "core" riders and ebikes.
Hey I have a (worthless) degree in Economics! Should we start another thread on Monetary Theory and why my house has tripled (literally, slightly over tripled) in value since I bought it in 2013? Since seems to be the Queen thread that births all other threads.
Braindead
Marketing (the department where demo programs live) is typically the first place to get their budget cut when sales slump. A friendly reminder that not all marketing is evil. Free demo programs are pretty great for customers.
MTB = Monetary, Tariff, & Budget rumors
As a person who HATES marketing but had to work in it for a while as an advertising filmmaker (I made commercials and short form video; I loved telling stories) and currently does not work anywhere near the marketing world: Cutting marketing budget during a slowdown is very often a bad choice. Marketing doesn't have to be commercials. It's whatever your company does with the intention of making your target market feel more favorable about your brand.
So much of selling a product is about being the brand/offering a product that is recognized and trusted by your potential customers as something that will solve their problems (make them a better rider). What department do you think does the bulk of shaping the public's perception of your brand and products for you?
When everyone cuts marketing budget to save dollars, a brand reallocating some budget to be even more present with their marketing means they're seemingly the only predator in a blue ocean again. The only brands that can effectively cut marketing budget are brands that are already top of the pile when it comes to brand recognition and customer trust...and that's only a safely held position if the brands directly below them don't challenge that.
I'm looking to buy a short travel trail bike. I'm either going to pull the trigger on a bike from the company I trust the most that satisfies my self-theorized ideal requirements/specs while second-guessing myself the whole time OR I'm going to demo ride a great bike that fits well and performs well putting my mind at ease and making me more comfortable investing bigger into it.
Sounds like the dream job. Town to town van life with a demo fleet giving out free smiles then riding new trails every day
I completely agree with you. However, I think most/all brands laid-off their demo drivers during lockdown, or converted them to customer service reps during that time. Most brands are doing whatever they can to continue making their current payroll right now and can’t responsibly hire on new demo drivers unless they cut current employees (such as customer service reps or other ‘employees that draw a similar level of pay) or things like race teams. I think the brands that can afford to bring back their demo programs are doing so, starting slowly in the biggest markets first.
Having run plenty of demo days I'd say it's about 30% just having a go on an expensive bike for free, 20% just telling you what is wrong with the bike, 20% "just confirming that my bike IS better", 20% "I'm thinking of replacing my 2011 bike in the next 3-5 years" , 9% having one of the bikes on a shortlist but "I'm going to buy whatever I get the best deal on" and 1% actually going on to buy something from the demo.
A couple a year was more than enough to never want to do it again.
hahaha, comment of the week for sure!
That doesn't surprise me at all your numbers are probably spot on, I guess the only other thing to consider is that when their buddy is considering a couple bikes you could chime in "I rode one of those at a demo day and it was awesome!" could maybe lead to a sell I guess.
The Slash+ isn't going to be made in huge numbers because TQ have a new motor coming so its not going to sell well anyway... and its heavily priced.
I think this is a significant underestimate of Trek's market share and a significant overestimate of the average buyer's wherewithal when it comes to making informed purchases, even at the high end.
Purty much nailed it!
Haaa i guess im easily impressed by any bike
Have run lots of ski demos....that 20% that want to tell you how everything is wrong will also take up 90% of your time.
Well they arnt wrong sometimes lol
I’m interested
That definitely didn't help, but my memory goes back at least another two years
The new Schwalbe Albert is released, the most interesting bit is that it is a radial tyre, revolutionary tech they say.
But is it? Nerd ahead
https://enduro-mtb.com/en/schwalbe-albert-mtb-tire-test/ new tyre out in the wild, looks promising, i'd be curious on how tall the side knobs are, the Tacky Chan ones are taller than the Mary, and this one looks lower than both, although at the same time seems like the kind of tyre i'd like to have up front paired with a Tacky perhaps
Revolutionary tyre tech in the 1950's yes
I heard some positive feedback on them from folks I trust. Have not ridden them myself yet though.
We tried this on the road side 10+ years ago, they never caught on in a big way, but the people who rode them LOVED them.
https://www.maxxis.com/us/tire/radiale/
Is the pattern/angle that Schwalbe is using that different from what other brands are doing, or did I get had by their marketing department when I read the article and got excited?
So it sounds pretty novel! Read all about it on the other site, and if AP was actually running 30 psi in the wet at Les Gets, then it really is a big change from existing tire tech. I believe AP has been on the French nearly-flat-tires program for a while prior to these. Very cool to see actual innovation in tire tech, although it sounds like this is more a case of borrowing an existing idea from another application (as it often is in the bike industry). And it sounds like it worked as advertised on the discontinued Maxxis Radiale road tires. Which begs the question: what are the tradeoffs to this construction technique and why didn't this happen sooner?
I don't know how much room there is to improve tire materials and tech, but I know there's tons of room to improve performance. Bikes are so good these days, but I feel like tires are still uniquely an area with so many trade-offs and compromises. A modern 150mm bike can pretty much do anything from XC to DH and not give up that much time in either*, but a modern mid-casing "trail" tire is A LOT slower than an XC tire and A LOT less grippy, durable, and stable than a DH tire. Ditto for choosing tire pressure, inserts, etc- you can't have it all.
*if you switch to appropriate tires and pressures for the event
DEFINITELY nailed it!
1. An application that could use the hell outta this is fat bike tires. Likely a minority in this thread, but getting a bigger, floatier contact patch without having to drop to low single digits would be a helluvalot of fun, what with making a zippier experience on snow or beach days.
2. Getting a casing that damps out vibration better will allow suspension to work better. Watch any of the super slow mo huck to flat vids and you can see the hiccup the rebounding tires adds to the suspension action, basically bouncing the bike a bit before the damper can continue or switch directions. Someone somewhere has gotta be doing this kinda slowmo for companies on courses to better understand all the dynamics at play. Is that rebounding tire a contributing reason traction gets dicey in roots and rocks?
3. Carrying a bit of a theme from #2, what about inserts that use activated carbon a 'la TruTune to get the air to behave a bit more linearly in the tire to control the reboundin' rubber's oscillations. Obv would require some tinkering because I'm sure the sealant would have something to say to the carbon, but innovation starts from what ifs.