Re:Vanhawks (YC W15) Raises $1.6M to Help Put the Valour Sma...
by alrs on Wednesday March 04, 2015 @05:27PM
(#9147814)
In computerland, technologies trickle up. The PC, the iPhone started out at home, found a niche in business, and then took over.
With cycling, innovations trickle down from the top. Starting out with a flat-bar hybrid is not starting at the top, and seems like a really weird choice. Hybrids are marketed to beginners, or mountain bike people who want to train on the road with the same hand position they ride off-road.
Sofware may be "eating the world," but Asian manufacturing has been eating the cycling market for 40 years. Shimano, specifically, is a far more profitable business than any of the branding companies or manufacturers. If you aren't going after Shimano, you're fighting for scraps.
With cycling, innovations trickle down from the top. Starting out with a flat-bar hybrid is not starting at the top, and seems like a really weird choice. Hybrids are marketed to beginners, or mountain bike people who want to train on the road with the same hand position they ride off-road.
Sofware may be "eating the world," but Asian manufacturing has been eating the cycling market for 40 years. Shimano, specifically, is a far more profitable business than any of the branding companies or manufacturers. If you aren't going after Shimano, you're fighting for scraps.