Hello everyone,

My name is Anne and I study International Business and Languages in the Netherlands.
To graduate I am doing an internship for Pilot Cycles and writing a thesis about the titanium bicycle market in the U.K.
I am looking for respondents who are interested in titanium bicycles.
As a thank you, one titanium seat post with the value of €179 will be raffled among the respondent who fill in the survey and like the Facebook page of Pilot Cycles (see button at the end of the survey).

http://fontysfeht.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cRSCnpjPLN6004d

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me and feel free to ask questions 🙂

done. interesting niche for a thesis.

Done. Nice survey, hope the thesis goes well.

solarider to the forum please….

done! Good luck.

ps. there are a few typos in the questionnaire.

Much better survey than most, more free-form text options might allow people to expand on answers better but I guess that’s what the interviews will be for…

Good luck!

Interesting survey, thanks for sharing.

FWIW (this is stw after all), I think titanium finds itself in something of a niche now, or perhaps even more than it used to be. As a bike material, Ti is sufficiently more expensive than, say, aluminium or steel, and even carbon, that it’s appealing to a relatively small proportion of cyclists. And certainly in mountain biking, the price premium is more about aesthetics and intangibles (looks good, more forgiving ride), whereas other bikes at similar prices can sell themselves more on features and function.

It’s illustrated perhaps by the fact that it’s tough to explain to non-biking friends why this (relatively simple) Ti frame is worth it, compared to, say, a carbon FS bike.

Done -added a load more Ti frame builders for you 🙂

Done – good luck.

ps. there are a few typos in the questionnaire.

how’s your dutch? 😉

And any excuse for a ti-ti-llation…

what nicko74.

I love my Ti bikes and not just because they are beautiful and I’m a vane poser but because they ride so well.

Interesting survey. I know very little of Pilot Cycles.

Edit, just looked at website, oh dear what have I done!

I know very little of Pilot Cycles.

he real thesis is on guerrilla advertising under cover of thesis research. It gets really meta.

he real thesis is on guerrilla advertising under cover of thesis research. It gets really meta.

well you have to like on social media to get put into the seatpost draw…

Some clumsily constructed questions even taking translation into account. I’ve bought a Ti bike via the web but I have to answer how a company could convince me to buy Ti via the web.

One factor I’d include is warranty. I reckon Ti has the highest failure rate of any material and wouldn’t consider a Ti frame with anything less than a lifetime warranty. I know there is a lot of love for Tripsters here, but 1850 quid for the V2 without a fork, built in the far east and with a ~2 year warranty (website FAQ says 3, but frame PDF says 1) is laugh out loud funny. More so as V1s are starting to crack.

vane poser

mt’s work, earlier

good lord Stoner, whoever foisted those monstrosities of a titanium fork on you is clearly deranged. Are you using them for a bet? 🙂

over 5yrs on them and I still havent won the bet yet 😉

But makes the previous two owners look a right pair of vane poseurs …

Marketing exercise. I’m oot.

Did survey – no way I’m liking you on Facebook to win the seatpost.

god, there are some grumpy feckers on here. You miserable gits dont deserve titanium, it should be for lovely fluffy people who are kind to kittens and puppies.

you should bloody ride hi-ten steel from apollo

Nothing to do with being grumpy tazzy, I’m pretty zen at the moment. Just dislike dishonesty.

😀 My dutch is not as good as it used to be, thanks for asking 🙂

In the Netherlands, it is common to do your graduation thesis in cooperation with a company. Nothing to do with ”a marketing exercise”

In the Netherlands, it is common to do your graduation thesis in cooperation with a company. Nothing to do with ”a marketing exercise”

Perhaps you could explain why folk have to ‘like’ a company on Facebook to be in with a chance of winning a seat post? It’s marketing and you’re being disingenuous.

cinnamon girl – can you write a survey so we can criticise it? I don’t understand why you click on survey threads since all you do is barge in, say how shit the survey is then refuse to do it.

I don’t meet the requirements for the survey unfortunately (but, hey, at least I was told that rather than filling it out and it being a waste of everyone’s time!).

Well first of all, It’s not me who is raffling the titanium seat post, it is Pilot Cycles, the company itself.
They decide who is having a chance to win a seat post, that is not a decision I can make for them.
Secondly I don’t think it is disingenuous as I explained that I am doing a thesis for Pilot Cycles and told you right away that you have to like the Facebook page to have a chance to win the titanium seat post.

I just liked Pilot cyles on facebook rather than clicking link at the end of the survey

CAN I STILL WIN THE SEATPOST PLEASE!

cinnamon girl – can you write a survey so we can criticise it? I don’t understand why you click on survey threads since all you do is barge in, say how shit the survey is then refuse to do it.

I’d happily complete a survey if they’d asked, for example, what are people looking for in a Ti frame, how important is it for thru-axles front and rear, dropouts for using as an ss, what tubing size for chainstays etc. Just feeling that surveys are not interested in a customer’s wants and needs.

A ‘survey’ is not a marketing exercise where an assortment of q’s are designed to plug <insert name of bike company> and ‘bribe’ folk to complete said survey by ‘liking’ (what does that actually mean?) a company they’ve never heard of with a chance of winning a seat post. Also believe it’s out of order to ask your age.

Not convinced that responses received are representative of the bike buying public especially when it takes longer than a couple of minutes to complete. Non-Facebook users are discriminated against, rolls eyes. I lost the will to live reading the q’s, too wordy and too many.

no Facebook button at end of survey. Maybe because I didn’t use my Facebook email address. Found them and liked them though.

Done! & good luck with the thesis Anne!

I hope it’s a 27.2mm seatpost after all that

“Unfortunately you don’t meet the requirements of the survey. Thank you for your time and effort.” 😀

Do I still get a chance to win the seatpost?

FWIW, I did the survey and didn’t even bother doing the Facebook thing.

I think cinnamon girl is missing the point. Perhaps they didn’t ask about axles because the purpose wasn’t to ask you what you thought of axles bit of the material. Asking your age is crucial. Which age group is buying Ti and which ones aren’t. Which age groups have heard of which brands, etc.

As for the questions being too wordy…..rather that then so general as to be meaningless.

CG is correct about the marketing. Anyone asking for FB likes by giving stuff away is marketing, they need the likes to boost their search position.

you should bloody ride hi-ten steel from apollo

It has it’s place, I suspect it is not here though.

@crashtestmonkey great picture 🙂

don’t understand all this facebook marketing thing, I know a lot about vanes though.

That’s not a ti-ti vane poser –

(needs a skateboard IMO)

I want to thank everyone who filled in my survey. Almost 300 surveys have been filled in and it has been a major help for my research!
The winner of the titanium seat post is Matt Atkinson, congratulations.