[Closed] Opening a can of worm: Is there too many bike brand?

No. More brands = more choice

I see no worms here

More brands = more competition

No, competition is a good thing. juan what is your reasoning for saying there are too many brands? Are you a communist 😉

Why would this post 'open a can of worms'? Is it contentious in some way, if it is am I missing something.

never mind that, what were those boots you are wearing in the murder mystery weekend pics on facebook all about????

That's got to be one mutha of a worm...

Well I think there is too many lets say you want a FS with 110-120 mm of travel how many are you going to have?
Let say I want a steel HT? Same too many it can't be good for the trade.
Too much with very little difference one to another...
What are the differences between a trak a kona a veneta a cove and a turner.
None, I am sure that none of us will spot the difference if we were to do a blind test.

I think life would be much happier if less bike brand existed.

LOL @ rocket dog I was playing the role of a gay german officer hence me wearing charlotte's boots (you have to hate facebook sometimes)

But the market dictates how many brands exist, if there is no demand for a product then it won't be supplied.

I suppose if you suffer from Decidophobia then too many brands is a bad thing. 😆

What a great idea. Of course it would be easier if there were just three or four bike brands, just like we only have three or four big supermarkets to choose from!

In fact, it would also be even easier for us as consumers if the bikes were made by Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and maybe Waitrose (for the bike snobs) and sold in their stores.

Why stop there though? The difficulty of choosing a bike is nothing next to choosing tyres. Let's ban everything except High Rollers, Mud X and Racing Ralph rear/Nobby Nic front.

Chakaping 5 years ago they were less brand as there is now and that never stopped anyone to ride...

what a weird question

[i]5 years ago they were less brand as there is now[/i]

So how many were there 5 years ago and how many now?

"No. More brands = more choice"
"But the market dictates how many brands exist, if there is no demand for a product then it won't be supplied."

Just like the car industry???
The tv suppliers
The coffee shops
woolworths
photo developers
"niche" clothes shops
sports clothes/footwear shops

Saturation point has to be reached at some point

With the credit crunch we are all going to be dressing like the Taliban with head scarfs being the next WHAT? on here!!!!

If you could only get one make of biscuit, what one would it be ?

chocolate digestive

chocolate hob-nob

Saturation point has to be reached at some point

No

They've all got their differences which should be enough to help you decide what would suit what you had in mind
(price, weight, angles/geometry/handling, suspension design/ride quality, material (for hardtails), designed fork capability ..)

Theres always a few reviews kicking about to help you find out if they're any good (for your riding), asking on here what people reckon of them or you can Demo some of them
If/when theres a couple of bikes that still fit the bill, choose between where you can get it from, whether you like the shape, the colours available ..

Researching and narrowing down which bike/frame to buy is surely all part of the fun of MTBing? Well for me it is anyhow.

ah, that's why she wasn'r wearing shoes, lol

Aaaah, is this juan's monthly dig at Turner and Ventana owners for not buying a Kona instead?

😉

funkynick no not at all I have used the other thread for that 😉
It's a question I have asked myself
Actually I would like to have chipp to answer that as well, is it doable for them to have in one mag a test of ALL the 110-120 FS for example or ALL the steel hardtail available or all the 150-150 FS bikes.

And if you are a LBS how do you do? You surely can't stock every brand.

when you're a communist everyone should have the same bike.

[i]is it doable for them to have in one mag a test of ALL the 110-120 FS for example or ALL the steel hardtail available or all the 150-150 FS bikes.[/i]

If they didn't then I wouldn't buy it and I don't know many who would.

either "are there too many brands?"

or

"is there a "too-many" brand"
(in which case, the answer is no)

D-

when you're a communist everyone should have the same bike.
Be more worried about the Taliban
They beat the commies and are winning atm

So how many would be too many then?

Strange question?

If there were too many brands, then some would disappear. Simple.

I made a shortlist of bikes I was seriously interested in last year. Got up to 23. Crazy. Took me a year to choose one.
The competition is great but I do wonder if we have reached saturation point.

More brands = more competition. Either in pricing / price positioning, or in continual improvement in design and technology. Better for us in both cases. What's not to like?

[i]"is it doable for them to have in one mag a test of ALL the 110-120 FS for example or ALL the steel hardtail available or all the 150-150 FS bikes."[/i]

What do you think? Of course they couldn't
How many steel (MTB?) hardtails do you think there are?
Cotic do 3, On-one do 5, genesis do 4, dialled bikes do 4, just to name a few manufacturers. When you consider just how many other manufacturers make steel hardtails it'll become clear it'd fill more than a magazine

Apart from the Specialized Enduro and Scott Genious I can't think of any other 150/150mm bikes

110-120mm full sussers?
Spesh FSR XC, Stumpjumper FSR, Trek Fuel EX, Gary Fisher Hifi, Marin Mount Vision, Giant Trance X, Kona one20, Cannondale Rush, Scott Spark, Lapierre X-control, Chris Boardman FS, Diamondback Sortie, Whyte E-120, Cotic Hemlock, Titus Moto-lite, Ellsworth Epiphany, Intense Spider 2, Nicolai Helius, Turner Sultan, Niner RIP 9, Maverick Matic, ..

and theres a fair number of manufacturers that don't do a bike in this one specific travel range [but do full sussers with nearly similar travel], like Orange, Commencal, Felt, Merida, Norco, Santa Cruz, Yeti, Ibis, Ventana, Voodoo, Cove, Pace, Rocky Mountain, Salsa, Morewood, Pipedream, Viper ..

Again, way too many to fit in one magazine? And what about 100mm bikes? And 130mm ones? Why are they so different to the 110 and 120mm ones?

For the steel hardtails, whats wrong with a similar aluminium one? or a Titanium one?

And the 150/150 bikes, why not test 140/150mm, 140/140, 160/150, 160/160mm bikes? They're pretty similar?

Trying to get in a sample of each from every manufacturer would be a logistical nightmare as well

99% of all bikes are made in factories in the Far East, anyway. Just painted different colors, and have different brands stickers on them. Ask On-One! They're just customers of a massive company, that churns out the same stuff for loads of other smaller companies. All the rest is just marketing.

The other 1% is made up of all the little independent bike companies, the custom builders etc, who are the real innovators and thinkers. Sadly, it's all too easy for a massive company to pinch/buy the design, mass-produce it using cheap labour, and pump out far greater numbers. S'why having a 'niche' bike is cooler than having a Spesh, Trek, Giant or Marin. Will cost loads more, for more or less the same thing, mind.