Charge bikes the biggest marketing BS since Howies?

Discuss

Just been looking round their site and it seems a lot of hype and fashion based nonsense , selling a prescripted alternative fakenger lifestyle.
Saying that ive never ridden any of there bikes so prove me wrong…

Nothing beats Howies for BS

Rapha run them pretty close

Swobo seems to be similar

yeah i bought a Hlogo t shirt from them in bike 96 i think, they were one of the early “lifestyle” brands so at least they were slightly original but in the last 2 years it gone of the scale.

I’m a fan of swobo but i can see your point. Looks like its Ronhills and Royal Robbins for me . is that the style police i hear?

Find the Ellsworth site very annoying to.

This the same charge bikes I know? That sell the ridiculously cheap and good saddle?

They always seem much unlike these brands like Howies to me, but what BS they are!

Wooah dude I’m sooo getting a fixed geared bike ‘cos liek I’ll be sooo conected to it, not like with gears.

He heee

It’s prescribed not prescripted. Unless you mean pre-scripted.

steve you can only get get a fixie if you live in London earn £20,000 plus own a pair of sidi’s, a chrome bag and some swerve jeans.

sorry prescribed 😀

Don’t knock the fashionistas. They’ll pay over the odds for a good bike which helps the bike industry, and then shortly after, it’ll be the wrong colour and we uncool people can pick it up at a bargain price.

Agreed. A necessary part of the food chain. Fun to laugh at too.

what does fakenger mean

Have you looked on the Trek site? Surely they are trying to do what all bike companies do. Sell an image?

A fake messenger. bike, bag and a job in corporate accounts. 😀 google it

But i hold no mallice were all cyclists after all and i havebeen guilty of following fashions

OK, so much of their site is this sort of utter tosh;

But then they make some good bikes, sponsor some top riders (apart from the fixietw@s, may their spokes break in to a thousand pieces) and are doing a lot to support grassroots racing, especially locally to the SW and Wiltshire area.

Fair play as i said i have never ridden their bikes and was out to be proved wrong. Maybe i should go for a test ride but only if that abi girl comes with me

The thing is, alternative styles are subscribed to by various people. The fact that you don’t subscribe to a particular style does not mean that it is any less relevant or desirable; it just means that it is different to your chosen style.

Charge have chosen a marketing policy that they believe will work for them. They’ve probably looked beyond just aiming for the minority group within cycling that may be called Mountainbikers; perhaps some of us on here need to recognise that people use bikes for more than just mountainbiking.

It doesn’t really matter what bikes people ride or what they wear. Does it…?

Anything that comes out of Radstock can’t be all bad.

Abi Greenaway…mmmmm.

Ha ha. Very good. There are many sides to the fashion police.

Well the saddles are good and cheap and I got mine by chance before all the good reviews came out.

I think Charge have done well. It must be a major marketing problem to elbow up to the bar to compete with the big boys like Kona/Trek/Cannondale whose marketing budgets must be massive and who are familiar to all bike people. I dont blame Charge for being skilled or vigourous in thier marketing or exploting whatever is reasonable. What I respect them for is that they have stayed within a reasonable price braket for thier stuff and its decent quality as far as I am aware.

I have much less patience for Howies and other rip off price brands who are not only greedy in thier pricing, but do everything they can to promote pure snobbery as a desireable quality in a person.

The old Merlin (Ti builders, not the shop) would have had all of those pretenders beat. I seem to remember they introduced one of their road bikes with the words “You’re a predator, darting this way and that…” or something like that.

perhaps some of us on here need to recognise that people use bikes for more than just mountainbiking.

NEVER! 👿

if i had some spare cash for a commute bike i’d probably get a charge, seem like good bikes, however i’d probably still have it in years to come even if it was deeply uncool (which it will be)

“Maybe i should go for a test ride but only if that abi girl comes with me“

congratulations, you’ve just become a victim of their marketing, oh the irony

🙂

😀 [But i hold no mallice were all cyclists after all and i have been guilty of following fashions .]

I suppose my rant was more about the sale of “lifestyles” rather than at charge themselves, i was just looking at their site and it was the straw that broke the cammels back. If i was a company i would do the same, Howies and the like have done a brilliant job at creating demand where none (or little) existed before. I saw an article that said that it was one of the 10 most recession proof bussiness in the uk or something see Wiki. For this to be true the demand for the products would have to be very inelastic a result of constant demand for their products despite its high price and lower disposable incomes. Only time will tell.

So maybe my real rant is about people who buy into these lifestyle brands…
( i own 3 bits of howies, a swobo tshirt, and about to build a 1×8 commuter) just so you know

I think they’ve got it pretty much spot on. They know their market well and they’ve found their niche. Just because the brand doesn’t appeal to the masses doesn’t mean it’s failing. Just have a look around London and the amount of Charge S/S bikes doing the rounds. For many it’s a percieved cool way to follow the latest fashion trend and get into biking. More people on bikes can’t be a bad thing can it?

Today’s Charge riders might be the On-One, Cotic, Dialled Bikes rider of the future – you never know!

Interesting discussion. Not quite sure what to say, but as the designer, marketing guy, and mtb enthusiast/geek I do like reading your thoughts.

Nick@Charge

Howies is the biggest marketing hype. Charge bikes is no more BS than i’ve seen on other cycling mfrs. websites. just because they sell off the peg fixed bikes doesn’t make them hype.

Anyway fakenger is an attitude – not the bike.

I was thinking of getting a charge SS for my commute. 😕

Don’t let this thread stop you Cuckoo….

I think there’s a fairly good balance on their site. OK the style stuff does nothing for me, but I did read the (spellcheck) Ruta Del Sol (or something)article and that’s right up my passage.

The Ti Duster is a fine bit of kit as is the saddle. And heir guys & gals seem good enough at events.
At least the sites not dull. Personally the worst site IMO is Coves, totally lacking in info and always seems out of date.

I have to say that I like Charge products, although maybe I’m biased as I sell them and the company is local to me, I get the feeling they aren’t in it for the money. Sure profit has to be made but these guys do genuinely enjoy biking and do good things for the local community.

So Nick, any chance you could make a duster frame to accomodate longer travel forks?
My Revs really need to be wound back out to 140mm 😉

Looks like a bike company ran by someone with a bit of an eye for good graphics and marketing. Nothing wrong with that… a bit of poncy imagery and nice typefaces keep us designers in a job, and buying bikes… again, back to the foodchain!

I really like the look of their stuff, nice effort and though put into the style… looks unique to me. Miles better that the design/branding of some of the main brands, Kona, specialized etc. although Trek are shaping up well – cool design and marketing may be regarded as wrong by the cynical, but it helps us chose – life would be boring if everything looked the same – and I am sure a well informed biker can see through the glossiness and buy what appeals, image is all part of our game, it keeps the cycle industry moving – I am sure we will all laugh at white forks and bars as much as purple q/r’s next year! Money will change hands shops will be in business.

I have much less patience for Howies and other rip off price brands who are not only greedy in thier pricing, but do everything they can to promote pure snobbery as a desireable quality in a person.

Howies promotes snobbery? How? Personally, anyone familiar with their end of season sales over the life of the company will recognise a lot of the cheap but comfy clothes in my wardrobe. Great clothes to wear again and again and again…

As for Charge, they really push the boat out with the marketing don’t they? Whatever is hot they are on it, currently that seems to be web video ads. I don’t see this as a bad thing myself, all bike companies have to do marketing to survive, never mind grow. It’s a very different approach to, say, the “Nike Catalogue” glossiness of Trek, or the “bah-humbug” of On-One, but each to their own. Marketing is essential, it often grates if it misses the mark (or just as likely hits the mark but that mark isn’t you), but it is essential.

Just had a look at their website, can’t see a lot of BS myself.

Maybe I’m not so finely attuned to the subtle signals that you’ve picked up on – but it just looks like a nice, well-designed website selling interesting bikes and products to me.

They make their Duster out of Tange Prestige too, respect is due!

i got a charge duster, and love it. I was sold a frame that turned out to b faulty after 6 months. Started getting chain suck and turns out the bb was slightly out. Charge or distributer replaced the frame FOC. Fair play to them, i am sure they didnt want to but they did. I am considering upgrading in the future to Ti Duster frame. By the way I run revelations and they handle well. Not sure about all the lifestyle thing, they make good solid bikes that do the job well, its a british company and they are not some massive corporate. If you like the bikes and they match your budget, buy one! Sod the lifestyle crap!