Pendleton bikes at Halfords

What better way to encourage persuade girls/women into taking up cycling than to whack your name on some generic BSOs. Oh dear.

I think they look pretty cool, in an honest ‘it’s a hybrid for pottering to the shops’ kind of way.

Ok, I’m being a bit harsh with the BSO label (if only for the price!) but apart from a couple of photos it’s a pretty cynical connection.

terrahawk + 1

A track bikes not going to encourage anyone to get out and ride is it? They pretty much tick all the boxes for the kind of bikes most people want/need.

Or should she encourage people to cycle to the shops on a track bike?

Look like 90% of the bikes sold in the Netherlands and Germany.

Hardly a generic BSO. You can see the market they are trying to tap into – and fair play to them.

Good for them, and the tie up with Boardman didn’t do them any harm, did it? Might just have a look at the shares !!

Presumably there will be a promotion tour where she comes to each Halfords to open the Pendleton section?

I might just be interested in a new bike for the Mrs then 😀

It looks pretty decent for a 29er to be fair.

I think they look ideal for what they’ll be used for. There wouldn’t be much point producing a race bike when you’re about to retire. I gather they’ll be aimed squarely at Beautiful Godzilla, as described in Cyling Tribes

The Beautiful Godzilla is a particular kind of urban female cyclist who rides as though the rest of the world were created simply to yield to her. She’s generally young, good-looking and clad in expensive clothes. She also rides an old three-speed or perhaps a 10-speed or Dutch city bike, carries her handbag on the edge of her handlebars and if she has a basket it usually contains a small dog or perhaps a baguette. She’s on her mobile phone at all times and her approach to cycling in a densely populated city is a combination of self-entitlement and Mr Magoo-type dumb luck. Like any self-entitled person, she can’t imagine a car would possibly hit her, even if she’s riding against traffic and it’s coming right at her. Actually, you sort of find yourself disappointed when it doesn’t. And just like Mr Magoo would wander into a construction site and a girder would materialise right as he was about to walk off the scaffolding, the Beautiful Godzilla blithely rides through red lights and busy intersections, emerging on the other side unscathed and just as photogenic as she was when she entered it.

Why other cyclists don’t like them: They should be dead but aren’t.

Compatibility with other cyclists: Will accept deliveries from Messengers; will develop crushes on Messengers.

I realise a track bike isn’t going to sell in any great numbers OR act as a magnet to the sport but the link between VP and these is tenuous. Something halfway sporty might have.

They seem popular with real people (from BikeBiz);

Halfords has rushed the Victoria Pendleton range of bikes into stores, almost a month earlier than planned. The rush is to capitalise on what Halfords calls the “midwife effect”: TV show ‘Call the midwife’ featured actress Miranda Hart on a classic sit-up-and-scan bike.

A photoshoot of Pendleton and ‘her’ bikes was promoted on Twitter and went viral. This led to a “record number of pre-orders” for the bikes, said a statement from Halfords.

Pendleton said: “I wanted to help create a bike that you could just jump on to go down to the shops or the park without having to change into cycling kit. Most women don’t want to squeeze into Lycra before they get on a bike and I am pleased to say you can definitely wear a dress to ride these cycles.”

Halfords’ Clare Standage said: “We are not surprised by the demand for the Victoria Pendleton range. There is certain elegance about the traditional lines of a classic bike and it seems that the trend-setters are moving away from the macho, sporty look and going for a more relaxed everyday style which is perfectly epitomised by these bikes.”

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/halfords-unprecedented-demand-for-victoria-pendleton-s-bike-range/012824%5B/url%5D

Why are people having a go at her? Vicky P is understandably looking at her future after retiring from competition. So in the long term her future doesn’t lie in track missiles

But she’s a high profile, not just in the cycling media. She could potentially bow out with a home olympic gold. She’s bright. She’s understandably well-liked.

As far as I can see, she’s building on all that to continue making a living out of cycling by creating a ‘brand’*. Seems to me that she’s just using her not inconsiderable nous. And good luck to her! You never know: A few years down the line she could be as well known for her bikes as her professional career. A bit like a certain Mr Boardman

* I HATE that word

It’s a market that really needs fueled again in this country, so I say good on Halfords and VP for stoking the fire.

I realise a track bike isn’t going to sell in any great numbers OR act as a magnet to the sport but the link between VP and these is tenuous. Something halfway sporty might have.

Since they are mostly designed for non-cyclists, thats always going to be the case isn’t it?

Pick a pro-cyclist to promote them and you can complain their style of cycling has nothing to do with the bikes
Pick someone else (from the Kelly Brook genre of famous people) and you could complain they know nothing about cycling.

Think those Pendleton bikes are rebadged Dawes bikes

Pendelton

Dawes

What no helmet 🙂 😯

Introducing Helmet Hair by VP

I realise a track bike isn’t going to sell in any great numbers OR act as a magnet to the sport but the link between VP and these is tenuous. Something halfway sporty might have.

VP has successfully put her name to the Cycletta women-only Sportive rides (there were 2 last year, I think there are 7 or 8 this year) and research done on the riders who turned up at those events reckoned that about half had never done anything like that before and a lot had barely ridden a bike since leaving school.

They’re not going to go and buy a sporty bike and besides, every retired pro goes and puts their name on a race bike. Hats off to her for doing somehting different and promoting cycling as a lifestyle and a practical way of getting around.

Love the Urban Godzilla description! 🙂

Seems a good move to me. Getting a big name behind a product launch has a massive effect on sales, publicity and gives a halo effect to a brand.

Fair enough they may not be for the crowds on here, from reading several threads it’s pretty clear there is very little in the world of bikes for the people on here as most things popular or trend driven seem to get slated, but it will certainly do halfords well.

Plus it’s not like clothing or anything where volumes are massive and getting something wrong costs a lot of markdown, I imagine it’s one or two bikes per store, plenty of time to sell them, sit back and enjoy yet more good publicity. Halfords have already used every opportunity to say how well they are doing at present.

Camping in the uk, bikes instead of cars, petrol cans come the shortage etc

More people on bikes = Winning.

If Vicky wants her name on Dawes bikes, she can have it. She can do no wrong in my eyes:

Am I allowed to say ‘nice rack’?