powerbands-do they work?

just signed upto be the local stockist and wondered if any of the collective had used em….

we’ve had a bit of interest so far.

No, of course they don’t.

Snake oil for gullible muppets.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wtf-are-these

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-use-one-of-these

If you wear two at once, do the magical powers cancel each other out?

NOOOO! dont do it!

Did you know that they’ve removed the word “gullible” from the latest edition of the OED?

of course they don’t.

don’t be a muppet.

powerband debunking

Do they work?

It’s a hologram on a plastic bracelet. Of course they don’t work.

I suppose if you’re based near Glastonbury this could be a nice little earner, and have a handy little mobile caravan so when the next generation of nuclear power stations are built you can go and sell to the protestors.

For me, nope, don’t do wristbands and couldn’t see the point of this one inparticular.

I can’t believe the question is even being asked.

The problem with all these things is that if you believe they’ll make you a better rider then they will.

Even if, objectively, you’re no better than you were before you started using them.

So, as a retailer, should you be selling something that will make no discernable difference to how someone rides but make them feel better about riding anyway?

I guess if that criteria were applied to all products there’d be a lot less stock in shops but I think you need to be very careful about how you sell them and to whom – wacking a bracelet on and heading for the nearest balck run on a supermarket special is probably going to end in tears for a lot of people.

i thought a major rule of retailing was “sell what your customers want

if thats turns out to be a rare baked bean id sell it….

If you sell them I’ll respect you a whole lot less. It’s a placebo dressed up with deliberately fraudulent demonstration techniques. It isn’t based on selling to an existing belief system – it’s a marketing campaign designed to deliberately trick the customer into becoming a believer. Whether they benefit the gullible or not to sell them knowing they are nothing but a placebo for purely commercial gain is immoral.

I think you have to balance that against;

“Be honest about what you sell.”

though?

I’ve saved money by just sticking the hologram off a disney DVD to my forehead.

Steve Peat has nothing on me now.

just signed upto be the local stockist and wondered if any of the collective had used em….

we’ve had a bit of interest so far.

That’s great news!
You clearly have a strong customer base of retards that you should be able to foist all sorts of mindless tat that even a drunken gibbon which has only just mastered the art of using a stick to pick up ants would still instantly realise was pretty bent product.
Let the good times roll! 🙂

i thought a major rule of retailing was “sell what your customers want

Tempered also with a ‘do i feel like a douche selling this or not’ mentality though.

If answer is a:: Yes, then stop immediately,
If answer is b:: No then play on.

(hint : answer is always A)

I have to agree with Grumpy Mark on this issue ( 🙂 ).

If you’re selling something, then you’re in the position to offer advice on the product if the customer asks. I can’t stand all the bullshit that surrounds marketing, and when I worked in retail I was always honest about stuff, even if it did mean the odd lost sale. I considered my integrity to be more important than my employer’s profit margins. I regularly had people thanking me for my honesty, and felt I gained more respect from others that way.

Funny; you bike shop bods are often on here moaning about customers not showing you respect and stuff, yet here’s someone seemingly willing to lie to people in order to make money. 🙄

Granted, a lot of retail is about embellishing the truth, selling myths etc, but something like this is akin to deceit, imo.

Yup Elfinsafety,
If I went into a shop and saw them selling power-bands I’d assume that either the owner is an idiot, or he thinks his customers are idiots.
Neither of which would give me much incentive to buy anything.

If you wear two at once, do the magical powers cancel each other out?

Nah, it’s like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters.

If I was a shop owner and customers kept asking me for Powerbands and I kept telling them I thought they didn’t work and were just a placebo and the customers STILL wanted them, THEN I might consider selling them. Just as in the past I often sold customers much more expensive bikes, kit, etc than I reckoned they’d ever need/benefit from but told them so and they still insisted (yes, I realise it’s not quite the same but near enough to make sense to me). Otherwise, it’s just being dishonest.

If I stopped shopping at places that sold these I’d have to abandon CRC which seems a step too far, tbh.

My physio’s sent an email around saying they were selling them – I probably won’t use them again now.

Placebo

I have recently seen one on the wrist of a race-winning employee in my local enormo-brand bike superstore.

I can’t believe he would wear one just to sell them in the shop. And he really honestly is a great and fast rider. So they must work, non? 😆

If they made one small enough for my dinkle i would buy one mind. AWESOME POWER HOLOGRAM MEGA DINKLE!

Lots of pro riders are using them, dissapointingly.

Saw Craig Bellamy with a pink one on the other day too 🙄

The placebo effect shouldn’t be under rated, neither should the power of thinking you are going to win (not in itself, but measured against the effect of thinking you have no chance of winning).

Many sports people are very superstitious, lucky pants and all that – surely this is the same thing ??

They don’t work because of some hocus magnet hologram rubbish, but because people think they are going to work, and it is their perception that counts.

Hence they work.

P.S thebikechain – “small enough” Really ??

People don’t sell lucky pants claiming that the cotton has been infused with PowerSchlurm which is proven to increase speed, concentration and power by 110% and then demonstrate this by using tricks…

I strap one of theses:

to my chest, it gives me the following:

better balance
awesome skillz
the ability to walk through walls
a sense of smugness over the non-believers who obviously are too narrow minded to try it

its a bit like crystal therapy, or angel therapy, or tarot cards

Jamie – Member
Nah, it’s like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters.

total protonic reversal 😯

One of my world domination plans involves selling lucky pants.

I think Wayne Rooney wears one. They must be good!

The powerband on my old RD 350 LC used to work fine!

I found that trying to extend the power band on my old B18c4 was a costly ut ultimately worthwhile venture. Not only did it offer better tractability but when I went VTEC YO! I could cause tectonic shuffling within a 35mile radius!

Clubber +1

The difference between this placebo and other placebos is that the marketing policy of the company is to deliberately trick you into believing in it with fake demonstrations of the power of the bands in the shop.

http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1102-unbalancing-the-power.html

If you still sell them after reading and watching those two links then you sir are a scoundrel! So there!

I’d watch that last bit, Mark considering some of your advertisers…

I feel rather strongly about this actually. I know they are sold widely. I like to think that making people aware of the trickery and underhand techniques employed in selling them may make some retailers think twice about continuing to stock them.

Well said Mark. I feel really disappointed at some of the big retailers selling this garbage.

In fairness though Mark, as much as deceit and dishonesty should be frowned upon; a fool and his money…?

I just wish I’d thought up something like this. I’d imagine whoever’s behind it is laughing as they watch their bank balance grow….

Fair play to you Mark – I was disapointed to see cycle retailers starting to sell them with no real critical assessment of them.