Don’t be influenced by so called bling brands as they don’t ride any better and in a lot of cases, not as well made as one of the big brands. Get out there and try some in either wheel size.
I see your point here, and have thought the same, a lot.
Big brands have millions to spend on R&D, and a huge wealth of experience and knowledge to work from.
Smaller, boutique brands by comparison, just don’t have the same resources, but they generally take the better bits from big brands, the bits that work and people like, what they like themselves, then package it into their own bike designs. Theses type of bikes are generally more expensive, it’s expectable, just economies of scale, so they need to be blingy and seem exclusive to sell and make a profit for the manufacturer.
Whether they ride as well as the big brands bikes is subjective I guess, maybe they do, maybe they don’t, perhaps you have to mess about with them and put more into the setup? Big brand bikes do seem hugely capable, generally trouble free and just no fuss, they just work, brilliantly mostly.
BUT do I want to buy one – not really, I’ve demoed a few bikes lately, both big brand and more boutique/niche, they were all good, too good for me to pick holes or really judge their capabilites accurately. The big brand bikes seemed a bit soulless, workish, like driving a middle spec. VW Golf, looks nice enough, won’t offend anyone, does it’s job brilliantly, just gets everything done without fuss. Does that make me love a thing and want to use it – not really, not when it’s a toy. A commuter bike, yeah, my trailer shredder 😈 nah mate.