Toe curling 650b marketing guff.

I admire Giants strategy of ‘up to this point we have been selling you junk that we don’t intend to ever sell again’.

In the style of

650b Coming all over your trails…

The last time I heard somebody telling us that science tells them something they sell is the bestest and only one that will work properly it was a guy called Steve telling us that users would have to file down their fingers to use a tablet under 10″ and anybody selling one would be an idiot.

maths

Some awful examples of tyre to rim logo alignment.

God he is a bell end.

Giant can get bent.

On the plus side, if you ever play the guy at poker, he has quite the tell.

*stares off into the middle distance*

Edit: I should really bookmark this video for when 28.3 becomes the future next year, but I really don’t give a shit.

Jesus you would at least think the manufacturers would believe the bull they are sprouting, but not one of them came across as actually believing in what they were saying!

Not very PC either, bikes aimed at short arses and bikes aimed at lanky gits. How very sizeist

Has any one bought a Giant 29er recently…oops

Nothing beats the trails coming alive

the woman at 1:19 seems much more sensible. however, if treks had ditched 26″, you know that the story would be the same as the giant douche.

That guy from Cube comes across as making the most sense!

The Giant guy next year:

*We really pushed 27.5 last year, but our marketing department has told us that was a mistake, as we are certain that oblong wheels are going to be the future….”

That guy from Cube comes across as making the most sense!

He was the diamond in the rough.

I wanted each interview to end with a man walking into shot and striking each of them roughly across the chops with a huge wet fish, before then walking off shaking his head and tutting.

Also if for some reason in the future we ever see the bike companies doing a u turn saying they were wrong and the 26″ is in fact the wheel size of the future and not Infact finished. They should all do at least a five stretch in the big house.

That’ll learn them.

The last time I heard somebody telling us that science tells them something they sell is the bestest and only one that will work properly it was a guy called Steve telling us that users would have to file down their fingers to use a tablet under 10″ and anybody selling one would be an idiot.

Then they went and dominated the tablet market….

Very true Jamie, just pointing out that quoting Maths/Science/millions of hours of research is normally just marketing BS to promote what you want to sell.

Either that or the next wheel size is going to be 10″ 8)

For other examples look at the finish dishwasher tablet ads, the ones from 10 years ago apparently did everything and left everything sparkling, next year the new one leaves everything er sparkling just like the last ones which were perfect then – and thats an industry I used to work in 🙂

I hope somebody plays that back to him in a couple of years when Giant decide something else is amazing.

That guy from Cube comes across as making the most sense!

Really? I just thought he was spouting the 650bs crap as much as the Giant guy, it just wasn’t Americanised.

The woman from Trek is bang on. It’s ironic that after years of pretty bad, OTT marketing from Trek and Specialized (who didn’t really need to as the products were great) they’re now the two companies who are making some of the least marketing orientated bikes on market. They’ve both held out on the 650bs longer than anyone.

Giant have always had well built, average riding bikes (due to total tools in R&D) but lately the marketing cool aid is getting really embarrassing. Someone needs to get on damage control there. I doubt even the most latest and greatest yanks aren’t buying it.

Giant have always had well built, average riding bikes (due to total tools in R&D) but lately the marketing cool aid is getting really embarrassing.

The most common reason most people give round here for buying a Giant round here – it was cheaper

26″ isn’t dead, it’ll remain in the cheap HT market

That sounds dead to me, they’ll just be BSO’s from sports direct etc

[quoteHas any one bought a Giant 29er recently…oops[/quote]

Yep i bought two, both really good bikes too which confuses me even more why they are so aggressive towards 26 and 29??

Im waiting to hear what Specialized have to say on the matter,that will be interesting..

The lady from Trek and the guy from Hargroves made the most sense on that vid in my opinion

Yep i bought two, both really good bikes too which confuses me even more why they are so aggressive towards 26 and 29??

Im waiting to hear what Specialized have to say on the matter,that will be interesting..
Why because they want a bit of market domination, I’m not exactly holding my breath for Specialized to say anything other than extensive research, testing and development has lead us to develop the bikes we are developing and that [b][i]insert what we are trying to sell[/i][/b] is the best thing in the world.

I think the Giant guy was trying to say “by putting all our bike on the same wheel size we can achieve a greater economy of scale, screw our suppliers a bit more with the prospect of suppying our whole demand, and make another 50 bucks per bike as a result….”

Perhaps the 27.5 should be marketed as an “average” bike with the 26″ and 29″ at either end of the scale….

Perhaps the 27.5 should be marketed as an “average” bike with the 26″ and 29″ at either end of the scale….

^^this x1000

I’ve said it on here before but if you really look into the reason why 650b came along it was only ever a pure marketing decision from companies who missed the 29″ train. Trek/Fisher, Specialized, were selling a lot of bikes in the US and had the momentum and R&D to engineer bikes for every category. Everyone else was playing catch-up and rather than fight they simply moved the goal posts. Brilliant really.

For once you have to give it to Specialized. They have mostly alloy rear triangles on their bikes, they have pots of money, they already have the best 29’ers, so why not just change the entire 26″ line that they continue to produce alongside the 29″ bikes to 650b? Well they just didn’t think 650b offered enough advantage over 26″. Which IMO is totally the case.

I lasted 2:51 before I wanted to hurt kittens.

Next person who hands a mike to a marketing nerd gets a kick in the nuts

I’m predicting 5 pages, minimum on this one.

I’ve got a shed full of 26″ tyres. I’m not changing until they’re all worn out! 😀

… and the guy from Hargroves made the most sense on that vid in my opinion

Really? The taller rider on a 16″ frame or above will suit a 29 inch wheel.

Also, the Giant guy saying 29ers are dead must pain all those who were taken in by the previous industry BS. Now I’m not arguing that 29ers are no good per se. It’s just that there must be a lot of people who just bought one thinking they would be better for the type of riding they were doing and they found that they weren’t.

industry BS

Sums this up well.

One bloke REALLY should have ironed his shirt, won’t be buying one of those bikes. Shoddy standards.

That made for painful watching.

So Giant spent 2 years testing and evaluating 26, 650B and 29 and decided that 650b is the right wheel for everybody. Well clearly they got some time frames wrong as they have had 29 as the right wheel for the last year.

Every interview on that video was terrible and marketing bull. I don’t think one of them believed what they were saying.

Tis a shame that marketing will most likely decide the wheel size for the masses.

Oh, it’s from bikeradar. Ignore the shill bastards.

so which one was Bikeind?

so which one was Bikeind?

None, Bikeind is so bigtime, he gets to send his shop staff to Japan to test Shimano 11 speed MTB before product managers for some of the largest bike manufacturers in the world.

On the plus side, anyone with a high end 26″ bike atm should hang on to it, top of the range 26″ will become so rare that the value on the second hand market will soar.

I’ve said it on here before but if you really look into the reason why 650b came along it was only ever a pure marketing decision from companies who missed the 29″ train.

No, you heard it from the Giant bloke in the video 29 wasn’t right for some markets – By that what he means is that although it took off in the states, 29 fell flat on its arse in the rest of the world, Europe in particular – 650 came about to force people into change because they wouldn’t buy in to 29 by choice.

by putting all our bike on the same wheel size we can achieve a greater economy of scale, screw our suppliers a bit more with the prospect of suppying our whole demand, and make another 50 bucks per bike as a result….”

I did always suspect that one of the beauties of 29 for big manufacturers was that all the machines, jigs, wheel building machines etc were coincidentally the same size as road bikes, making it nice and easy to transfer production between the two

29 fell flat on its arse in the rest of the world

Hmmm not quite sure about that, I see more big wheels than tiny here in the NWAlps & trail centres/natural trails in the UK when I’ve been riding
Even the bike to work only riders are now on them (prob 40% of those I see in the mornings) I grant you this might be down to the lack of 26″ in the shops now rather than personal preference

That guy from Cube comes across as making the most sense!

He did say “Its not such a dramatic change as going from 26″ to 29″, its kinda some middle ground” which certainly cleared the whole debate up for me. If only I had managed to work that out myself….

Did the guy from Storck say they have a bike for every porpoise? What size wheels are best for dolphins then?

Really? The taller rider on a 16″ frame or above will suit a 29 inch wheel.

Also, the Giant guy saying 29ers are dead must pain all those who were taken in by the previous industry BS.

I am really annoyed with Giants stance on this, at the end of the day i’ve bought Giant Bikes for the past 10 years, which eqautes to 6 Road and mountain bikes. I love the way Giant bikes ride and they are good value..BUT im really p1ssed off with the attitude of the company now with this 650b format, and plan to write a very to the point e-mail to Giant UK to express my anger / dissapointment. If i dont get a satisfactory response ill never buy a Giant Bike again. SIMPLE AS!!

, and plan to write a very to the point e-mail to Giant UK to express my anger / dissapointment. If i dont get a satisfactory response ill never buy a Giant Bike again. SIMPLE AS!!

Are you Arnold J Rimmer after a polymorph attack?