I.ve read with interest the various comments made by
more experienced listers than i and the view i hold is
a very simplistic one, based i suppose on selling big
ticket german cars, there will always be dreamers and
OWNERS for any quality machinery.
When one sees at first hand the craftmanship and
engineering so evident from the pics which you guys
who attended put up for all of us to see [thanks] you
ask yourself who actually buys these machines?
I've always found that the hardest sale in a big
ticket car deal is a guy who actually has the cash in
readies or in his account to spend, the easiest is the
guy who wants the image and can just about scrape the
money together. so, in the bike market well everyone
has a bike do they not? well in Ulster everyone and
their dog has a bike! so ?
We list guys then differ, i mean us guys who think
nothing of going out for a 70miler on a sunday or on
our day off through the week.. the main and very
positive difference is we are CYCLISTS the rest have a
bike, they may have it to nip around the block or to
kid themselves they are keeping/getting fit. the main
criteria is that if the bike costs more than a used
car they REGARD US AS MADMEN.
Craftsmen like Bayliss etc could Never sell to this
market and those of us cyclists,not me, who can afford
his machines are extremely lucky i'll bet 60% of those
who attended the show were there to see what they
could not afford and if they could, they would not
purchase anyway!. so its a very narrow market any way
you look at it, hand built cycles either as framesets
or complete machines must be as difficult to place in
the sales market as exotic vehicles, there are the
lusters and there are the guys who can afford them,
but, when they look at their lifestyles outside of the
glamour and kudos of owing one, the costs of
maintenance the theft risk, the insurance costs well
that takes quite a few more out of the net. and can
they drive them? or use in a world where 60 is the
normal mph.allowed ..
Then i ask the question and its the same whether its
quality custom bicycles , exotic cars ,savile row
tailored suits or custom made boots or shoes, most of
these are on millionaires shopping list all except the
bike because most don't ride and couldn't justify the
cost in aNy sort of mindset EXCEPT IF THEY ARE LIKE
US!!! CYCLISTS. we are in the minority we love bikes
to the rest of the population we are nutters, i mean
who spends 10000 dollars on a bike . a cyclist , thats
who..and sharp well heeled farsighted people who see
the value in OWNING a modern CUSTOM machine which
will likely appreciate!!
Willie Carton from Coleraine N.Ireland