What do you think about the bicycle market?

[ZBicyclist]

My daughter, a college junior, is seeking free advice:
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm doing an informative speech next Friday, and I was thinking
about speaking about the bicycle market. Maybe talk about why it's
doing so well, and what problems bicycles have been used to solve.
Or, should I talk about the variety of designs in bicycles? How they
can be used for transportation, weight loss, or even portable vendor
stalls? Maybe I could work that in...

Anyhow, you being an avid bicyclist and marketing researcher, I was
wondering if you had any good links or insights into this topic.
---------------------------------------------------------

Why keep this opportunity all to myself? Chime in with your
thoughts and I'll pass them along.

Said daughter is reasonably bike savvy, and owns two road bikes, a
hardtail mountain bike, and has our old Schwinn Twinn tanndem on
permanent loan.

[[email protected]]

someone wrote:

> My daughter, a college junior, is seeking free advice:
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> I'm doing an informative speech next Friday, and I was thinking
> about speaking about the bicycle market. Maybe talk about why it's
> doing so well, and what problems bicycles have been used to solve.
> Or, should I talk about the variety of designs in bicycles? How
> they can be used for transportation, weight loss, or even portable
> vendor stalls? Maybe I could work that in...

> Anyhow, you being an avid bicyclist and marketing researcher, I was
> wondering if you had any good links or insights into this topic.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------

> Why keep this opportunity all to myself? Chime in with your
> thoughts and I'll pass them along.

> Said daughter is reasonably bike savvy, and owns two road bikes, a
> hardtail mountain bike, and has our old Schwinn Twinn tandem on
> permanent loan.

Some of the "best" bicycle shops in this area are ones concerned about
repair and maintenance while the ones that make the most money are
foremost in marketing to people who religiously follow the careers of
professional racer heroes. Therefore, I think you might consider
these aspects and decide which one you want to investigate. The one
is almost entirely a marketing business in which the bicycle could
just as well be an SUV or fine clothes, while the other cultivates
trust and credibility in advice and mechanical expertise.

Mechanical expertise was once largely wheel building and drive train
adjustment, but today, as you can read in these threads, are no longer
the mainstay of the business. In a way, it's like auto shops no
longer adjusting valves and points, and replacing capacitors and a
bunch of small stuff that no one expects to fail these days.

Jobst Brandt

[Bob]

On Oct 31, 7:18*pm, "ZBicyclist" > wrote:
> My daughter, a college junior, is seeking free advice:
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> I'm doing an informative speech next Friday, and I was thinking
> about speaking about the bicycle market. Maybe talk about why it's
> doing so well, and what problems bicycles have been used to solve.
> Or, should I talk about the variety of designs in bicycles? How they
> can be used for transportation, weight loss, or even portable vendor
> stalls? Maybe I could work that in...
>
> Anyhow, you being an avid bicyclist and marketing researcher, I was
> wondering if you had any good links or insights into this topic.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Why keep this opportunity all to myself? *Chime in with your
> thoughts and I'll pass them along.
>
> Said daughter is reasonably bike savvy, and owns two road bikes, a
> hardtail mountain bike, and has our old Schwinn Twinn tanndem on
> permanent loan.

Informative speeches in college level speech classes generally run
somewhere around six minutes in length (or at least they used to ages
ago). I'd think that would be just barely enough time to contrast the
New and Old World markets with markets in the Third World and in more
developed but still emerging economies. Commuters and what we refer to
here as transportational riders might object but true transportational
*markets* (markets, not use) exist only in the second category.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
"ZBicyclist" > writes:
> My daughter, a college junior, is seeking free advice:
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> I'm doing an informative speech next Friday, and I was thinking
> about speaking about the bicycle market. Maybe talk about why it's
> doing so well, and what problems bicycles have been used to solve.
> Or, should I talk about the variety of designs in bicycles? How they
> can be used for transportation, weight loss, or even portable vendor
> stalls? Maybe I could work that in...
>
> Anyhow, you being an avid bicyclist and marketing researcher, I was
> wondering if you had any good links or insights into this topic.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Why keep this opportunity all to myself? Chime in with your
> thoughts and I'll pass them along.
>
> Said daughter is reasonably bike savvy, and owns two road bikes, a
> hardtail mountain bike, and has our old Schwinn Twinn tanndem on
> permanent loan.

She should keep her oratorio succinct and focused on
a few (five is a good number) interrelated key points.
In fact, the transcript could be structured around
those points.

The "bicycle market" as a topic can be approached from
either of two P'sOV -- that of the purveyors, and that
of the consumers. She should first select one of those,
and then stick to it without crossing over to the other POV.

The trouble with such broad topics is that they lead to
the temptation to "ramble" in various directions, thereby
losing the audience. So broad topics need to be narrowed,
structured and focused.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
Bob > writes:

> Informative speeches in college level speech classes generally run
> somewhere around six minutes in length (or at least they used to ages
> ago).

You've never had to endure the Twenty Minute Presentation, eh?

I'm sure you've had to endure a /lot/ in your profession, but
at least you've got one more (unexpected) blessing to count.

I can think of all kinds of lovely, unfortunate demises of
overhead projectors, along with the associated stoopid crinkled
transparencies and out-of-ink pens.

My favourite revenge fantasy about overhead projectors
involves a bathtub.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article >,
"ZBicyclist" > wrote:

> My daughter, a college junior, is seeking free advice:
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> I'm doing an informative speech next Friday, and I was thinking
> about speaking about the bicycle market. Maybe talk about why it's
> doing so well, and what problems bicycles have been used to solve.
> Or, should I talk about the variety of designs in bicycles? How they
> can be used for transportation, weight loss, or even portable vendor
> stalls? Maybe I could work that in...
>
> Anyhow, you being an avid bicyclist and marketing researcher, I was
> wondering if you had any good links or insights into this topic.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Why keep this opportunity all to myself? Chime in with your
> thoughts and I'll pass them along.
>
> Said daughter is reasonably bike savvy, and owns two road bikes, a
> hardtail mountain bike, and has our old Schwinn Twinn tanndem on
> permanent loan.

I think the most interesting fact about the bicycle market is that while
the greatest volume of bicycles is sold through non-specialty stores (ie
department-store bikes), at least half the bike market by dollar value
flows through specialty shops (mainly the LBS).

Breaking down the market segments might be interesting, as you might be
able to find some recent stats and see what exactly the bike market has
done over the last 3-5 years, and what kinds of bikes are suddenly
selling better.

As someone else mentioned, a talk of this nature should devote at least
a sentence or two to the third-world bicycle market. What it lacks in
monetary value it makes up for in relative economic value to its users
(ie a bike in the third world might be the owner's most crucial and
valuable asset; it's trite to cite it, but the old Italian film "The
Bicycle Thief" revolves around a bicycle as an economic tool).

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

[ZBicyclist]

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
>
> As someone else mentioned, a talk of this nature should devote at
> least a sentence or two to the third-world bicycle market. What it
> lacks in monetary value it makes up for in relative economic value
> to
> its users (ie a bike in the third world might be the owner's most
> crucial and valuable asset; it's trite to cite it, but the old
> Italian film "The Bicycle Thief" revolves around a bicycle as an
> economic tool).

Thanks to everyone for their advice (and feel free to contribute
more).

With regard to Ryan's point, I've got a number of pictures of
economic bicycle use from my trip to India in 2006 that she could
use. There might be a person or two from Ghana in the class, who
could probably chime in on this later.

[Bob]

On Nov 1, 1:47*am, (Tom Keats) wrote:
> In article >,
> * * * * Bob > writes:
>
> > Informative speeches in college level speech classes generally run
> > somewhere around six minutes in length (or at least they used to ages
> > ago).
>
> You've never had to endure the Twenty Minute Presentation, eh?
>
> I'm sure you've had to endure a /lot/ in your profession, but
> at least you've got one more (unexpected) blessing to count.
>
> I can think of all kinds of lovely, unfortunate demises of
> overhead projectors, along with the associated stoopid crinkled
> transparencies and out-of-ink pens.
>
> My favourite revenge fantasy about overhead projectors
> involves a bathtub.
>
> cheers,
> * * * * Tom
>
> --
> Nothing is safe from me.
> I'm really at:
> tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

My "six minute" comment stemmed from my long ago experience in
intercollegiate speech competition. Visual aids were not allowed.
Thinking of my later experiences with overhead projectors and
PowerPoint presentations, I can empathize with your revenge fantasy
about overhead projectors though I'd make sure the presenter was in
that bathtub as well.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

[Abigail Kruger]

I'm not expert on the topic, but I do happen to be the daughter who is
making the speech, so I'm an expert on that.
My speech is 10-12 minutes long, and can involve a powerpoint
projector (much to the dismay of those posing above, I believe). Upon
further discussion with fellow students, I am leaning more towards how
the bicycle has been viewed nowadays to be a cure-all for so many
problems these days "Suddenly a bicycle seems like the remedy for many
modern ills, from petrol prices to pollution and obesity" (Source:
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12270958)

It would be interesting to comment on how Europeans seem to use them
mostly for basic transportation, whereas becuase of the lack of
bicycle trails (and lovely inventions such as the domesticated hummer)
in America, Americans view it as more of a hobby. This is quite
different from the third-world all-bets-are-off view of the bicycle as
game for any use at all.
In fact, one of the best inventions of water purification for third
world countries invoved a bicycle contraption of some sort (http://
www.portlandonline.com/WATER/index.cfm?a=182068&c=48449).

You're totally right. It is very difficult to say anything of real
insight and importance in a 12 minute speech. Whittling it down is
what I really need help with.

Thanks!
Abigail

p.s. this is totally off-subject, but I was just riding down to school
when my derailer bent completely sideways. Now it's bumpin' up against
my spokes when I walk it. Is this a normal problem? Can I just bend it
back? I suppose this should be a seperate post...

[Brian Huntley]

On Nov 2, 8:34*pm, Abigail Kruger > wrote:

> p.s. this is totally off-subject, but I was just riding down to school
> when my derailer bent completely sideways. Now it's bumpin' up against
> my spokes when I walk it. Is this a normal problem? Can I just bend it
> back? I suppose this should be a seperate post...

You probably rode over a stick and it jammed up for a second, then
broke away. If it's the derailer itself that bent, you can bend it
back but it may be terminally weakened. If it was the 'hanger' that
bent, it can usually be straightened with a larger crescent wrench.

Either way, it should be taken to a bike shop for a better evaluation
asap.

[Red Cloud]

On Nov 1, 6:02 am, "ZBicyclist" > wrote:
> Ryan Cousineau wrote:
>
> > As someone else mentioned, a talk of this nature should devote at
> > least a sentence or two to the third-world bicycle market. What it
> > lacks in monetary value it makes up for in relative economic value
> > to
> > its users (ie a bike in the third world might be the owner's most
> > crucial and valuable asset; it's trite to cite it, but the old
> > Italian film "The Bicycle Thief" revolves around a bicycle as an
> > economic tool).
>
> Thanks to everyone for their advice (and feel free to contribute
> more).
>
> With regard to Ryan's point, I've got a number of pictures of
> economic bicycle use from my trip to India in 2006 that she could
> use. There might be a person or two from Ghana in the class, who
> could probably chime in on this later.

One of bicycle market relying on is tourism. For instance, ever
heard of "bike-boat?" you probably don't see boat powered by bike-
pedal-chain in US. It's popular in Europe and Asia in tourist
industry. You don't much see in US I don't know why they don't like
bike-boat. I guess American all think of boat is all about rowing
using arm or engine. Anyways, the overall bicycle market is depended
on
how modern people not depend on automobile or less addicted to
automobile.
Clearly, more automobile dependence means less bicycle market.
Compare
Europe Vs US. Europe has bigger bicycle market because far more people
use bicycle as the main transporter than US.

[Abigail Kruger]

On Nov 2, 11:19*pm, Brian Huntley > wrote:
> On Nov 2, 8:34*pm, Abigail Kruger > wrote:
>
> > p.s. this is totally off-subject, but I was just riding down to school
> > when my derailer bent completely sideways. Now it's bumpin' up against
> > my spokes when I walk it. Is this a normal problem? Can I just bend it
> > back? I suppose this should be a seperate post...
>
> You probably rode over a stick and it jammed up for a second, then
> broke away. If it's the derailer itself that bent, you can bend it
> back but it may be terminally weakened. If it was the 'hanger' that
> bent, it can usually be straightened with a larger crescent wrench.
>
> Either way, it should be taken to a bike shop for a better evaluation
> asap.

Yeah, I brought it to a bike shop and we have to replace the whole
derailer. The whole thing was twisted. I think I just rote over a
particularly large pothole (there everwhere on my way to school).
Thanks for the advice.