GTOE in BROL

BROL reviewed the new Greenspeed GTOE in their latest issue. Two
things caught my attention in the article:

They found out that the new steering geometry not only eliminates
brake steer, but also pedal steer! No more head hunting from your
heavy pedalling... Anybody can back up this claim?

They also remind us that a Greenspeed is still way more expensive
than some cheaper brands. Would it make sense for a maker of
expensive, state-of-the-art trikes to offer a special low-cost
model, to try and capture the lower-end entry-level segment of the
trike market? Or is that better left to the people who can do that
best: Whizwheels, Stein, etc?

The review is at:
http://www.bentrideronline.com/Vol5.1/greengtoe.htm

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/

wrote:

BROL reviewed the new Greenspeed GTOE in their latest issue. Two
things caught my attention in the article:

They found out that the new steering geometry not only eliminates
brake steer, but also pedal steer! No more head hunting from your
heavy pedalling... Anybody can back up this claim?

They also remind us that a Greenspeed is still way more expensive
than some cheaper brands. Would it make sense for a maker of
expensive, state-of-the-art trikes to offer a special low-cost
model, to try and capture the lower-end entry-level segment of the
trike market? Or is that better left to the people who can do that
best: Whizwheels, Stein, etc?

The review is at:
http://www.bentrideronline.com/Vol5.1/greengtoe.htm


I think any manufacturer that already has a good reputation would
stand to benefit from going after any segment of the market. And yes,
right now the low-end market is the place to go, as evidenced by the
success of companies like WizWheelz and Catrike.
Of course, low price and good reputation isn't a guarantee of success
- the product must be good as well. Otherwise, such a move would
backfire and possibly affect sales of products in the other segments of
the market.
If Greenspeed markets a lower-cost trike, in direct competition to
what's already there, they will have an advantage going in, based
solely on name recognition and customer loyalty. But if it were to turn
out to be not nearly as good as the TerraTrikes, Speeds (and soon
Trails and Roads!) and so on, it would come back to haunt them.
Greenspeed will have to put not only a competitive trike into that
market, but a clearly superior one. And if they do that, then life is
going to be extremely difficult for the other makers of low-cost
trikes.
Incidentally, I have a friend who just recently purchased one of the
new GTOs. If it ever stops snowing here, I'm going to do some
comparison testing between how it handles and my "old" GTO.
--
Larry Varney
Cold Spring, KY
http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

Larry Varney wrote in message ...
wrote:


They also remind us that a Greenspeed is still way more expensive
than some cheaper brands. Would it make sense for a maker of
expensive, state-of-the-art trikes to offer a special low-cost
model, to try and capture the lower-end entry-level segment of the
trike market? Or is that better left to the people who can do that
best: Whizwheels, Stein, etc?


If Greenspeed markets a lower-cost trike, in direct competition to
what's already there, they will have an advantage going in, based
solely on name recognition and customer loyalty. But if it were to turn
out to be not nearly as good as the TerraTrikes, Speeds (and soon
Trails and Roads!) and so on, it would come back to haunt them.


Problem is that with the falling US dollar compared to the Australian
Dollar, and many other currencies as well, it will be hard for a
Australian, English or other European trike (or bike) maker to compete
on a price basis in the US. One would expect that is the reason for
the US's position that it will no longer take extreme measures to
support our old greenback.

Gary McCarty, Greenspeed GTO, Salt Lake City

Gary,

Your observation is right on target. However, Greenspeed's insight on
having some of their manufacturing performed in Taiwan will insure that they
can still have a competitive edge here in the States.

Although this is good news for us USA builders, we are now paying more for
our components than earlier this year.

Regards,


Rick Horwitz
www.hellbentcycles.com



"Gary Mc" wrote in message
om...
Larry Varney wrote in message
...
wrote:


They also remind us that a Greenspeed is still way more expensive
than some cheaper brands. Would it make sense for a maker of
expensive, state-of-the-art trikes to offer a special low-cost
model, to try and capture the lower-end entry-level segment of the
trike market? Or is that better left to the people who can do that
best: Whizwheels, Stein, etc?


If Greenspeed markets a lower-cost trike, in direct competition to
what's already there, they will have an advantage going in, based
solely on name recognition and customer loyalty. But if it were to turn
out to be not nearly as good as the TerraTrikes, Speeds (and soon
Trails and Roads!) and so on, it would come back to haunt them.


Problem is that with the falling US dollar compared to the Australian
Dollar, and many other currencies as well, it will be hard for a
Australian, English or other European trike (or bike) maker to compete
on a price basis in the US. One would expect that is the reason for
the US's position that it will no longer take extreme measures to
support our old greenback.

Gary McCarty, Greenspeed GTO, Salt Lake City

In article , Larry Varney
wrote:

I think any manufacturer that already has a good reputation would
stand to benefit from going after any segment of the market. And yes,
right now the low-end market is the place to go, as evidenced by the
success of companies like WizWheelz and Catrike.

That's assuming you define the $2k price point as "low end." The true
low end is down in the vicinity of the J&B Tadpole, which is a
non-winning proposition for any US builder.

If Greenspeed markets a lower-cost trike, in direct competition to
what's already there, they will have an advantage going in, based
solely on name recognition and customer loyalty.

Not necessarily. Those loyal customers have enough money already to buy
$3500 Greenspeeds. Why would they buy a low-end trike? (Leaving aside
for a moment the idea of buying one for the kids/SO, etc... that's a
special case.) Buyers of entry-level machinery don't know the players
and don't have any preconceived ideas about who's best. Brand image has
less impact on them. Also, the Internet has proven to be the single
best thing to ever happen to the recumbent industry. Information flows
very freely, and product reviews/chat buzz can establish a new
manufacturer as a major player in a hurry.

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 15:06:07 -0500, Larry Varney
wrote:

If Greenspeed markets a lower-cost trike, in direct competition to
what's already there, they will have an advantage going in, based
solely on name recognition and customer loyalty. But if it were to turn
out to be not nearly as good as the TerraTrikes, Speeds (and soon
Trails and Roads!) and so on, it would come back to haunt them.

And that presupposes that they haven't already considered releasing an
entry-level spec, and rejected it. There are plenty of reasons they
would decide against, like the danger of damage to the brand, or maybe
their market research tells them there are not enough extra sales to
be got just by cutting the price (those of us who want great trikes
will always afford them one way or another).

They could run it under another brand inna Volkswagen stylee but I
doubt it would be worth the effort, and it might even undermine the
sales of their full-spec offering.

Stein seems to be in trouble (unless others know different?) - I think
the most complete range may be the Trices, which seem to go from about
$3k to about $6k.

One other thing occurs to me: I have not yet bought a trike because I
have already spent a lot on bikes lately so have run out of budget. I
bought a recumbent bike not a trike, because it was half the price and
more convenient for getting indoors. I will still buy a trike one
day, but although it is cost that is preventing me from buying right
now, availability of cheap trikes won't cause me to buy because I want
either a Trice Monster or a Windcheetah, or something equivalent.

Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

wrote in message ...

They found out that the new steering geometry not only eliminates
brake steer, but also pedal steer! No more head hunting from your
heavy pedalling... Anybody can back up this claim?

I would tend to trust Bryan on this one... he owns an XXL, and has
written reviews of the earlier GTO, a GTX (old seat/steering) and a
Trisled. I will add that I also test rode a new GTO-E and found the
same to be true.

Geoff Adams
Vision R64

Mikael Seierup wrote:

skrev

J&B... who's that again?

Guys that make the Sun line of bikes?

Not quite right. Sun Bicycles [1] makes the Gardner Martin/Easy Racers
designed recumbent bikes and trikes (among others) which are imported to
the US (and elsewhere?) by J&B Importers, Inc.

[1] http://www.sunbicycles.com/03/html_03/home.html.
[2] http://www.jbimporters.com/.

Tom Sherman - 41 N, 90 W

Andrew Douglas wrote:

: That's assuming you define the $2k price point as "low end." The true
: low end is down in the vicinity of the J&B Tadpole, which is a
: non-winning proposition for any US builder.

J&B... who's that again?

: If Greenspeed markets a lower-cost trike, in direct competition to
: what's already there, they will have an advantage going in, based
: solely on name recognition and customer loyalty.

: Not necessarily. Those loyal customers have enough money already to buy
: $3500 Greenspeeds. Why would they buy a low-end trike? (Leaving aside

Yes, I'd think the loyals would first buy the low-end trike and
later upgrade to 'real' Greenspeed.

I'm wondering how somebody like Greenspeed could push their price
down to the low-cost levels. They could maybe outsource to places
like continental China and sell the low end at a loss. There is
probably quite a bit of margin that is justified by the cost of
developing the designs. Cut that, or even just license the design
and the brand to a different manufacturer...

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/

skrev

J&B... who's that again?

Guys that make the Sun line of bikes?

M.