I dunno if he's planning on hitting a few 'select' WC races, but there's not much on the menu that would be SB6-able other than maybe Cairns. He'd obviously be able to get down the hill on his Endurbro, but I'd be super impressed if grabbed a podium at a WC race (i.e. not PMB). Maybe he's looking to hit non-WC DH events.
I'm not sure where the confusion is coming from. I quoted the header at the top of that document and it seems pretty obvious to me what it is.
let's not forget that there were a number of years where they didn't have a DH race program, yet alone a DH bike.
FTFY
having now read that article, the big takeaway is that road is still king. always has been, always will be. mtb in general is peanuts compared to road. DH is the dust from the peanut shell.
We can only hope that special-ed will just do everyone a favor and go out of business.
no. in business speak it means they probably didn't increase their profits enough.
Seems like it. They listed Graves probably to get the trade team status, though.
Eh? You do realise which Pro Road teams Specialized sponsor?
William42 sounds like a special-ed rider!
hate to burst your bubble, but for every mountain bike spesh sells, they sell at least 10 road bikes. numbers don't even compare.
I'm not denying your claim, but any idea what they consider "road bikes"? Do hybrid bikes and CX bikes fall into this category, or are they lumped into something else? I ask because while I do see a fair number of Allez's out there, I seem to see a lot more greenway cruisers and low end stuff that I personally would not consider a "road bike" per se. Just anecdotal observations of course, and very well may not be anywhere close to reality.
hybrids don't count. not sure about CX.
That wasn't the point I was making. The number of mountain bikes they sell is a large number from an objective standpoint. The fact that they sell 10x more road bikes doesn't change that. We all know road is a big market.
Some of it is just good old-fashioned ribbing (i.e. how many stays does the demo have?).
Not true. DH bikes for sure, but MTB bikes are pretty big numbers. There have been recent years where the $15,000 S-Works Epic has out sold the S-Works Tarmac. S still shells out lots of cash for the WC XC team.
That's not how it works, is it? Businesses that invest significant sums of money in areas where their return on investment and market opportunity is seriously smaller than in their other areas either won't do well long term, or they can do it as an advertising exercise for their most profitable markets. I wonder if there is any correlation and brand recognition in effect between DH WC results and road bikes sale numbers (or low-end XC sales).
Wait, specialized had engineers?! I'm pretty we previously established that it was art, marketing and legal. Well, now that the engineers are gone, I suppose it's back to art, marketing and legal.Very evident by the fact that they dissolved the Advanced R&D team in this round of job cuts. Lots of very smart and passionate folks have gone elsewhere.
"We built this cool wind tunnel, then fired all the guys that actually used it. Now it is just the worlds most expensive photo studio."
But I do like the Marketing Dept spin put on it....always good for a laugh
I hear you... there are many ways to structure a business. ALLS I'M SAYIN' is in MTBs specialized is selling a LOT of MTBs... this has nothing to do with DH, Gwin, their ability to pay or whatever... I don't even remember what brought me here.
Maybe it was the free beer?
Yeah, treating athletes like sales people operating on a bonus schedule does little for the loyalty aspect.
YT...masters of social media
