First, it was "Beyond the Peleton" with Cervelo. Now it is "Behind the Peleton" with Ritte Racing, the Belgian brand that Jimmy Shinagawa highlighted for us back in May.
Each video is short -- click through to Youtube to see some of the others. I liked the wheel change "on the fly" during a race. Effective low cost marketing? Yes, if enough blogs highlight it. Unfortunately, the UCI did not have much sense of humor about the Ritte Bosberg:
Ritte...Belgian brand? Not so sure about that - being based in Santa Monica and all that - but the brand is being promoted in a very clever and contemporary way. Even a Belgian would love to become the owner one of these cool machines.
ReplyDeleteYes, Tom. It looks like a California company, with frames made in Taiwan and painted in China ... but Belgian name and colours. Those videos were not filmed in Belgium.
ReplyDeleteShow me a mass produced bike that isn't fabricated in Taiwan by the big 3.
ReplyDeleteWhere WAS your bike made????
ReplyDeleteSee: http://allanti.com/articles/where-was-my-bike-made-pg328.htm
(Answer, as James says, probably in Taiwan (or China for carbon), by Giant, Merida or Ideal, ... or maybe Topkey.
Sure...we all know that virtually all carbon frames are being manufactured by these big 3 makers in Taiwan and China. No doubt they have grown to dominance in the carbon bike market. As long as they continue to churn out decent, reliable and affordabe bikes, I will not complain.
ReplyDelete...it's just that - at least to me and purely esthetically-speaking - carbon frames of late more and more resemble "chiclettes" (in English: spit-out pieces of chewing gum).
Pardon the expression.
Yep Pinarello frames are built in factory in Taiwan owned by Pro-bike I think.
ReplyDeleteEven the Alu and steel bikes are built to an amazing standard and I have no issue with the xenophobia surrounding Taiwanese bikes.
Tom I agree there are many bikes on the market that I refer to as pick and mix bikes, where they choose a steerer tube, a top tube, bottom bracket section and so on and build the bike from pre cut peices and then refer to it as a cutting edge bike.
At least Cervelo, Pinarello, Colango and other big names actually sit down, design and test the bike before sending it off for fabrication and production in Taiwan.
Also another thing to point out is that the QA and testing done on Taiwanese bikes is to a much higher standard than other countries due to the Xenophobia.
So Tom, why do you still own two carbon bikes? Though I note that while you identify the other two as made of steel and titanium, you say nothing about your carbon bikes on your website gallery...
ReplyDeleteLudwig, I was only trying to express my personal view that the design/aesthetics/geometry of carbon bikes - pretty much regardless of the brand - is becoming so uniform late.
ReplyDeleteI just love my two carbon bikes - in fact all the carbon bikes I have owned in the past.
The Cannondale Super Six is by far the very best bike I have ever ridden.
More than the material, I believe it is the right fit/geometry which really determines the worth of a bike.