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Viathon bikes

nakman

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this may get interesting.. yes soon you too can purchase a high end mountain bike from Walmart https://www.pinkbike.com/news/walmart-launches-high-end-viathon-bike-brand.html

Laugh if you will... resistance is futile. :borg:

p5pb17067224.jpg


https://www.viathonbicycles.com/
 

DaveInDenver

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I'm not really surprised. Walmart has the supply chain experience and all the major brands are ultimately built by just three factories anyway. Hire someone remotely familiar with the bike industry, slap a slick sounding name on and now you're a bike company!

It boils down to this, unless you talk directly to the guys with names like Chris, Adam, Will, James, Mark, Lennard that are welding your frame (and their last names are likely on the bike) it probably comes from Giant, Kinesis or Merida.
 

DaveInDenver

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Why do you think it's bad for the industry Corbet?

The bikes were designed at Kevin Quan Studios, who happens to do Diamondback, Pivot and Cervelo and is probably made in the same factory. I think it highlights that most of the meat of the industry lacks either craftsmanship or innovation or both. It's become all marketing fluff.

I think it will be good for the industry, at least as a consumer. The two distinct sides will get further clarified. Interesting and handmade stuff (Guerrilla Gravity!) will remain for their uniqueness and the bikes-in-name-only (Specialized!) will get some of the ridiculous pricing sucked out.
 
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Corbet

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I feel if WalMart or other super sized retailers are successful at selling a high end bike and undercut the smaller manufactures it could reduce innovation or drive up prices due to the smaller volume of bikes being built.

Not to mention the reduction of independent shops.

Either way it will be interesting to see it unfold. Hardtails are one thing. Not much inovation to be had there. Full suspension is different. And I guess design can be protected through patent.
 

DaveInDenver

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Your point about the LBS is completely valid.

That's been an ongoing issue for as long as I've ridden bicycles. When I still worked in a shop people would come in all the time with mail order (pre-Internet!) parts they couldn't install or had an issue with. They'd expect us just to help 'em out when we'd quote a full shop rate. But a week earlier we'd told them we'd install it for free. Yeah, that was when you bought it from us.

Performance just left the retail space, so having it in stock and the knowledge (e.g. customer service) has always been the LBS advantage. Walmart can't now replace that and when they do come to brick-n-mortars it'll be the same disinterested monkeys currently is assembling them. So I can't imagine that will inspire confidence when you're dropping $2k and more.

Perhaps Walmart is positioning itself to get the brand into the regular bike distribution rather than into their stores? That to me would actually be fine. There are two ways to compete, innovation and price. Right now there's IMO not enough pressure for bike prices to go down, everything is boutique.

If they're making a truly novel product it will sell on its merits otherwise the price should be reflective more of their commodity status (e.g. since 95% of them come from Merida/Giant/Kinesis source regardless of their name). The *real* differences in bikes is so marginal that most of them are fungible in a real way. There are small innovations and if they merit a higher price to recoup R&D then fine, the market will bear it hopefully.

Of course you mention patents. That's why I think Specialized charges so much, they have a huge legal budget suing everyone that dares put 4 bars in their linkage.
 
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nakman

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Ok so there is a Walmart in Frisco. Just imagine for a moment that Walmart has good bikes, and a total gear head local working that department. Sure maybe not as cool as a little start-up, but it is 8:00 at night and the cool guy store is already closed. And you need a tube, you have a ride tomorrow morning. And you can actually get a presta tube there now, plus a few other things you didn’t really need, like some local-made bag or garment- as there’s this pop-up bike shop inside Walmart now, three aisles down from where you grabbed that 6-pack of Dam Brewery ipa’s. This is the future or retail.
 

Corbet

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Ok so there is a Walmart in Frisco. Just imagine for a moment that Walmart has good bikes, and a total gear head local working that department. Sure maybe not as cool as a little start-up, but it is 8:00 at night and the cool guy store is already closed. And you need a tube, you have a ride tomorrow morning. And you can actually get a presta tube there now, plus a few other things you didn’t really need, like some local-made bag or garment- as there’s this pop-up bike shop inside Walmart now, three aisles down from where you grabbed that 6-pack of Dam Brewery ipa’s. This is the future or retail.

You have tubes?
 
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