#!markdown
To be honest I'm very disappointed about this interview.
First of all, I'm not disappointed about Specialized (more than I already
was). They just play their marketing game with the typically not-very-critical
MTB press. After all, they are a business, and the primary goal of the
business is to make profit and to grow. With electric motorcycles being a nice
increase in size of their serviceable addressable market, there is nothing
wrong with their approach (from business perspective). Mind you, at peak times
my wife and I all together own(ed) 6 Specialized bikes
(Tarmac/Epic/Stumpjumper/Enduro/Dailys for commuting), so I was quite loyal to
that brand (having owned my first Specialized in 1992 and pretty much at least
one Specialized in my quiver ever since). I just drew my own conclusions and
refuse to by a bike from Specialized again.
What bothers me more is the style of interview that reflects the poor state of
mountain bike media in general. This is not a critical interviewer here, that
is more a "let's pretend we address the subject but I won't hurt you" kind of
thing. It is just a different take on a press release, nothing more.
I'm actually from Europe, although a long-time (more than a decade looking at
my bb.nsmb.com join date) follower of this forum. Where I live (geographically
pretty much exactly between Maribor and Schladming WC tracks), 99.9% of all
trails in the country are closed for mountain bikers by law. In the more
touristy places (typically ski resorts), there are trails open (Leogang,
Saalbach) because winters get warmer and bikers are welcome income in the off-
season, but pretty much everywhere else we are violating the law. Trail
advocacy is left to some independent groups or individuals, but don't count on
any manufacturer to do anything here for support.
So, we have an already not-so-cool situation to start from, and now come the
electric motorbikes (the law in my country doesn't distinguish between pedal
assist and manual throttle only style of bikes). Not helping. At all.
Dec. 27, 2016, 2:20 a.m. - Gernot Kvas
#!markdown To be honest I'm very disappointed about this interview. First of all, I'm not disappointed about Specialized (more than I already was). They just play their marketing game with the typically not-very-critical MTB press. After all, they are a business, and the primary goal of the business is to make profit and to grow. With electric motorcycles being a nice increase in size of their serviceable addressable market, there is nothing wrong with their approach (from business perspective). Mind you, at peak times my wife and I all together own(ed) 6 Specialized bikes (Tarmac/Epic/Stumpjumper/Enduro/Dailys for commuting), so I was quite loyal to that brand (having owned my first Specialized in 1992 and pretty much at least one Specialized in my quiver ever since). I just drew my own conclusions and refuse to by a bike from Specialized again. What bothers me more is the style of interview that reflects the poor state of mountain bike media in general. This is not a critical interviewer here, that is more a "let's pretend we address the subject but I won't hurt you" kind of thing. It is just a different take on a press release, nothing more. I'm actually from Europe, although a long-time (more than a decade looking at my bb.nsmb.com join date) follower of this forum. Where I live (geographically pretty much exactly between Maribor and Schladming WC tracks), 99.9% of all trails in the country are closed for mountain bikers by law. In the more touristy places (typically ski resorts), there are trails open (Leogang, Saalbach) because winters get warmer and bikers are welcome income in the off- season, but pretty much everywhere else we are violating the law. Trail advocacy is left to some independent groups or individuals, but don't count on any manufacturer to do anything here for support. So, we have an already not-so-cool situation to start from, and now come the electric motorbikes (the law in my country doesn't distinguish between pedal assist and manual throttle only style of bikes). Not helping. At all.