It's funny about Surly's image, though. Surly has an enormous presence in the long distance bike touring community. If you ride one of the big Adventure Cycling routes, maybe one in four or one in five bikes is a Surly LHT: you find them at every campsite. And most of these riders do not seem interested in drinking beer under bridges. It's just word of mouth, I think, that a Surly LHT is a great touring bike, and so are the Trolls and Ogres. People don't buy into the image-- they just like the bikes.
Same with Mrs. Thill, who was afraid of riding on the road, but had a big grin on her face when she rode a.... Pugsley, wasn't it? That story struck a nerve with me, because she represents a lot of women lack confidence in riding, and a solid Pugsley makes a person feel solid and safe when riding so they can enjoy the ride. I don't think Surly's bad-boy advertising image is much like Riv's retro-curmudgeon image, but I think their bikes tend to appeal to a lot of the same people: people who want their bikes to do work instead of having to be babied. On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 8:26 AM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > I find that the Surly/Riv overlap is pretty small. It seems like only 3 Surly > models have a comparable Riv analog. Much of Surly's line is more or less > unique to Surly, or was unique when first introduced. That said, the two > brands share a lot of similar ideas about versatility, tire clearance, etc. > And I never thought I'd see Surly do 650B, but now they are coming out with a > 650B Straggler (down to 38 cm frames!!!). > > I see a lot here and elsewhere about Surly's marketing rubbing people the > wrong way. I don't read many magazines or read many bike blogs that include > ads, so I'm missing most of their formal marketing. Somebody told me awhile > back that Riv appeals to the "misfits of cycling", and I think that's right > (and not in an insulting way). Much of GP's past writing, which reflects many > Riv owners' attitudes in my experience, is about feeling alienated by modern > cycling trends, and about digging in to resist dumb things that are done in > the name of innovation or the perception of improved performance. Surly also > appeals to alienated misfits, but in a different way. The Surly image seems > to be more about having, um, unorthodox cycling needs (that are somehow > related to drinking beer under bridges and having lots of tattoos) and > designing a whole new category around it. While Riv frequently gets > criticized for being stuck in the past, Surly frequently gets criticized for > pushing products on us before we knew that we needed them. In the end, Surly > and Riv, in their own ways, pull the broader bike industry in a better > direction. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Anne Paulson It isn't a contest. Enjoy the ride. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
