Carl, I hear you. Sometimes these objects do feel like they create an exclusive culture. I would argue that they are just part of one of the many bicycling subcultures that exist in our consumer capitalist culture. However, those cyclists don’t represent the everyday bicyclist and those objects may be a part of a different purchasing decision making process.
It’s likely that many ordinary people who ride and use jand or Wald products don’t even interact with instagram bicycle culture, so those companies don’t need to market their goods on that platform. I’m sure that if those companies saw an economic benefit in joining that platform they would. It also helps that those older companies have relationships developed with bike shops across the country and have been making bike products for a long time, which helps with their established distribution channels. For younger bicycle businesses, like swift makeshifter and bags x bird, IG is a relatively free promotional platform to reach people who may be interested in their handcrafted goods. These items are only seen as high end because their price reflects the real price of a small group of people making hand crafted items with quality materials at a smaller scale(something I have learned as the partner of an owner of a small scale clothing line owner). They are talking directly to and with the bicycle culture that may be interested in their goods on that platform. I’m thankful that they have that platform to be able to make their businesses a reality. I am sure a significant portion of their sales comes from that platform. I just bought a saddle bag from make shifter, because I believe in paying up for a product made by a person I can talk directly with. It’s the same reason why I buy rivendells. It’s a privilege for sure, but one that I believe is important. It’s tough because that IG culture does feel like it leaves a lot of folks out. However, like any subculture of folks interested in a practice, it only looks like it is more predominant because they are saavy media users. I would liken it to the punk subculture or the Grateful Dead subculture. I suppose that’s why I like this list a lot. It’s united by a just ride ethos, rather than an object. There are a ton of people on this list that have riv-I-fied their non-riv bikes. However, I suppose that we are another bike subculture that also appears exclusive to other folks looking at us. I know I have felt like my lack of technical expertise made me a riv-rider that didn’t quite fit. Anyways, I hope this all makes sense. I just wanted to add my two cents worth of thoughts. Feel free to throw it in the dustbin of history if it isn’t useful to y’all. All my best to all of you and your families. James “Overthinking things for Decades” Gardner Davis Denver, CO On Thu, Apr 9, 2020 at 5:39 PM tuolumnebikes <tuolumnebi...@gmail.com> wrote: > Looked up Wald--nothing, Jandd has a Jandd-jp account with 428 > followers. Swift has 57.2K followers, and there's no need to follow them > since their message is multiplied by influencers and happy customers. > Clearly it's up to the companies to do their marketing consistent with > their price points, and kudos to Swift for their products and marketing. > > My point is that while developing markets for high end stuff is good for > the diversity of the marketplace, it has the unfortunate downside of > training people to think that perfectly good or maybe even excellent > ordinary stuff is not quite good enough which raises the bar for people > of modest means or those traditionally less represented among bike > riders to join the party. I don't mean to discount the LBSs, coops, and > coalitions doing great work to get and keep people riding and smiling at > modest cost. Any support for Taiwanese Fender Day? > > On 4/8/2020 11:45 PM, Joe Bernard wrote: > > Are they at the groovy Instagram party? I follow bikey stuff I come > across there..albeit a small sample, I don't have an appetite for making > that site a big habit for me. I'd follow Wald for sure. > > > > -- > 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 view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/dd3a63f8-4090-8ee5-15e8-caaee420aa98%40gmail.com > . > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAHnaNeump%2BaZQQ1ZibYazyfPmwU0CQ97PCDdDRarWeebefcXuQ%40mail.gmail.com.
