Pinarello available in Halfords stores from today

pj wrote:

i'll ignore the halfords/pinarello shocker and instead settle on the fact that pinarello appear to have produced the most disgusting and apallingly-named bike in the world ever.

Absolutely - that flat barred horror really is 'only for the brave' (or severely aesthetically challenged). Yuk!

shay cycles wrote:

I'm not sure if it's the bike brand snobbery or the bike shop snobbery that gets me!

But I know that bikes are designed to do certain jobs and if they do that job well and are available in a range of different shops I'm not sure where the problem is.

As for devaluing a brand by putting it in Halfords (or Aldi for that matter) then it is only devalued if it was over-priced and over-hyped in the first place.

I love bikes and I love riding them; but come on who really cares which shops sell them?

That's fair enough, but whatever you think of it it's a fact that a lot of people *do* care about these things, which is why people pay £££s more for Pinarellos, Colnagos, even high-ticket Treks and Specializeds etc. when they could just get a Boardman instead. Recognising that and wondering why Pinarello would want to dilute it isn't snobbery. You don't have to actually *be* a snob to see that brand/shop snobbery exists and that people are influenced by it.

So you really think that nobody cares about this stuff? What is it then that lets Pinarello (in this case) sell a product for a lot more than (say) Boardman charge for a product that is just as good in pretty much every respect?

I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I think it's pretty clear there's something in it and I'd say the comments on the Halfords-Pinarello stories show that it's not just me that thinks so. FWIW there's a very good chance my next MTB will be a Boardman and had they been around when I got my road bike it's quite likely I'd be riding one now.

You don't go to McDonalds for a salad.

SpeshRider7287 wrote:

Some observations..

5) You have to remember a 2k Pinarello is still representing the entry to middle range of the road bike price range and they're not really hitting the high end market with any real effect. IBD's will lose very few high end sales over this move.

I beg the pardon of all here, but referring to £2k as 'entry level' is just laughable. For us relatively low earners, entry level is £300 for a racing BSO, then you upgrade to something decent in the £500 - £1,000 bracket and then maybe if you're really good and really dedicated (and also have a fair amount of spare cash which most of us just don't) *then* you get to £2k. Or am I totally in the wrong company? I love good bikes but there is no way I would ever be able to afford a £2k bike and to refer to it as 'entry level' is incredibly demeaning for those of us that don't have that kind of money but who nevertheless do like to cycle.

My point on 2k price point was never meant to be demeaning in any way. Just looking at the broad range of price points available on road bikes (anywhere between £300-£8k+) it is a fairly low price point if you consider what's available in the market as a whole. As I said. it was just an observation. 2k WILL get you a great bike and it is a lot of money to spend for most people but I didn't dispute any of these points. I merely pointed out that compared to say, your 8.5k Dogma's, 8k+ Venge's, 6k R5's and such like, they are a world away in terms of price. I love to ride and would love to have a top end bike but I will shortly be getting a 1k road bike because its the highest price point I can currently afford. It ticks all the right boxes and its a beast to ride so I've no objection to riding entry level bikes and enjoying yourself doing it.