First Look: Specialized Epic 8

[Jewbacca]

2 hours ago, BaGearA said:

Okay but it's not like the average Chinese can afford a 17 000$ dollar bike , also we know the real money is in quantity ( Cajees) so neither can they afford rockhoppers at 600$ ? 

 

Like China's average person seems to be much worse off than our average, and the average south African isnt even thinking about expensive mtb's 

 

That's why social media does well there , any cheap 5$ dollar phone can have facebook or tiktok and with an overabundance of free wifi everyone can sit on phones and melt brains away on ads.

 

And again when millions of people are doing the above tech companies bank. , which is every clearly shown in the tech markets now 

The stats don't back that up.

Average salary in China is roughly 50k US a year, or 950k ZAR.... Average salary in SA is 305k ZAR or 16250 USD

There are also almost 1.5 billion people in China, so if 10% of them buy a cheap bike, they likely exceed the sales numbers in SA by some margin. I don't have the numbers/stats to back that up, but sheer number of scale means they can see growth in a time the bike industry as a whole is struggling.

'Average' is a difficult word to put a value to, as I doubt there are too many countries where the 'average' person is worse off than in SA. 

India and Brazil out of the 'global household names' 

 

[BigDL]

7 hours ago, BaGearA said:

Okay but it's not like the average Chinese can afford a 17 000$ dollar bike , also we know the real money is in quantity ( Cajees) so neither can they afford rockhoppers at 600$ ? 

 

Like China's average person seems to be much worse off than our average, and the average south African isnt even thinking about expensive mtb's 

 

That's why social media does well there , any cheap 5$ dollar phone can have facebook or tiktok and with an overabundance of free wifi everyone can sit on phones and melt brains away on ads.

 

And again when millions of people are doing the above tech companies bank. , which is every clearly shown in the tech markets now 

China and, more recently, India, are where global brands are fighting for expansion. The more mature markets are what got brands like Apple, Nike etc etc to where they are now. China and India are what will get them the growth they need going forward. A market that size with an emerging middle class in the hundreds of millions is always going to be a decider. 

[dev null]

I wonder how many of these will be written off on company or practice tax.

[DieselnDust]

10 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

The stats don't back that up.

Average salary in China is roughly 50k US a year, or 950k ZAR.... Average salary in SA is 305k ZAR or 16250 USD

There are also almost 1.5 billion people in China, so if 10% of them buy a cheap bike, they likely exceed the sales numbers in SA by some margin. I don't have the numbers/stats to back that up, but sheer number of scale means they can see growth in a time the bike industry as a whole is struggling.

'Average' is a difficult word to put a value to, as I doubt there are too many countries where the 'average' person is worse off than in SA. 

India and Brazil out of the 'global household names' 

 

 

5 hours ago, BigDL said:

China and, more recently, India, are where global brands are fighting for expansion. The more mature markets are what got brands like Apple, Nike etc etc to where they are now. China and India are what will get them the growth they need going forward. A market that size with an emerging middle class in the hundreds of millions is always going to be a decider. 

Thanks beat me too it !

chinas emerging middle class is bigger and more affluent than any in Africa and will be bigger than the North American market by the end of the decade. To survive, a company has to distribute its goods in 🇨🇳 

[BaGearA]

I can 100% understand the argument of selling goods in a massive untapped market is a good idea.

 

But I'm i just so good at only seeing the horrible conditions Chinese people live in to think their quality of life and income is very low ? I mean its very popular that apple and other tech giants have nets around their buildings to catch the people trying to commit themselves.

 

That doesn't all translate to a large population that can purchase and then ride these bikes , i mean don't you have to go a fair distance out of the metropolitans to even have a chance at trails ? 

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, BaGearA said:

I can 100% understand the argument of selling goods in a massive untapped market is a good idea.

 

But I'm i just so good at only seeing the horrible conditions Chinese people live in to think their quality of life and income is very low ? I mean its very popular that apple and other tech giants have nets around their buildings to catch the people trying to commit themselves.

 

That doesn't all translate to a large population that can purchase and then ride these bikes , i mean don't you have to go a fair distance out of the metropolitans to even have a chance at trails ? 

China is a weird one because we see a western narrative of sweat shops and somehow that gets sold as China. 
This western view of china is far from the truth. 
every emerging market buids its economy off cheap labour. G8 countries continue the legacy by moving their manufacturing base into the developing world. But the consequence of that is that they need to install a middle class. In a large economy like China this grew very quickly to the point now where china is the second  largest consumer of luxury goods in 2024 according to Statista. The USA is still bigger but china is hungry to explore outdoor sports post Covid. Mtb is growing rapidly, as is road cycling, river kayaking, leisure boating etc 

[BigDL]

13 hours ago, BaGearA said:

I can 100% understand the argument of selling goods in a massive untapped market is a good idea.

 

But I'm i just so good at only seeing the horrible conditions Chinese people live in to think their quality of life and income is very low ? I mean its very popular that apple and other tech giants have nets around their buildings to catch the people trying to commit themselves.

 

That doesn't all translate to a large population that can purchase and then ride these bikes , i mean don't you have to go a fair distance out of the metropolitans to even have a chance at trails ? 

The nets around the building is a contractor that manufactures for lots of companies and employs lots of people in their late teens and early twenties, not specifically an Apple contractor. Worth reading up on it as it’s a fascinating manufacturing organisation, effectively a self contained small city that manufactures for some of the world’s biggest names.

China is massive. Both times that I have been there, I have been to cities that I had never heard of before that have millions of residents. The middle class is growing fast and are wanting to imitate the west in many ways. Expensive phones, whisky’s and cars are very popular, so why not expensive bikes? 

 

[AllAboutRides]

Blêrrie belaglik man!!!! Waar gaan dit stop…..Specialized is waaaaaaay over priced as mens kyk na ander brands wat tans hulle nuwe bikes launch R295k vir ‘n fiets!!!! Faaaaaakit finansier hom en betaal nog meer vir die ding …..maar o’ja daar moet mos s-works of specialized op fiets staan anders is jy nie cool nie

[Shebeen]

https://escapecollective.com/why-are-modern-bikes-so-expensive/

seemed like a relevant place to post this

[DieselnDust]

13 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

https://escapecollective.com/why-are-modern-bikes-so-expensive/

seemed like a relevant place to post this

There’s some seriously protectionist propaganda going on in this article

[MaMc]

This is the target s-works customer

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/710024/specialized-epic-evo-s-works-ltd-incl-pm?referrer=homepage

[MarcoDeS]

8 hours ago, MaMc said:

This is the target s-works customer

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/710024/specialized-epic-evo-s-works-ltd-incl-pm?referrer=homepage

Does not look like a bike that has done 2 rides 🫤

[J Wakefield]

10 hours ago, MarcoDeS said:

Does not look like a bike that has done 2 rides 🫤

Kind of odd he did not know about the new bike being launched? 
did the shop not tell him to sell current stock or is he that potentially uninformed? 
Either way he has a new bike and someone can get a basically brand new bike for less

[DieselnDust]

50 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Kind of odd he did not know about the new bike being launched? 
did the shop not tell him to sell current stock or is he that potentially uninformed? 
Either way he has a new bike and someone can get a basically brand new bike for less

Might not be the valued customer they think they are

[Jbr]

I think I know who it is, his garage has S-works everything : road, TT, XC (x2 apparently at the moment)

Edited March 20 by Jbr

[Headshot]

Just hang around for a few months and they'll be selling "as new for R150k less. I see a world cup edition (80mm travel) 2024 is on sale here for R155k in "mint" condition. Talk about a massive depreciation.