That's why I am pretty sure, that we actually are the only bike producer that really fits Andreu and who he is. So signing the number one rider in the freeride discipline was a message and one that worked. - Markus Flossman |
We know how to run a company, although we appear to be nuts most of the time. Aaron fits into our existing marketing budget therefore having signed him is not putting any extra pressure on us. - Markus Flossman |
One going for first place and the other settling for second. That is our common ground. - Markus Flossman |
In our world the times are not gone where it's still all about good times... - Markus Flossman |
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Hell yeah.
Thereby, I feel like Apple is the exact opposite of YT.
PLEASE MAKE BIGGER BIKES @YTINDUSTRIES
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSyYLQzHI8Q
"What's with the shirt ripping?" said the pasty American Me....
I don't know the guy but so far he provided one best interview in years (maybe one with Jeb Stebber about 650B was close). You know who is full of sht? That a-hole from Marzocchi who can talk only about third party interesting in purchasing some part of assets. He made Marzocchi dead for me. If they surround themselves with such douchebags I will never ever say a good thing about them.
As to YT, if I wouldn't be getting a great deal for my new bike, I'd buy a Capra, this interview convinced me to it. Honesty is a rare thing these days.
Once you realize this,you can fix YOU and you'll be happier in your life and work.
I don't in any way mean to rag on Specialized. Business is business, and I'm excited to see these two new teams shaping up. But think about YT and think about Spesh.... think about how their marketing budgets must compare. YT generates a lot of hype, but I can't imagine they spend anything close to what Specialized does. So EXACTLY how much did Gwin ask for, I wonder? It can't be insignificant if Specialized was willing to exchange Gwin for both Graves and a whole new DH team, albeit not a factory one. But it can't be obscene, or Flossman wouldn't be so comfortable with his investment.
Either way, this is shaping up to be an excellent story. Gwin and Alonso versus Bruni, Vergier, and Iles; cutting-edge YT versus mighty Specialized - money, talent, business and adrenaline, champions versus prodigies. I can't wait.
Maybe YT's marketing budget is $1 million. They want to make a big splash and spend 75% of their marketing budget on Gwin. Their budget is only 1/10 of Spec's, but they are a smaller company and probably more nimble and able to make marketing budget decisions on the fly.
again, I totally made all those numbers up. I have zero idea how much anyone's budget is or how much riders are paid. Guessing its much less than what i put up there. but the point is, YT probably spent a large portion of their marketing to get Gwin and for a company trying to gain a foothold in the US, maybe not a bad idea. Certainly is gaining a lot of news today
But you should
Sometimes you just have to compromise and make a statement in order to still be taken serious in the business.
Like, if your boss refuses any future possibilities of a raise, would you rather stay in that company or maybe switch over to another one which will offer a little less in the beginning but with a future prospect of stepping it up?
I think this move has been more an investment into the future for both sides. If Gwin boosts sales for YT, i´m pretty sure they are likely to also up his salary.
Also financial stability may be another factor. If you trust the company to stay in it for a while that provides more stability than being with someone like Giant or Specialized who just might completely drop out of the whole szene as soon as customer interest starts to fade. For me personally that would be well worth a few bucks less per year.
The risk of putting all their eggs in Gwin's basket is that he could pull a Stevie Smith in the off season and scuttle their entire DH program with a broken ankle. With the Demo's racing reputation well established, that's a risk that's not always worth taking when you can hire a few lower priced athletes and get some solid top 10s and maybe a couple wins, even if a few of them get hurt. Granted that's exactly the risk they appear to have taken on Graves, but their Enduro program has been hurting, and it seems more financially justifiable to gamble on a super-star than it does in DH.
No one even mentioned that this is Olympics year in Rio, and Specialized will no doubt be dumping money towards that event. Can't have Gwin and gold medals too.
Someone should move the green and red buttons further apart for touch screens. Please.
Please do a ~140mm. trail bike... Pretty pretty please?
www.pinkbike.com/u/mattwragg/blog/from-the-top-stefan-willared.html
But I won't need a bike like this, definitely.
What "we" need is a Camber Evo/Hightower/5010/Scout/etc. killer with 27.5" wheels, 130-140mm. of travel and a YT sticker on it... I would kill for that bike!
@winko The Spitfire looks great! Don't know how I'd missed it until now. Looks like my perfect bike, although I'm a sucker for internal routing which makes me lean towards the Scout.
Looking past the god stuff it's hard not to root for Gwin. From my limited time around him he seems to be really nice ( helping kids at the local races etc) and he always says the right thing in interviews. In addition he is a beast on a bike.
Can't wait for the world cup!
My .02 on the $$'s is that no DH guys get compensated enough for risking life and limb. If Gwin raises the ceiling a bit that can't be a bad thing and he deserves every penny.
Now, if only they'd let someone come in and sort out the customer care side of this business... *cough cough*
Stoked for YT and stoked to see Gwin get to see where he's at at this point in his career. Still very competitive/championship caliber rider (clearly). But also a leader and a guy that can really help build a top quality team at YT and bring the young Bell sponsored Spaniard in.... and help develop top end DH bikes for YT.
It makes a lot of sense for everyone involved. Gets YT instantly on the map in the DH game. Get Gwin paid. Etc.
+1 for the by-riders-for-riders mentality.
In fact its very likely the have a % of marketing money than other, a lot bigger, brands by not having to share $ with a lbs...
so no its not gonna get more expensive but if this business model gets adopted more widely you will have to mail in your bike to get your brakes bleed and your derailleur adjusted some day soon...
Re the savings made, I don't wanna make anyone feel sick but when it comes to the chain of company to customer it isn't pretty for us hence why YT are smashing it.In my experience previously working in different sectors of the industry I'll give you an example, if you take a £6000 bike made by XXXX, so I'll start at the lbs level, they will have bought the bike for anywhere between 50%( if big shop and big bike co) and 80% so in this case we'll say 75% is what the shop bought the bike for, then the distributor for that country will have again around 20%-30% to play with, at this point the bike is worth around £3000, now the bike comp itself has sourced said frame from the far East and has around 40%+ margin on that (including OEM parts etc) so the bike itself from the company perspective is worth to them about £1400. So YT selling you a bike directly actually increases there profit margin but also sells you the benefits of that by giving you a great bike for alot less than anywhere else. Win win.
I just find it interesting that especially on pinkbike people tend to be very pro LBS and at the same time they tend to be supporting and celebrating brands like YT that don't give a dam about that.
On the other side the same people hate on older well established brands that support the classic system and therefore have to have a different price structure....
If only more brands had this attitude, hats off to them!
Dont get me wrong i dont think he lies with everything he is saying. But this answers are just To polished and (bike) political correct.
E.g: As a CEO he would never Tell us: hey Guys, WE just singed gwin but had To spend half of our r&d Budget and all of our Marketing Budget for that.
They Mist likeley are starting their business year with january so I guess they will just have defined a marketing Budget before that fits Aaron salary.
This Interview is an example of very very good Marketing. Dont believe everything you read (thats for every Media and Internet as whole by the way...)
Still i like them dont get me Wrong!
This really is discrimination against impatient bastards such as myself... Get ready for a lawsuit
Do they serve Coffee?
This is the best question.
Spesh (USA) sponsoring French and Australian riders (lots of them)
Santa Cruz (USA*) sponsoring UK and SA riders.
Trek (USA), sponsoring UKers
Both top Americans are picked up by overseas companies (Scott, YT)
Wonder why DH racing is going nowhere in good ol USA...