The YT Jeffsy with was first teased with a controversial but admittedly effective video teaser campaign
back in 2016 and it looks like the German brand might just have trumped it with this latest edition of the bike.
Hollywood legend Christopher Walken fronts the video describing his experiences with friendship and Jeffsy while sat in a study. Nothing more, nothing less. It's totally out of left field but I'm definitely a fan. There's no shredding here but we do get some fleeting glimpses of the new bike at the end. I've posted the screengrabs I could get below.
| We’re born alone, we die alone. And in between we spend our lives looking for something, a connection. That’s all we want. Every once in a while we might find it, in a true friend. Many friendships will come, only to fade as quickly as a firework. But some, a rare and precious few, turn life up to 11 and keep it there. You got to hold on to friends like these because, just like air, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. No one else gets “it” but they do. Cause they know what’s in your soul, your heart, your mind. They can blindside you - come out of nowhere but you’ll know them right away, you’ll click as perfectly as a jack plug into an amp. They’ll know what you’re thinking before you’ve thought it, anticipating your every move. They’ll understand the demons as well as the angels inside of you. Never judging you for it either. And together, you’ll uncage a thrill that makes you surge with life. But don’t be fooled: friendships are not easy. You’ve got to put the effort in and take as good care of them as you do your own flesh. There will be good times and epic, adrenalin filled challenges where it seems there’s no way you can make it. But, if you trust in one another and commit, you’ll find a way. Coming through together, closer, stronger. Even so, you, they, the world in time, everything and everyone changes. Slowly that boiling energy of young friendship will cool and be replaced by the bonds of a deep, mutual history, complete with the scars that tell the stories of a lifetime well lived. It’s as inevitable as ripples altering their size. So don’t fight it, go with it. Ride it out. Together. Just like Jeffsy and I.—Christopher Walken |
"So, who should we use in the new Jeffsy teaser?"
"Uh, how about Andreu? Cam? Maybe Jord..."
"CHRISTOPHER F*CKING WALKEN!"
[everyone starts partying]
If you’re gonna have Christopher Walken at least have him dance or threaten to stab you in the eye with a screwdriver!
Reminded me of this.
Hail Satan. \m/
A++
"oh good mowning. I'm Frank Underwood. This evening, Jeffsy isnt going to know whut hit him. I'm going to be taking him down some dark, dirty and tight alleyways and I do expect he'll be put into some compromahsing positions. Still, as long as I come out with a smahl on mah face, I do believe that all of his thrashing and hard riding will be woyth it....."
Except I'd pay money for a YT and wouldn't even wipe my arse with a Supreme t-shirt.
When Howie ran things from Reno, they were great: best customer service ever. YT decided they were too expensive (because stupidity) and now here we are.
They are playing by the numbers so they rake in profit, meanwhile they ship things with USPS using shipping options so bad I didn't even know they existed. They hook certain customers up and charge others every penny they can. I could go on and on but I actually like the US customer service reps for YT, they're good guys. However, YT is f*cking them in the ass by not giving them the budget they need or the resources they need to do their jobs well.
It seems to me as someone who got CS departments going for startups for 12 years, and successfully I might add, that YT cares more about money than customer experience. They're pissing on $100 dollar bills to not have to let go of the pennies they're clutching on to.
Not everything is black and white.
But my Jeffsy is
That makes a lot of sense about the shipping. Reno pushed so hard to make the airport more direct but that didn't go as well as planned and of course you can't just build a deep sea port where ever you want one.
agree and if they're conservative in their forecasts they don't have to sell discounted to clear out inventory later. plan conservatively, sell out of some models, keep the riders chomping at the bit. that's good business. learn from the orders and website analytics and increase the next production run... but not by too much.
i think alot of shops have gotten screwed trying to manage their inventory and forecast demand. this is one reason why more big brands are doing direct web sales, so the shop doesn't have to carry as much financial risk. of course there's a flip side to that too.
@matttauszik
This would have made a great Cannon Camera TV add some years back! "Image is everything"
Hats off to Christopher Walken though. The man is a legend. Maybe he can put in a good word to YT for us that they need to take care of their customer base?
Party on dudes!
It seems, there is a huge gap of quality in customer service between NA and Europe. It's a shame, really.
I guess though it has to be taken with a grain of salt, since tendency online is always that you hear/read much more about things/people failing than going well.
I for one am really happy with my YT and customer service as well.
Think everyone needs to keep in mind that the error/problem rate for most bike companies is pretty low. YT may have a few more issues where they may have had quality concerns. They also probably need to over compensate for assembly error from owners than a brand that sells through an LBS. That's not to say an LBS doesn't make errors but, on average, they make less.
Even if YT bikes have more problems than other brands on average, it truly seems like the vast majority of bikes work great and have no issues. People seem to be so absolutist with this stuff.
Half of the guys is here whinnying are though!
Whilst YTs US problems are inexcusable, it’s pretty normal over here.
Also, I’m kinda not crying for you because your incredibly cheap direct bike lacks good customer service. You accepted that when you went direct.
You pay for what you get.
I dealt with customer service back in 2015 and it was excellent...but I am concerned about the new CS arrangement based only on what I've heard on PB comments. The issue I had in 2015 was entirely operator error, not a warranty thing, and they hooked me up anyways.
Their adds are un-inspiring IMO, and the name Jeffsey is pretty silly for a mountain bike. But watching Gwin crush the world cup and watching almost everyone at Rampage riding a Tues pretty much overcomes any lame marketing approach....
If you wrench your own bikes....why not go direct?
So my out take of the whole PB dentist thing is:
1) Dentists are people too, and don’t deserve the bashing they get here
2) The rate they make money, no wander they can afford the XX1 spec to go on top of their Porsche
3) It’s your own fault that they make so much, cos you don’t bloody floss!
Those engineers, though. Always making the money, rolling on Yetis and Unnos.
Yeah, but they can't afford that Porsche until they pay down that $300k in school debt and $___k in practice debt.
I for one wouldn't assume that much debt just to be able to scrape sh*t out of people's mouths. They're basically sadistic trashmen (and women).
They're in their 50's before they can go XX1.
BTW would love to see Mr Walken actually ide that bike
My 2 cents... I'd always ridden bikes from big brands, mostly because I either worked for them directly or worked in a shop that sold them. I held on to my old Trek for years after moving to Germany. It was a great bike.
I'm not directly involved in the industry anymore and because of that I couldn't afford the top end model from (insert big brand here). So I bought a Jeffsy on sale at the end of the year. I've been riding mountain bikes for about 18 years, and can say without question that this is the best feeling bike I've ever ridden out of the box.
On top of that the spec for the price is simply unbeatable. Outside of upping the fork travel, changing the chainring and cassette, I haven't touched anything on it. I ride everything from my flatish local trails to the alps to the occasional bike park outing with it and it's taken everything in stride.
The service in NA seems abysmal. I can't say personally but from what I've read on the internets it seems to not be going so well over there. Really too bad as I can't say anything bad about it from this side of the pond. YT could really do well to steal some established employees from bike brands over there.
Pricing... yeah, they got more expensive (and will continue to). Welcome to our capitalist society! Various factors influence price, and yes - you the consumer pay for betterment and change (and you demand it!). Get used to it.
Does it look the same as the last version? Yeah, for sure. There are subtle differences, but the basic shape stays the same. Why? Because it works. There's really not much point in a complete aesthetic overhaul unless you really have a reason. And let's face it: bikes today work well - really, really well. Kinematics and building techniques are better than they've ever been. What I always find funny is that no one can accept a new standard, but if a new model looks like the previous one, everyone starts talking about how boring it is.
Water bottle? I can see just from the screen grabs that there's more than enough space for one. In my opinion the Thristmaster was a little stupid, hopefully they get rid of that. I run a Fabric on my size large.
Last but not least: Seat tube. Man oh man. For me the seat tube length on my Jeffsy is totally fine, but granted a little more room with the seat slammed would be welcome.
/rant
The strongest message of this commercial is “Look we can hire Christopher Walken, nobody in MTB advertising has done anything even remotely close to that. The impact of that move can send ripples across the whole sport.
That being said, my wife doesn't question my purchases or need to let me go to my hobbies.. As long as the bills are paid and investment obligations are met.. She can do what she wants as do I.. Its a great way to live life.
Guess I have manipulated her in the child discussion area hoeever as to why we don't need anoth one. But that would honestly be it.
It has led to the Me syndrome in Western Society and all the baggage that it entails (snow flakes, safe spaces, me too campaigns, etc)
Lucky for some, there is the Internet which helps us bring rationality back into purchase decisions.
As you can see there are forces, demons in our minds much stronger and more terrifying than those which makes us buy a bloody bike. Power of a bike or car marketer is nothing, compared to what football can do. From making you spend money on stupid shitty beer to monthly fee for sports channel, go to matches, to make you worship players of yourfavorite team and genuinely hate members of the other. It can make you beat someoene up. I haven’t talked much about what a priest can do,...
The little man's will all be second hand for a long while.
Here is the complete sentence:
"You got to hold on to friends like these because, just like air, you’ll miss them when they’re gone."
It's nerdy but fun
"Air is a mass noun. It has no plural form."
Cool ad but it doesn't get the bad taste out! I'll just leave it at that.
It follows then, that the only reason to cast Walken for this ad was to stir up conversations around the brand, rather than a specific product. Consider that they could have used any other bike in their line for the ad and it would be equally relevant. Heck, Remington could steal the ad, dub over the name of one of their guns, and throw in some studio shots of it at the end and it'd work just as well.
Back to my original point, to make an ad purely for shock value makes it seem like the ad's primary goal is to remind people that YT exists, rather than showcase an inherently interesting product. It smacks of desperation rather than pride in one's product, stating that YT have money to spend, just not on bike design.
*nothing against C. Walken, who I find hilarious and awesome in everything.
Great username btw.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsh4SvPdfl8
This is what the ad does well (or at least attempts to do):
- Stand out by taking a radically different approach to selling bikes
- Bridge the divide between sport and pop-culture
- Appeal to consumers who value being different, being on the so-called leading edge of pop-culture, and by extension, value 'cult status' of brands or products.
This is what the ad lacks:
- Product explanation & demonstration
- Opportunities for the consumer to identify with the product or use of the product
- Appeal to consumers who are won over by being able to 'see' themselves in the usage scenario
That's all. I clearly have too much time and brain space.
I feel badly for ppl who’ve experienced shabby customer svc because I’ve been blown away with their service and e*thirteens svc. Can’t say I’ll ever buy e*thirteen components for any of my future bikes but they sure have great service and fast when I’ve contacted them, same with YT.
I’m really hoping they offer frame only option in the US, I may be interested in a frame update if they do.
It’s a business, and it’s not your business, ride their Nike’s or don’t, it’s not personal, so don’t make it so.
A bike is not a friend, it’s bike... but they’d love for you to be so attached. That is the message.
Unless the i was a deliberate reference to electricity....
The whole video was littered with ebike clues....
I will go on record as saying this is the dumbest video ever, but they got that right.
Here's the full sentence: "Ride it out, together, just like Jeffsy and I."
"Jeffsy and I" in this instance is in the subjective case, which is usually the case when using the word "like," because it's generally comparing whatever follows to the subject of a sentence. It's completely interchangeable with the subject. The understood predicate is "ride it out." Essentially, the sentence means (You) ride it out, just like Jeffsy and I (ride it out). To make it simple, you would never say "me ride it out."
"Ride it out, together, just like me and Jeffsy." You would say, "Ride it out, like me."
or
"Ride it out together, just like Jeffsy and I do." You would say, "Ride it out, like I do." (or replace "do" with "ride it out.")
You would never say, "Ride it out, like I."
@TheR For your point to be correct, you need to end the sentence with "....ride it out." It's grammatically incorrect to leave that out.
If "like" is viewed as a preposition, it should be followed by an objective pronoun (me).
If "like" is viewed as a conjunction in place of "as" (informal, but common), it should be followed by a subjective pronoun (I).
The prepositional interpretation (me) sounds less formal, is apparently "acceptable in informal or neutral English," and it's the one I prefer. Taking "like" as a conjunction (I) is more formal, sounds awkward to me, but it's fully legitimate.
Short story: I think the ad sucks and the last line sounds awkward, but it's grammatically correct, and AFAIK the way I prefer it would be OK as well. Grammar lessons in the Pinkbike comment section, f*ckin' eh!
Source: www.druide.com/en/reports/i-or-me
No Colonel Sanders, you're wrong.
Should be: "Ride it out, together, just like me Jeffsy and myseIf."
Now back to the Yeti forum, Dr. Troll, DDS!
he flies, he rides, he walken.
Funny.
They were selling their "special" water bottle cage for a lot of money, but people figured out that you can use some cheap standard cages.
Maybe YT was thinking..."Shit we must make it impossible for them to not buy OUR cage"
I wouldn't be suprised if it's some magnet YT only use stuff.
vimeo.com/220644387
and that's needed to help the all-consuming all-dancing crap of the world Patagonia customers feel better about themselves (TD paraphrase)
youtu.be/ujeYqG9pbr0
I scrolled through skipping 10seconds at a time to see if the talking at stopped and the trail riding had started...
Agree the current ones are too tall. I ride a size large at 5'10" and couldn't fit a 150mm dropper (shorter legs than average). Had to swap to 125mm and have about 10mm of the post showing. Annoying, would prefer a 150 dropper for steeps.
Walken took a gig doing a bike commercial. No conspiracy. We're all jokes of history. YT gave the consumer what they wanted and my man Walken's been doing that since I was on training wheels.
And what did Christopher Walken do to end up here? Does YT have compromising photos of him somewhere or something?
That said, the bike does look cool. I'll give them that.