When I try to explain to people how competitive the bicycling industry is, I usually get a "yeah, yeah" type of look. "Of course it's competitive" is the standard reply, "they are, after all, in the business to make money." Well, uh, gee. Thanks for the intro to Economics 101.
Then I move one to explaing how for each price point (which can start at $300, and go up by increments of $50 - $75) every one of the large manufacturers has a bike, and usually they are all comparable to each other. Trek's $600 bike is going to be right on par, for quality & value, as a bike from Specialized, Giant, or Norco. And the same thing pretty much applies to bikes that costs $300 or $3000.
Of course there are differences between brands, and Product Managers have to make those tough decisions to stay within a certain price point, such as "if we downgrade the suspension fork, we can upgrade the drivetrain" or "we can put double-walled rims on, but we'll have to use a cheaper handlebar stem and saddle." But when you are comparing "Bang-For-Buck" value, most of the big players in the industry are neck-and-neck. There are always exceptions to the rule, however, and occassionally you come across a product that blows it's competitors away by increasing that "bang-for-buck" value.
For any competitive industry, especially one that is exceptionally secretive about sales figures and market/product research & development, it does seem like there is a lot of, um..."imitation" that goes on (you can call it "copying", "borrowing" or just plain "ripping-off" if you'd like). And the latest episode of squabble over "copying" is brought to you by Park Tool Co. and Serfas Inc., with Park Tool's Lawsuit over Serfa's use of the colour blue in their pumps.
Personally, I'm not sure who I side with on this one. I'd love to anybody else's opinion about this.
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