Selling the Benefit
Mon, October 5, 2020 
Go to any seminar, or read a book on selling, (Or marketing as some prefer to call It.) and you will learn that you always “Sell the Benefit” to the consumer.
In other words, “How will the consumer’s life be made better” if he buys whatever it is you are selling. In the case of a bicycle, how will it improve his performance?
One can build or manufacture just about anything then put up some wonderful sounding argument stating why it is of benefit to the user. Most of these statements cannot be proved or disproved.
Even when these theories are disproved, nobody really cares least of all the company who has made a lot of money, and everyone just moves on to whatever the next trend is.
In the late 1960s Cinelli built a frame that was devoid of all brazed-on fittings, stating that braze-ons weakened the frame. Gear levers, cables and cable guides, etc. all had to be clamped on to the frame. (Picture top left.)
Some years later people realized that the clamps held moisture and started rust spots, and the clamps sometimes caused stress risers and tubes often broke adjacent to the clamp.
For a while, every other framebuilder followed suit, because it saved a tremendous amount of time. (Which was of course the real reason.) Cinelli had stumbled on an incredibly simple way to cut labor costs, then actually sold the idea to the consumer as a benefit.
At the time Cinelli charged double what anyone else did for a frame. The psychology was it costs more, and therefore it must be better. Also, if it costs more you win the one-upmanship game. A psychology that is still being played out in today’s high-end bicycle market.
Weight saving is always an easy sale to the bicycle enthusiast. Push weight saving to its limits and in the case of a frame, it becomes flexible. Then you sell the idea that a flexible frame is an actual benefit to the rider. The big question here is, “How much flex?” Aluminum for example makes a strong and lightweight frame. However, it has little or no flexing qualities.
Back when I built frames, they were made by brazing a high tensile steel tube into a lugged joint. In the case of Columbus, the tubes were heat treated and were like a strong steel spring. When the framebuilder heated the tubes to braze the joint it actually softened the tubes, thereby losing a tiny amount of the strength, and spring qualities.
Remember Cinelli’s argument that braze-ons weakened the frame. Actually, there was a grain of truth in that statement. However, brazing the lugged joint and attaching braze-ons is part of the frame building process. The tubes are designed to withstand losing some of the strength during the building process. Brazed correctly, the end product is still far stronger than it need be.
This is why steel tubes are butted, (Greater wall thickness at each end.) so there is still adequate strength left after the joint is made. The trick is to use just enough heat to get the job done, but not heating the tube a greater distance from the lug or braze-on than necessary, thus retaining as much of the tube’s inherent strength as possible.
Because a frame is like a very stiff steel spring, when the rider makes a sudden effort as when he jumps in a sprint, the frame gives or flexes slightly. This is desirable, but the operative word here is “Slightly." It is like the difference between an athlete jumping from a concrete track or floor, and one jumping from a Tartan track surface or a floor made from wooden boards.
There is an old Briticism, (A saying from the UK.) that “Bull shit baffles brains.” Whenever you are reading the sales pitch for the latest and greatest high-tech wonder. (Not just bicycles, but any consumer product.) Keep an open mind.
They are selling the benefit. Your life will somehow be better for owning this product. Turn that idea around and ask, “What is the benefit to the manufacturer?” Is this product really better than the old one, or has the manufacturer found a cheaper way to make it?
Or has the manufacturer simply come up with something "New and Improved," that serves no real purpose other than to make the old one obsolete.
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Reader Comments (2)
Hi Dave,
For many years I worked in the bike industry at retail, distributor and manufacturing levels. My last stint was about 2013 for three years. I was unemployed because of the recession, but managed to work as a mechanic in a high end shop. Lot's of carbon fiber this and that. Seriously the latest "trick" stuff like DI2, etc.....
Here are my favorite gimmicks. Press fit bottom bracket. Yeah they tend to creak under load and depending on how well built that part of the frame was designed and manufactured ( also the size and strength of the rider) determines whether you get a POS bike or not. Other weird gimmicks, that single leg fork from Cramp and Fail I.... mean Cannondale. That thing just flat out scares me even though I know BMW does similar on motorcycles ! But,...... if it's so wonderful how come they are no longer made ? Nothing like a steel frame ( like yours Dave) that will last forever if cared for and unless you are a sponsored racer who is actually fast, will be enough bike for all. The "other " benefit ? How about being able to repair the frame instead of throwing it away !!! Great post Dave ! Thank you.
We are in an age ripe for examining "bull shit". I had heard in my early days around bikes (1980s) when steel was still prominent that the reason braze-ons disappeared was failures from overheating. So as thinner walled tubing and still-crude brazing methods intersected the results were a setup for failure and the solution - clamp-on everything.
I like your explanation. It is ironic that those clamps lead had the opposite result. Decades into my interest with bikes I'm finally acknowledging the "fashion" aspects of what how we are drawn into a design trend. How form and function may not align with real benefit.
Help with the larger concept of "bull shit" in our lives has been coming from John Vervaeke. He refers to a philosopher's book 'On Bullshit' by Harry Frankfurt.
Cheers