Originally Posted by
Quiglesnbits
I understand your perspective. And I understand to some degree the argument that some of these companies have regarding development costs in what is maybe not a huge volume industry. At the end of the day, maybe I am a bad engineer, but I don't see anything associated with bike components, their design, or their manufacture that can justify the cost that is charged for them. To me that is all happening on the market side of the equation. Carbon layup is a different and complex issue from most components, but my baseline assumption is that most of these companies are founded by people who learned what they know by making rims at OEMs that "name brands" sell for 5 or 10x.
Originally Posted by
smashndash
That’s the way I want to be able to look at it - that all these companies just happen to be charging absurd amounts. But it’s hard to believe that, in such a competitive industry, these companies would be able to get away with it for so long.
I guess I’m really afraid of being “that guy” who took the bait and paid in flesh and blood instead of $, despite all of my friends telling me so. Moreso the social humiliation than the physical pain ��
It is not that hard to believe that they just reverse engineered Enve (or any other competitor's) rims by looking at the carbon layup and design with X-ray, sawing through them, etc. etc. Carbon fiber layup of a wheel does not strike me as that difficult of a thing to reverse engineer. At the end of the day, it is just strands of carbon fiber in a polymer resin. The tech has been around since the 1970s.
Much easier to reverse engineer than many of the nano-sized computer chips etc. that are also being reverse engineered in China. Or fighter jets, etc.
And if reverse-engineering is indeed what they do, then yes, the saved costs in RnD and marketing could very well account for the cost difference. Companies spend HUGE amounts on marketing, Rnd, and of course just straight up profit margin in some cases (like Apple with their iPhones, 30% profit margin from hearsay).
Is the price of the LB wheels "too good to be true"? I don't really think so. Building up a wheelset with a quality hub on their website still runs you about $700-$800. While a similar wheelset from the likes of Enve costs maybe $2500. But wheelsets from other reputable brands can be found for around $1500?