July 17th, 2006
Le Maillot Jaune - Fashion Victim
No, I’m not talking about the maillot jaune…
After our epic ride out we went to Charnock Richard Cycles, Britain’s biggest independent cycle retailer, to scope out budget road bikes for one of the family. The road section is full of aluminium and carbon framed skinny tyred beauties from the likes of Trek, Specialized and Giant.
And while these are shipping off to customers faster than he can build them up, there on the reduced by large amounts display stand is a gorgeous 853 Lemond Maillot Jaune. Not the 853/carbon hybrid from 2004, this is the older 2003 model made entirely from steel. They’ve built it up themselves with a mix of reasonable but budget parts, and it still costs less than the RRP of the frameset alone. It’s not had a fashion-conscious roadie so much as give it a sniff, while they head over to the Euro flouro Fondriests.
Roadies it seems, are like rabbits caught in the headlights. When faced with shiny Ultegra parts and a cut-price aluminium frame they’ll hand over the cash without asking themselves which bits have been skimped on to pay for the component upgrade.
Simple.
The frame is the heart of any ride. Hand-welding 853 costs more than machine welding aluminium.
While steel enjoys a bit of a renaissance in the mountain bike world I’m more than happy to profit from it’s current lack of fashion in the roadie world.
Epic road rides here we come.
Best buy myself some short white socks.
Update:
Who says the Americans don’t do irony. The frame is red :-o
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July 18th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
I’m scared of going to that shop now you’ve told me about the Maillot Jaune.. luckly me and the roadster are working ok together on sub 50milers.
I beleive roadies are crazy enough to upgrade their bikes each year, which is madness really, you want to ride a bike til it crumbles under you!
have you ridden the Lemond yet?
July 19th, 2006 at 9:17 am
I’ve only raced it to work and back so far. I can’t believe how much smoother it is than the Pompino with slicks instead of CX tyres.
Need to sort out the cleats on my road shoes before I go for a long ride or my knees will be proper fucked.
July 19th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Nobody machine-welds aluminium, except for really, really, cheap and nasty bikes.
July 19th, 2006 at 11:35 am
So the price difference comes down to cost of materials and use of cheap outsourced labour then?
July 19th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Well, making a frame in 853 generally involves shipping the tubing halfway across the world in one direction, welding it together and then shipping the results back again, which obviously adds considerably to the cost compared to tubing that can be sourced near to the manufacturing facility. And yes, aluminium is generally cheaper than 853. Although obviously only the front half of the Maillot Jaune is 853.
July 19th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
And of course one man’s “cheap outsourced labour” is another’s “way of actually allowing this product to exist at a price that people are willing to pay for it”. Taiwanese welders are paid pretty well…
July 19th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
As you say though, “a price people are willing to pay for it”. I’m still happily profiting from the laws of supply and demand here :-)
July 19th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
It’s always good to want something that no-one else wants. Especially when everyone else is clearly wrong :-)