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Make In The U.S. Or Go Abroad ?
According to The New York Times, Super Sized Cycles, manufactures and adapts bicycles for overweight riders who are too big for conventional bikes. The five-year-old business, which is based in Vermont, had sales last year of $104,000.
The challenge Joan Denizot, the founder, has been agonizing over whether to manufacture bicycles in the United States or to import them from Asia at much lower costs.
Her business is at a crossroads. Though she has increased sales through her Web site every year, she remains barely in the black — and only by paying herself a pittance.
She has been seeking a marketing breakthrough that would enable her to expand her business and thereby aid more people like herself.
Her enterprise might be considered a niche business, except that it is aimed at a growing segment of the population: the obese, who according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, number about one in every three adults.
Her bikes, which range from $699 to $3,395, feature broader, sturdier wheels and tires, wider seats and pedal placement, and strong steel frames. She said one model can support riders weighing as much as 550 pounds. Over all, she sells about 100 bikes a year.
“Eventually, the big bike builders are going to wake up,” Ms. Denizot said. “And when they do, they’re not going to fool around with having them custom built in the U.S. They’re going to go overseas and get them built. Will they be as good as mine? I don’t think so. But I’ll still have to be competitive on price.”
Photo by The New York Times.
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Angela Shupe on June 27th, 2010 8:53 pm
I love the idea of her bicycles and I say it’s about time… but I could never afford even just $700, the lowest price, for a bicycle from her. I hate to say it (especially since I’m not a big fan of sending out jobs when people here need them as badly as they do) but she might sell more if she could lower the costs by going overseas. Or possibly if she could find some other way to lower costs? Her bikes look great and as a plus size girl I know exactly what she’s talking about… it’s just the cost really is a big put off. And, if you ask me, it is those of us that are overweight that need these bicycles most! We’re the ones that need to work on our health and if we can’t find a bike to handle us as we are now then we are missing out on a potential way to work towards better health. More companies need to look into making their bicycles with higher weight limits (at reasonable costs) for that reason along.
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