I've heard, and sometimes used, the phrase, "Don't reinvent the wheel". Now, I find myself wondering why someone is trying to reinvent the bike. In today's Wall Street Journal, there appears an article entitled, "Look Ma, No Pedals!". Check out the link http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463590327676222.html?KEYWORDS=look+ma+no+pedals.
In summary, the article discusses a new market of bicycles without pedals for children. The selling point is that kid's will learn to balance more quickly, and no longer need to absorb the bumps and scrapes that come with learning to ride without training wheels. This product displays some classic principles of marketing. First, the makers attempt to create a market and establish value. Based on this article, the manufacturers of the pedal-less bike seem to rely on anecdotal evidence and their own child's story to convince buyers to pay a premium price for their "invention". Jennifer McIver, the co-owner of Wishbone Design Studio Ltd., even goes as far as to compare the method of using training wheels to "trying to go cold turkey on a cocaine addict". If my memory serves correctly, it took this "cocaine addict" all of a day or so to lose the training wheels and balance the bike on my own. I guess for $200 I could get my son a pedal-less bike and save him those 2-3 hours of trauma. In my mind, I don't see the value unless there is some real research that shows your child will develop faster or something else tangible and meaningful. These companies present no research.
So, as cynical as I am about the product, I'm sure there will be more than enough in the market who want to avoid the running down the sidewalks, bent over a bicycle, only to let go and watch their kids tumble to the pavement. I, for one, would probably just remove the pedals from my kids bike, and put that extra $200 towards a rainy day.
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