The Industry magazine interview with Jim Ford about Complete bikes
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
The Industry, a new BMX trade magazine, interviewed Mirraco co-owner Jim Ford for their first issue that came out a little while ago. The interview might be of interest so we’re posting it on the Mirraco site for you in case you have not seen it yet.
How long has Mirraco been doing complete bikes?
A little over a year, the first completes became available right before the 2006 Interbike show in Las Vegas.
How long did it take from the time the line began development until you actually had bikes in stock?
March 2006 is when we hired our product development manager. We had bikes out six months later, but it wasn’t easy. All Product Managers want a full year to dial in a new line. We didn’t have that luxury.
There are now quite a few “rider owned” companies that have decided to do completes in the last few years- why do you think that is, and what is it going to take to stay ahead of the curve?
I think they do it because they’re into riding, understand bikes, and want to make a living doing something they love. It’s not that difficult to spec a good bike if you’re an experienced rider, but after that things become a lot more challenging. Staying ahead of the curve requires more than just a passion for bikes. Unfortunately it also requires a much less exciting but important understanding of business, including finance, accounting, distribution, sales and marketing, business law, and so on. You also have to know what your customers want. Riders can relate to other riders, but they have to address the needs of bike shops before they can put their products in front of the end user. Having great bikes isn’t enough.
Were there any companies that Mirraco looked to as examples of a job well done in the complete market?
Not really. Everyone here has lot of BMX experience to draw on. There is one action sports company that we have a lot of respect for and that’s Burton. They’ve managed to achieve great commercial success over the years without compromising their image and relevancy to core riders.
Aesthetically, it seems important that the “smaller” company completes retain the look of a “real” riders bike. Is that a challenge when dealing with Taiwan/China, and is that a huge factor in how well they do?
That’s a fairly risky assumption to make because it implies that all ‘real’ riders want similar looking bikes. And it’s pretty arrogant and naïve to expect that everyone will want what ‘real’ riders ride. Aesthetics are constantly changing. A few years ago it was earth tones and minimal graphics. Now you’re seeing bright neon colors again with matching rims. Real riders account for a small portion of the total number of bikes sold. If you cater to them exclusively you risk excluding a big chunk of the market who may not share the same opinion when it comes to colors and graphics.
Building bikes in Asia is challenging, but not because of the colors and graphics. If you can imagine it, someone over there can build it.
It also seems that there is a “pot of gold” attitude from some newer companies regarding entry into the complete market. What are the biggest hurdles/ setbacks you’ve had in trying to make a good quality, affordable complete?
Hurdles and setbacks seem to come at you constantly in this business. Manufacturing a bike with fifty different components on it is very complicated. Our biggest setback was the fork recall earlier this year. We speced a high quality, full chromoly fork. Our instructions were clear and we received and approved samples prior to production that were made correctly. Someone at the fork factory decided without our knowledge or anyone else’s knowledge to leave out a critical step in the welding process. The fork builder’s QC people didn’t catch it and the assembly factory didn’t either. It cost a fortune to fix it, but it had to be done. The fact is, it’s difficult to make money selling completes when all of the underlying costs are accounted for. There isn’t much room for mistakes.
As the complete market gets more and more saturated, prices are going to go down, and subsequently, so is the quality of the components on these bikes. At what level will smaller companies be doing more harm than good in this segment of the market?
Declining prices are driven to great extent by competition. If you don’t have a product that is clearly better than others, the easiest way to tempt buyers is with a low price. This year there are several key factors in China beyond the control of the factories and bike brands that will cause prices to increase. I think bike shops are smart enough to realize when a deal is too good to be true. If a smaller company crosses the line when it comes to quality, the repercussions will be quick and they will be serious. Dealers don’t want unhappy customers and they won’t be buying your products very long if they’re getting poor quality or poor delivery from a supplier. In that respect, it doesn’t matter whether the company is small or large.
