Product and Brand Development in Transition – Redefining Performance
Over the past decade, technological advancements have propelled the e-mountain bike (e-MTB) category forward. Motors have become more efficient, batteries larger, and suspensions more refined, resulting in bikes that are more powerful than ever. However, this progress has also led to a trend where products are increasingly optimized for specifications rather than the actual riding experience. More power. More torque. More travel. More features.
These numbers are easy to communicate and compare. But they don’t automatically lead to a better riding experience. As a media outlet, we are part of this system. Comparison tests play a crucial role in bike development. They were created with a clear and meaningful goal: to provide riders with an objective tool to understand products, compare options, and make informed decisions in an increasingly complex market. The criteria of comparison tests define what success means. They shape what brands develop, what retailers sell, and what riders ultimately choose.
Tests Shape Product Development
This influence also brings responsibility. If test criteria reward the wrong things, the industry begins to optimize for the wrong goals. That’s why we are redefining how we evaluate bikes. Our goal is clear: to shift the focus from specifications to the real riding experience.
More Than Launch Performance: The Ownership Experience
A bike is not a short-term experience. It’s a product that riders live with for years. Many products are primarily developed for visibility at market launch—not for long-term satisfaction in ownership. But riders don’t buy bikes for a press release or a test weekend. They buy them for years on the trail.
Therefore, our evaluation increasingly focuses on the overall ownership experience.
This includes factors such as:
- Intuitive setup and easy adjustability
- Long-term reliability
- Noise development over the product’s lifespan
- Ease of maintenance and good repair access
- Availability of spare parts
- Software support and system transparency
A strong product should not only impress on the first day. It must also provide real value months and years after purchase. Long-term satisfaction builds more trust in a brand than short-term enthusiasm.
From Marginal Gains to Real Relevance
For years, product development has been driven by small technical advancements. Each new generation promised more power, higher integration, or even more extreme performance. But marginal gains on paper rarely lead to noticeable improvements in real life.
The crucial question is not whether a feature sounds impressive in a launch presentation, but whether it actually improves the product experience: on the trail, in daily use, in the workshop, and over years of ownership. Does it make setup easier? Does it make the bike more intuitive, reliable, easier to maintain, easier to understand? Does it simplify usage, or does it increase complexity under the guise of innovation?
The future of bike design should not be defined by escalating component specifications but by holistic product quality. True innovation begins with a simple question: Does this make the ride better?
Strong bikes are not defined by the biggest numbers. They are defined by how naturally they work with the rider. This is where rideability becomes the decisive measure of true performance.
Closing the Performance Gap
At the same time, another challenge is becoming increasingly visible.
Never before has the discrepancy between technical equipment and actual riding ability been as large as it is today.
Riders now have access to the most advanced parts and equipment ever built and developed. High-end bikes promise enormous performance potential. Brands drive technological innovation forward, media fuel the desire for more, and riders invest heavily in premium products. But true competence often develops much more slowly. Many buy the bike, the equipment, the dream—but never fully realize what these products were actually built for. The majority of high-end bike owners never come close to tapping into the potential of their equipment.
And this is not just a matter of trail performance. In many cases, riders also don’t benefit from the systems, features, and complexity of modern bikes because these solutions are hard to understand, hard to access, or simply too irrelevant in everyday use.
This creates a growing gap between what products could achieve and what riders can actually utilize. The task of outstanding product development is not to widen this gap but to close it. The best bikes enable riders to grow into their potential. They are intuitive, balanced, and instill confidence. They help beginners make progress faster and give experienced riders exactly the support, reserves, and precision they need.
True performance is therefore not defined by the maximum capability of a product. True performance is defined by how much of this potential riders can actually tap into and use on the trail.
Note: This is not an advocacy for less powerful bikes. It is an advocacy for more accessible performance.
Closing the performance gap does not mean limiting the potential of a bike but making it accessible to more riders.
Rideability as the New Benchmark
Rideability is, by the way, not a new criterion. It has always been one of the decisive characteristics of an outstanding bike. However, for far too long, it has been treated as just one important factor among many, rather than recognizing it as the most relevant measure of real performance.
Rideability describes how naturally and intuitively a bike works with the rider. A bike with high rideability feels balanced and predictable. The rider doesn’t have to constantly fight against the bike or correct its behavior. Instead, the bike supports them and allows them to focus entirely on the trail.
Good rideability benefits all riders.
Beginners gain confidence faster. Experienced riders can push harder and ride more intuitively. In this sense, the best bikes don’t just perform in extreme situations. They create consistent trust across all situations. This makes rideability one of the most important benchmarks for evaluating modern bikes.
Simplifying Complexity
In recent years, the complexity of products has increased dramatically. Proprietary standards, fragmented ecosystems, complicated service processes, and an excess of features have made many bikes harder to understand and maintain.
True progress often lies in simplification.
Clearer standards, better serviceability, and intuitive system design benefit riders, retailers, and manufacturers alike. Simpler, more coherent products generally provide more real value and longer product lifecycles.
The most successful bikes of the future will not necessarily be the most complex. They will be those where all elements work together as a coherent whole.
From Components to Relationships
In a mature market, the technical differences between products become smaller. Features can be copied. Components in the equipment can be aligned within a product cycle. Much harder to replicate is the relationship between brand and rider.
Ownership experience, reliability, transparency, and support create a deeper connection between customers and brands. Riders who trust a product and enjoy owning it over a long period are much more likely to remain loyal, recommend the brand, and continue investing in the ecosystem.
This makes rider experience not just a matter of good product design but a real competitive advantage.
A New Evaluation Framework
Our evaluation framework reflects this shift in perspective. Instead of primarily focusing on features and components of the equipment, we evaluate bikes along three central dimensions:
-
Ride Quality
How well the bike performs on the trail—and how intuitively riders can access this performance. -
Product and System Quality
How coherent the design and technical development of the product are as a complete system. -
Usage and Experience Quality
How satisfying the bike remains over time in ownership, maintenance, and on the trail.
A true test winner is not defined by extreme features or components. A test winner is the bike that functions best as a complete system—on the trail, in the workshop, and over the entire period of use.
**The Goal