I think this a little distorted, for a reason that applies to cars too. So let's start there.
You have decided you want a vehicle. You head to the first dealer on your local "Golden Mile" strip. The dealer (because they are nice) starts asking you about what you're looking for. Turns out that you want to be able to haul rocks and drive on mountain forest roads in the snow. Unfortunately, you're at a Honda dealer, and they have nothing for you. You head towards the local Ford dealer but along the way change your mind about what you're looking for. The Ford dealer asks similar questions, but now you're looking for a 50mpg sub-compact with essentially zero maintainance and significant interior space. The Ford dealer grimaces.
Now, getting more realistic, we turn to bicycles. They may (mostly) all have two wheels, pedals, handlebars and a chain, but in reality there's as much of a gap in functionality between an enduro mountain bike and a time trial/triathlon bike as there is between the Ford F150 and a Honda Fit (Jazz for HN's european contingent). And into that gap there are:
* touring bicycles
* commuter/shopping bicycles
* BMX bikes (which some set of young people still seem to like)
* full suspension mountain bikes
* hard-tail mountain/gravel bikes
I own a lot of bicycles, and if you told me that I had to have any of the features you've mentioned above on my custom built carbon tri bike, I'd be angry. Conversely, if you told me that I could not put fenders on my gravel/shopping Surly Straggler, I'd laugh you out of the room. I'm never going to need lights on my full suspension bike, because I never ride it in the dark, and I never need to lock it up. I don't want GPS system Foo on any of my bikes, because I prefer GPS system Bar. Ditto for the speedometer.
Now, is there a market for "the generalist bicycle", perhaps with all or most of the features you've mentioned? Maybe. Visiting western European countries suggests that there could be, but it might be function of urban design, land use, transportation planning etc., and not really a function of the bike itself.
I agree with you that cycling's status as a hobbyist market probably does do something to limit its appeal. I just don't think that the effect is that strong, and the main reasons people don't ride a bicycle is not its confusing which accessories to get.
You have decided you want a vehicle. You head to the first dealer on your local "Golden Mile" strip. The dealer (because they are nice) starts asking you about what you're looking for. Turns out that you want to be able to haul rocks and drive on mountain forest roads in the snow. Unfortunately, you're at a Honda dealer, and they have nothing for you. You head towards the local Ford dealer but along the way change your mind about what you're looking for. The Ford dealer asks similar questions, but now you're looking for a 50mpg sub-compact with essentially zero maintainance and significant interior space. The Ford dealer grimaces.
Now, getting more realistic, we turn to bicycles. They may (mostly) all have two wheels, pedals, handlebars and a chain, but in reality there's as much of a gap in functionality between an enduro mountain bike and a time trial/triathlon bike as there is between the Ford F150 and a Honda Fit (Jazz for HN's european contingent). And into that gap there are:
I own a lot of bicycles, and if you told me that I had to have any of the features you've mentioned above on my custom built carbon tri bike, I'd be angry. Conversely, if you told me that I could not put fenders on my gravel/shopping Surly Straggler, I'd laugh you out of the room. I'm never going to need lights on my full suspension bike, because I never ride it in the dark, and I never need to lock it up. I don't want GPS system Foo on any of my bikes, because I prefer GPS system Bar. Ditto for the speedometer.Now, is there a market for "the generalist bicycle", perhaps with all or most of the features you've mentioned? Maybe. Visiting western European countries suggests that there could be, but it might be function of urban design, land use, transportation planning etc., and not really a function of the bike itself.
I agree with you that cycling's status as a hobbyist market probably does do something to limit its appeal. I just don't think that the effect is that strong, and the main reasons people don't ride a bicycle is not its confusing which accessories to get.