I'm a C5 lover, of course, but even I can see some serious non-marketing related flaws in them that spelled disaster. Okay, I mentioned the price above, but who were the target market? At (inflation taken into account) a huge £1050, it would have been an insane parent who bought one for their kid... remember a big part of their intended purpose was to allow underage drivers to have transport. Businessmen, the only people who could really afford them, are unlikely to have wanted to arrive at the station stinking of sweat after copious amounts of pedalling, so straight away that's a huge part of their target audience knocked out from buying them just based on the price alone. At £500, say £180 New, they'd have stood a chance in the teens market, but of course with the investment involved they couldn't have sold for so little, so I blame price as well as the media for their demise... a fault of the machine? Nope, but a lack of foresight by the company.
Another huge design flaw that I'll draw attention to, the accessories. Okay, want to be noticed? You can fit our horn... want people to have a chance at seeing where you're turning? Fit indicators. US, now, would have no issue about drilling holes in the body to accommodate these, but that's because bodies are now ten a penny. Imagine you'd just spent a grand on one, would you trust yourself with a drill near it and risk messing up your immaculate new bike?
The biggest flaw though, and one that I fear people's attention to at shows, is that they were ahead of their time. Nowadays we have cycle lanes, cycles are common commuter transport that are (for the most part) accommodated for in modern day traffic... in the 80's they weren't and as nice as it is to look back through rose tinted specs at the old days, taking one anywhere other than on residential roads literally would have been taking your life into your own hands.
NOW I think they'd sell well... They suit our.society... but when they came out they were destined to fail before they'd even hit production. GREAT invention, but totally misjudged the market and didn't serve the purpose that they were designed.to do. However, I do always wonder why the Zeta didn't take off, because that to me was a fantastic device that I really am surprised didn't sell into millions and revolutionise cycling...
I know I'm going to stir up a hornet' s nest saying.that, but hey, just an opinion... I love the C5, but I can see exactly why it failed.