Shiny bikes & their advocates

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mjr
Posts: 20297
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
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Re: Shiny bikes & their advocates

Post by mjr »

thelawnet wrote:An aero bike like this one

Image

Is anything but muted.

There are those 'look at me' 60mm rims, ultra-fat tubes, it seems calculated to be as eye-catchingly hideous as possible.

Does anyone else see that and think "ugly carabiner"?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
djnotts
Posts: 3024
Joined: 26 May 2008, 12:51pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Shiny bikes & their advocates

Post by djnotts »

I think that Trek aero is a stunning looker - I'd love one! But my only criterion for a road machine is light. My P-x Super Light Pro is near enough 16lbs with an Ultegra triple set up and a very light rear wheel (the matching front Roval SL collapsed!) and I can get up "my" hill home on about 25" gear (swopped 30 inner for a 26T) rather than the sub-20" anything heavier demands. Stands me at about 450 quid. Lotto win and I'll have something, anything, that I can get down to say 14lbs. And no amount of training can regain the 50% of lung capacity that I no longer have!

But the comparison testing is too full of variables to have meaning.
MarcusT
Posts: 443
Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 10:33am

Re: Shiny bikes & their advocates

Post by MarcusT »

hondated wrote:
PH wrote:
MarcusT wrote:Using the $7,000 bike to shave 60 seconds from a 1 hour ride, is like that guy in a car who passes like a jerk because he really needs to get where he is going. Then after micturating everyone off, he gets to his destination maybe 30 seconds earlier.

I don’t see it like that at all. There is a pleasure in riding a nice bike or driving a good car, that has nothing to do with anyone other than the rider.

+1 Definitely buy it if I had the money. Would it make me a better rider definitely not. But what it would do it would give me pleasure each time I walked into my garage and saw it. Mind you I am someone who still buys the glossy magazines with photos of top end bikes in them So I guess I am guilty of being indoctrinated by them. :wink: :D

I understand you. My first serious bikes were, if not top of the line, close to it. Then I changed life style and had to learn to compromise.
I still remember watching documentaries of master frame builders and dreaming of touring the Campagnolo plant.

Today, I have to weigh quality against price. I will never enter a top-tier bike race (or a low-tier for that matter).

Plus, let's face it, the top-end bikes of quite generic. They are being pushed out of some factory in Asia with no character other than the latest tech.
My last racing bike had Columbus SLX tubing, Cinelli lugs and the cable guides were hand made brass. all hand soldered, and the maker hand signed the frame at the end.
I guess that is what I would expect for spending that kind of money, but I am of a different generation.
I wish it were as easy as riding a bike
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