Is it just me? Am I too much of a luddite?
08-05-20, 09:11 AM
#26
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I think Alvin Toffler got it at least partially wrong. As we get older, we tend to settle on a certain level of technology and stay with it. Unless I'm forced, I don't see me getting a Garmin, using Zwift or that other thing where people post their times and earn "KOMs", or using tubeless tires, etc. It isn't being against them, it is just being satisfied with what you've got, knowing how to use and maintain it, and being disinclined to learn new skills/buy new stuff for marginal, if any, improvement. In my case, for example, disk brakes are great on the tandem my wife and I ride, and while I don't see a need on a single bike for the type of riding I do, if there's no viable option I would buy a bike with disks, I guess.
08-05-20, 09:50 AM
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08-05-20, 10:02 AM
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08-05-20, 10:02 AM
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08-05-20, 10:29 AM
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08-05-20, 10:32 AM
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08-05-20, 10:49 AM
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08-07-20, 07:11 AM
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08-07-20, 09:23 AM
#36
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No. Well, maybe. I dunno. It's just the first thing that came to mind when I was posting the OP. But I get ads all the time for CompetitiveCyclist and at first look I can't tell what the item is, what it does, nor even where on the bike it attaches.
While we're on the topic of Facebook...which apparently many who frequent the BFs don't subscribe to...but that's OK...there's another quirk that I take issue with. It's the 'suggested friends' notification. FB will present me a list of pontential friends. Many times it's people here in my town who I've never seen nor heard of. But, it'll say that we have 20 or 30 mutual friends on FB. And I look to see who the mutual friends are...they're friends I've known for decades, have been to parties and sat down to dinner at their homes, vacationed with, etc...and never not once have I heard the name of the 'suggested friend' uttered. WTF?
Dan
While we're on the topic of Facebook...which apparently many who frequent the BFs don't subscribe to...but that's OK...there's another quirk that I take issue with. It's the 'suggested friends' notification. FB will present me a list of pontential friends. Many times it's people here in my town who I've never seen nor heard of. But, it'll say that we have 20 or 30 mutual friends on FB. And I look to see who the mutual friends are...they're friends I've known for decades, have been to parties and sat down to dinner at their homes, vacationed with, etc...and never not once have I heard the name of the 'suggested friend' uttered. WTF?
Dan
Last edited by _ForceD_; 08-07-20 at 09:37 AM.
08-07-20, 06:35 PM
#37
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I've had a Zefal HP frame pump on my Fuji since 1976. Well, technically I'm on my third one since the first two got bent bashing bad doggie noggins... But this current one is from 1979! Still works great.
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08-07-20, 07:57 PM
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My pants got caught on the lever of my Zefal HP, the pump fell off the bike, and got run over by a car. I circled around to fetch it. Back home, I discovered that the handle had been crushed and there was a dent in the cylinder, but I banged out the handle and the pump still worked just fine. So I ride with a dented Zefal HP for years after that.
08-09-20, 03:07 PM
#39
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I'm sorta with the OP.
I was a young active rider during the Iron Curtain and was the last in the local peloton to switch to clipless pedals, last to switch to STI (and when I did, it was just the right lever and I kept the downtube lever for the front deraileur), and the only bars I would ride were Cinelli 66-42...
While I've only loosely followed cycling for the past 20 years (mostly because injury removed me from being able to pedal and I'm only now slowly trying to get myself back on a saddle for 30 min sessions), I've returned to find that the laws of physics have changed at the turn of the century!
It used to be that a small startup company called SRAM built something we (back then) affectionately called "grip [poop]" and NOW they are a top tier component manufacturer! 19mm Continental GP tires pumped to 280psi were a must-have for time trials. Somehow, now Fatter Tires are Faster?? Back in the days of toeclips, white socks were USCF mandatory and some were rumored to paint on socks to avoid the aero drag that they would induce, yet NOW the higher the socks the MORE aerodynamic one is??!?!? GEL 280's were faster than GL330's which were faster than GP4's, and the only reason one rode a GP4 or a GL330 is because they were too heavy for a GEL 280... and NOW (according to some experts) Rotational Weight is NO LONGER IMPORTANT?!!?!!
Even when I could finally "splurge" on a bike that was the pinnacle of what I thought would suit me, and right before I was forced off, I yearned for an O.G. Litespeed Ultimate, the one that still had the horizontal rear dropouts... I ended up finding an NOS Lemond Gan-era titanium bike built with Litespeed Ultimate tubes by Litespeed but with longer geometry and badged a Lemond. I DID throw on the latest and greatest Dura Ace 9spd groupo (and then promptly stopped riding after getting maybe 200 miles on it--the hubs are still NOS in a box and I have older MA40 rimmed wheels on the Lemond-Lynsky : Lemondsky).
Now that I've hit a pivotal birthday, and working on finding some fitness, I'm doing-my-darnedest to get back on a bicycle. I've squeezed out a few miles on the new old steed and, if for no other reason than to give me a taste of what I missed, I've also picked up a late USPostal era Trek OCLV carbon bike and also a Saunier Duval Scott carbon CR1 as my example of lightweight carbon and aero road wheels, and also as something with the de rigueur sloping top tube. One of them has 10 speed I think and the other 11?? Dunnno, haven't counted gears yet... Oh, and I've changed the saddles and pedals over to examples of my old-school Turbomatic saddle and look-style Shimano clipless pedals so I could use the exact same saddle placement via measurements on each bike, but I've kept the goofy ergo bars on them that they came with and the reach is within 2cm across all the bikes...
And I have to admit, damn the Scott feels fast...
But I still want my old Bianchi Specialissima X3 back (and still have the Campy parts I pulled off of it back in 1987 still awaiting a 56-58cm X3 to pop up for me to buy)
I was a young active rider during the Iron Curtain and was the last in the local peloton to switch to clipless pedals, last to switch to STI (and when I did, it was just the right lever and I kept the downtube lever for the front deraileur), and the only bars I would ride were Cinelli 66-42...
While I've only loosely followed cycling for the past 20 years (mostly because injury removed me from being able to pedal and I'm only now slowly trying to get myself back on a saddle for 30 min sessions), I've returned to find that the laws of physics have changed at the turn of the century!
It used to be that a small startup company called SRAM built something we (back then) affectionately called "grip [poop]" and NOW they are a top tier component manufacturer! 19mm Continental GP tires pumped to 280psi were a must-have for time trials. Somehow, now Fatter Tires are Faster?? Back in the days of toeclips, white socks were USCF mandatory and some were rumored to paint on socks to avoid the aero drag that they would induce, yet NOW the higher the socks the MORE aerodynamic one is??!?!? GEL 280's were faster than GL330's which were faster than GP4's, and the only reason one rode a GP4 or a GL330 is because they were too heavy for a GEL 280... and NOW (according to some experts) Rotational Weight is NO LONGER IMPORTANT?!!?!!
Even when I could finally "splurge" on a bike that was the pinnacle of what I thought would suit me, and right before I was forced off, I yearned for an O.G. Litespeed Ultimate, the one that still had the horizontal rear dropouts... I ended up finding an NOS Lemond Gan-era titanium bike built with Litespeed Ultimate tubes by Litespeed but with longer geometry and badged a Lemond. I DID throw on the latest and greatest Dura Ace 9spd groupo (and then promptly stopped riding after getting maybe 200 miles on it--the hubs are still NOS in a box and I have older MA40 rimmed wheels on the Lemond-Lynsky : Lemondsky).
Now that I've hit a pivotal birthday, and working on finding some fitness, I'm doing-my-darnedest to get back on a bicycle. I've squeezed out a few miles on the new old steed and, if for no other reason than to give me a taste of what I missed, I've also picked up a late USPostal era Trek OCLV carbon bike and also a Saunier Duval Scott carbon CR1 as my example of lightweight carbon and aero road wheels, and also as something with the de rigueur sloping top tube. One of them has 10 speed I think and the other 11?? Dunnno, haven't counted gears yet... Oh, and I've changed the saddles and pedals over to examples of my old-school Turbomatic saddle and look-style Shimano clipless pedals so I could use the exact same saddle placement via measurements on each bike, but I've kept the goofy ergo bars on them that they came with and the reach is within 2cm across all the bikes...
And I have to admit, damn the Scott feels fast...
But I still want my old Bianchi Specialissima X3 back (and still have the Campy parts I pulled off of it back in 1987 still awaiting a 56-58cm X3 to pop up for me to buy)
08-09-20, 05:18 PM
#40
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Like many of you probably do...on my Facebook feed, one of the frequent ads that I get is for items from CompetitiveCyclist. I admit that I can be a bit of a luddite with certain aspects of the bike. But, I've been riding bikes for 40 years, and I do all my own work on my bikes. I like to think that I at least keep up with changes and advances to the machine, in general. Yet about half those ads I see...I have no idea what the device/component is at first look. I see it and say to myself "What the heck is that thing, and where on the bike does it go." Upon further investigation I discover it's a battery operated tire inflator that fits under the saddle, for example. Is it just me, or do any of you experience anything similar?
Dan
Dan
08-10-20, 12:25 PM
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08-10-20, 12:27 PM
#43
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OK, but how do you jam a battery powered inflator in the spokes of the Cinzano-jersey wearing jerk daring to pass you?
I think Alvin Toffler got it at least partially wrong. As we get older, we tend to settle on a certain level of technology and stay with it. Unless I'm forced, I don't see me getting a Garmin, using Zwift or that other thing where people post their times and earn "KOMs", or using tubeless tires, etc. It isn't being against them, it is just being satisfied with what you've got, knowing how to use and maintain it, and being disinclined to learn new skills/buy new stuff for marginal, if any, improvement. In my case, for example, disk brakes are great on the tandem my wife and I ride, and while I don't see a need on a single bike for the type of riding I do, if there's no viable option I would buy a bike with disks, I guess.
I think Alvin Toffler got it at least partially wrong. As we get older, we tend to settle on a certain level of technology and stay with it. Unless I'm forced, I don't see me getting a Garmin, using Zwift or that other thing where people post their times and earn "KOMs", or using tubeless tires, etc. It isn't being against them, it is just being satisfied with what you've got, knowing how to use and maintain it, and being disinclined to learn new skills/buy new stuff for marginal, if any, improvement. In my case, for example, disk brakes are great on the tandem my wife and I ride, and while I don't see a need on a single bike for the type of riding I do, if there's no viable option I would buy a bike with disks, I guess.
08-10-20, 03:26 PM
#44
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08-10-20, 05:14 PM
#46
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08-10-20, 08:27 PM
#47
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