Niche-Bikes "Snobs"
#126
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Back in the dark ages, when doing tech support for Campagnolo, there was one year where we provided support for TOSRV, TOSRV West and the Great Western Bike Rally. The key thing was that, regardless of the type or quality of bike, whether they were by themselves or with friends and/or family in tow, they were there to have a good time on a bike. I don’t think that has changed over years.
The typical rider at those events was and probably still is not one to do their own maintenance. I felt sorry for the ones that said that they had their bikes serviced prior to the event where they found it had problems and was glad to be able help them have a good time.
All this is to say that, yeah, we can feel good about what we ride/own, but remember that just about everyone on a bike is doing it because they want to regardless of what they are riding. Who knows, some of them may evolve into C&V snobs as well.
The typical rider at those events was and probably still is not one to do their own maintenance. I felt sorry for the ones that said that they had their bikes serviced prior to the event where they found it had problems and was glad to be able help them have a good time.
All this is to say that, yeah, we can feel good about what we ride/own, but remember that just about everyone on a bike is doing it because they want to regardless of what they are riding. Who knows, some of them may evolve into C&V snobs as well.
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#127
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#128
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How ironic - a video of snobs criticizing others as snobs. What a waste of time.
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#129
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When I said I "...tip my hand forward", I meant at the wrist, not thrusting my arm forward in an upward angle with palm down. LOL
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#130
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I guess I'm something of a snob. I won't do carbon fiber. 1) the failure mode of forks. Yes unlikely, but ... I've had a fork snap in similar fashion and paid the consequences. Once if a lifetime is plenty! (That's not really snobbery.) And 2) I see carbon fiber bikes as being like an addicting drug. If I stay away, the addiction can't happen.
So, for me - steel forks, steel or titanium frames. DT shifters - because they work. They are light, clean and easy to work on. They don't limit my wheel, derailleur and FW/cassette choices. I can shift them in my sleep. And the work in progress, the regression to tubulars for all my good bikes. Again, like that fork, I've had a clincher come off. Not nearly as bad a crash as the fork but still, ribs and collarbone. Downhills stopped being fun, with the "what if ..." always there. Now, Cycle Oregon chip seal so-so roads, 1000s of feet down, blind corners on Vittoria G+ tubbies - fun!!!
About to go for a 50-70 mile ride on my dinosaur, the 1979 Peter Mooney with its 28c tubulars but no DTs. Just a 17 and 18 screwed onto my fix gear hub.+
So, for me - steel forks, steel or titanium frames. DT shifters - because they work. They are light, clean and easy to work on. They don't limit my wheel, derailleur and FW/cassette choices. I can shift them in my sleep. And the work in progress, the regression to tubulars for all my good bikes. Again, like that fork, I've had a clincher come off. Not nearly as bad a crash as the fork but still, ribs and collarbone. Downhills stopped being fun, with the "what if ..." always there. Now, Cycle Oregon chip seal so-so roads, 1000s of feet down, blind corners on Vittoria G+ tubbies - fun!!!
About to go for a 50-70 mile ride on my dinosaur, the 1979 Peter Mooney with its 28c tubulars but no DTs. Just a 17 and 18 screwed onto my fix gear hub.+
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#131
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I'm half-on/half-off the fence regarding CF. I've had a little experience with CF offerings from Selle Italia. Many folks here know they made a carbon-shelled version of the Flite called the Evolution, which interestingly enough went through at least three evolutions!
Less commonly known is the fact they also produced a seat post. It had a CF shaft to which a polished and anodized alloy head was epoxied; the post bolt was steel and threaded into a cylindrical steel bit which rested in a concave hollow in the center of the top rail clamp. The post was a beautiful, modern-looking example of Italian styling:
I bought one from Condor Cycles in London in 1994 and installed it on a lugged steel Gios Compact. Rode it for about a month until - just as with my initial Flite Evolution front rail anchor failure on the saddle over a year ago - I hit a good-sized bump while riding the nose (leather-covered Flite saddle). The sickening crack was like the report of a thing we're not supposed to talk about here. I pulled up immediately as my arse was off the back of the saddle - and nearly resting on the rear wheel!
What happened? Well, the rear of the seat lug came to a shallow point, and that point had concentrated the load directly to the CF shaft of the post, effectively emulating a can opener. Well over half the circumference of the shaft had been completely opened up, and the post and saddle was leaning drunkenly to the left. It was clear I wouldn't be able to finish my ride seated - as fortune had it, the failure occurred just 4 miles from home (vice the 15 miles I was obliged to ride when the Flite Evolution's forward rail anchor failed), and I arrived safely after standing on the pedals for the short duration of that eventful ride.
Now, this post would likely not have an issue if installed in a modern-ish seat tube with a separate clamping collar - steel, aluminum, or carbon. But a seat lug with points fore and aft and traditional binder bolt? Nope. I took it back to the shop where it was replaced under warranty, but I put the replacement aside and stored it away for more than a decade before selling it on Ebay for a tidy profit.
Now that I think about it, it's kinda funny that the two rides I had to finish standing on the pedals both involved CF items from the same company!
I still ride the Evolution. Why? Well, I fixed it - adding extra epoxy around the failed anchor, and IMHO making it better than new. It's still holding up over a year later, so I believe this is one CF component I can once again put my trust in.
DD
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#132
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I've been called a vintage bike slob many times.
OH! "SNOB"
Never mind.
OH! "SNOB"
Never mind.
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#133
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To be fair, shellacking bar tape has practical merit; there are numerous benefits called out in that thread. I'm sure there are those that see it as pretentious and overkill, but I ain't one of them. Buying into stuff that simply works as advertised - or solves some sort of problem - is how I roll
DD
DD
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#134
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The good sort
DD
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#135
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At least Bike Snob NYC was funny at one time. All I got from these 6 pages is to stay off yer lawns.
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#137
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#138
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I've been cycling enough decades and
thru scores of various bicycles
(Columbus, Reynolds, Tange, Ishiwata, Oria)
to have earned the title of:
Bike Snob
I don't wave, maybe you get a nod!
Younger than me = Better be faster
Carbon wheels, but can't (don't) ride the drops = Fail
Fatter and Flatter = take it to the Gravel
I only need a helmet, because you might take me out
Who cares about your data gathering & blathering, feed me pasta & good beer.
How many custom frames have you ordered? In carbon fiber? Zero = zero.
etc
I do kneel to riders sporting Campa 50th Anniversary grouppo. On a proper Italian frame.
Pass the pitcher this way please. Ride is over.
thru scores of various bicycles
(Columbus, Reynolds, Tange, Ishiwata, Oria)
to have earned the title of:
Bike Snob
I don't wave, maybe you get a nod!
Younger than me = Better be faster
Carbon wheels, but can't (don't) ride the drops = Fail
Fatter and Flatter = take it to the Gravel
I only need a helmet, because you might take me out
Who cares about your data gathering & blathering, feed me pasta & good beer.
How many custom frames have you ordered? In carbon fiber? Zero = zero.
etc
I do kneel to riders sporting Campa 50th Anniversary grouppo. On a proper Italian frame.
Pass the pitcher this way please. Ride is over.
Last edited by Wildwood; 03-21-23 at 09:04 PM.
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#139
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I agree with everything except the anti-brifter stance. I'm enough of a purist to think bicycles should be entirely human powered including shifting. I have two bikes built up with early 2000s ergo 10, and about the only complaint I have is occasionally grabbing a brake rather than the paddle when I'm tired. I remember too well a slipping Campag DT lever wired to a Suntour Cyclone RD. Got bitten by this in my first road race. My main issue with the brifters is parts availability. The Campagnolo of today, isn't the Campagnolo of yesterday where you could always get the little widgets when they broke. Maybe I should buy a cache of G springs.
#140
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I guess I'm something of a snob. I won't do carbon fiber. 1) the failure mode of forks. Yes unlikely, but ... I've had a fork snap in similar fashion and paid the consequences. Once if a lifetime is plenty! (That's not really snobbery.) And 2) I see carbon fiber bikes as being like an addicting drug. If I stay away, the addiction can't happen.
#141
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To put a bit of a twist on this idea, I've found myself lamenting the number of folks who don't maintain their own bikes. Practically, a lot of folks don't have the spare time to do it, and perhaps not the mechanical skills to do so. There's also the fact that they are helping keep the local bike shops alive, so their lack of skills or time has a positive side effect for the rest of the cycling community.
The only folks who annoy me are the ones who refuse to learn the most basic maintenance skills; i.e. fixing a flat.
....
The only folks who annoy me are the ones who refuse to learn the most basic maintenance skills; i.e. fixing a flat.
....
I'll be a little misogynistic here and say that I'll excuse not changing their own tire, if it's a woman. There's hand strength, for one, and in all my life I've always been the one to maintain my girlfriends and now my wife's bicycles. My wife can't change a tire, or at least never has. But if you say you have to take it in, then take it in. Think about all of the bicycles in garages or attics, all across the world, that have been set aside simply because of a flat tire or other very simple problem.
But hey, that's good for us. Eventually these bikes show up on Craigslist or FB Marketplace.
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#142
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I agree with everything except the anti-brifter stance. I'm enough of a purist to think bicycles should be entirely human powered including shifting. I have two bikes built up with early 2000s ergo 10, and about the only complaint I have is occasionally grabbing a brake rather than the paddle when I'm tired. I remember too well a slipping Campag DT lever wired to a Suntour Cyclone RD. Got bitten by this in my first road race. My main issue with the brifters is parts availability. The Campagnolo of today, isn't the Campagnolo of yesterday where you could always get the little widgets when they broke. Maybe I should buy a cache of G springs.
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#143
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I have never thought of myself as any sort of a bike snob. As a matter of fact, I could not give a damn about what any member of the uneducated, unwashed masses does…
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#144
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The general public views all cyclists as weird or odd. That view is not without reason.
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#145
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#146
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Last edited by Hondo6; 03-23-23 at 11:31 AM. Reason: Correct typo
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#149
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Some historical background: the so-called "Roman salute" does not appear to have ever been used in Ancient Rome. No clear example of it is found in existing artifacts from either Republican Rome or the Roman Empire.
Rather, the gesture now called the "Roman salute" appears to have been invented by Jaques-Louis David in his 1784 painting entitled The Oath of the Horaitii. Though apparently historically inaccurate, it was afterwards used in many neoclassical works of art dealing with Ancient Rome. The gesture wasn't explicitly associated with European Fascism until Gabriel D'Annunzio made the association of that gesture with Italian Fascism in the early 1920s. Prior to then, it was simply an invented gesture inaccurately associated with Ancient Roman culture.
In fact, outside artistic circles the so-called Roman salute appears to have been largely unknown in the US by that name until accounts/photos/films of its use by European Fascists began to appear in news media in the 1920s.
However, a similar gesture - the Bellamy salute - was in fact apparently independently invented in the 1890s and thereafter used in the US during recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Due to the similarity of that gesture (the Bellamy salute) to the Fascist salutes used prior to and during World War II, the US Flag Code was changed in 1942 to specify the "hand over heart while reciting the pledge" (that many Americans alive today remember) instead of the Bellamy salute.
Rather, the gesture now called the "Roman salute" appears to have been invented by Jaques-Louis David in his 1784 painting entitled The Oath of the Horaitii. Though apparently historically inaccurate, it was afterwards used in many neoclassical works of art dealing with Ancient Rome. The gesture wasn't explicitly associated with European Fascism until Gabriel D'Annunzio made the association of that gesture with Italian Fascism in the early 1920s. Prior to then, it was simply an invented gesture inaccurately associated with Ancient Roman culture.
In fact, outside artistic circles the so-called Roman salute appears to have been largely unknown in the US by that name until accounts/photos/films of its use by European Fascists began to appear in news media in the 1920s.
However, a similar gesture - the Bellamy salute - was in fact apparently independently invented in the 1890s and thereafter used in the US during recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Due to the similarity of that gesture (the Bellamy salute) to the Fascist salutes used prior to and during World War II, the US Flag Code was changed in 1942 to specify the "hand over heart while reciting the pledge" (that many Americans alive today remember) instead of the Bellamy salute.
Last edited by Hondo6; 03-22-23 at 10:02 AM.
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