A lot of the recent "innovation" is a bad bargain for anyone not pushing a competitiv
07-06-22, 09:13 AM
#601
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A light aero bike is not going to make a non-competitive rider competitive. I am not a competitive rider, I have no ability to win, and that goes for 99.99% of all riders. So it is a waste for anyone unless they have a chance at winning, a waste for 99.99% of all riders. So those arguing that modern bicycles are worth wasting time and money on will always be over 99% wrong. Me dumping five-grand on a time-trial bike so I can go 22mph instead of 19mph would be idiotic. And since it takes someone who can go around 30mph average or more to win most time-trials, even those little local events most will never hear of, it is also a waste of time and money for someone to dump thousands into a TT bike if it will only get them to say 28mph from maybe 25 or 26mph average. Still going from not good enough to still not good enough. And if it is a waste for those who are that fast, it is absolutely a waste for anyone who does not race at all, who just rides around the roads and city for fun. But of course lots still buy bikes which will always be much better bikes than they are riders, and if they are lucky they are common hipsters and not suckers, because at least then they will get to pose for other hipsters, where the suckers will never get anything for their money.
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07-06-22, 09:41 AM
#602
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Last week I went to the top LBS here, they have all kinds of bikes. So I walked up to a nice MTB and looked at the tag ....$10,499...
Another customer was there and said go look over there...Full sus 29er with hidden suspension >> Only $20,499 + 5% tax. It had knobby tires near 3" I guess. The chain was thinly coated with nickel or something.
Any takers here?? LOL.
Then I managed to get my SA XL-RD5w working perfect again, yay. Went for a 100 mile ride at 50+ lbs of new steel roadster. Only 9Hr42 minutes with my usual slow sight seeing after lunch and 2 icecream breaks on the way home. 2 years ago this hub was on my 73 lb tour bike, had a similar 100 mile time and then had 33.6 more miles to finish in 12Hr20 min. LOL. WTF needs a light bike??
Another customer was there and said go look over there...Full sus 29er with hidden suspension >> Only $20,499 + 5% tax. It had knobby tires near 3" I guess. The chain was thinly coated with nickel or something.
Any takers here?? LOL.
Then I managed to get my SA XL-RD5w working perfect again, yay. Went for a 100 mile ride at 50+ lbs of new steel roadster. Only 9Hr42 minutes with my usual slow sight seeing after lunch and 2 icecream breaks on the way home. 2 years ago this hub was on my 73 lb tour bike, had a similar 100 mile time and then had 33.6 more miles to finish in 12Hr20 min. LOL. WTF needs a light bike??
Last edited by GamblerGORD53; 07-06-22 at 09:45 AM.
07-06-22, 10:18 AM
#604
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07-06-22, 10:22 AM
#605
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07-06-22, 10:33 AM
#606
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Last week I went to the top LBS here, they have all kinds of bikes. So I walked up to a nice MTB and looked at the tag ....$10,499...
Another customer was there and said go look over there...Full sus 29er with hidden suspension >> Only $20,499 + 5% tax. It had knobby tires near 3" I guess. The chain was thinly coated with nickel or something.
Any takers here?? LOL.
Then I managed to get my SA XL-RD5w working perfect again, yay. Went for a 100 mile ride at 50+ lbs of new steel roadster. Only 9Hr42 minutes with my usual slow sight seeing after lunch and 2 icecream breaks on the way home. 2 years ago this hub was on my 73 lb tour bike, had a similar 100 mile time and then had 33.6 more miles to finish in 12Hr20 min. LOL. WTF needs a light bike??
Another customer was there and said go look over there...Full sus 29er with hidden suspension >> Only $20,499 + 5% tax. It had knobby tires near 3" I guess. The chain was thinly coated with nickel or something.
Any takers here?? LOL.
Then I managed to get my SA XL-RD5w working perfect again, yay. Went for a 100 mile ride at 50+ lbs of new steel roadster. Only 9Hr42 minutes with my usual slow sight seeing after lunch and 2 icecream breaks on the way home. 2 years ago this hub was on my 73 lb tour bike, had a similar 100 mile time and then had 33.6 more miles to finish in 12Hr20 min. LOL. WTF needs a light bike??
07-06-22, 11:01 AM
#607
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Complaints about hipsters (?) and suckers buying expensive bikes, translated:
"As far as the cool kids in high school were concerned, I didn't exist. Now, decades later, the cool kids ride expensive bikes, and I'm still invisible to them. It's not fair."
"As far as the cool kids in high school were concerned, I didn't exist. Now, decades later, the cool kids ride expensive bikes, and I'm still invisible to them. It's not fair."
07-06-22, 11:17 AM
#608
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Sorry, but that's as stupid as what you're reacting to.
Lots of "cool kids" grow up to be judgmental whatevers calling people names for not doing what they'd do.
And sorry, but if you think bikes of any value project coolness widely in the U.S., I got news for you.
07-06-22, 11:31 AM
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It's funny 'cause it's true.
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I shouldn't have to "make myself more visible;" Drivers should just stop running people over.
Car dependency is a tax.
I shouldn't have to "make myself more visible;" Drivers should just stop running people over.
Car dependency is a tax.
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07-06-22, 12:30 PM
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07-06-22, 12:37 PM
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As bike technology evolved, there were a lot of improvements compared to a downtube shifted steel bike. There have not been many changes that were regressive IMO. Optimization of energy expenditure is a complex topic and is somewhat rider specific. Someone interested in time trials won't be happy on the most efficient lightweight gravel bike.
07-06-22, 01:39 PM
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07-06-22, 01:54 PM
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07-06-22, 02:17 PM
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07-06-22, 02:21 PM
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07-06-22, 02:24 PM
#616
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07-06-22, 07:07 PM
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I am not sure if I understand your question
As bike technology evolved, there were a lot of improvements compared to a downtube shifted steel bike. There have not been many changes that were regressive IMO. Optimization of energy expenditure is a complex topic and is somewhat rider specific. Someone interested in time trials won't be happy on the most efficient lightweight gravel bike.
As bike technology evolved, there were a lot of improvements compared to a downtube shifted steel bike. There have not been many changes that were regressive IMO. Optimization of energy expenditure is a complex topic and is somewhat rider specific. Someone interested in time trials won't be happy on the most efficient lightweight gravel bike.
I agree that brifters are a technological advance, for me at least, but I have still to become aware of a technologically improved road bike (not a gravel bike, not a bike for riding on cordoned off roads i.e. time trial bike) over those from about the turn of the century.
I think that this may be the "fast paved road rocket with electronic shifting" that Kapusta mentions but I don't think that they exist, or at least I have yet to see one.
For all its wind-tunnel engineering the Roubollox puts the rider in a very unaerodynamic position, so I presume it is way of fleecing, or is that satisfying, aficionados who feel "quality" proportionate to the amount of time, effort, skill, calculation etc., that went into the production of the bike rather than suitability to the task -- fast.
Here is a bike to beat
Seven by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
It was about 450 USD second hand. I think it is very little better, and more fragile, than steel tubed bikes made in the latter part of the 20th century, but they tend to be more expensive and it is a long time since i have ridden one.
Last edited by timtak; 07-06-22 at 08:11 PM.
07-06-22, 09:00 PM
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07-06-22, 09:14 PM
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07-07-22, 06:01 AM
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07-07-22, 07:18 AM
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Here is a bike to beat
Seven by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
It was about 450 USD second hand. I think it is very little better, and more fragile, than steel tubed bikes made in the latter part of the 20th century, but they tend to be more expensive and it is a long time since i have ridden one.
Seven by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
It was about 450 USD second hand. I think it is very little better, and more fragile, than steel tubed bikes made in the latter part of the 20th century, but they tend to be more expensive and it is a long time since i have ridden one.
I can't imagine that's actually any faster than any modern equivalent. If that's what bikes all looked like, I'd stick to running, and I HATE running.
(I ride this modern horror: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/road-b...isc-brake-blue)
Last edited by Herzlos; 07-07-22 at 07:22 AM.
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07-07-22, 10:29 AM
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A light aero bike is not going to make a non-competitive rider competitive. I am not a competitive rider, I have no ability to win, and that goes for 99.99% of all riders. So it is a waste for anyone unless they have a chance at winning, a waste for 99.99% of all riders. So those arguing that modern bicycles are worth wasting time and money on will always be over 99% wrong. Me dumping five-grand on a time-trial bike so I can go 22mph instead of 19mph would be idiotic. And since it takes someone who can go around 30mph average or more to win most time-trials, even those little local events most will never hear of, it is also a waste of time and money for someone to dump thousands into a TT bike if it will only get them to say 28mph from maybe 25 or 26mph average. Still going from not good enough to still not good enough. And if it is a waste for those who are that fast, it is absolutely a waste for anyone who does not race at all, who just rides around the roads and city for fun. But of course lots still buy bikes which will always be much better bikes than they are riders, and if they are lucky they are common hipsters and not suckers, because at least then they will get to pose for other hipsters, where the suckers will never get anything for their money.
I am also of the opposite thinking in terms of "marginal" gains. Something that reduces the effort by 10 watts is more impactful on someone who averages only 100 watts versus someone who averages 200 watts.
With that said, I would argue that most all bike stuff today is way over rated. Aero this and that is mostly meaningless for people not doing 40 KPH. Your clothes and body position play a larger role than the bike. And bike weight is an even bigger scam.