On 5/25/2019 3:37 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/25/2019 2:19 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/25/2019 2:16 PM, wrote:


Aerodynamics makes sense, so CF rims make sense, so disk
brakes makes sense. Simple. The only reason pro riders
are/were reluctant to use disk braces is weight.


Aerodynamics and CF rims and disk brakes make sense if
you're a pro racer who must chase after every diminishing
return.

What doesn't make sense is very ordinary riders mimicking
every choice the pro racers make.

I know a couple little kids who enjoy putting on little
capes, like their "super heroes." It's much the same thing.


It's not the same thing at all, else you would ride one bicycle and it
would be a $59.95 XMart MTB.

People like what they like and the reasons they give me in the bike shop
are different from the reasons they tell fellow riders or their intimate
associates. Who knows why? I suspect the rider doesn't know why, but he
likes it.

Bikes and cycling equipment once existed on a spectrum but now on a
branching growing fractal, each arm of which has a spectrum. Tubulars?
Clinchers? A little aero or a lot? CF with aluminum brake track or all
carbon? And sizes in mind-numbing profusion. None of this is bad because
- truly - people like what they like.

Just as there is no one 'best' rim, there is no arbiter of 'best'.Â* Just
like life itself.

I'm not trying to deny anyone's freedom of choice. But in a discussion
group, I think it's reasonable to discuss those choices.

The alternative to matching whatever Wiggo is riding isn't necessarily a
$59.95 XMart MTB. There are plenty who do fine - better, in fact - on
good quality touring bikes, or city bikes, cross bikes, gravel bikes,
converted mountain bikes... whatever.

And frankly, I think those particular choices may be easier to defend
than the choice to buy a new carbon fiber race bike because it's a pound
lighter than last year's model; or it has electronic shifting; or it's
more aero; or one's hero uses it.

Again, we can discuss. That's what this place is supposed to be about.

But those kids really love their little capes. Especially the
five-year-old girl. She runs faster when she wears it!

--
- Frank Krygowski