|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
"Designed by Keith Bontrager" was Help Needed: Trying to identify manufacturer of my seat post.
In article
, Chalo wrote: Andre Jute wrote: Chalo wrote: Tom Kunich wrote: wrote: *Icon was Trek's name for house branded components on their bikes - like bars, stems, seatposts - before they started using the Bontrager badge for that. Let's make a point - If Keith Bontrager is really involved in developing those components the chances are that they're much better than otherwise. Let's also be clear-- it's exceedingly unlikely that Keith Bontrager has anything to do with any of the components bearing his name anymore. *If that wasn't abundantly clear before, it sure was by the time Rolf wheels were rebadged as Bontragers. Let's be precise as well as clear, if you please,Chalo. When, as in a year, did Keith Bontrager cease to create the designs sold under his name? Trek bought the Bontrager name in 1995. If I had to guess when Bontrager component designs were no longer Keith Bontrager's designs, I'd guess 1995. Chalo Careful now. Keith still works at the Bontrager division, and if he's not penning the lines on the drawings anymore, he still seems pretty intimately involved with the stuff that bears his name. This interview, whose date I can't determine, is quite fawning, but Keith is certainly asserting that he still works the "My part is to contribute ideas for new parts or to help others with the projects we are working on. I get to do some ride testing too. I* work in Santa Cruz and coordinate with others electronically." http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-keith-bontrager-15870 Elsewhere in the interview, he shares enough opinions about current bike-engineering that he's at least been paying attention. -- Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/ "In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls." "In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them." |
Ads |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
"Designed by Keith Bontrager" was Help Needed: Trying to identify manufacturer of my seat post.
In article
, Chalo wrote: Andre Jute wrote: Chalo wrote: Tom Kunich wrote: wrote: *Icon was Trek's name for house branded components on their bikes - like bars, stems, seatposts - before they started using the Bontrager badge for that. Let's make a point - If Keith Bontrager is really involved in developing those components the chances are that they're much better than otherwise. Let's also be clear-- it's exceedingly unlikely that Keith Bontrager has anything to do with any of the components bearing his name anymore. *If that wasn't abundantly clear before, it sure was by the time Rolf wheels were rebadged as Bontragers. Let's be precise as well as clear, if you please,Chalo. When, as in a year, did Keith Bontrager cease to create the designs sold under his name? Trek bought the Bontrager name in 1995. If I had to guess when Bontrager component designs were no longer Keith Bontrager's designs, I'd guess 1995. Here's another interview, this one in 2004, in which Keith talks in a fair bit of detail about what he was working on then and his thoughts on underdesigned stems: http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2004/features/bontrager -- Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/ "In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls." "In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them." |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
"Designed by Keith Bontrager" was Help Needed: Trying toidentify manufacturer of my seat post.
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
*Chalo wrote: Trek bought the Bontrager name in 1995. *If I had to guess when Bontrager component designs were no longer Keith Bontrager's designs, I'd guess 1995. Careful now. Keith still works at the Bontrager division, and if he's not penning the lines on the drawings anymore, he still seems pretty intimately involved with the stuff that bears his name. Maybe. But I've seen enough pre-Trek Bontrager frames, and owned enough pre-Trek Bontrager forks, to see that those things were not the work of the same person or design philosophy that's at work at Trek today. (Much as I might like my Bontrager Satellite Elite flip-top box/saddle.) To me, the qualitative transformation within Bontrager appears as distinct as that of Salsa before and after Ross Shafer. Chalo |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
"Designed by Keith Bontrager" was Help Needed: Trying to identify manufacturer of my seat post.
In article
, Chalo wrote: Ryan Cousineau wrote: *Chalo wrote: Trek bought the Bontrager name in 1995. *If I had to guess when Bontrager component designs were no longer Keith Bontrager's designs, I'd guess 1995. Careful now. Keith still works at the Bontrager division, and if he's not penning the lines on the drawings anymore, he still seems pretty intimately involved with the stuff that bears his name. Maybe. But I've seen enough pre-Trek Bontrager frames, and owned enough pre-Trek Bontrager forks, to see that those things were not the work of the same person or design philosophy that's at work at Trek today. (Much as I might like my Bontrager Satellite Elite flip-top box/saddle.) To me, the qualitative transformation within Bontrager appears as distinct as that of Salsa before and after Ross Shafer. It's possible. It's also possible that the transformation is a result of available resources. Carbon fibre really is the material of choice at the sharp edge of bike design*, and Trek is big enough as a company that if they decide to, say, come up with an entirely new BB or headset standard all their own, they can credibly do so (whether one likes it or not). He said in one or the other of the interviews he posted that time had simply passed steel by as a high-end frame material, at least for frames meant to be competitive in terms of weight (and probably aero shaping, though that would be my inference). He also made this comment: "Our work this year on the road stuff had some edge, but it wasn't really an all out F1 approach. You'd know if we ever really pulled the trigger on that (and so would the UCI). It would be fun to do it that way though I have reservations about what it might do to the sport." http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2004/features/bontrager No elaboration on that, so I don't know if he's talking about strange new innovations that might momentarily be UCI-legal, or if he's talking about designs that would be explicitly UCI-illegal from day one. I suspect that what he meant was the idea of a cost-no-object UCI-legal bike. Note that UCI rules do call for bicycles to be available to all riders, which is probably how they would ban a really over-the-top wonderbike. For commercial reasons, Bontrager almost certainly has different priorities today than he did when he was independent. This may be a case of wishing Morgan still made wood-framed cars**. *Even some of Keith's writing questions whether we may be too far out on the sharp edge. **which actually, they do, and that is either the point or the problem, depending on how you feel about Morgan. -- Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/ "In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls." "In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them." |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
OT: Morgan
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
... For commercial reasons, Bontrager almost certainly has different priorities today than he did when he was independent. This may be a case of wishing Morgan still made wood-framed cars**. ... **which actually, they do, and that is either the point or the problem, depending on how you feel about Morgan. butbutbut, can I get a new three-wheel Morgan? -- Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia The weather is here, wish you were beautiful |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
uncycle rail seat post vs bike seat post | onewheelmadness | Unicycling | 1 | January 17th 08 11:11 PM |
Help needed to identify model of tag along bike | Adam Lipscombe | UK | 0 | April 11th 07 10:59 AM |
Seat Post Slipping - Seat Post Clamp Question | [email protected] | Techniques | 14 | April 23rd 05 01:05 AM |
Odd sized seat post needed | Martin Phillips | UK | 1 | April 9th 05 04:52 PM |
NEEDED: SEAT POST for miyata please | uniextreme | Unicycling | 4 | June 27th 04 01:41 AM |