The real truth lies here.
Modern society is pretty much fucked. The world is made up of vacuous, self-centered morons brainwashed by the internet and mainstream media, who in turn are no more than puppets of .ooo1% of the population who own 99% of the wealth and pull the strings of every major government, bank, business and institution. 1984 is a reality, we just don’t realise and acknowledge it, because if it was made that obvious then we might just say “wait a minute, they’re fucking us!” We are made to believe we have freedom, whereas, in reality, all we actually have is the illusion of freedom.
Cycling may be the only real freedom we have, and even that is surreptitiously controlled for us, and is controlling us. We are told we need the latest carbon frame that looks like dog shit and rides not much better, while a 30 year old steel bike does exactly the same job, which is: to move us across the earth and put a smile on our face, yet we are convinced that we won’t be happy unless our new standard bottom brackets constantly creak and need fortnightly servicing. Mountain bikers are now being cajoled into believing that an extra 6mm of width on a rear hub will change our lives. It’s enough to make me go back to a hardtail. With a longer fork, slacker angles, wider bars, shorter stays, bigger wheels, fatter tyres, less gears, naturally.
Of course, advancements in technology do make a difference to our rides, especially for mountain biking. Road, I’m not as convinced. My Bosomworth, while heavier, with less gears and slower shifting than my Jaegher, is still a great bike to ride and would no doubt make me stronger if it was my only ride. Suspension and dropper posts for the MTB are pretty much essential and improve the experience, but if I lost the rear shock I’m sure I’d still be able to ride most of the terrain I do now, maybe with a bit more discomfort and a little less control, but wouldn’t that put the emphasis back on me to sharpen my skills and pick my lines a little more carefully? Thinking? No, we can’t have that.
Same can be said with the choices we think we make in our everyday lives: we aren’t making them, they are made for us. We don’t need all that shit they are selling us. We have the freedom to think for ourselves and make our own minds up, yet still just go along with the status quo, what the tv tells us to buy, what the corporations tell us to consume, what the 000.1% want us to do. Be good little happy consumers and shut the fuck up. Or go ride your bike, any bike, and use the time to think about what’s real and what we’re told is real. Don’t be afraid, set yourself free. It’s the only truth we can really believe.
Now head over to The Gear page and buy some shit.
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I'm not saying road cycling is much better, but it's not as bad by comparison. I've just built a DT shifter, alloy frame/fork, with an English BB and really, really fricken old wheels, and it's the most comfy bike I own. If I believed the hype, it should be the most uncomfortable bike ever, but that's BS. 2 of my road bikes are 8 speed, with 1 10spd dura ace bike.
We're more than mere morons, perpetually conned,
So come on everybody, smash the system with the song.
@brett
DMR have redone the trail star with 650b, it's a ton slacker than that Kona though.
I like to live (somewhat) by the saying: "Beware of the man who owns only one gun, he probably shoots it very well".
Now not saying I do not own several bikes, but each has its own place and duty, the one gun adage goes along with most people do not hold onto what they have to fully wring it out and learn its true capabilities.
The trickle-down effect from cycling technology is so fast that I am sure most pros from a few short years ago would kill for what is now the 105s for this years group. And how many of us can truly wring that out for all its worth?
Falling victim to watching next years races and swearing to God that my cycling life is not complete or I could go just a bit faster if I had so and so's bike from the Tour under my ass. When in reality I am searching Craig's List for a replacement of my old steel Schwinn that was stolen when I was a teenager. Why, because it was a shit-ton of fun.
There's an application for each and all of the materials we're told we must have a bike or component made from, but is the specificity worth giving up the broader, more general, real world (even our narrow view of it) usability of more traditional materials and technologies?
I've used the gamut, steel, aluminium, titanium, carpet-fiber. Lugged, screwed & glued, tig'd, mig'd, bonded, laid-up, & filet-braizered (yummy).
I enjoyed, appreciated, and exploited all of these to the best of my limited abilities, but only the steel ones did everything that I asked (specifically the OS ones, e.g., MAX) of them.
I'm no longer a young man chasing a dream, I'm a has been chasing a shadow, and what I ride fuels & suits that feeling. The steel frame, aluminum components, handbuilt wheels, ad infinitum makes my pre-, ride, & post- all the better. Not enough to counter the old legs, but it helps.
It's good thing to cultivate a critical attitude regarding how one spends resources on bikes/components/kit.
A VMH can be a huge help here. If I can clearly and persuasively articulate to a skeptical interlocutor why, say, TRP mini-Vs to replace Avid Shorties is a safety issue on long, steep, freezing descents on shitty gravel roads, well, I feel a bit less manipulated and more manipulating.
I sit firmly on the fence on this one @brett. Picking splinters out my arse.
I want it all. I want the old steel replica of my grandfathers race bike. I want the MtB like the Kona pictured and my Fuji SST is the best thing Ive ridden to date. But what if the new Fuji SL was better again ?
They've got us by the short and curly's. I want to be free but im also a pack animal.
I assume that's why I love Rapha and its contrived history ( one saving grace is the gear is actually really good ), why do I love it, it's because Mr Mottram said I would.
@PeakInTwoYears
Huh ??? You need hydraulic discs for that. Cheers
Also folks, modern society's gonna bring us a cure for cancer and cold fusion.
But I'll settle for carbon fiber and one more gear. Electronically actuated with consistent precision preferably. But not on my mtn bike because I've replaced enough rear derailleurs from trail mishaps to know that'd be an expensive component to regularly replace.
@wilburrox
Excuse me, I was doing philosophy.
@Matt
Someone has a good sense of humor along with some cool artistic skills. Good fun.
@PeakInTwoYears I know, I just was having fun keeping with the sentiment... but seriously, I've raced down long, steep, freezing descents on shitty, muddy, gravel roads and was thankful for hydraulic discs. Very.