Doing things the hard way is a luxury. It says to the world that we’ve beat evolution; intelligence is no match for technology and economy is no match for indulgence. We need only step a bit outside our bubble to realize the scale of the illusion, but nevertheless it has become reality for many of us who live our lives happily and fortunately in the middle and upper classes of the developed world where survival has nothing whatsoever to do with being the fittest.
One of the things that struck me within weeks of moving to the Pacific Northwest was the frequency with which people die here; not from disease (although Ebola can go fuck itself, pardon my francais) but from tucking into the wilderness for some weekend relaxation. The PNW has some of the world’s biggest cities, but most of it is untamed wilderness – including radical weather systems, cougars, rattlesnakes, bear, The Sasquatch, and possibly ManBearPig. This place will mess you up, son; your GPS or iPhone isn’t going to be your savior.
The first-hand experience of the realities of a system provides a more intimate learning tool than does the passive observation, although in an evolutionary sense the latter is the more effective method for the survival of a species; our ancestors learned to stay away from bees by watching the guy who drew the short straw poke at a hive and die from anaphylactic shock without needing to then poke at the hive themselves. Nevertheless the tangible nature of repercussions forges an indelible bond between action and result.
It is also interesting that complexity and abstraction are inversely bound; the more complex the system, the farther the user is removed from its operation. The simplicity of the friction downtube shifter is in sharp contrast to the complexity of an electronic drivetrain. My steel bike has friction downtube shifters, a fact that makes itself especially well known while climbing. To shift requires planning and skill; I have to find a part of the climb where I can be seated, unload the chain, and shift by feeling the chain as it slides across the block and listen for the telltale silence when the chain is securely seated back onto an adjacent cog. At that point, I’m committed to that gear until the climb grants me the next opportunity to shift. On Bike #1, I can shift under full load at my whim and without consequence. The artistry of shifting is lost, though I wouldn’t go back to downtube shifters on any bike I plan to ride seriously.
I love the contrast of evolution and tradition in the modern racing bicycle, with carbon tubulars being perhaps the most fitting contrast where the most modern technology is dependent on the oldest form of affixing a tire to a rim. Gluing on a set of tubular tires is no longer a necessary skill in our sport with good clinchers being readily available. Gluing tubs takes time and careful attention, two things that are in short supply in our modern society. But to glue on a set of tires brings you closer to the machine and from where our sport has progressed. To build a set of wheels does so even more, and I imagine building a frame by hand builds the ultimate bond to our history.
We live at a time when the things that are irrelevant to survival take on their own crucial importance; we return to tradition in order to remember where we came from so we may understand where we are going. Doing things the hard way is a beautiful way to remind ourselves of the history that built the luxuries we surround ourselves with.
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@ChrissyOne
Nice Kent Brockman reference slipped in there.
For me the issue with electronic is that a bike is by definition a human powered vehicle.
When you introduce a battery you are no longer relying on human power alone.
Whatever it looks like Wilburrox you are not riding a bike in my view.
@ChrissyOne
Ah yes, I recall the dulcet tones that emanated from your drivetrain on the Hurricane Ridge Cogal from that Walmart cable. I could even hear them over my own clicking bottom bracket.
@Gianni
I have no idea but that certainly wasn't what the article was about. As @ChrisO pointed out, though, the article is worthless anyway and thats just the way we like it.
And who can be blamed for jumping to conclusions when I put up a picture of of a red bianch with dt shifters and a unicrown fork.
By the way, all you red bianchi unicrown fork haters: I love this bike and how it rides, so stop calling my baby ugly! Beauty is more than skin deep unless I decide otherwise randomly and with authority (volume).
@Buck Rogers
Buck, I really wish you knew how to use a computer well enough to not only upload a thumbnail of that beauty! Which bars are those? I love the look of that shape. I have the Merckx bend ttt bars on mine but I'm not crazy about the shape.
@wiscot
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!
@ChrisO
I like this viewpoint; it might most succinctly define why I am so resistant to it. Except I do use lights which use batteries, and a Garmin (sometimes) which uses one, but I suppose they are not powering the vehicle, they're keeping its motor (me) from getting killed or recording the vehicles path trajectory.
@Ken Ho
A mentor of mine gave me the best advice I've ever been given: it's never as good as it seems, and it's never as bad as it seems. Meaning, of course, no one is thinking about you as much as you are, and whatever you did will neither come across as stellar as you view it or (thankfully) as badly as you view it.
Words to live by. Thanks Timmmaahh!
Ah, my Reflective Bike of Authority, the Nine Bike. The genius there is you can't tell the tape is there unless a light shines on it. Its genius if I may accuse myself of not being an idiot.
Recently I was working with a small group of people and the, much like this moment, inspired trotting out "ts a fine line between stupid and clever." crickets. oof. that time at least i was the eldest in the room (another painful realization...). but then the second time it happened was just sad.
@frank
Wait...I thought this article was about how Frank was trying to get KenHo to sniff a bunch of Acetone as revenge for giving him crap about a Rule 66 violation...
@frank
Truly genius. And brilliant.
@frank
No doubt. I', not narcissistic enough to think you were laying awake at night plotting my downfall.
HOever, I have a lot of mental down time, and get bored more easily than you can imagine. I don't sp mud suffer form ADD as I do Attention Paying Disorder.