On Mon, 2009-02-16 at 13:30 -0800, James Warren wrote: > Chris, > It's hard to tell specifically what you are referring to when you say > "buying 30 year old technology" and "pay over $3k for it"
The bicycle is hundred year old technology. > The Jack Brown tire, the Silver brake, the construction methods of the > steel frame, and the function of the Tiagra brake levers are all > innovations that far surpass the function of any bike from the 1970's. I wouldn't go quite that far. You could get a bike in the 1970s with brazed-on centerpull brakes, and they are definitely better than the Silver brake. The Mafac RAID was introduced in the 1970s and it's better (even not operating on brazed-on pivots) than the Silver brake. The construction methods of the AHH are identical to well made hand built bikes of the 1970s (or 1960s or 1950s). Not everything made in the 1970s was Bike Boom trash. > > And the combination of these elements into an extremely versatile bike > that can be easily set up with a modern drive train (if you want) to > make a bike with versatility that has few equals today (and a few of > these equals are also Rivendells). The intelligent placement of > braze-ons, the design that allows versatility, the ability to make a > bike that can be ridden as a road bike and still offer that > versatility, all of that counts as modern technology. Furthermore, > given all that it offers, the AHH is a more valuable bike than most of > the other similar-priced bikes in the general market. All true. > > So back to the statement: "How many people think we're nuts for buying > 30 year old..." Well, those people are wrong or unaware of the facts, > some of which I just mentioned. There are many different degrees of > nuttiness when it comes to bike enthusiasm. By objective measures, > there is on average much less nuttiness in buying a $3k AHH than there > is in buying a $3k Tarmac. (And you can't get a Tarmac for under $5k.) Again, true. And $3K is no big deal for a bike these days. You can go into most any LBS and find a $5K frame and fork, no other components. You'll find plenty of $6K carbon Treks. You may even find something over $12K. > > Part of the fun of talking about bikes is distinguishing among the > different levels of nuttiness, and I took your point to have an element > of "it's all relative" to it, and on that point, I can't agree. A > non-racer paying a lot for electronic shifting is way more nutty than > paying a lot for a new Rivendell. But all that said, I'll bet Chris was having you on. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
