It was with particular interest and reflection that I read through Grant's musing of bike development over past 40 years and seven presidents (8 if you include the present administration), because I more or less followed the same pattern he describes - except that I jumped off the merry-go-round in the early 80's due to work and family commitments and picked it up again in the mid-90's by making upgrades to an existing late-70's vintage road bike, like clipless pedals, aero brake levers, etc. Then, I bought one of his frames along with some well-made state-of-the-art components in the mid-Bush II years and wound up with a bike that I wish I had owned all along (and this includes one very comfy and well made Eisentraut frame that I wish I'd never sold).
Grant's narrative is fine inasmuch as it follows the "trend setters" with fat wallets who were influenced by the racing success of Lemond and Armstrong, but with the exception of a small paragraph on near the bottom of Page 27, "...practical bikes were starting to get popular again during the later years of the [W.Bush] reign ... we started seeing more mixtes, cargo bikes, and inexpensive excellent tig-welded bikes with practical clearances and stout frames - like the Surly Long Haul Trucker...", nothing is really mentioned about the so-called "hybrid" or "town bike" or whatever-you-want-to-call-it (I'm referring to those bikes that consist of road-like frames and wheels with MTB bars, stems, brake levers, and V-brakes along with wide saddles for a more up-right riding position). Oh sure, there are plenty of the Ti, CF, and tig-welded aluminum jobs around - 3 or 4 dozen or so riders on these jobs gather in my cul-de- sac late afternoons during "racing" season so they can regroup and continue on their way, intimidating rush hour traffic as best they can. But it seems like every other bike I pass on the trails around the area is one of these hybrids. And they are being ridden by a every people of every age and sex, not just older boomers with bad backs and belly overhang (the other "B.O."). I don't know if these are part of the trend back to more practical bikes or not, but it sure seems like they represent a large part of the 21st Century version of the run-of-the-mill "ten-speed" that ushered American culture into the ED-instigated "bike boom" of the early 70's... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
