Just read that part of the book last night. He was referencing hand built wheels versus the modern, machine made wheels. Specifically mentioning the Mavic wheels which have known problems but no one has challenged Mavic to fix.
While I believe this is entirely away from Rivendell, will add to it. Just started the book yesterday. The first chapter was well written. I have read his blog from time to time and occasionally do find it humorous. Sometimes I find it mean spirited. But that's my way of looking at things. More often than not, my own false sense of self importance needs to be skewered. Including out and out mocking of my own fat body astride a bike. (Almost told someone "I'll get Scotty to beam it over on the transporter" today at work, but held my tongue.) Eric Platt St. Paul, MN On Jun 9, 10:03 am, rswat...@me.com wrote: > On Jun 9, 2010, at 8:15 AM, JoelMatthews <joelmatth...@mac.com> wrote: > > >> So, Bike Snob is talking about retro grouches, their love of hand built > >> wheels > >> with sensible spoke counts, distrust of recent technology, etc. > > > But Rando's do not distrust recent technology. They use what works. > > I fit the Snob's stereotype perfectly with my Frenchy style Boulder 650B, but > at local brevets, I've only ever seen one other steel bike and it was set up > like TT bike. Everyone else is on carbon and titanium race bikes with plenty > of modern electronic doohickeys and clip on battery lights. > They call me "the suitcase guy" because of my big Berthoud bag :-) > > Ryan in Albuquerque > > > > > > > For instance, Steve points out above that Randos were early adopters > > of the very modern and highly efficient generator hubs which are > > gaining wider acceptance among cyclists. LED headlights common on > > Rando biked may look similar to the lights used in the 50's, but the > > better ones are designed to work as well as the best car or motorcycle > > headligh. > > > Now the tech market is seeing their value, offering some wonderful > > device chargers that hook up to the generator. Likewise, the Rando > > community has pushed such things as GPS and happily use portable > > computers and other communication devices. > > > I suspect the reference to recen technology is preference for steel. > > This also is nonsense. Modern steel tubing is far more advanced than > > it was 25 years ago. Steel manufacturing R&D is every bit as vibrant > > as carbon fibre. Steel tubing will continue to improve. It is pure > > ignorance to assume steel is outdated. In my opinion, ignorance is > > not funny. > > >> as well as Buddhists making pilgrimages to the Bodhi tree, or some such. > > > Perhaps a little better than a Star Trek reference. > > > On Jun 9, 8:54 am, Jeff <newbe...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote: > >> Okay, since I offered up this tidbit, allow me to explicate. So, Bike > >> Snob is talking about retro grouches, their love of hand built wheels > >> with sensible spoke counts, distrust of recent technology, etc. He > >> then goes on to say (and I should have done a better job loosely > >> quoting him) that randonneuring and touring are retro-grouchery in > >> action (putting beliefs into practice.) THEN, he makes the comparison > >> to nerds attending Star Trek conventions, as well as Buddhists making > >> pilgrimages to the Bodhi tree, or some such. The point is that it's > >> not a direct, one to one comparison of retro grouches (or > >> randonneurs!) to nerds. Instead, it's a typical example of Bike > >> Snob's use of wildly unrelated, pop culture references to make his > >> points while having some fun. I get the impression he has a healthy > >> respect for the curmudgeonly RG getting the job done with 36 spokes. > > >> That said, this certainly took us on an entertaining detour! > > >> On Jun 9, 7:59 am, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > > >>> On Wed, 2010-06-09 at 05:54 -0700, JoelMatthews wrote: > > >>>> Or are you saying BSNYC's audience for the joke was not Rando owners > >>>> but rather people too dense to understand both the Rando concept or > >>>> the many levels Star Trek failed to get things right? > > >>> Sounds about right to me.- Hide quoted text - > > >> - Show quoted text - > > > -- > > 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-bu...@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- 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-bu...@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.
