I was once a bicycle weight addict. In hindsight, I was lucky that it
was severely limited by lightness of pocket. Now, I'm more interested
in craftsmanship than weight.

My only bike, a custom handmade lugged steel sport touring bike,
wasn't the lightest when I bought it years ago, and it is even less so
now, but I don't really care what it weighs. I ordered it for the
looks and the feel of lugged steel, not its weight. On an early spring
ride yesterday, I was stopped at a red light next to a young guy on a
more "modern" road bike. Nice young kid, really. He surprised me with
a comment about how beautiful my bike is. Wow, a classic "*****", he
said. I've had many comments like that over the past few years.

Now, I suppose that if I was racing up hills, I would probably have to
ride the same thing all the other competitors do, but with age and
wisdom come the luxury of ignoring all that marketing baloney. I mean,
it's a human powered machine, so what difference does it really make
if a bike is a kilo or two lighter? It would just be bought and paid-
for performance gain even if it did matter. I'm rolling on roads, not
flying it over the English Channel.

I rode my first road bike for 20 years, and my current one for over a
decade so far. I have to wonder if the plastic bikes will last that
long.

Pierre
Infrequent poster because I don't have a Rivendell. Wish I did,
though.


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