Paul and Jim: from what I observe around me in ABQ, NM, which is a cycling-enthusiast city, is that there are all kinds of riders riding all kinds of things, but I see more than a few fat middle aged people slowly riding carbon fiber racing bikes in tight lycra kit on the bike path. Now that may be their own choice, and if so, more power to them, but the phenomenon of plainly less-than-optimally fit riders equipped with racing, or at least, looks-like-racing gear, is there for all to see.
I think Grant is often somewhat intemperate in his assertions, but then he is also a small voice in a big, loud world, and there is thus some excuse for that. FWIW: the 5 bike shops nearest my house, in order of proximity, and their stocks: ABQ Bicycle: family store, mostly kids, hybrids, fixies (at least, during the fad), a few recumbents, a few tricycles. Displays various ancient DL-1s and cousins. Fat Tire Cycles: a very big store with a wide array from top end racing thru cruisers and hybrids to top end mountain bikes; Surlys, too. Hawk's Tri-Cycle: Mostly tri and racing, but some family stuff. Stevie's Happy Bikes: A family shop: mostly hybrids, city bikes, cruisers, mountain bikes, and old cool stuff. High Desert Bicycles: Mostly high end racing and mtb. (All -- tho' I don't know Hawk's very well -- give good to excellent repair and upgrade service; they know how to order weird old parts for a '58 Herse, for example.) On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 8:16 PM, 'pb' via RBW Owners Bunch < rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> wrote: > On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 4:57:32 PM UTC-8, Jim Bronson wrote: >> >> Why? Why, over and over again? Because the racing philosophy has the >> mainstream and the LBS. And it's not what serves most causal riders best, >> and I applaud Grant for calling them out for it. >> We all have seen at the LBS the times when some racerish young LBS >> employee is trying to fit an older person onto a racerish bike, that will >> not be well served by said bike. Why is this what's in the mainstream? >> > > I just got off the phone with three representative LBS's. I asked them > all the same thing: I'm going to send my 58-year-old neighbor in to see > you. He has average fitness, not bad, hikes on the weekend, hasn't ridden > a bike since college. He wants to start riding on weekends, maybe work up > riding more regularly. What kind of bike do you think he should look at > first? The shops were Black Mountain Bicycles, a large Specialized > dealer, the Performance near my house, and the Trek Super Store nearest to > my house. > > All three gave me the same answer: a flat bar road hybrid. None said, > well, duh, a racing bicycle, of course, with drop bars three inches below > the saddle! Then I asked about what tires would come with the bikes. Both > the Trek and Specialized stores said, somewhere between 32 and 38. The guy > at Performance said, 28 at the narrowest, but more likely 32 or 35. Two of > the three asked if I knew whether my friend had back or neck pain, and both > suggested my friend should start off with something pretty upright. The > guy at Performance said, well, I'd really have to talk to him to find out > what he wants to do with the bike. > > So, are those answers OK with you, Jim? How big a sample do I need to > persuade you that stereotyping the industry, LBS's, and a group of > cyclists, has the same value as other stereotypes? By the way, do you know > what bike shops make the most money on, the largest margins? Rubber and > softgoods. If LBS's are as stupid and singleminded as you and, apparently, > Grant think they are, and if they are pushing bikes that will make people > uncomfortable, tell me, do you think their customers will come back and buy > rubber and softgoods? Will their customers be excited about riding, and > bring their friends in to buy bikes? > > Do I think the racerish sale has ever happened? Of course I know that it > has. There are poor salespeople, making inappropriate sales, in every > industry. However, tarring the bicycle industry, and a significant group > of its members, all with the same brush, is not productive, and does not > reflect well on the speaker. The whole nonsense of making an entire group > of people wrong so that you can feel superior just needs to stop. And I > gotta tell you, I've never heard any of the racer-y people I know say, > those people on lugged steel bikes with alba bars sure are stupid and > brainwashed. > > I refer again to Norma's last paragraph. Clearly, she has gotten an > impression about Grant and about his positions, and it's not a positive > impression. I'm betting that she is in fact a nice person, and not a > stupid one. And, she's a cyclist! However she arrived at her impression > of Grant ... well, you draw your own conclusions. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************* *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a circumference on the rim of which all conditions, distinctions, and individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu *Kinei hos eromenon. It moves as the being-loved. *Aristotle *The Love that moves the Sun and all the other stars. *Dante -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
