All major purchase decisions we make involve some form of value analysis. Since everyone's values differ, there's more to life than unit prices. I have a couple of friends who won't own anything but a over-priced (to me) German sports sedan, yet gasp at the notion of a bicycle costing $2,000. Before buying my Atlantis, I'd decided on a bike capable of loaded touring and researched that particular corner of the bike world. There were bikes costing less and bikes costing more, so in that world the Atlantis, in my evaluation, was a fair value for the money. OTH, if a bike was purchased for occasional, casual recreational rides, the cost of any Rivendell would be tough to justify on purely economic grounds. Aesthetics are another topic altogether. At some point we all vote with our wallets, and if good looks & fine craftsmanship is important, we're willing to pay for it.
dougP On Apr 4, 7:36 am, Buck <[email protected]> wrote: > I go visit my friend, RIck, on Cape Cod. He never rides, but we're > gonna ride the Cape Cod bike trail just for fun. He drags an old > Specialized Crossroads out of the garage. It's maybe early/mid 90's > and a hybrid-y kind of thing. I have my Atlantis. Rick is very > mechanical (think cars, boats, motorcycles) and very handy (rebuilt > much of his house). He's oohing and ahhing over the Atlantis. Asks me > what I like about it. I tell him how comfy it is. Bars a little higher > than the seat, long wheelbase, large triangle, etc. With his bike next > to mine, the frame triangles are noticeably different. So I'm barking > about his small tubes and all that stuff. While we're talking, he > takes a tape measure off his belt... > > Despite the obvious difference in tube lengths, our wheelbases are > almost identical (we're both the same height). His seat is the same > height as mine (though his top tube is much lower). His bars are > actually about the same height. The seat to pedal distance is about > the same. In other words, the frame sizes are radically different... > his seat tube extends way more than mine and his stem is taller, but > hey, sitting on our bikes is pretty much identical. > > I can recite all the coefficient of linear plentitudes and cosines of > the primary hypotenuse stuff, but beyond the theory, he was looking at > me like hey, I l-o-v-e your Atlantis, but tell me again why... if I'm > not riding across Nepal... your Atlantis is better than my $75 > craigslist special if we're just going for a ride?? > > I had a great $1000 answer. Because the Atlantis is sooooo cool. But I > didn't have a good $2500-3000 answer. -- 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.
