Jim, Nice to hear your perspective as a shop owner. Your name and Hiawatha came up in a conversation last night at a ball field here in Seattle during a discussion with one of the fathers of a boy on my son's team, who asked me about "getting a good road bike". I am in no way affiliated with the bicycle industry other than as a reformed racer and someone who now rides for fun and utility and who works on Bike Trains and Ride to School programs, but since I'm seen on a bike often, there's a pre-supposition that I "know".
I ordered 6 copies of Just Ride to hand out precisely because I don't "know", and they arrived yesterday afternoon, so I was fortunate enough to have one on hand at the ball yard. I listened for a bit, and then simply handed the book over and said "Keep it and pass it on if you find it useful, but most of what you need to think about is in here". I admit that I was thrilled to have a way to shorten the typical discussion I end up having, and to matador the whole thing off to Grant via the book; there's something validating when someone take the time to really make a thing, and in book format, Grant's advice carries more weight than if I were to say many of the same things. He was intrigued by the book, and I'm confident that while it might dovetail with his notions, it will certainly reduce the probability of him ending up on a Madone, and that's a good thing. And back to Hiawatha. The gentlemen with whom I was speaking went to college in Minneapolis, and told me in passing that where he came from "you couldn't ride at all in the winter or you'd die". I told him about your shop, your blog, and suggested that in the ensuing 20 years the industry had evolved and now offered sensible alternatives to "Death by Bike in Minneapolis". One last thing. Grant was very complimentary of the Surly LHT in his talk in Seattle, holding it up as an example of a sound, sensible, and useful bicycle. I know you're a dealer, and thought I'd mention that I bought a 42 cm complete for my then 8-year old (bit of a stretch then), which he rides to school every day with a Burley Cargo trailer hauling a trumpet case, messenger bag, rain gear, and whatever else need to go to school each day. The bike has been phenomenal, and he's now nearly 12 and still on the same frame with no trouble. Amortized over the life of the bike, and guessing that he'll get another 2 years out of it with a stem change, it was a great deal. It's been knocked over, banged around, dropped in just about every way possible, and it's still going strong. That thing is a tank, and an excellent option for any mature kid who likes to ride and does. On Thursday, May 17, 2012 6:09:55 AM UTC-7, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery wrote: > > Just Ride was on my mind yesterday when I tried to help a woman decide on > her first nice bike. She wants a sporty-ish bike for Burley-pulling and it > would be nice if it had a rack. Easy enough. But she's also athletic and > aspires to the racer archetype. I should add that she's the type of woman > that most men would notice in any crowd, which means that various bike > dudes have tried to "help" her with all sorts of advice. All the usual > suspects were present: the necessity and efficiency of clipless pedals, the > magical properties of carbon, and the (baffling-to-me) popularity of > time-trial bikes, none of which are necessary, or even desirable, in a bike > for daily errands and family rides. Anyway, she was clearly struggling with > the perceived compromises between making a bike useful and making a bike > fast (or at least light/expensive enough to impress the racer wannabe > crowd). I thought to myself: this would be a lot easier if she could drop > the racer notions and stop hanging out with guys who read Bicycling > Magazine as a comprehensive source of cycling wisdom. > > On Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:15:32 AM UTC-5, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery > wrote: >> >> Maybe there should be a spoiler alert here - be advised that I will be >> discussing various aspects of the new book, so navigate away from this page >> if you prefer the content of the book to be a complete surprise. >> >> I finished reading the book tonight, which if I can summarize in a line, >> is about all the good things about bikes that appear only when you toss >> racer prejudices and attitudes out the window and Just Ride. After the >> first few chapters, I thought that maybe the editors really sanitized GP's >> historically familiar against-the-grain opinions to be more blandly >> vanilla, hopefully to be appealing to a broader audience. The general >> content wasn't unpredictable to me, having read the Readers and Catalogs >> and most everything else Riv going back to 2004 when I wanted a touring >> bike and couldn't find any to buy except the Atlantis (that's how I first >> found Riv in the internet universe). But I was somewhat surprised that >> there was little to no discernible lug evangelism or quill stem absolutism >> or singing the praises of friction shifters, and the Retro-Grouchiness was >> held to a dull roar. >> >> But as I got further along in the book, I started to think that maybe Mr >> Petersen has simply mellowed about the trivial details over the years (I >> know I have!). Or maybe more accurately, there's less to be peeved about in >> the bike industry now than there was 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. >> After all, smart, sturdy bikes with ample tire clearance and useful >> braze-ons and some attention to classic, non-billboard aesthetics have >> become, dare I say, normal. If racing bikes and gear are the status quo in >> the world, then I must live in a lucky bubble in South Minneapolis where I >> ride and fix bikes every day, as I see lots of reincarnated 1980s >> sport-tourers, old steel MTBs, and new(ish) Surly Cross-checks and LHTs on >> a daily basis, but feel like I see relatively few "road bikes" being ridden >> by obvious faux-racers. To the extent that bike trends have steered toward >> the benefit of the "Unracer" over the past decade or so, my opinion is that >> Grant and Rivendell played a large part in it. This is not to say that all >> smart bike designs and product offerings are shameless Riv-ripoffs, but >> that Grant gave voice to a backlash movement and opened a long-neglected >> market to a lot of smart, creative people who maybe couldn't or wouldn't >> have done it without some pioneering coattails to ride on. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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