Who remembers riding in wool shorts with real chamois? We used to make our our own, road both unicanitor and Ideale saddles and we never had issues with sores, or rawness considering we usually averaged 100+ miles a day on long tours.
The Point? Somewhere along the line we became so convinced that we needed padding and lycra (probably the "coolness factor") wool shorts with real chamois disappeared, the same thing happened with saddles, bikes etc. Real comfort didn't seem to be the driving force behind these changes, instead the "comfort" was manufactured as a marketing tool to increase sales. By emphasizing the role of padding and tech material the actual human factor of comfort was replaced by "perceived comfort". There has been some amazing research on this subject, a lot of it done by Dan Ariely. At the time when wool shorts were disappearing, culturally gen x was emerging along with the precursors of the Urban Hipster generation. Gen x was easily distracted by shinning new things which coincidentally helped push cycling into the hi tech gee wizz phase. That move did get a lot of folks on bikes but true functionality still played last fiddle so most of the new cyclists were those willing to to adapt to the image of the racer. The problem with this phase was that it didn't drastically increase the number of non-racing riders, except for those of us whose love of riding was motivation enough. The urban hipster came along and popularized the riding by turning the bike into an accessory and just like Gen x the hipster is adding more and more riders, but unlike Gen x the hipster movement combined with the costs of driving have played a major role in popularizing the bike through the very "I could care less" attitude they embraced. Now we no longer felt we needed to get all "kitted up" just to ride to work or run an errand. Each of these trends influenced the buying preferences of the potential cycling market and in turn influenced what was available and at what price, so now that Brooks saddles are cool the demand is high, the same goes for steel bikes. While each trend was accompanied by rising prices driven by demand ( either real or imagined) each trend brought us closer to a wider acceptance of the as both a recreational and utilitarian tool for living. The good side of this story is that another trend will come along and likely effect the price and availability of bike related products. Hopefully that trend will be more well rounded in a way that increases bike useage by normal folks something we are already seeing in the tragic aftermath of Sandy, bikes have become one of the easiest ways to get around. I'll stop here. On Saturday, November 24, 2012 7:58:38 AM UTC-6, Ron Mc wrote: > > my buddy is very fond of his Bertoud, though he put Brooks Aged, B17 and > B68S, on his tandem. > While I'm sure Brooks must have some UK-made lines, the majority of all > their products are made in China, so there really isn't a labor cost issue > built into Brooks price. Most of what we're paying for is marketing cost. > Hence the ability of Brooks to unload mass product that we see selling at > $50 below retail. It takes a lot of money to keep up that Rapha-esque > image, but that may be what is required to get their name out to a younger > market. > > A very similar business model must be Hardy (Brothers), the fly reel maker > By Appointment to HRH, who has survived more than a couple of reboots. The > cost of UK labor was destroying their market. In the end, other than woes > for the unemployed, what's the difference between Korea-CNC and UK-CNC? > But they have survived by keeping a select line of English-made products, > while the bulk of their line is made offshore - they sell these as > "designed and engineered in England". I personally am very happy to see > them keep these traditional models alive that would have otherwise priced > themselves out of the market. > > > On Saturday, November 24, 2012 6:11:54 AM UTC-6, Fullylugged wrote: >> >> Like Matt, I find leather saddles more comfortable without padding in my >> pants. Wool Boxers under riding shorts or pants- I like MUSA fine, as well >> as ZOIC. Selle Anatomicas saddles are comfortable from the start, while >> Brooks B17s take about 300 - 500 miles for me to feel that "ahh" sensation. >> I ride with the nose uptilted, as many other riders do (with bars at or >> higher than the saddle). I have never liked the Brooks Team Pro. I have >> one but haven't liked it enough to sit on it long enough to break it in. As >> Grant noted, Brooks lasts longer than Selle Anatomica. I've worn out one >> Selle, and zero Brooks saddles in the past 10 years of riding. Since you're >> more likely to ride if you're comfortable on your bike, a pleasant saddle >> set up is worth the money. Saddles do go on sale (another post noted >> Selle's current one) if price is a sensitive issue or you can buy from a >> vendor you want to support realizing that it's not a huge deal in the long >> run. I've gotten one of each from RBW as it happens. >> >> I picked up a Taiwan saddle to try, a Gyes, and do not recommend it. Not >> well shaped and not comfortable. Have not tried any of the Berthoud >> saddles. Talk about Rapha-esque prices... >> >> Was given an old Italian leather saddle by Saffati which I haven't gotten >> around to yet. Letting some Obenauf's work its magic presently on that one. >> >> On Sat, Nov 24, 2012 at 5:51 AM, Matt Beebe <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> A brooks or similar metal-frame/leather saddle takes time to break in, >>> but once it is, it becomes obviously worth the money. I've never ridden >>> in special shorts or padding, just normal pants, and I can ride 135 mile >>> days on this type of saddle. BUT not straight out of the box- it needs >>> to break-in time, probably the first 1000 or so miles, plus a few rain >>> showers. After that you'll never think about the saddle again. >>> >>> Some folks try, but don't like, brooks saddles because they have heard >>> the hype and expect them to be more comfortable right away- but this is >>> not true in my experience- especially not with very thick hides like on >>> the specials or professionals. People who ride regularly will find any >>> saddle comfortable sooner, because their legs are a bit stronger so the >>> saddle does not bear as much of their weight. >>> >>> >>> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/sbuOmNVPXfEJ. 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.
