I just read Grant's reply to the "carbon bashing bashing" thread and I was
heartened to learn that (1) he "bashes" -- the quotation marks to indicate
that this word is used very provisionally -- carbon out of a sense of duty
and (2) almost even more so, that he has little interest in pushing the
nostalgia angle. I see no evidence at all that he is dissing a competitor
for his own commercial advantage; that sort of interpretation involves a
hermaneutic that is IMO close to paranoid. ("*2.* (Psychiatry)
*Informal*exhibiting undue suspicion ...)Now Grant may be wrong; perhaps indeed the high end carbon frames and forks out there are superlatively durable; maybe Grant ought to state his willingness to consider Calfee's exempt from his warnings. I don't know. But if I had his inside information -- I have no reason to believe that he is lying about it -- I'd damn well say the same things as he. One thing is undeniable: there was no such widespread scuttlebutt about steel, titanium or aluminum forks and frames breaking; for whatever reason, the volume rather signifcantly increased only when carbon fiber became common in the bike industry. On a lighter note: it is also reassuring that one can now become a trained and certified Rivendellian in just five years: ***Indeed, there was a time when it might take decades for someone to transform from a new cyclist to a Rivendell-riding fuddy-duddy, but now the process only takes about five years.* Youknowwho On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 1:19 AM, bfd <bfd...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > On Mar 6, 9:41 am, Tim McNamara <tim...@bitstream.net> wrote: > > On Mar 6, 2010, at 10:22 AM, bfd wrote: > > > >Grant's pointing out the problems with carbon doesn't strike me as > desperate, it > > strikes me as concerned about people's safety. > > OK, maybe I wasn't clear, I was only talking about carbon FRAMES; not > carbon forks, carbon seatpost, carbon handlebars or any other carbon > parts. Maybe I'm not Grant and "connected" or "in" so I don't see or > hear that much about carbon failing. Maybe I only see my little group > and nobody has ever had a carbon FRAME failed. Yes, its anecdotal and > really doesn't prove anything. BUT, then you have Grant making his > doom and gloom comments about carbon frame failing and unrepairable is > incorrect. > > For example, on page 1 of his 2010 bike catalog, he states "Carbon is > light, for instant mass appeal. It is theoretically strong, but if the > reality approached the theory, carbon frames and forks would never > break. And yet, failures are common, sudden failures are the norm, and > nobody who knows carbon rides old carbon." Really, I'm riding a 13 > year old Calfee with a kestrel carbon fork (yes, steel steerer tube) > that I bought USED in 1997 that supposedly had 2500 miles on it. It > now has over 25K miles on it and interesting, no sudden failure. Craig > Calfee has riders on his bikes that are 20 years old with over 100k > miles (100,000 MILES) with no problem. Stating that all carbon bike > are subject to sudden failures is incorrect. > > Further in the same catalog on page 16 he compares his roadeo bike to > a mcrb (modern carbon road bike) and states "The MCRB should be > retired in four years, and may force your retirement sooner." Really? > a mcrb should be retired in four years? On what basis? Paranoia? Or > just another way to discredit carbon because it outsells his bikes 100 > to 1? > > If he's only referring to a carbon fork, then he ought to say so and > be specific. But, generalizing that carbon frames are unrepairable is > wrong. > > Note, besides a Calfee, I also have a STEEL cross bike. I enjoy both > bikes and expect them to last at least another 20 years. Good Luck! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- Patrick Moore Albuquerque, NM For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW at resumespecialt...@gmail.com (505) 227-0523 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
