I might be outing myself and will lose a lot of respect for this, but my OTHER big obsessive hobby is golf. I even work in a golf store during the summers.
I only bring this up because this post makes me think about technology in golf. There are people who play golf equipment that's lacking in technology because they want to let their skill/technique/creativity be the focus of their experience instead of optimizing for performance. Then there are people who want every technological advancement and want to pay exorbitant amounts of money for components that they believe will help them unlock every ounce of potential in their swings. They want performance to be the experience. Neither golfer is wrong to want what they want out of their experiences. If mountain biking is more fun for you on a modern, fully-equipped bike, then that's what you should buy to mountain bike. If mountain biking is more fun when you really feel the challenges and struggles but want to push yourself, then I think a Riv is the bike for that situation. Neither rider is wrong to want what they want out of their experiences. Ben in Omaha, where there are no mountains. On Friday, February 11, 2022 at 7:08:56 AM UTC-6 ascpgh wrote: > I did the same much longer ago, pre-Rivendell. The bike complimented my > time and trail acquired skills but also introduced more maintenance needs > and unknown intervals of service and parts consumption. It showed me that > technology is a fast moving train and anywhere you get on it won't be long > before you are not so much obsolete but certainly not cutting edge. Bike > companies were selling bike experiences, I was interested in riding > experiences. > > My "modern" bike wasn't an enduro design but enough to introduce the > possibility of cycling not being rewarding when out on rides with folks on > the latest new bikes and I started riding alone to avoid that. Technology > supplanted skills. Someone on a wide tired full SUS bike could traverse > terrain that a veteran rigid or hardtail rider with years of learned > skills. The idea of expanding access to the sport and all the cup half full > perspectives didn't account for terrain no longer being enough for many new > bike riders so they increased speed on existing trails and began > construction of ramps and park features to meet the capabilities of their > hardware. When the bikes fell short and the riders didn't have the skills > to ride it out, folks got hurt. Some bounced back, more just stopped riding > and a few lawyered-up, looking for liability to attach and share their > expenses. > > Time has reinforced that what I enjoy about riding isn't about what a more > complicated bike will provide, it's the surroundings. The same has been > true about the cars I've had along the way. I wouldn't know what to do with > a Nissan GT-R (besides keep a bank account and service calendar for it) and > I doubt it would have been as fun to me or go as many places as the Fiat > with the limited slip differential in this picture.[image: > RenderedImage.jpg] > > Andy Cheatham > Pittsburgh > > On Thursday, February 10, 2022 at 8:49:11 PM UTC-5 Jay Lonner wrote: > >> My wife and I are spending a week in northern AZ, which included a day of >> mountain biking in Sedona. We rented fancy dual-suspension, carbon fiber >> wonderbikes which are about as anti-Riv as you can get — and it was a >> fantastic experience! I’ve never ridden such a beast before, and was amazed >> at the terrain it could handle in the hands of a newcomer to this style of >> riding. It’s the most fun I’ve had on a bike in years. >> >> I had a Gus in my shopping cart when they were last on sale, but >> ultimately didn’t go through with the purchase because I want to be free to >> experiment with builds that depart from the Riv way of doing things, such >> as IGHs and disc brakes. And now I’m doubly glad I held off, because I am >> giving serious consideration to buying a fully modern mountain bike. >> >> In retrospect I think I gave too much credence to the idea of >> underbiking. There’s no way I could have handled this sort of terrain on a >> Riv-style bike — I would have been walking it the entire time. And while >> that may be the lowest common gear, as a former commenter here liked to >> say, it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun. >> >> So I guess this is part confession and part query — who else mixes and >> matches their Rivendells with the sort of modern ironmongery that would >> give Grant & Co. conniptions? >> >> Jay Lonner >> Bellingham, WA (but temporarily in Sedona, AZ) >> > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b567f3df-47e4-4b4a-b9b3-dc25ff083662n%40googlegroups.com.
