I live in Pittsburgh, several hours and mountain ridges from the east coast corridor, but have ridden in Washington D.C. and NYC on my Rambouillet including the Five Boroughs Ride a couple years ago. During that day I was addressed by more people who commented on the aesthetic and the fit of my bike to me. My wife was pretty sarcastic about it by the end of the day and the drive home cracking about friends I haven't met yet who will come drooling at the parking lot of the next stop along the way home.
I wonder if that population-dense region of this country reinforces generalizations, like Manhattanites preference for black. If so, the major cycling theme would be the one dictated by the volume players and the ones using the tech materials as their marketing. Ask some adherents of that theme about their bike and they incessantly talk in the same vocabulary of carbon fiber, stiff, light, "weighs...", blah, blah, blah. Never much descriptive about how they ride. There is a superiority, or at least hiding weaknesses, one may assume under the cloak of conformity; if you have the look, no one assumes anything but that you belong. Few new to cycling will assume minority sensibilities to aid their recognition in their new pursuit Veteran cyclists work through stuff like that on their long run of bikes, parts and sensibilities. I think it is those riders who are particular minorities in the general population of cyclists. The CF mashers come and go from the group with whom I ride. They ride with a different group for all-hammerfest riding and sometimes alternate because while the VO max crew is satisfying of the desperately desired self-image, they must not be very much fun and certainly do not waste expiratory tidal volume on conversation. Me on my steel Ram and the others, core to the group I ride with, share information like this list does and many from other bases of aesthetic and materials seem enlightened by the quality of information freely shared. I think that is more important than one's preference of frame material because it promotes cycling and rather than controlling the communication of information, a weak base of power, it facilitates it. ANDY Pittsburgh > People literally stop me on Manhattan streets and say, "Wow, that's a > beautiful bike!" or "I've heard about Rivendells but have never seen > one." I'm the odd man out in the local club, but I think the > Rivendell aesthetic has just not penetrated much here; nor has the > notion of bicycles as other than mere fitness machines. > > This local club is a bunch of hammerheads and equipment geeks, mostly > very fast riders, yet they are bemoaning the fact that the club is not > growing, that there are no "C" level riders. -- 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-bunch@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.
