I think Jan's got it right, and will only qualify a definition here. This isn't a way to agree on the surface while disagreeing behind the scences. "Performance" depends on what it is you're trying to do on the bike, but these days it's easy to hear "performance" and think of it only in racer terms, which means speed. There may be some other nuances to it, but they all point to speed. That kind of performance is best achieved by lowering your wind drag, rolling resistance, and weight---obviously going the opposite direction (except in the case of weight down a hill) won't improve your performance. But whatever you do in the speed-enhancing arena, the flesh on the engine is still the main contributor or detractor, and I'd say it makes the most sense to harp on the metal and rubber only if the flesh is whittled and toned as much as it can be, or you've just accepted that it ain't going to get any better, so you'll buy what's buyable. For somebody who doesn't race, though, "performance" can be defined in so many other ways--safety, durability, flat-resistance and reliability, and so on. I will stop here because I don't have much more to say on it, and i don't want a long paragraph to look like a retort. I mean this only to clarify what I see as "performance."
Jan is making a HUGE contribution to what I sometimes just think of as "the groovy spectrum of bicycles." He is calling attention to details, styles, and tradition that nobody else is, or has done as effectively. He knows the past and is futurizing it and making updated versions (the crank, etc) available now, in forms that were better than the originals, in many cases. He is educating along the way. If neither Jan nor I had any opinions (and for my end of that, I'll say that everything I tend to state declaratively is still an opinion), then we'd both be big bores. Neither of us goes out of our way to rabble-rouse for its own sake or to draw attention to ourselves, but that is sometimes the result. So much for no big paragraphy things, but my parting words are yet another pat on the back for Jan. It was he who started the ball rolling on 650B. He got ME interested. RIV was in a position to do something (at the time Jan wasn't), and so we got the early rims and tires made, and yakked about 'em---but as I've said before but not for a while, it was Jan who kicked it off. We have far more in common than not, but every now and then there'll be a stiff versus supple conflict, but it's between tires, not people. Both work, of course. -- 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/-/2JsNQMRiwoIJ. 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.
