I had an exchange with a 25 year old dot com ceo at a party recently. We were talking about wireless this and realtime that... he was pretty impressed with himself, had seen it all etc. So I launched into a little riff on "product life cycle" and got met with this blank stare. He had no idea what a product life cycle was.. 'cuz he'd never been thru one.
Ergo, mention vintage cycling and the current crop of (most) shop employees thinks of 8 speed hardtail MTBs. They have no concept of the stuff we love and the heritage of cycling... they have not joined the "brotherhood of the wheel".
Here in semi rural WA, I have access to the best pair of mechanics (Mike Coleman and Paul Johnson) and the best shop (Kingston Classic Cycles) that I've EVER had. Even back in the old days in California I would not trust my Hetchins or Cinelli to the mechanics at my fave LBS (maybe the owner). I will trust these two studs to wrench on any bike in my stable (when I don't have time to do it myself, that is).
It's the "grow the market" mantra of the industry, driven as it is to compete for investment dollars, as well as the feature creep obsession of the culture, that has driven this evolution, in my view.
================================================ Mark Petry Page/Voicemail: 800.401.3451 Beautiful Bainbridge Island, WA ================================================ mailto:mpetry@bainbridgeisland.net ================================================ "Be quick, be quiet, be right. Especially right"
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson ================================================