RE: [CR]Will Aluminum bikes ever really be future classics?

(Example: Framebuilding)

Subject: RE: [CR]Will Aluminum bikes ever really be future classics?
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 15:06:28 -0400
Thread-Topic: [CR]Will Aluminum bikes ever really be future classics?
content-class: urn:content-classes:message
Thread-Index: AcEUdkNsW2TrnYBnEdW/qABQBLC6Xg==
From: "Rich Rose" <rrose@normandassociates.com>
To: "Donald A Walter" <donrazr@juno.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>


Donald Walter wrote, in part:

To me there's something cool about mastering the art of friction shifting. It's a skill to acquire, yet it seems the derailleur always gets the blame for the lack of said skill. I'm sure that there are riders that just don't want to be bothered with the archaic form of shifting and that's fine, but not all of us want to eliminate the need for a little finesse and skill to operate stuff. Some of us get enjoyment out of the mastery of synchronizing pedals, lever speed and lever travel to produce a perfect shift instead of having it done mechanically for us.(Kind of like banging gears in the old muscle car with the four speed instead of just putting your foot down and letting the 727 TorqueFlite do the work).

I agree with the above except I liken ergo shifting more to the paddle type shifters on Formula 1 Ferrari's than to a fully automatic transmission. You still have to do something, but it is more efficient than the "old" way.

Lastly, I do wonder this. If I could race a new 9 or 10 speed Trek OCLV whatever against me on my old classic mount 10 miles up Mt. Lemmon here in Tucson, how much faster would me on the OCLV complete the distance than me on the classic race Peugeot I have? How much improvement is really built into the new bike? I wonder.

I wonder what impact these things ultimately had on Lance's performance in the mountains these past few days. How much if any of the difference between he & JU is in the equipment? Or, more to the point perhaps, is LA still the first man up the mountain on a heavier machine, like the ones we all admire so much? Many of the new frames are just so ugly I wouldn't care if I was faster on them. Richard Rose (Toledo, Ohio)