In a message dated 11/21/02 2:58:55 AM, rocklube@adnc.com writes:
<< I have long been interested to test wheather two bikes built with exactly the same materials and dimentions would ride exactly the same. Richard says yes; I'm not so sure about that. >>
Many years ago I was a fairly good musician. I played trumpet. When one wanted to buy a new horn, it was common practice to take home two or three identical models, play them all and "live" with them for several days and determine which one was the "nicest" one- a rather difficult thing to objectively quantify, but after a day or two, one would usually stand out as a favorite. In a way, I liken bicycles to musical instruments, in that some are just "right" for a given rider-psychologically as well as ergonomically. Just speculation, you understand, but I'd bet that if an experienced rider were given three identical production built bikes (by that, I mean not the product of one person outfits) to live with for a week or two, one would stand out as the sweet one. I would be inclined to think that the product of a top notch single person shop would be more consistent in terms of the minutiae that would be responsible for such subtle differences.
Best regards,
Wes Gadd
Unionville,CT