It seems like everyone needs to weigh in on this topic at least once as it cycles through the list every few months, so here's my take. I think we are comparing those fabled apples and oranges. Or if you'll allow me, bass and trout. The latest bikes to be marketed as state of the art racing bikes designed for competition, are like the graphite fishing rods, to be used from the deck of a high performance bass boat in a bass tournament with sponsorships, large purses and TV coverage (Godbless OLN). The bikes we love are like the classic bamboo fly rods of Leonard and Garrison, and the bamboo rods made by modern masters like Bob Summers. Or they can be the graphite,yet beautiful rods of R.L Winston, all of which can be fished with grace and purpose. The experiences we seek with our machines, be they bicycles or flyfishing rods, have aesthetics of our equipment as a major component. The goal of the pro bass fisherman or the cyclist competing in a race is outcome oriented and requi res that every edge be utilized, be they real or imagined, and luxuries such as equipment aesthetics can be eliminated. There is, after all, a fishing pole called the "Ugly Stik", the number one selling rod of all time.
Jay "catch and release cycling" Van De Velde Seal Beach, CA --
On Mon, 24 Feb 2003 22:38:50
Richard M Sachs wrote:
>snipped:
>chasds@mindspring.com writes:
>The Stradivarius violin analogy is instructive, if a little extreme
>(bicycle frames are not great violins, and never will be)...the
>brutal truth is, if Stradivarius didn't make it, then it's not a
>Stradivarius.
>
>
>unlike the fiddle, which is _ the_ fiddle, a bicycle frame,
>no matter who made it/how it's made, is NOT _the_ bicycle.
>any frame can be enhanced as well as compromised with
>a particular choice of running gear. the maintenance of this
>gear, as well, has an effect. 'lotta variations to deal with.
>also, musicians become known as virtuosos. by the time
>a cyclist is world class, he's getting paid by the industry
>to use 'manufactured' goods. additionally, was a stradivari
>really such a to-die-for instrument in his own day? it took
>centuries for the lore to be piled on.
>to me, the analogy may be misplaced. but looking for
>parallels keeps my sites set high.
>e-RICHIE
>Richard Sachs Cycles
>No.9, North Main Street
>Chester, CT 06412 USA
>www.richardsachs.com
>Tel. 860.526.2059