In a message dated 5/21/2003 7:24:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
tsan7759142@attbi.com writes:
> I think that when we comment on a bike owned by a fellow List Member, like
> the NOS Paramount, that using terms like "Not worth the money" is a bit
> harsh. Perhaps we could be more sensitive as to the owner's feelings in
> the matter. I know this makes discussion difficult, but Dammit, if we are
> not nice to ourselves, who is going to be? Diplomacy is difficult, but the
> best way to go here, I think.
> Tom Sanders
> Lansing, Mi
>
True. I deal with bike value/money all day long, and have for 35 years as a bikematchmaker. Do many out there compare daily what a certain figure buys in a bikeshop OR in the outside world? Look at cars, bowling, golf, Skiing, paintball, psychatric therapy, concert attendance, skydiving, consumables like tobacki alky and food. So much for which you pay-as-u-go - some linear, some exponential.
All can be funstuff, but the bike is a free ticket to funstuff that requires an almost one-time fee.A tire in a few thousand miles, a chain way down the road. And if it's funstuff and a rolling piece of kinetic sculpture/art? well, the bonus value sets in. deeper.
I still have a tough time comparing why a gallon o' petrol is such a bargain
in the US!? For less than some plastic jugs of tapwater,less than six
quarters, a family of five can travel 40 miles in an econobox.
Once that subsidy is over, bicycle value will be even greater.
Larry Black
Mt airy, Md