Re: [CR]Progress or Profit

(Example: Humor)

Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 19:59:48 -0800
From: "Chuck Schmidt" <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Progress or Profit
References: <200503020338.TAA03421@cascade.cs.ubc.ca>


Donald Gillies wrote:
>
> The short answer is, shimano destroyed the aesthetic of bicycles.
> some people like to think that shimano was just an evil company
> interested in cash profits and the lowest possible production prices.
> The reality is, shimano actually has made a lot of improvements in the
> past 20 years. when the technology is moving quickly the aesthetic
> can suffer.(cut)

As a lifelong student of Industrial Design (hey, I'm an Art Center College of Design grad and taught there for 10+ years) I actually like where bike and component design is heading. Who woulda thunk that an old 60+ year old guy could like contemporary bike stuff??? Of course, being a rider, what's not to like?

But whattayaknow... we live in the best of possible worlds 'cause you can ride the old stuff and/or the new stuff. Even better is that most riders today don't even want the cutting edge stuff... that would be the old, ancient cutting edge stuff. Just leaves more for me that way.

Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California

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