Kinda like wine reviews " petulant insouciance and a hint of berry with a slight tobacco box aroma,definitive of its Terroir,yet set apart by a mineral firmness; buy a case now for the Holidays and WOW your friends". Art Link,San Antonio,TX-- off to the wine cellar to select my dinner companion.
Bianca Pratorius <biankita@comcast.net> wrote: I must admit to reading Bicycling Magazine. I have a subscription. I look at all the ads. I take it all in, but I must also admit that when I read the reviews of the racing bikes I don't understand what they're talking about. I used to buy, borrow, read at the library ... the reviews of racing bikes during the classic era of the seventies and eighties, but I can't remember ever having been so confused as I am now. The old reviews, if I remember correctly, used to talk about things I understood such as geometry, lug finish, ride and ease of shifting. Now they talk in bizarre terms such as vertically compliant, laterally stiff, point and shoot and lay up configurations. These modern bikes shift perfectly when set up correctly and all of them have more stopping power than you need. It seems almost as if these bikes are all so similar and well designed for what they are that there is nothing left of any importance to talk about, so they resort to modern cliches that actually don't mean anything.
I was a novice back in the classic era but I instantly knew what they were trying to convey when I read the old reviews. Now I'm an experienced cyclist and I haven't a clue. Does anyone remember anything as stupid as the modern section called "Style Man". I think we were stylin' back in the day but no one would ever admit to it with the bald faced guiltlessness that is currently in vogue. Does anyone remember truly incomprehensible fashion oriented reviews of the old bikes the way they are written of the new models today?
It's a shame because in many ways Bicycling Magazine is better now than it ever was. It has stories of people changing their lives around, losing weight, conquering disease and changing the world. Have there always been two kinds of writers at Bicycling ... those who write with passion and those who write with the bottom line always plainly in view? Maybe I should have more compassion for the modern day reviewers .. After I ride a modern bike and am asked what I thought, I usually just say "Very nice. Here take it back."
Garth Libre in Miami Fl USA
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