Re: Wal-Mart Italian Road Bike for $1198

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>
> Chalo wrote:
>
> | One significant implication is that very large and very small frames
> | have mostly vanished from the scene.
>
> Very small sizes have been a consumer "problem" for years. Customers
shorter
> than, say, 5'2 or so, may very well benefit from having 650c wheels
instead
> of 700c. But such bikes sit & rot on the floor, because they don't look
> "normal" or because some ill-advised friend says you don't want 650c
wheels
> because you won't be able to get tires & tubes easily.
>
> But for the larger sizes, there is some hope. Completely out of the
blue,
> Trek decided to build a 64cm Madone this year. We sell quite a few of
them.
> For years, 62cm was the largest, so those over 6'3 were either difficult
or
> impossible to fit. We have now successfully fit someone 6'7 to a
> high-quality road bike.

High-quality road bike?  I thought the Madone was made out of plastic
and formed in a mold.  I know it's expensive for what it is, but taken
all together that would make Madones the equivalent of '80s Oakley
sungl*****-- cooked up like polymer waffles and sold at an umpteen
squillion percent markup.

I have a 68cm Ni****ki road frame, a 68cm Fuji road frame, and a 68cm
Cannondale road frame, and in the past I had a 68cm Schwinn road
frame.   I find it a bit puzzling that the "technology" of making
frames for all sizes of adults seems to have been lost.  I'm
especially puzzled in light of the fact that plastic Treks have always
been lugged, and thus could have been made in just about any size,
like the lugged frames of yore.

Chalo