Re: unabashed plug, Crumpton

On May 10, 8:36=A0am, Chalo <chalo.col...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> dustoyevsky wrote:
>
> > Chalo wrote:
>
> > > Now I find myself in Joe's position, thinking in
> > > regard to Nick's bikes "why bother, when you could buy almost the
same=

> > > thing on eBay for less than the cost of materials?"
>
> > You'd have to ride and compare and be honest with yourself.
>
> Ride it? =A0[break, destroy, hurt self] =A0Mmm... no. =A0Some other time
a=
nd
> some other bike maybe.
>
> I just wrote off a coaster brake hub last night. =A0I was climbing a
> little hill-- the thing went "pop" and decided it was a two-way
> freewheel. =A0This after doing the same to a SRAM 7-speed gearhub a
> couple of weeks ago and crunching up a tandem cassette hub a couple of
> months ago. =A0I have better ways to risk my hide and depreciate
> equipment than to reduce somebody's precious toy to the world's most
> expensive and toxic kindling.
>
> The folks who cough up phenomenal sums for bikes like Crumpton's and
> treat them like prizewinning ****h-tzus can take a chance on them. =A0I
> know such folly would only end in sorrow if I were to try it. =A0Nick
> probably doesn't even have access to the ingredients to make a plastic
> bike I would consider safe to ride. =A0By the time I set it up with
> trustworthy components, it wouldn't even be particularly lightweight
> anyway.
>
> > > But to my eyes, every bike with
> > > 73.5 degree angles, short stays, plastic forks, too few spokes and
too=

> > > little tire clearance is so interchangeable with all the others as
to
> > > become invisible. =A0They all make me say "meh". =A0I wouldn't know
ho=
w to
> > > pick from among them except by weight and price.
>
> > You're not picking from among them in the first place.
>
> Right; I'm picking around them. =A0I could get something like that in my
> size, but it would be inadvisable. Even the upgraded equivalent
> (tandem fork, full spoke count wheels) would suffer from inappropriate
> weight distribution, lousy ride, and excessive risk of wheel damage.
>
> But the same things that make such bikes unusable for me, make them
> marginal for practically everyone. =A0Isn't that the point-- to s****t a
> bike with bird bones and stiletto heels that isn't really cut out for
> life on the mean streets? =A0It proclaims that you ride bike only for
> leisure, not practical matters.
>
> Chalo

Heavens above, Chalo, you're like two grumpy old reactionaries rolled
into one. People are using these Crumpton bikes to distinguish
themselves from the mob of cyclists. It's a legitimate purpose. If it
keeps a small craftsman going, that's a good thing, and if it puts
caviar in his mouth that's even better, because it creates space below
him for others with a less boutiquey, more craftsmanlike outlook.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20HUMOUR.html