Originally Posted by
snarkypup
What is it with you boys and the pink-and-yellow Ironmans? It's almost cute how obsessed you are!
Almost?
Originally Posted by
snarkypup
So what is it with these bikes? What do you guys love enough about them to own more than one? Ride? Stylin' colors? What?
They make pretty girls curious about us?
For a production road race bike, it has nearly no weaknesses, at its price point or higher. The only 'con' about them was the dated paint scheme, cue Jan Hammer theme music! But that con has become an Icon. I like to compare it to the WWI Red Baron squadron. So arrogantly competent, they are showy to GET noticed. Ridden by a seasoned rider, it gives nothing away to more prestigious marques, regardless of country of origin.
Of course, that's my humble opinion.
Well, there it is, in a nutshell.
It's not an obsession. It's a philosophy, a theory, an inarticulate expression of excellence, the protection of an aritifact, the basis for coexistence of species. The personification of the wind in your face, the element of speed and precision, the opening scene from Last of the Mohicans, the reasoning monologue from Chariots of Fire. A combination of the most basic of elements, Roman warrior mentality, Asian innovation, and 80's whack. A quasi-spiritual descent into the madness of motion, a circular BioPace blur of kinetic output on a diamond backdrop. An example of all that was right with the world, at one fleeting moment in time and space, orbiting a smooth polished hub.
Ozzy sang of us, Cleopatra dreamed of us, and Sheldon wrote of us. Ashley has chronicled our rise to notoriety. Lofty scholars still debate our relative place in the archives of civilization. We are a watch, a water bottle, a helmet, efficient effort in stretch britches. We are the scent of a woman with an undercurrent of musk and grease. We are fast, cheap, and cool, Greased Lightning without the stolen hubcaps. We are an empire, gathering defenseless women and children into the security of our insanity. In centuries forward, among the ruins of civilization will be a purple and yellow frame with slightly faded lettering.
We are: Ironman.