Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.Stray8
11-09-09, 02:50 PM
Nobody likes to have their ride made light of, single or tandem. Here in the tandem forum, there are great members! There is also a naturally larger discrepancy in prices between entry-level and high-end tandem bikes than for single bikes simply because they are more complex mechanically and an almost infinitesimally smaller niche market than single bikes.
I think that pretty much every tandem is fantastically unique whether it be a Calfee DaVinci or a Craigslist's "beachcomber's" find. It's a real shame that anyone would feel the need to be defensive or even worse, offensive to preempt the feeling of defensiveness.
The simple fact of the matter is that we all each have different levels of economic resources available to us and we also each subjectively assign a different level of those resources to our shared hobby of enjoying tandem bikes. :thumb:
I don't believe that anybody here truly intends to be offensive. The high end people definitely fear the "Hah! I way spent less for the same thing...you're a fool!" comment. My considered position on this is that most experienced riders (who own inexpensive tandems) will NOT say such a thing since they will know that it is really NOT the same thing...(frames, componentry and workmanship).
On the other hand, the entry level tandem owners definitely are intimidated by high end owners who would denigrate low end bikes, in part because there really IS a difference in build and components.
But is the difference enough to just skip the low end class entirely? Well, not if that's all you can afford/willing to invest at this time. In a perfect world everyone would have the best bikes irrespective of cost.
Skipping would be like saying for cars that one might as well skip the Hyundais and Kias and go straight to buying a (used) BMW, Lexus or Mercedes. But what if you're just starting out fresh out of school and can't afford/don't want to spend that much for transportation? In the real world everyone has to make adjustments.
It is not the place for civilized people to make judgements on what decisions others make since they are not in the same positions. This goes for low-end owners ridiculing high-end owners (again, imho not something an experienced cyclist does and who really cares about someone who isn't a cyclist?) and high-end owners ridiculing low-end owners.
http://home.student.uu.se/anhe8197/can_t_we_all_just_get_along.jpg
Can't we all just get along?
So, phooey on anyone who makes anyone else feel bad about their pride and joy. Okay, time for a Group hug! :D
:roflmao2:
.
I think that pretty much every tandem is fantastically unique whether it be a Calfee DaVinci or a Craigslist's "beachcomber's" find. It's a real shame that anyone would feel the need to be defensive or even worse, offensive to preempt the feeling of defensiveness.
The simple fact of the matter is that we all each have different levels of economic resources available to us and we also each subjectively assign a different level of those resources to our shared hobby of enjoying tandem bikes. :thumb:
I don't believe that anybody here truly intends to be offensive. The high end people definitely fear the "Hah! I way spent less for the same thing...you're a fool!" comment. My considered position on this is that most experienced riders (who own inexpensive tandems) will NOT say such a thing since they will know that it is really NOT the same thing...(frames, componentry and workmanship).
On the other hand, the entry level tandem owners definitely are intimidated by high end owners who would denigrate low end bikes, in part because there really IS a difference in build and components.
But is the difference enough to just skip the low end class entirely? Well, not if that's all you can afford/willing to invest at this time. In a perfect world everyone would have the best bikes irrespective of cost.
Skipping would be like saying for cars that one might as well skip the Hyundais and Kias and go straight to buying a (used) BMW, Lexus or Mercedes. But what if you're just starting out fresh out of school and can't afford/don't want to spend that much for transportation? In the real world everyone has to make adjustments.
It is not the place for civilized people to make judgements on what decisions others make since they are not in the same positions. This goes for low-end owners ridiculing high-end owners (again, imho not something an experienced cyclist does and who really cares about someone who isn't a cyclist?) and high-end owners ridiculing low-end owners.
http://home.student.uu.se/anhe8197/can_t_we_all_just_get_along.jpg
Can't we all just get along?
So, phooey on anyone who makes anyone else feel bad about their pride and joy. Okay, time for a Group hug! :D
:roflmao2:
.