Originally Posted by
tjspiel
But isn't the ability to get back home without having to make a phone call at least as important as style?
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So while in a lot of ways the article was positive, the ending would have been much, much better if she had taken the bike back to the bike shop and said, "I loved the bike, but couldn't get up the hills near my house" and have the LBS give her a different bike that does what really matters, and that's allow her to get from A to B. But also one that she still finds appealing and easy to use.
Maybe I'm overanalyzing and the people who the article is intended to appeal to can easily look past the fact that she didn't make it home. But that's where I get stuck. Her test of seeing if she could get back and forth to work on a bike failed and it was unclear whether she ever intended to try again. That's not such a great message to leave the readers with.
I don't think you're overanalyzing - you've made a salient point. It doesn't say whether or not she actually tried other bikes, or just took the first one she liked, or was just given a bike. She didn't have the right tool, and/or wasn't willing to make it work. This article may get some people to pop out and buy a "cute" cruiser bike, or whatever else they consider trendy, but if the perseverance isn't there, it'll go in the garage next to the rowing machine and rollerblades. Naturally we're all madly biased and outraged, because this is Bike Forums, but without a little outrage, we're not going to get any good articles.