I just see things differently than a lot of 'serious' cyclists.
I have 10's of thousands of miles in four states and the more I pile on
the more I lament how unecessarilly complicated I made it on myself and
possibly other people through that time when in reality its beyond simple.
I feel (please dont take this offensively, cuz its not meant to be) that we
over-complicate stuff to others when we are trying to sell biking as an
alternative to the painful status quo. When 'serious' guys say you
"NEED' certain stuff, at this point I usually feel that that stuff is not
entirely necessary, but thats for a differnt thread. Relating to this one,
we should not discourage someone by petty semantics. The BD bikes
are as useable and quality per dollar spent as any in an LBS. I dont
think we shoulb be discouraging people by opining what is good or
bad at this level. If it was a WAL*MART bike, I would say "Yes" give
an opinion because they are too disposable to rely on for serious
road work. But a BD bike is a very useable item in any circumstance.
Mine went through the salt slush and mud season of Vermont with
only a few flats. Between the bombed out roads and the miles needed to
get ANYWHERE in VT, I think thats a pretty good test as to a bikes
worthiness. I say, tell people all is good , just do it !