Originally Posted by
acidfast7
also, i'm not so sure what makes that bike so great ... don't say frame as i'm not sure that over the average first-owner-bike-lifetime there will be difference between 520 and hi-ten. alu and steel yes, steel vs. steel not so much.
Ummm...why don't you compare the rear or front dropouts (look at them [rear dropouts], research this carefully, then report back), or the fork crown, or the finish, or the headset, or the crankset, or the chain, or the brake calipers, or the saddle...Never mind a head-to-head ride comparison. C'mon now...
Seriously? What is your academic discipline anyway? Not science or engineering, I'm guessing...since your "test" has no benchmark or standards given, and no criteria, little data reporting and no analysis. Maybe you're in the humanities or arts? Tenure decades away?