Originally Posted by
squatchy
For sure it is marketing. Every year everyone has to come up with something so much nicer than last year's model. It's not only in cycling. Its in everything. Fly fishing, golf, motor cycles, guitars, clothing. Hell the list goes on and on. I have no idea if my Huffy or my Varsity was even close to fitting me. Never even crossed my mind. Who new you could actually even buy a different seat. Tennis shoes and cut off Levis and a sears t shirt were performance enough for me.
I don't think the fat thing is much of a consideration. You don't see too many fat people on higher-end bikes. I think they might actually be the type who would be happy on just about anything.
I think the ease of Internet shopping is parcally to blame. And it just dawned on me while written this. If you look back on more time. Back when people were more content it wasn't so common for people to have soo much credit card debt. The credit card companies started telling everyone they deserve to have everything they want. Fast forward to today's situation and it seems to connect.
To deny that more comfort isn't reality aka marketing...what you wrote in bold is be in Twilight Zone.
Endurance bikes for those that are less flexible and not as strong are MUCH more comfortable than traditional geometry road bikes. There is no comparison. In fact, if it weren't so...even among the top riders in the world, virtually all wouldn't change to an endurance geometry in cobble stages of the TdF and pretty much all do including different tire size.
For anybody to deny that fit and frame geometry and even tire selection isn't relevant to the average rider means they don't understand the sport.