Originally Posted by
puddinlegs
Sheldon Brown has been dead for around what? Seven years now. He hasn't been around for the whole industry move toward offering entire lines of performance road bikes with relaxed geometry, integral shock absorbing frame features, and indeed, bikes designed specifically for riders who though passionate will never 1. race 2. Aging baby boomers 3. More casual riders. Nearly every major manufacturer has a bike if not an entire named line of bikes that address exactly the wheel you're trying to reinvent based on outdated and iconoclastic information.
Not at the price point I am interested in. I want to ride entry level branded carbon (if branded at all) or OEM Chinese and at that level there is alas a lot of Gran Fondo going around.
Originally Posted by
puddinlegs
If you spend any time riding in the mountains of Japan, including doing fast descents, you'll know why your idea of a strava based TT frame doesn't work well either uphill or down. Anyhow, good luck with this all. Hopefully you'll meet some folks locally who can help you.
I don't ride mountains often. But when I do, I find that I am sometimes the fastest on my uphill routes. That does surprise me. I am not into ride fast down mountains, often anyway. If you want to do fast descents then a long stem may be inappropriate.
I wonder how many ride-for-fitness riders, like myself and large proportion of the buying public, want to do fast descents.
The industry is out to make money, not friends. One of the ways this is done is by selling branded over priced bikes that are used in publicised bike races. Then sellers can argue, "the pros do it, so it must be right," which is persuasive until you realise that you don't, and don't even want to, ride like a race pro, in a pack, doing fast descents.