Originally Posted by
Syscrush
I assume it's because the SS/FG crowd are very budget conscious. I think that the old/good Sputnik was one of those hidden gem kind of bikes that you just don't see very often - where a manufacturer stumbles onto something good before they realize it's not really sustainable.
It's not just the materials, though - the new ones just don't look as nice to my eye. I kinda wish that they had changed the name when they changed the look and spec, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a very lovely bike.
It's light, lively, responsive, and not too too punishing. The only thing I kind of wish was different was the head tube - an internal tapered headset would give a wider variety of options for an upgraded fork (and a move to disc). But I have so much fun when I ride it, even though these days I have to be careful about how hard and how long I push myself on climbs.
In priniciple I'm planning to sell it and my Gios next year. We'll see if I can actually do that...
They always do that. Play to the lowest bidder with bikes that aren't road or mountain race bikes. It is sad. They could make top quality stuff and still sell it to the people that care about quality and then they could make cheap-o pipe steel or 4130 models and sell those as well. Have a range of stuff like a lot of brands already do frequently going up in price which gets you better frame and forks sometimes or at least better components.
Internal/integrated headsets aren't so good. I know they are the future and sometimes the future is cool but sometimes it is garbage. I can see some benefits but just figure out a way to do it and still use external cup sealed cartridge bearings (no more caged loose ball garbage). I get that the race crowd needs to have a back so flat so the Brits can have tea service on their backs and so they can build more wind tunnels to find out if farting negatively effects a tailwind and loses you watts, but most people don't need any of that.
One day things might change for the better I hope.