Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
wow, harsh stuff.
Im not saying ebikes are good or here to stay, but calling everyone who has a 29er, fat bike, or 650 conversion a fool is rough. I dont have any of those 3 things, for the record.
By design, trends and fads come and go, but that doesnt make them any less valid than anything else.
If a cyclist has a smile on their face riding a fat bike, then it isnt a silly fad.
If a cyclist enjoys conversions and wants to turn a 700c build into a 650 as a hobby project, then they arent a fool being separated from their money.
If a cyclist finds 26" wheels to have too steep an attack angle and enjoys the flatter approach of a 29er, then they also arent a fool- they are getting equipment that matches their skill and style.
I don't know about that, I think it's only harsh to the sort of people who get caught up in faddish thinking.
Magazines likened fat bikes to the second coming, a huge number of people IRL and online said if you weren't riding one you were a moron, now they've all but disappeared from shops and are all over CL. That's a fad, and presumably the majority of fat bikes still being ridden are owned by the few people who have an actual use for them.
The same thing happened with 29ers and now people who wouldn't be able to tell the difference are riding crappy hybrids, now mainly with 700c wheels though that alone doesn't make them 29ers. It happened with 650c conversions and now everyone is converting those conversions to some other conversion because a magazine was wrong about the second coming the last few times, but they're definitely right this time around. And they're definitely right about e-bikes, too, despite the obvious drawbacks.
Pneumatic tires, disc brakes, and brifters are standards; wheel sizes that are all the rage for a little while and then functionally disappear are fads. Like disco. I don't have a problem with the fact that those things exist or the fact that some people find a real use for them, I have a problem with various entities taking advantage of people who go along with the crowd.