Originally Posted by ridelugs
god, i think we need all the cynicism we can muster, and then some. how else are we going to stop being railroaded by what designers think is good, or looks good, or whatever. the same logic i am applying here goes for cars too, and clothes, and guitars, and houses. how can a honda civic ever look better than a austin healy? it cant! chrome and real leather and spoked wheels are all what make a austin a great car, and they are also what make a bike a great bike. how can riding a bike that looks like honda's junior engineers designed it in a bout of sake induced madness, ever be more pleasureable than a bike that was designed for function and beauty, and perhaps even handcrafted by someone who cared what every detail looked like. this isnt even a retro question, its a simple question of aesthetics.
bikes crafted by artisans, or even designed by them, should always win, but they dont. they rarely do.
why are we so entrenched in supposed advances and advantages that we ignore why cycling is so great? its fundamentally a beautiful thing to do, bikes look nice, people on bikes look nice, bikes let us do nice things, and shouldnt be at odds with the environment because of it. they should blend with it, enhance it, like a good garden enhances a house.
I hear what you're saying Ridelug and agree with a portion of it. Crazy thing is, some ot the examples you provide to illustrate some kind of doomsday, futuristic bland scenario are actually big design winners. If you mean that Shimano's engineering is a lot like Honda, I would have to agree. I'm a big fan of Honda vehicles on a lot of levels. Shimano's (or Honda's) designs are not for everybody but even if you don't like them, there is a lot to respect. I tried to migrate to Campagnolo components years ago but I always found Shimano parts to be a better fit for me. I spoke with someone at Speedgoat cycles recently about some Sora STI shift/brake levers I was considering and the guy suggested that I call Shimano's customer service directly to inquire about compatibility. The customer service guy wasn't the most enthusiastic dude on the planet but he did share with me which parts work with which. The guy at Speedgoat said that Shimano deserves more credit for backing their products and implied that Campagnolo is the company that's hard to deal with. This is contrary to a lot of what you read where people get real passionate about the rebuild-ability of the Campy parts.