BluesDawg

Agreed. Although I don't think I'd ever place "old fart" on the level of "Four score and seven..."

DnvrFox

Truly, but Lincoln did not think much of "Four score . . . " himself.

tsl

The young are easily confused. Just smile benevolently, and pat them on the head. They'll figure it out soon enough.

FWIW, when I returned to cycling, I too was pointed at hybrids. While I drooled over the road bikes, I bought the hybrid. Nine months later, after learning downtube shifters were finally passé, I bought a road bike. The fleet's now four road bikes and zero hybrides. I"ve never looked back.

NOS88

TSL, you've done it again. Made me laugh out loud.

billydonn

+1... it's counter-productively self-deprecating symbolism IMO. Same with "geezers" and the like. Don't want to make a federal case of it but that's the way I feel. As to TSLs "head pat" suggestion, I like it.... I am always tempted to call them "sonny".

"Lead me to the road bike section sonny!"

UADave

Ha. I used the term old farts mainly because I saw it in another topic. Also, my wife has been calling me an old fart since AARP found me when I turned 50. I hate getting mail from those guys. AARP is the association for retired people in the USA if any of you don't know. As soon as you hit 50 they start mailing letters wanting you to become a member.

fietsbob

Won't turn away business, but , here the Madone or Felt , in the carbon performance race bike
category gets ordered, for the customer , realistically
cannot tie up that money in a single bike for inventory ,
that you get nailed for inventory tax on, later if it didn't sell.

rather than get several that will sell , before the one guy comes in,
that is needing the size you got on spec


Myself .. still have a perfectly functional RB1..

Last things I got had IG hubs.

ModeratedUser150120149

Words have power. That is why advocacy organizations are very, very particular about terms that reference them. What words are used often frame the mindset of the parties involved in a discussion, especially when a phrase is used that can be interpreted as disparaging.

The term "old farts" and others like it should be relegated to the dustbin of history to join many others that put down one group or the other.

I'm not particularly upset. I'm just saying that if we elders want to be taken seriously and not relegated to the sidelines one of the things we must do is not accept certain terms to be used whether among ourselves or by the general public.

This from a person who all too often puts his foot in his mouth with intemperate comments. But, I'm trying.

Loose Chain

I don't know when I might consider myself old and BTW, I hate that term for some reason. I just don't like it. But, I know you are just asking a sincere question.

So, I ride drops and I actually ride down in them and by any standard ALL of my bikes are pretty aggressively set up. As in low tops and high saddle. It may be just your shop has a dummy for a salesman or maybe something else about your look or mannerisms makes them guide you to cruisers. Perhaps you looking askance at road bikes and asking odd questions of the 21 yo salesman such as "am I too old" etc? Of course he will say you are too old, he is 21 freaking years old--what the heXX does he know?

If you want drops, get drops. The fitter you get the more you will find yourself in the drops. I am much more comfortable on the hoods or in the drops than sitting upright. I only use the bar tops for an occasional rest or to sit up and chat to my wife or to get a drink.

I am 57. Good luck.

LC

Crank57

I'm 62 next monh, been riding drops for 5 years. Kills my wrists, but what the hell, when you get old somethings going to hurt no matter what you ride, even the couch.

BluesDawg

In all likelihood, that can be corrected with a minor adjustment or two.

rumrunn6

wow, impressive contributors. inspirational

dahut

I like bar tops for getting drinks, too.

BluesDawg

I have noticed the preoccupation of some advocates with shrinking the vocabulary. I guess it is hard to directly deal with hate and prejudice, so they reach for the low hanging fruit of the words people use. My problem with that is in trying to take the words away from people who actually use them to harm, you also take them away from everyone else. I have even seen where some want to eliminate the term "political correctness". They don't even see the irony in that. What's next? Burning books?

As an advocate for safe bicycling, the words I am most concerned about are the ones being texted by people who should be focused on driving. They can call me whatever they like as long as they don't run me over.

2manybikes

Drop bars can be made much higher with spacers or stem risers, than a new flat bar bike that has not been raised.

That will still give you drops on windy days, and all the other positions too.

volosong

The perfect approach. If you purchase elsewhere, go back to this shop and let the owner know that he lost a sale because of an ignorant whipper-snapper. Or, if you like the shop, its service department, locality to you, and the stock they carry; talk to the owner and let him or her know how you were treated and that he or she is losing business with the sales staff's attitude toward people they see as having no business being on traditional road bikes.

volosong

Ignore the AARP long enough and they will leave you alone...eventually. Took about four of five years though. They are a good and effective political advocacy group, I don't agree with their point of view. If it weren't for that, I'd probably join because they do good things and have good products and services to us over-50 crowd.

ModeratedUser150120149

You make a good point, especially when you modify the statement by the word "some". In any endeavour there are a spectrum of people who have a variety of what I call Sub-viewpoints. They agree on the basic thrust of but put sometimes extreme, to my view, not theirs, elements into it. Those need to be filtered out and our eyes kept on the goal.

I fully agree on texting. In fact, I cheered when texting while driving became a felony in our state. Now it was only illegal to text while cycling. My last close call on a bike was with a texting rider who almost hit me despite me yelling at the top of my lungs and moving into the bushes.

ModeratedUser150120149

Earlier I commented you should find another shop, or maybe a couple. Maybe a bit of amplification is in order since that was so abrupt.

All successful businesses have the primary goal to make a profit. In fact if their are shareholders management has a fiduciary duty to make the maximum legal profit. Keeping that in mind, a customer needs to make a judgement about whether the sales person is representing the attitude of the store, or is merely incompetent before deciding what to do.

In my case the store owner sold me the hybrid. He made a judgement that later turned out to be wrong. But, once I was educated and was able to tell him what I wanted he responded very well. Since then I have had nothing but great service from that store. So, I can't put the blame for the wrong bike totally on him.

So, although I quickly said to find another shop; that comment was based on it being a clear case of bias and not just a miscommunication.

dahut

Did you use the word 'fiduciary?'

oldbobcat

I'm 59 and this is my sled.



My concession to old age is the compact handlebar, but on the hoods I'm basically in the same position that I used for racing 30 years ago.

My advice for anyone who is struggling with drop handlebars is to first get properly fitted, and run away from any fitter who tries to drop a plumb bob from your kneecap. Most recreational road riders sit too far forward, and their hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, necks, and backs are sore from supporting their torsos. Move saddle back until you can ride with practically no weight on your hands, and then lower it a bit. Second, if you're not happy with your posture or flexibility, don't hesitate to get help from a physical therapist or chiropractor.

CrankyFranky

Hoo boy! This thread has covered a lot of territory! To the OP: I've been riding my road bike (with drops) for the last 30 years... now osteoarthritis in my neck and lower back have sent me to seek physical therapy. In the course of PT exercise regimen, my therapist noted that for people with neck mobility issues such as mine, the extreme bending up of the head while on the lower portion of drop bars can lead to pain (and more damage) due to the neck muscles not being able to support enough of the weight of my head at the extreme end of their range. Solution: raise the bars somewhat with a higher stem.
The take home for me is simply, that it is tricky to get the bike fit on drops right - people come in all shapes and proportions - so I'm not shocked when a neophyte shop worker isn't tuned in to such considerations. So find someone who knows what is a good fit, and be aware of what feedback your body gives you - so you don't have to feel "stuck" with a bike that simply needs a slightly different part.
Life is for learning...

John_V 

What timing! I ordered a mount for my wife's Cateye bike light from my LBS and it came in yesterday. I went there to pick it up and while I was there, a man in his mid 40's was looking at the road bikes. The owner, Charlie, is a year younger than me (I'm 64.98) and his mechanic, Lucas, is in his mid 20's. We are on first name basis at this store. This LBS carries a small inventory of road bikes because of a larger bike shop a few miles away that specializes in road bikes and has a very large inventory of them. The customer, who wanted to do distance rides, asked Charlie if they sold very many road bikes to guys in his age group because he had heard that road bikes are better for doing long distance rides. Lucas, who was ringing up my order, turned to the customer and said, "Sir! If you want to know about guys your age riding road bikes for long distances, you may want to talk to this gentleman. He's a bit older than you and rides farther than I can." I left after speaking the the customer for 5 minutes or so, but I think that Charlie sold another road bike.

big john

Years ago I ran the bars 4 inches below the saddle, now they are almost even, maybe an inch below. This has eliminated most pain issues and I can cruise in the drops for a long time.
Don't forget handlebars come in many different shapes and sizes. I put 4 different types on before settling on the set I use. Bar shape can make a huge difference in your comfort.

UADave

Great replies from everyone. I'm going to look around until I find the right bike and the right place. It doesn't have to even be that local, I love to drive. I suspect that by October I'll have a road bike and then I can figure out these new fangled shifters. Might get my daughter one too, then we can ride together. We ride our mountain bikes together some now.