droobieinop

I don't think it is so much a prejudice against the poor, although there might be something there, but against the ignorance of such people who walk into the shop with a bike that they think was a "great bike."

Just because it has shimano stuck on it somewhere or it says schwinn and somewhere they recognize those names, oh and full suspension, thats gotta be good too, right? And then they get angry and offended while you gently try to let them know that their bike was slapped together by the same guy that assembles the grills and playsets and since it was put together wrong in the first place, its now ruined because they rode the bike anyway and had been ignorant to the problems that these bikes already had.

yellowblack

Sad, but true. Before I got my two Specialized bikes, my previous one was a Wal-Mart bike. It cost about $150. I'm a BIG guy so their 'one size fits all' did not fit me. The bike was tiny. It hurt my entire body to ride the thing. The shifters wouldn't shift, the brakes wouldn't brake, the seat was all the way down. I didn't know anything about bikes so I rode it that way for a few months.

Heck, when I got my Specialized Allez Elite it went like this.

Me: "I want a road Trek 2.1." (online research said this was good)
Them: "We only carry Specialized. How about a Roubaix instead?"
Me: "OK."
Them: "Oh wait. They are on backorder in your size. Um... How about an Allez Elite?"
Me: "Is it a road bike?"
Them: "Yes."
Me: "OK. Let's do that then."

They see me in their store a lot because I still don't know much about bicycles despite riding them for a few months now.

Bekologist

I'm going to go back to your original post, yellow......correction: anyone riding a 'tri bike' with the full panapoly of tri/time trial bike accoutrements will have some issues shifting while riding in a paceline. tri bikes are ill suited for tight pack riding and any club would be quite sensible to ban their use on group rides.

yellowblack

I disagree. I ride with a group of trialthetes every Sunday. They ride in a tight fast paceline together. They don't wreck and I have been witness to this many times. I have seen with my own eyes time and time again that it is the riders skill, not the bike that causes wrecks.

Your statement echos the thoughts and feelings of the cycling purest around here. The facts are no triathlete on a tri bike has ever been the cause of a wreck at the cycling club.

JonathanGennick 

I'm ignorant of tri-bikes, and I might open a new post about that. But in the meantime, what is the issue with shifting?

I'm somewhat ignorant of road bikes too, but my observation is that most road-riders ride in the hoods, or on the top of the bar, and have to move their hands to shift. Can it be any worse for a triathalon bike?

yellowblack

Tri bikes can be very dangerous if people ride in a paceline while in the aero position. There is a lack of control issue and a lack of brakes issue. When riding a tri bike in the horns they are safe depending on the riders skill. The rider has to move to the end of their aero bars to shift, but I personally don't feel this is any more dangerous than using a down tube shifter. It is much safer in my opinion than getting a drink from a water bottle while riding.

Locally, we have ONE unstable triathlete who wobbles like a son of a ***** whenever he shifts gears. Since the cycling club has had so many wrecks, they are trying to find ways to avoid potential problems. Instead of going to this one rider and saying, "Hey, you are unstable, don't ride your tri bike here until you gain more skills," they decided to outright ban tri bikes.

The person who is responsible for this ban had a wreck WHILE ON A ROAD BIKE AFTER THE BAN was put in place. It goes to prove that the problem is the cyclist, not the bike.

Bekologist

that you've seen a half dozen cyclists foolhardy enough to ride a fast paceline on tri bikes is testimony to nothing but lack of common sense.

it's not cycling purism but cycling pragmatism, yellowblack. conventional wisdom on the applications and limits of tri bikes versus road bikes is well known in the cycling community.

Dion Rides

I thought this thread was going to be about fixed gear riders vs. the rest of the world.

chephy

I know lots and lots of people who ride crap bikes but have expensive cars and spacious houses in the 'burbs. It's just the "bikes are toys" mentality.

As for the people living below the poverty line, I don't think they tend to frequent LBSs for $50 tune-ups. They ride junky bikes until they (the bikes, that is) fall apart - and then a bit longer.

DX Rider

Calm down, I just came to get my frisbee and to point out that it may not necessarily be a tri-athelete on the tri-bike.

This is bikeforums, you should know by now that not every rider rides the correct bike or setup for their needs.

droobieinop

That is true also, there are many uninformed shoppers out there that see tri's and think its a great idea. I have a friend of 15+ years that I am finally talking into a properly fit road bike. Up untill now he has been on an oversized mtb with clip on aero bars, despite my advise otherwise.

I overheard a conversation at our shop today that went like this:

cust: I'm riding a mtb and want to go farther, longer and faster. What is the difference between this tri bike you sell and that tri bike that you don't sell?

lbs: I'm not sure about the differences, but I'll tell you about the one that we sell.

cust: That tri bike is going to be more because of the name right?

lbs: Many frames are made by the same plants in china or taiwan, but why do want a tri bike. We often ride many miles, and many of them solo and don't use a tri bike or aero bars.

So yes, its true, its not just tri's riding tri's. That being said, there are many runners and swimmers out there that want to combine the two in an event and since the ironman popularity they have turned to tri's. However, they are not cyclists and have no experience on a road bike to begin with before buying the tri bikes that are shown on tv coverage and worse yet have no working knowledge of group riding techniques.

Add these factors together and the simple conclusion is, if you want to ride in a group you should ride on the proper bike. You want to ride a tri/TT bike do so alone like in the races or with a tri club.

Likewise, if you have poor skills and or haven't been able to prove yourself in group riding, get outta the way.

seawind161

Thanks, Kenneth, couldn't have said it better myself!

And to an earlier poster who said they couldn't get enough people together to ride, I must be doing something wrong- one always seemed like enough if you really want to ride.

cz2509

On the grand scale of things, its not exactly a human rights issue if they dont want tri-bikes in their paceline.

Your options are simple,
1. Get a court order, forcing the club to allow tri bikes in the pace line.
2. Ride with a different club.