patentcad

Yes, it's great, it's trick, it's cool, it's light, it's nifty, we drool over it, etc. ad nauseum.

But I can't get over how many threads/posts I see from weenies who seem to be laboring under the delusion that the better bike gear will actually make them faster/climb better etc. Well, OK maybe 1-2% better. But nothing meaningful. You know, like the gains you'll get from the right interval training/speedwork/climbing/mileage? Over the past 17 months I've spent about $8K+ on bike crap, and I've also ridden 17K miles. I LIKE the bike stuff I purchased. I enjoy it daily. I'll let you guess where all my gains in riding mojo came from. Let's just say that if I hadn't spent dollar one, I could still have those. Would I have been sufficiently INSPIRED to ride/train so much and so hard? Hmmm.. maybe not.

So that bike schwag won't necessarily make YOU better. But it might inspire you quite a bit and might just give you that extra tiny edge in very competitive situations (you know the ones where you're on the edge of getting blown out or blowing some other rider out the back door), but it's a TINY edge. Will you ENJOY that new gear every time you ride? But of course. The bigger edge is the motivation NICE gear gives you to ride over crappy gear. Now THAT makes sense to me.

So if you want that new bike because your old one is tired, or you just want a better bicycle, more power to you. But keep it simple weenies. Ride and train. Get the motor working better (that would be YOU). And NOTHING is quite as rewarding as that. But that's much harder than doing the CHA-CHING on your Mastercard at the LBS.

I know, I've done both. And I'm just as guilty as any of you of gearaholism, so no judgements being handed down here whatsoever. Just sayin'.

asgelle

2% in a 1 hour 40K TT is 72 seconds. Taking a race at random, that was more than the difference between 1st and 7th at P,1 Valley of the Sun Stage Race. I'd say that was meaningful, and I'm sure it was meaningful to Curtis Gunn. Not everyone has the same goals or definition of what's important.

patentcad

OK, so for all of us who aren't doing the Tour of Spain or the Valley of the Sun Stage Race, it's relatively meaningless. And not for nothing, but a for a 25 mile TT that takes you an hour, 72 seconds is about 1/60th of your time. HEY THAT'S LESS THAN TWO PERCENT! I wonder how much time you'd shave off by training right? I'd focus on that first.

That may have some significance in amateur racing (and the untold hundreds of American amateurs who actually participate in USCF stage races), so if that's your bag, ignore my post competely. The weenie meter on my computer just friggin melted. It's still smoking.

asgelle

Facts are so messy. They always seen to get in the way of a prejudice "As of July 19, USA Cycling has sold 54,802 licenses ... Of those current licenses, 35,010 are road and track specific ..." https://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=2415

And yes I started going one way with the 40K and then another with VOS. The fact is the difference between winning and coming 2nd was still less than 2%.

oneradtec

I am somewhat of a budget rider. I have performance brand shades and jerseys etc.
My Ciocc is not sub 17 lbs...and there is no carbon fiber.
I just simply demand that my equipment is clean, precision tuned, quiet, and functions at a high level. I want my machine to be low maintenance, comfortable, durable and dependable.
If I want to race it... I can. If I want to go out and do a century...I can. Club rides, training, etc.

That said...I do dream about a carbon Orbea Orca with Dura ace 10 or Campy Record....and Ksyrium SL's.

But all I really need is my steel Ciocc and my favorite 30 mile loop. I'm content.

"a man's discontent can be accurately measured by guaging the distance between what he has and what he wants"

patentcad

So if there are 35,000 licensed racers, how many ACTUALLY RACE? And how many participate in full blown amatuer stage races with TT's like you describe? 5000? Not even, maybe less. I raced 20-30+ times annually for a decade and never did a stage race. Neither did any of my racing pals. We raced locally, one race at a time and occasionally traveled an hour or two to some more distant event. And some of us did an occaisional TT. But not many. So out of EIGHT MILLION recreational/fitness cyclists, your concerns impact about .001%. And for them, that's fine.

My post is directed at the REST OF THE CYCLING COMMUNITY. Those would be the other members on this board. You can go back to your Velonews and stop getting an aneurism. Think how much time you'd save by not burning calories arguing over stuff like this...

The propensity of some of these threads to turn into pissing contests on this board never fails to astonish me. Well, that's ONE thing bicycle weenies have in common with motorcycle weenies. It's not a Think Tank.

Silverserpent

Patentcad you don't understand, in all truth we're just bored more then anything. How much is there to really talk about when it comes to cycling? If we didn't have the people asking what bike to buy, what saddle to get, my whatever hurts, and gear threads this place would be damn empty most of the time.

Smoothie104

exactly

55/Rad

Good post Patentcad - I agree with you 100%. And I too, am guilty of persuing the gear.

One thing to add - all the common sense in the world is meaningless once emotion takes over. Love of the gear helps fuel the overall and bigger passion that is cycling - and once bitten, most people simply have to go through it and learn for themselves.

55/Rad

mixtery

Well put Rad, if the gear helps you want to ride more because it feels better in the brain and in the muscles, then you can certainly waste your time & $$ on worse things!



beer

goldfish

And you're still going through it and learning for yourself with your 2+ year paintjob.....which, all told, must be the ULTIMATE ocp cycling move ever, right?
of course i kid, i kid. all respect goes to your undying patience with that project...Lord knows i wouldn't be able to handle it.

on another note(and one that won't get my a$$ kicked by rad....) i love gear, and couldn't care less that it doesn't make me faster. for me, upgrading/working on my ride is the same as the way car guys upgrade/work on their cars. a lot of what they do won't make the car any faster, but it will look better/racier in the end, and thats what they are going for. its not ALL about the bike, but some of it definetly is.

hiromian

Like the OP said. Good gear is motivating. However, a great engin will kak pushing my Peugeot UE8 Carivan around a crit so go for the gear like any Ferari owner does.

cs1

Talk about hitting the nail on the head.

Tim

Hammertoe

Oh, I'm actually supposed to ride it....I just like looking at my schwag....Its Purty....

patentcad

That's true. The Zen of Cycling is that it's so free of bullsihit... so I suppose bike weenies like us have to provide that on forums like this.

Honestly I look over the list of thread topics here half the time, shake my head and move onto other things...

HAMMER MAN

Hot bicycle schwag....

all relative to what you want and desire. If you can afford the expensive schwag why not. If you enjoy the old retro schwag why not.

badkarma

I was at the LBS a few days ago, and there was a guy who knew practically nothing about cycling, and he was fixated on getting a Madone 5.5 b/c he couldn't have anything less than DA, as if the rest is pure garbage. At first I was a little upset (jealous perhaps), cause I'm a pretty strong rider, and I ride ultegra. It's not the most practical purchase, as a Trek 1500 would be more than sufficient for him, but hey, it's his money.

SDRider

EPO?

cydewaze

Yes, we'd all much rather a) listen to you brag about how fast you are, and b) listen to you call all the rest of us "weenies". That's so much more productive (and cheaper) than buying new stuff for our bikes.

flmgrip

then it's money well spend...

if you took out a loan to by all this then you should have thought about it beforehand. but if youhavethe money to spend, go for it.

you might be dead anyday so enjoy it while you can.

SDRider

I've tried using that logic on my wife. It doesn't work.

Serpico

Talewinds

Yes patentcad, we understand all of that. Next?

patentcad

If they sold EPO on the rack at my LBS next to the CO2 cartridges I'd buy it. They don't test for that on the local club rides. But then everybody would be doing it.

Where the hell did I ever say I was fast? I merely implied I have become fast-ER. Which is how it's supposed to work. We don't do all this riding to get slower. But faster could mean my avg. speed has gone from 15mph to 16mph. You guys are hallucinating once again. But that's not all bad - maybe you're are in a lactic acid haze like you're SUPPOSED to be if you're riding hard.

Retro Grouch 

So why do you care so much how other people spend their money?