I don't think there's any bike made today, where you couldn't pick up the brand name on it with even just a passing glance...they are all pretty obvious.

Aside from my old Fuji, which had sort of an understated logo, I haven't seen too many bikes that you couldn't name them within 10 seconds or so.
I think that was the point of the OP...I don't think it had anything to do with bike "vanity".

Somehow we have managed to lose sight of the question that begs to be asked.

Having forsaken all things holy and turned Tribikeual, how did the good Doc actually do with his new stealth no name bike in the float/bike/puke thingy?

Well, this is cool. I was looking for something to do during lunch and this took care of that problem!

I also probably couldn't have told you Cervélo was made in Canada either. Don't suppose who makes it if it gets the reviews and results that their bikes get.

I don't care...I could forgive him being an Army doggie boy, but now that he's a tri weenie it is just too much for even an old fat fred like me to bear.

Ironic, I quit smoking and it's Pete that has kilt me.

Now there's a move I can get behind. :D

:roflmao2:

I actually LOL'd. Best description of a tri ever.

Hey, don't go dragging us pickup-drivin' folks into this. (or we'll run you over)

http://www.imeem.com/people/As6M-5/m...s_riding_fred/

In keeping with the spirit of this thread......

If it was the Cape Henlopen Tri, he didn't get to float probably due to dangerous rip currents. So it would've been a run/bike/run & puke thingy.

And that's exactly what it was... The rip currents AND the 8-foot surf were kinda the factors...

Did kinda so-so. I'm a horrible runner, so you can imagine my joy at getting to do it twice. Kept it fairly easy on the bike in anticipation of more running, when really I should've turned it up on the bike knowing that my run would suck anyway. Took it way too easy but ended up with a 21.4mph average and picked off a ton of people on the road. So I made up a good amount of ground on the bike, but not as much as I could/should have. My result was pretty mediocre but I've only been back and training since July. Bottom line, though, I had a blast. I dare say it was more fun than a road bike race... :eek:

He's a witch! Burn Him!!

http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_pictur...lyGrail028.jpg

I am curious why you had your bike in the lobby Doc? Most hotels I stay at when traveling on business do not allow road bikes in the lobby or hotel rooms. Did you find an exception to this rule? Did you keep your bike in your hotel room if staying over?

The entrance to my room was right off the lobby with no other way of getting there. I never leave my bike in/on the car overnight and have always kept my bike in the room. Nobody's ever had a problem with it... Maybe I just stay in cheap enough hotels. :)

I'm nowhere near important enough-- I went from pack fodder in road racing to middle-of-the-pack in Du/Tri. I'm having a blast, though. The fact that I can look at my splits and at least set personal goals makes my mediocrity somehow more fun. :)

I've never had n issue taking a bike into a hotel room. Even some fairly nice ones.

I see. I was traveling a lot a couple of months ago and wanted to bring my roadbike but the hotel I was staying at would not allow me to keep my roadbike in my room....I believe partly due to liability of getting it stolen. The other thing is...if you do leave a $8-10K bike like your Cervelo in your room and you go out to eat...there is a chance it may not be there when you return. Agree with the in or on the car overnight..no good. Even leaving the bike on the car while dining at a restaurant out of sight can be a problem.

Word-of-mouth, it's a bad idea to turn away potential customers, especially should it be known that you are the only hotel in town with vacancies because you don't accept clean bikes into your lobby.

Exception: when you are only one individual, the force isn't strong enough to convince them to allow you have bikes in the lobby.

I am going to have to look into it then as I will be traveling again next month. I am concerned about the bike being there or untouched as the cleaning crew comes through and I am off to meetings. I have thought maybe buying a bike travel case and keeping it in the trunk of my car maybe an option...but what a hassle to put the bike together for a ride. Maybe one of those dorky folding bikes :)...more Fred than the poor guy who didn't know what he was looking at behind the desk.

$8-10K? Nowhere close. It actually came in about half that. I do get your point, though. Short of taking it with me to dinner, I think it's still safer than leaving it in a car unattended.

OK...less than that...but a stunning bike to the uninitiated and no doubt it looked like a spaceship to the guy behind the counter. Believe the definition of Fred is stretched though because he wasn't really a cyclist or even wannabee...but his name may have been Fred. :)

Here's a Fredish question: Does your 4500 dollar bike ride that much better than a cheaper bike? I like bling as much as the next guy but I am doomed to Fredishness due to my budget, my age, my overall lack of talent and so forth....

I really enjoy getting out on my Jamis and riding it... I'm afraid the pricetag of a much more expensive bike would dampen my enjoyment of the experience given the total Fredish package that I am.

I've come to embrace my inner Fred.

No, the guy asking the questions was another hotel customer in the lobby in a team kit.

It's a blast to ride, but the biggest time savings/speed increase is from aero positioning. So yeah, the aero goodies make you fast, but it's not like riding a cheaper bike makes the ride any less fun. If buying a fancy bike doesn't float your boat, then have fun on what you're riding. Realistically my aero stuff saved me a few minutes on the bike, but I'm such a slow runner that the strong runners/weak riders (of which I learned there are MANY more than strong rider/weak runners) easily made up any aero benefit of my bike by running faster than me. So ultimately the reason for us mere mortals to buy and work on fancy bikes is because it's fun.

I enjoy all the aero stuff and working on my bikes--this is a completely different issue than my riding ability. There are plenty of people out there who love to act like there are rules written somewhere about how nice a bike you're "allowed" to ride based on your cycling ability, but the fact of the matter is that your riding ability has nothing to do with how much you're willing/able to spend on a bike.

So yeah, someone will consider me a Fred or a Poseur or whatever the hell else. This is usually followed by some diatribe about how it doesn't matter what bike you ride. As I've said before, if it really didn't matter to them they wouldn't get all up in arms about what bike I'm riding. But if they need that to come to terms with whatever is making them care so much about what I ride while I'm enjoying the hell out of my ride, then they can knock themselves out.

Tempting... I've been working on my run lately, but running on the roads kill me at this point. Hard to believe that I used to be able to run 26.2 miles under 4 hours on the road (about 4 years ago.) Recreational swimming is about all I've done, so that would be my biggest unknown variable.

I suppose you're right. If I took all the money I've got tied up in bikes, I could have purchased one really, really nice bike or a car for that matter. My problem has always been that I tinker with them so much and mess with the set-up and nickle and dime myself to death on just one more seat, one more set of handlebars that I don't have the chunk of change that it would take to buy such a bike. I'm afraid that even if I did, I'd still be tweaking it and alway trying to find that "perfect" whatever it is that I'm messing with at the moment.