njkayaker

The comment was a bit more extreme than usual (even for pcad). I can see how the OP could have taken it "wrong".

People aren't aware that pcad's "thing" is small (so, I've heard) and he takes his frustration it out on strangers on the intarwebs. He's an idiot; this is a village. Figure it out!

longbeachgary

How about - Starbucks? What idiot would pay 2 bucks for a cup of coffee?


Apparently everyone.

patentcad

You figure it out.

patentcad

If you haven't been banned yet, I think you're safe.

celticfrost

pcad, you need to fall off the wagon -- *here, have an oxycodone*

icyclist 

When mt. bikes came out, I was convinced it was no more than a passing fad. Who would ride those clunkers into the mountains?!? On the other hand, I think I was right about single speed mt. bikes. Who would want to ride one of those (slightly lighter weight) clunkers into the mountains? Practically nobody, relatively speaking. But every time I see someone on one, it sure looks like fun.

patentcad

It is a passing fad. You'll see.

aham23

what. this is just simple crazy talk now.

Fabienne: Whose motorcycle is this?
Butch: It's a chopper, baby.
Fabienne: Whose chopper is this?
Butch: It's Pcad's.
Fabienne: Who's Pcad?
Butch: Pcad's dead, baby. Pcad's dead.


later.

Velo Vol 

I thought dumbness @ BikeForums was a passing trend; I was wrong.

Uni-Vibe

I think fixies are a passing fad. They're dangerous (no brakes!). They are efficient at only one speed (no gears!). They will ruin your knees (low cadence!). They are ungainly at low speed. They are useless for long rides (no gears to adjust to the wind/terrain; instead of adjusting the bike to the rider, the rider adjusts to the bike).

Fixies are just a fad.

EventServices

We regularly quote a guy in town who said of STI, "It's fine for a road race, I suppose, but it won't be any good in a Criterium."

He rode on the same team as a guy who clung to toe clips longer than Sean Kelly.

Chombi

As for clipless pedals, you all have to admit that trends can be made very successful and transition into permanence very quickly if you have the right persons pushing it along as in LOOK did with their clipless pedals with Hinault/Lemond.
Bravo LOOK!
I was instantly on LOOK clipless pedals back in my frankly, very impressionable college days the moment they hit the market despite the fact I really can't afford them, and I remember even going a little hungry for a few weeks just to make them happen!
Scared the hell out of me learning to use them after being on clips already for a long time then, but I'm now glad to be in of the very first wave of bikers to go clipless!

Chombi

celticfrost

Well then, at least I'm not trendy.

patentcad

Some of you thought Pcad would never last.













Hold on, you may get your wish tonight.

Daytrip

Fling thyself not off yon deck, my friend.

How this thread devolved into another pcad pity party--with Tarrantino references, no less--I have no idea.

patentcad

Don't worry, I don't have the energy to walk to the deck.

JazNine

In 1988 I was sure that the Camelback was a ridiculous idea. Why would anyone want to carry water on their back when we already had cages and bottles? I still think they're stupid but it has become a major category. I have one for hiking.

I thought Electra cruisers were stupid when they first came out. Why would anyone want to buy a cruiser with a gaspipe frame and $24 components for $600, just for the privilege of riding in a stupid position because you can put your feet down easily? I still think they're laughable but they are very popular.

I thought the Aheadset was stupid. Nothing wrong with quill stems said I.

White Lightning wax self-cleaning lube? I hated the crap because it gummed up my drivetrain with black chewing gum that would not come off. They still make it. I still hate it. It sells well.

Powerbars? Why would anyone eat something that tasted like crap then and tastes like crap now? People eat a lot of them.

Color spandex riding shorts? I hated anything that wasn't black. I thought color shorts were lame. Still do. But they are popular.

Now I think electric-assist bicycles are stupid but I'm not saying so because it would guarantee their success. Why ride something that's too heavy to be a bicycle and too under-powered to be a motorcycle? I am not officially calling these stupid but please God smite them down.

Thank you for listening to my record of being incorrect.

Daytrip

My sympathies to the missus & family. You truly are one miserable patient. Here's a virtual percocet from my stash. Ok, 2. But that's all.

grolby

You have the same problem that the STI nay-sayers had 20 years ago: lack of imagination. Look, it's impossible to see all of the potential benefits opened up by a major shift in technology. STI might seem like it solved a 'problem' now, but that's the benefit of hindsight for you. Take away STI and suddenly the fact that you can't shift without taking your hands off the bars, while standing on a climb, while sprinting, etc, is a problem. But when STI appeared, it wasn't solving any problems, because downtube shifters were standard and they worked fine. Reach down, move lever, shift gear. Perfect. It may have been easier for people to see it coming, since handlebar-mounted shifters on upright bars had been around for a while, but it's clear just from this thread that there skeptics. But lo and behold, STI came out and suddenly people were saying "Holy *****, I can shift in the middle of a sprint! Whereas before, that probably wasn't on most riders' radar. And so STI came to signal a paradigm change in cycling.

Well, it's the same deal with electronic shifting. We have yet to discover all of the implications for it, but 20 years from now we will be looking back and talking about the massive shift in technology and the way we ride bikes that electronic shifting represented. We will shifting gears in ways and under circumstances that we simply would not have conceived of today but that, thanks to the march of progress, we cannot anymore imagine living without. Just as modern riders see DT levers as a massive step down.

It's impossible to say whether electronic shifting will have as significant an effect as did STI, but the significance of it will definitely be more obvious in retrospect.

As for "Maybe for a racer," it would appear that you are missing the point. What the racers use means everything to what recreational road riders use. What use does a recreational rider have for STI? You're not at a competitive disadvantage, since you aren't competing. Recreational riders have adopted STI for the same reason that anyone adopts the use of a newer and more advanced technology: it's easier, more pleasant and more fun to use. That's absolutely it. THAT is the problem that STI 'solved', and it is the problem that electronic shifting will 'solve.' It would seem that the way of the retrogrouch (and this does go the other way, so the Road Nazis aren't off the hook) is to renounce whatever new technology as frivolous and impractical while deluding themselves with the belief that they ride the gear that they do because of objective, practical reasons. The Riv-fan, Grant Petersen-types ride their lugged steel bikes with the twine and leather and mile-high head tubes because they enjoy those bikes. Roadies ride what they do for the same reason. It would do everyone a lot of good to realize that we ride the way we do because it's fun.

grolby

Camelbaks for road riding: still stupid. Camekbaks for recreational MTBing: brilliant. Camelbaks for competitive MTBing: back to stupid, which is probably why you don't see very much of it (that I know of).

And White Lightning is crap, always was crap, always will be crap. Bleh.

carpediemracing 

I totally dismissed, and still dismiss, the whole single speed thing. One industry insider's comment - "With one gear instead of 20, you'll have a 95% chance of being in the wrong gear." And it's not like derailleur drivetrains fail all the time.

STI - I used bar ends before, thought they were fine. They weren't even indexed.
Index - thought that this would only work for the riders who didn't bother learning how to shift.
Clipless - got them super early on. At a race start that spring, heard "click, click, click" while everyone else was scrambling into their clips + straps. I said to someone that "next year it'll sound like a machine gun going off when everyone clips in." It did.

RockShox for the road. I wanted it to work. I still do. 92-92 Paris Roubaix rocked.

Mtb - loved the whole concept. Thought anything with more than 100mm travel was a waste. I don't get the free riding on wood boards 10 feet off the ground thing.

I never got 'cross. I raced mtb but didn't want to do cross.

Cruisers? In Florida and beach towns, okay, but anywhere else, forget it. Electra salesperson a couple years ago - "It's like printing money."

Waiting for:
- electric assist bikes to make more of an impact. Not sure how, but they will.
- affordable electric shifting
- affordable power meters
- affordable aero road bikes that make a difference aerodynamically
- aero road helmets (not just for TT) that are ventilated
- integrated aero visors/glasses with aero road helmets

cdr

Laplacian

Regarding electronic shifting:

I was out on my ride today and met a guy on a Soloist with the new Di2. He was an older guy so I'm assuming he's been riding for a while. He absolutely loved it. Aside from the really quick shifting (and it is faster than mechanical) he said that he can shift the front der under heavy load going uphill. In fact, that's one of the first things he said the bike shop salesperson showed him when he purchased it. He even showed me how quickly it shifted the front--it looked nice.

I think the only thing keeping people from getting Di2 right now is price (a ridiculously high price, actually). It really doesn't look like you'd be a beta tester if you bought this group now.

DocM

I raced in college the same time as the OP (we might have raced each other, for that matter), but I had the opposite problem with trends: I liked everything about bikes and thought it would all catch on and last forever. Neon fade paint? Awesome, dude. Weird handlebars? Got your Scotts right here. Painted drivetrain components? Ooh, Sante! When SIS and Synchro came out, I thought there could never be anything better than gear selectors that CLICKED! I was, apparently, an idiot. And still am.

patentcad

I have 20 of them in drawer. They wouldn't help.

KiddSisko

Seinfeld. I never thought it had "Cheers" legs.