I've been biking seriously for 20 years and started reading BikeForums 5 years ago. When I started on BikeForums, I found maybe 1/4 of the thread titles interesting enough to click on at least once. A couple of years ago, that ratio dropped to around 1/10. Today, I logged in and scanned 3 pages of subjects and didn't see anything worth reading.

I'm not any less interesting in bicycling today than I was 5 years ago. Does anyone else find the subject matter on BikeForums to be much more boring now than a few years ago? Yes, there were trolls and flames and repetitive posts 5 years ago, but they so much worse now that I'm ready to give up on BikeForums.

Are you saying you didn't indulge in the "Contador going with Specialized" thread ? I am appalled !

Oh no how will we go on?

Still, I blame myself.

The OP seems to be pointing out the plethora of threads in the 41 that seem to devolve into reparte that has little or no connection with Road Cycling, i.e. Threads About Nothing.

Let's not let that happen on this thread shall we?

yes

https://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...601&order=desc

here's a link to page 1601 (from 2005).

it's a bit different, maybe less homophobic and chauvanistic. still plenty of stupid though.

I feel your pain.

But in all fairness, as you should know the winter is a bad time to judge. By July you should have a more accurate measurement . . . either that or you'll be enjoying your riding so much you won't care.

Correct.

There is no place for fairness in the 41. And if that's the case, what do you think that means for the 33?

It's not pretty, but it's the truth boys.

What do you want? More "serious" threads?

Nah, just less stupid ones.

I find roadies, (like most other humaniod groups), fall into three types:

1: The over-talkative, silly "talk about nothing club" ......pcad?

2: The "We will tolerate you because you can actually ride a bike" club who seem to be reasonable sort of people.

3: The "heads up their own ...." club, wannabee pros who will never quite make it and ponse around like princesses.

Funny how real pros can be very friendly, isn't it?

Maybe BF needs less 1s & 3s and more of 2s to be less boring?

I've only been cycling a couple years now (started at age 37). Joined BF late last year. Yep, it seems to be sort of a Seinfeld forum. There are a few posts that have meaningful info. But, they are quickly devolve into nothingness that continues ad infinitum. Then I quit reading because I just don't have time to sort through trash to find a nugget.

I have to do what the OP does: find thread titles that sound remotely interesting. I read the mouse-over preview to get a quick idea of how many seeds I'll need to spit out and whether it's worth the trouble to attempt digestion.

It does get very repetitive here.

At least with the Touring Forum, for example, people are going different places and writing about them. Or in the Long Distance forum each year there's a new set of events to talk about.

Isn't that what everyone does?

I can't imagine that anyone actually has the time to read every single thread. I glance over the threads that have been newly posted or updated since my last visit, do the mouse-over thing on maybe half a dozen of them, and perhaps click on 2 or 3. Some days there's nothing interesting to click on, other days there might be a few more.

Then I move on to the next forum.

Some of this is related to repetitive/recycled threads...

But I reckon this happens every winter, doesn't it?

OP's retrogrouch stance seems like the older generation complaining that the younger generation is not made of the same stuff. There might be a germ of truth in it, but so what?

BF still beats "Bicycling Magazine" by a mile, even with the still sucky new format.

It's cycling. You pedal, the bike moves forward. Isn't that inherently repetitive? How many original takes on it do you think a forum is going to have, day in, day out, year after year?

There are no stupid threads. There are only BF members too stupid to ignore them.

Accordingly, nothing speaks to the mental midgetry of Internet Forums more than the 'Ignore' function provided for members too imbecilic to just ignore crap they don't like.

Seriously, if monkey's can ride a bike, there's no need to over-complicate it.

And now a question about pedals...

And then there's the less stupid among us, who can find a way to glean information and even entertainment from among the crap.

Crap - it's a way of life.

Well that's just it ... in this forum most of the riders ride out of their driveways, and do one of three set routes, and return home. They tend not to travel anywhere to ride, or do anything interesting with their rides.

At least with the Touring forum you have some riders travelling to Europe for a month, others doing the west coast of North America, others doing short trips around Australia, at least one I can think of cycling through South America. So when you go into that forum, you'll have questions regarding cycling and travelling all over the world, and ride reports from all over the world. So there's always an element of different things happening among the repetitive Surly LHT threads.

Don't be spilling the beans on the Top Secret Pcad BF Education Project.

I'll be a regular on the touring forum when I turn 60. And that's not a put down at all. Just true.

Ah, but it's better to get out there and see the world when you're younger ... while you're still energetic and fit. You never know what might happen by the time you turn 60.

To me, this place has become somewhat like Hustler Magazine- o.k. to check out occasionally for a quick laugh, but spending too much time with it might indicate some sort of social/emotional disorder.