Here's why.

Ironically, I make and sell a 2 grand titanium road frame myself, yet I can still feel centred and comfortably proclaim....




......"WånK£r". :rolleyes:

He's just flexing nuts. F*** him.

man I would sell both, buy a couple hundred thousand bikes, and give 'em away.
or start a bike shop

jeff

To each thier own. Not my choice in bikes or vehicles. And my 70's era Bianchi is ratty, noisy, and put together wrong. But I'm not gonna slam him. His cash, his stash. Just a little painfull sometimes when you have a love for your own ride, and then see something sweet out there that's a passing fancy. Sucks, but it's life. Don't like it, play by thier rules and win.

hahahahah!

priceless.

I think what annoys me is the fact that with all the possibilites that having financial independance gives you, people still resort to the cliches and distasteful consumerism. Ferrari and Seven in the garage, a drill press thats never been used, Armani in the wardrobe, Calvin Kleins in the undies draw, holidays in the South of France.

I don't have a problem with people who play and succeed in the Capitalist game. I exist within it because I have to, I have no desire to play as I think the rules are generally debased and devoid of any real meaning.

But if you have money, why can't you at least have a brain, or some inkling of what defines good taste? Why not ride a Richard Sachs or an Eisentraut, or track down Mike Augspurger or Gary Helfrich to make you a custom Ti frame? And why a Ferrari? What about paying some guy to shoehorn a Porsche motor into a Karmann Ghia? Why not make some hybrid car from scratch, make a statement, do something meaningful, out there, different, and donate the rest to charity?

Please excuse me, I must go play a Bill Hicks CD now....

I just hate it when people needlessly flaunt thier wealth. It makes me angry as hell.

too busy makin money? i dunno.
my uncle fixes up old mercedes 190 sl's in his freetime for people. they pay him lots of money to take the old cars and redo the whole damn thing. it's a really big production; basically rebuilding a car. seems to me, if i wanted a car, i'd also want to know how the whole thing worked and what made it unique etc. but most of the people who pay him to do this (who are rich, b/c you'd have to be to get this done) don't care at all about the intermediate steps. they just buy the old car, give it to him, and say call me when she's done. most just don't care. want the finished product. whenever i'm over at his house i like to see how far along he's come w/ it. i guess it's just two different mindsets. i like mine. i'm guessing they like theirs. rock on.

It is also important to remember that you have to know your place. At some point you have to admit that you do not know, nor ever will know, how to rebuild a car. That's fine. Because chances are the guy that rebuilds the cars does not know your line of work. Sure there are exceptions but by and large......

Those that would rather spend the money do so and they give those that take that money another customer. Both leave happy.

Dave

yeah, i should have mentioned/thought of that. obviously, not everyone can rebuild old mercedeses. i just meant to say that in that situation, both my uncle and his clients end up happy and with what they want. despite what i think people should do, it works out well.

I don't think the repo man will be coming for your Bianchi any time soon, but that other guy....????

You're missing the point. The point is its not even about liking the car - the car is just another thing to tick off, another thing to add to the collection in the futile quest to fill the empty chasm in their lives that represents the fact that they have no vested interest or emotional stock in anything of meaning. Hence, the wealthy often collect high end 'craft', work from 'artisans' or craftspeople. It's not because of the items, per se, because if it was, they wouldn't chose the obvious, most mainstream and accepted artists. They wouldn't go into the biggest art gallery in town and buy the most obvious piece - they'd actually KNOW about what they're buying and buy the real deal, not the most easily accessable and obvious pieces most likely to impress their peers.

Of course I'm grossly generalising here, but come on, why post a pic of your Ferrari on a bike forum? Minus the car, its just a huge ugly bike for some inflexible weekend warrior, from a rather characterless high end micro-manufacturer with really bad decals :)

A+ for Crassness. Actually, I spent more time oogling The Fixers nice red Cinelli *thumbs up*

"do something meaningful, out there, different, and donate the rest to charity?"

Amen to that. Some people will never experience true happiness through sharing of ones good fortune because theyre too busy chasing 185. or 210 if they have the right mechanic.

It is sort of ironic for me that this dicussion comes up a just this moment.

I recently purchased (day before yesterday) a new Bianchi Pista. I rode it home and was very pleased. While it was parked in the garage the first evening, I was thinking that as much as I enjoy it, it is a bit of an extravagance. I have two other geared bikes (winter commuter and summer commuter). The Pista was purchased just for fun.

Over the last year, I have really tried to simplify my life. Part of that simplification involves getting rid of excess "stuff". I shed the car last June and have given away a bunch of excess goods, mostly to family members. I was suprised how easy and enjoyable it was once you cultivate the right mindset. I think the Bhuddists might be on to something with that whole "non-attachement" thing.

I rationalized that the Pista is not an extravagance if I actually put miles on it and save the commuter for a "rain bike".

The whole point of this (at least as it occurs to me) is that materialism is not just about Ferraris and Sevens. I was able to develop a raging case of it on a much smaller economy.

As far as this guy and his high-tone machines; I sincerely hope that he enjoys them. I think expending all that effort just for flash and show, must really be a drag and ultimately unsatisfying. OTOH if he really gets a kick out of them, then I guess they are worth it.

Dan

I just realized that guy is from Carmel, Indiana. Same area that Dave Letterman's mom lives, same area my rich, yuppie aunt and uncle live. That kind of materialism is abounding in that area, for example, my aunt bought a high end trek mountain bike, and she has yet to spin the pedals. Nothing makes me more angry than that. Further on down the thread, the guy said he was ordering another one. He quite obviously is just trying for street cred. I would love to go to Carmel, and attempt a race with him and his Seven, guarenteed i would win. Im sure he rides, because Seven cycles aren't exactly well known to people outside of the sport...but he mostly is all show and no go. Like someone who buys a hummer for grocery getting...just flexing nuts.

Well said. It's the 'gotta get more' philosophy a lot of people have, with a couple of extra zeros added to the $. A Ferrari looks extravagant to me on my budget, the same way spending a couple hundred on a bike, much less owning more than one, looks to someone without money for food. Is this guy a good cyclist? Pretty tough to tell from the picture of his garage.
Personally, I think the car and the bike are ugly. But I'm glad people have different tastes, or everyone would want my bike.

Not with the chain I got he wont.

Ahhh to be young and ignorant again. The dude's got money we don't. Get over it. People drop serious coin on stuff. They got coin, you don't. I don't. Deal with it. If you finish college, who's to say right now that you won't one day drop coin like that. It's relative. I buy my trolly pass: it's 56 bucks a month. It doesn't faze me (esp since I save that much on gas by riding trolly/bike). There are people who ride the trolley once a week for groceries, to whom a trolley pass is serious coin. They're not bitter.
I think over consupmtion is a problem. But, you get paid, you spend. It's pretty simple.

You say this guy is all show, no go. How do you know? Do you know? Or are you spouting off? We could all be all show, no go.

Don't assume you know who someone is, or what they are all about, until you've spent time in thier shoes.

I spent 4 years on another hobby building up object X so I could have it the way I wanted. Bought used parts, brown bagged always, didn't spend a penny on excess. Guy showed up, saw what I had, two weeks later, arrived with the exact thing. Am I to be mad?

No, I learned the value of what I have, and to appreciate the effort to build, collect and know what it takes.

In the end, the learning is the valuable lesson.

Don't hate, don't be bitter. Just learn.

Ahhh to be young and ignorant again. The dude's got money we don't. Get over it. People drop serious coin on stuff. They got coin, you don't. I don't. Deal with it

Broad assumption that he's got money. I've seen many porshes and hummers parked in front of ramshaclkes. I've also seen exhorbitant credit debts.

Broader assumption than people who arent oppulent dont 'have money'. I've worked with many, MANY caring, giving successful people who chose to better society with their financial blessings rather than engage in materialism.

Like you said, dont assume you know someone.

His garage has more square feet than my house.

It's the "Who ever dies with the most toys wins" attitude. He'll rot in the ground just like the bum on the street I flipped some change too the other day.

You missed the point so bad you must be sitting on top of the WMD.

Yep, you said jut what I wanted to. He is definately into pricey toys, and he likes to flash them around - maybe he is to materialistic, but who knows what he really is made of. I don't. I'd like to think he is one of the good guys, who knows.

The most recetn copy of Alpinist (Alpinist 6) has a great editorial on materialism and on being a gear freak. seek it out, its worth a read.

You know I mentioned the big garage thing to my wife and she said

"You'd just fill it with bikes, or (other hobby), or build some sort of bizarre indoor thing. Why waste the space."

I just hate it when people publicly flaunt thier poorness in a manner to which draw support, pity, ridicule others, and whine about others.

Let's look at Fixedgear head. He's got duckettes of bikes. Do we hate him? No. Do we hate The Fixer? He's got a boatload of bikes. Do we hate him? No.

The drive to trash this dude is simply becuase he's not a poster in this forum. And it's easy to cry foul.

Trekkie, get off your high horse dude. It's not all that important.