On Jun 22, 11:32 am, Jay Beattie <
[email protected]> wrote:
> On the other hand, the people looking at Volvos and Jaguars should
> look at Fords because they are about to buy one anyway. Or look at a
> Toyota, Subaru or any number of other cars that are just as solid and
> reliable and much less money and that hold their value (unlike Jags).
> Thousands will be lost the moment a Jag drives out of the dealership.
"Smells better when new". And, being able to afford the repairs is
part of the braggin'. Come on, JB, get your status sensors in order
here!
> Buying an uber-expensive bicycle is like buying a Jag instead of a
> Camry or Subaru or some equally (or more) reliable and less expensive
> car. If someone can show me that there is a significant weight
> difference between a $4K Seven and a $2K Litespeed or a $1K Habanero
> -- or some other significant difference (besides status or cachet)
> that justifies the price, then I will stand corrected. Otherwise,
> dropping that kind of dough on a Seven (for example) is just showing
> off. I know that showing-off has been elevated to an art form in our
> current society, but I am one of those people who still finds it
> offensive.
I've wondered at the smooth-but-slightly undercut welds present on
some of the 'spensive Ti bikes I've seen. That's a cosmetic second
pass? This old retired, formerly qualified production Mig/Tig sheet
metal welder (not tubing and not "aerospace") wonders at this
practice-- the Emperor needs to hire better welders? I read Peter's
comments on weld quality earlier in the thread; next time I see Mr.
Moots on a ride, I'll get my reading/inspecting glasses out and look
closer.
Well... art form? From the time-honored fancy lugs, dropouts, and
seatstay "clusters", to wiggledy chainstays, barber-pole seat tubes,
three-tube color schemes (and beyond), to oversized, ovalized, diamond
shaped, crimped, otherwise-tortured tubes and stays, and further, to
Newsboy-style curved Ti tubes (a real statement intended, there,
IMHO): artisans like to show off, too <g>.
I saw a true custom Seven seven or eight years ago, when people were
still impressed by Ti, that had tubing shape/size/length "exercises",
plus a non-traditional layout IRT stays and top tube. Not exactly
beautiful to behold, but certainly different (even from a distance),
and presenting, perhaps, the argument that it was built for function
("better bike engineering"), conventional framebuilding "limitations"
having been surpassed. At least, that's what I read into the
presentation <g>.
I don't know how it rode; it was a Record-equipped, low-mileage bike
shop owner's bike that was for sale <g>.
All moot (see above) now, farbon is better and more expensive, and
better. --D-y
