"Bill Wheeler" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 00:56:02 GMT, "(Pete Cresswell)" <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Pic sort of looks like it....
> >
> >
http://www.sevencycles.com/bikes/duo.html
> If anybody plunks down 3 to 7 grand for this hyped up POS they're out of their friggin mind!
If they buy it for the hype, they're buying for the wrong reasons, IMHO.
> This type of marketing and wild abandon consumerism is just simply ridiculous.
You live in the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen. There are millions of millionaires in the
US (FWIW). I don't know where you live, but in Chicago the streets are full of $100,000+ Mercedes',
Porsches, Lamborghini's, etc, etc. If you live in a $1,000,000 condo in Chicago, then a $7,000 bike
is less than one mortgage payment.
> This bike can not possibly be worth it. I could probably slap together a Walgoose for 1/8th the
> cost and ride it once or twice, much like 7 grand model will be ridden, be just as happy.
Look, Bill, I know exactly where you're coming from. But at the upper stratosphere of rarity and
personalized, customized craftsmanship using exotic materials, cost goes up exponentially. If
there were numerous Seven Cycles franchises, and they were churning out thousands of these frames
per annum, the price would drop (less rare, more standardized production, spread
advertising/marketing costs over larger revenues, cheaper skilled labor, etc). Quality might be
*almost* as high; but not quite.
That's not their business model. Seven occupies the rarified air at the very top of the quality
spectrum. They sell their products for what the market will bear.
> Have people completely lost their minds? Who are the idiots who pay that much for a bike that
> probably gets ridden 4 to 5 times a year? Please, speak up I really want to know. I'm callin you
> out, your time has come.
Rather than berating those guys, you should feel sorry for them. Sure, they have a Seven hanging on
the wall in their beautiful condo in the city; but they're so busy chasing the brass ring they never
have time to ride. I know guys like that: $4,000 bikes sitting for years and years, unridden. They
*want* to ride; but can't find the time. Pity them. Those of us who get to ride often are the more
fortunate.
> What is happening to MTBing?!
It's being sold as an elite[ist] lifestyle accessory, like every other feature of American life. I
remember being horrified back in the early 80's when everything had to have a designer label. That
seems quaint by comparison to our current elitist social pressures. You're right to be incensed,
IMO. It's a vulgar display of wealth, much of the time. I can't stand seeing middle-income Americans
buying $65,000 SUV's that are too precious to ever have a speck of dust on them, let alone go
offroad. They should be driving a Camry for 1/3 the cost and 3x the gas mileage.
> Am I obsessing over the ignorance of others?
You're responding to increasingly vulgar displays of wealth and conspicuous consumption that are all
around you.
> Perhaps, but damn c'mon who buys that ****? I just can't seem to let stupidity go without a rant
> or two. I swear I try and work on it...promise.
Be happy that you have found joy in simplicity. Yours is the enlightened path.
"Why do you ride a bike?" asked the Zen master. "I ride a bike to ride a bike" answered his student.
"I am your disciple" replied the master.
R0cketman