A bit specialized ?

[sidevalve]

Just looking in the old bike shop yesterday and I began to wonder just how much "better" bikes are getting. I mean obviously they are technicaly far superior to the bikes of even 20 years ago
but is the price that one bike will only do one job ?
Sure we have racing bikes that weigh naff all but are so delicate that most road surfaces will be at best risky. MTBs that can cheerfully blast down the side of an alp and "road" bikes that have nowhere to fit mudguards.
Do we have to have two, three or four bikes. Fine if you want your sport serious you buy your dedicated machine, that has always been so.
Sure the hybrid seems to be trying to fill the gap but it's just another type to swell the ranks [and they can be way too heavy].
Of course nothing wrong with having lots of bikes [all good fun and we all love a new toy] but are we being bluffed by the manufacturers and fashion ? After all, be honest, how many have in the shed the "old faithfull", it's neither one thing nor t'other but it's great for the commute, for the cycle path/tow path, shopping trip etc etc ?

 

[Globalti]

Well of course some individuals are happy with just one bike for everything; the nearest I've got to that is my Tricross Disc, which is not a pure crosser but more of a multi-purpose bike; it will do road but is heavy and slower by about 1 mph average than my roadie, it will do off-road but flounders on really steep or rough terrain, it will do touring and commuting but probably not as well as a tourer or a hybrid and it's quite good on a turbo trainer as well thanks to the stiff rear triangle!

But when I jump off it and onto my carbon roadie, which is a sportiff bike and not even especially racy, it feels amazingly light, fast, responsive and twitchy in comparison so I wouldn't want to be using the Tricross as my main summer road bike.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I think you are quite right up to a point. Specialised equipment has always been out there, but the market was small and the differences may have appeared smaller.

Just as unitary construction, disc brakes, radial tyres and so on changed the car industry - so Ergo shifters, carbon technology and clipless pedals have changed the cycle industry. Not to mention the advent of the MTB and the dedicated TT bike.

Add to the mix the fact that in the more developed parts of the world cycling has grown enormously as a leisure activity that is seen as somehow 'cool' and indicative of a lifestyle to which one might aspire.

The bottom line for manufacturers is to shift product. Although volumes are now high, the marketplace is crowded and extremely competitive.

Just as the motor industry has been doing for some time, the cycle industry has acknowledged the niche. Once, if I wanted a VW I bought a Beetle. There were attemps to broaden things with the Type 3, the 411 series, the K70 and so on, but essentially it was Beetle or nothing. You could choose the colour. Most didn't bother.

Now, even if I want a Golf I have a gazillion body styles to choose from, a gazillion engine types, even badging options as Audi, SEAT, Skoda et al all make badge-engineered versions on a Golf floorpan.

The same is happening (has happened) with bicycles. It's not a bad thing per se.

There is also the obsession in some quarters of the market with obselesence and 'newness'. Even on this forum there are regular posts from people seeking advice about an upgrade for a 2009 model. Then there are posts about "I can't wait for the 2012 Cubes" etc...

We've turned into kids in a sweetshop. Super for the manufacturers. Amusing for the rider happy to plod along on what he or she has...

I'm tickled at MTB events to hear riders at the start debating tyre choice. I'm not talking about the few Fast Freddies at the Front... to them it has some meaning. I mean middle-aged tubbies like me who will wobble round just to finish, who nonetheless get a serious thrill out of comparing three or four very similar tyre types that they're going to use three times a year to wheeze round a course they are not up to. It's entirely harmless, but it is also a reason why the market can specialise as it has done.

My 'posh new' road bike is an Italian alloy/carbon frame that's 4 years old. It is about a squillionth of a percent better than its predecessor, now ridden by my son and maybe four years older. I can only tell them apart from the saddle because one has slightly wider bars.

As a fun ride, neither is better (or worse) than the 25-year-old steel road bike I've now converted to fixed.

Markets do this, particularly those where fashion has a part to play. I think the OP has a good point, but this is the world we inhabit and although in some ways we are being offered new clothes like the Empperor in the story, we are delighted to have the opportunity to buy them.

There, that didn't take long....

 

[Oxo]

I think you are quite right......Markets do this, particularly those where fashion has a part to play. I think the OP has a good point, but this is the world we inhabit and although in some ways we are being offered new clothes like the Empperor in the story, we are delighted to have the opportunity to buy them.

There, that didn't take long....

I agree with what you say, and it isn't only with bikes. Manufacturers of golf clubs bring out new, bigger, better ranges every year. Does that mean they got it wrong last time? If you were to believe all their claims you would need a new bike to fetch your ball back. Now would that be a MTB or possibly a Hybrid or a......?

 

[Theseus]

I agree with what you say, and it isn't only with bikes. Manufacturers of golf clubs bring out new, bigger, better ranges every year. Does that mean they got it wrong last time? If you were to believe all their claims you would need a new bike to fetch your ball back. Now would that be a MTB or possibly a Hybrid or a......?

You would want something with big fat tyres at a low pressure to minimise damage to the fairway.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I find the biggest pain in the a*** with modern bikes is working out the frame size, when we did bikes in inches it was simple, if it had a twenty one and a half inch frame it fitted, a twenty one was too small and a twenty two normally was too big. Now I have a fifty four cm fixed that fits perfect and a fifty three cm geared bike thats one size too big, it seem that I have to look at the top tube these days as well as the seat tube and the top tube seems to be getting to be more important than the seat tube.

 

[steveindenmark]

I am pleased I bought a Tonaro Enduro Electric bike. I still have my Kickbike and Trek road bike but it is so nice to get out across the country lanes without having to flog yourself to death all the time.

As "normal" cyclists most of us think that electric bikes are for the old and infirm but I have found that is far from the truth.

If you get the chance to test ride one give it a go.

Steve

 

[Norm]

After all, be honest, how many have in the shed the "old faithfull", it's neither one thing nor t'other but it's great for the commute, for the cycle path/tow path, shopping trip etc etc ?

I've got a few bikes but only two are that role-specific that it can't really be used elsewhere and that's the Secteur road bike and the Brompton folder. My MTB is a hard-tail with locking front suspension and tyres with a central ridge which I've used for long days on roads. My old shopping hack is a 1980s steel-framed MTB which currently has road tyres but they work just as well on any surface other than wet mud.

I've also got a Tricross, billed as a CX bike but, in reality, exactly the sort of "old faithful" which you mention as it works really well on anything and it's got the highest mileage of my stable, even though it's the newest, because it gets used for commuting, tow paths, long days on tarmac, shopping trips etc.