Becoming fashionable…..

[sevenfourate]

Those of us of a certain age; know that fashions disappear. And then often re-appear years later in a slightly different guise. Clothing, fashion, watches, glasses frames. I’m sure it happens ‘everywhere’. And I’m guessing cycling to some degree is no different 🤷‍♂️

My Boss is a WW2 / Military collector / historian. Amongst his vast collection is a number of WW2 bikes. Inc folding Paratrooper bikes (?) :

And these:

Which if I’m not mistaken look to have the seemingly Uber fashionable ‘Gravel’ wheels / tyres on: 80 years ahead of their time:

Just saying “Fashionista’s” 😛

 

[Cycleops]

That top one looks like the bike that featured in an episode of Pawn Stars.

View: https://youtu.be/gKp4YtmRdX0

 

[sevenfourate]

That top one looks like the bike that featured in an episode of Pawn Stars.

View: https://youtu.be/gKp4YtmRdX0

Yup: (Cool video 👍) Looks like it ! Becoming increasingly rare and of course therefore valuable I gather….

 

[Time Waster]

Still not a gravel bike just a tyre picked for terrain they're going to be used on. What you call fashion others call practical decisions.

I wonder what makes something just a fashion and other things practical decisions? There's obviously a personal opinion being made so where is the boundary between a fashion decision and a practical one?

 

[Oldhippy]

Still not a gravel bike just a tyre picked for terrain they're going to be used on. What you call fashion others call practical decisions.

I wonder what makes something just a fashion and other things practical decisions? There's obviously a personal opinion being made so where is the boundary between a fashion decision and a practical one?

Marketing.

 

[biggs682]

Sadly out of fashion at the moment is the good old steel road bike from the 70's to the 90's the hipsters have finished single speeding the ones they want

 

[sevenfourate]

Still not a gravel bike just a tyre picked for terrain they're going to be used on. What you call fashion others call practical decisions.

I wonder what makes something just a fashion and other things practical decisions? There's obviously a personal opinion being made so where is the boundary between a fashion decision and a practical one?

‘Obviously a personal opinion’ you say…

In the same way as you obviously totally overlooking: and turning this into something other than the intended light-hearted post it is ?

 

[wafter]

Marketing.

... combined with shallow, unquestioning and subservient consumers.

 

[Cycleops]

That’s a rather cynical view @wafter . Are most really consumers shallow, unquestioning and subservient? Many might be but most of us like a new product whether it’s a shiny new bike or a new innovation like Di2 or the latest navigation aid. It does keep the wheels of the economy moving though.

 

[wafter]

That’s a rather cynical view @wafter . Are most really consumers shallow, unquestioning and subservient? Many might be but most of us like a new product whether it’s a shiny new bike or a new innovation like Di2 or the latest navigation aid. It does keep the wheels of the economy moving though.

I'm a rather cynical person

Do you really believe that most consumers aren't as suggested, given the state of consumerism in the developed world? We have ever-more things becoming disposible / irreparable, ongoing built-in-obsolescence, diminishing quality, ever-shorter product lifespans, marketing that revolves around perceived status and other arbitrary , irrelevant constructs that have nothing to do with how well a product actually performs its function...

It keeps the economy going to the detriment of absolutely everything else. How much will we care about "growth" when eventually reduced to fighting each other for scraps of food in a desolate wasteland of our own creation; stripped of all natural resources and replaced with piles of the useless tat we've raped the planet to produce...?

 

[Ian H]

Marketing.

That's what a gravel bike is.

 

[Cycleops]

So what do you suggest @wafter ? Communism? That didn't work did it? You're never going to get rid of consumerism in a free world with a free market, all you can ever hope to do is curb it.

 

[T4tomo]

How the feck do we get from some pics of WW2 bikes to Di2, marketing, consumerism and communism.

does every thread have to end up in the oft repeated daft argument?

 

[Time Waster]

Marketing.

I wonder what "real" cyclists used to say about bike companies selling touring bikes with racks and all that? People toured on whatever bikes they had with things strapped to the bike. Er kind of like gravel bikers and bikepackers do now if I'm not mistaken.

Each generation probably has their own marketing of which the better ideas become more accepted with time. I wonder what old, old school tourers used to make of modern pannier based tourers when they first started to see them?

Light hearted post writing off gravel bikes or poking fun at the idea of them. All bikes are variations on the same idea. Touring bikes are perhaps just road bikes built with a stronger/ more stable frame. What are aero bikes anyway? Every new type of bike will have had marketing to differentiate it so imho anything you want to call you bike is OK by me. I just don't like a snobby approach to bikes.

 

[Time Waster]

Consumerism? Disposable products? Well that's what you get by seeking out or expecting prices to go down. The reason things aren't as repairable in our consumerist world is because to make something as cheap as they are you have to design them to be made more efficiently. To make them repairable you have to make them more dismantlable which takes more time at various stages of production. Parts need to be reinforced at different/ extra places to take those fixings. No simple clip or glue together for example.

So every time you look for bargains for something your need you're effectively aiding the consumerism even though you need it not just want it.