Varaxis
Well-Known Member
I've found myself visiting threads titled, "Post a pic of your ride," and threads that sort follow this pattern, "New bike ride report, super stoked!" I see a lot of pics that show a bike and the location where the bike got its rider, as if the bike was credited for making the trip significant enough to commemorate, or if it's an achievement for the bike (like a baby's first steps). I also see many opinions that put down this kind of bike-centric passion. I wondered, what kind of passion remains if you take away the bike, or at least a premium one. How about you replace your current expensive bike with an entry level bike, say a Giant Talon. Make it a $700 MSRP one, to make sure it's not a total piece of crap. I began to think of the kind of riders I've run into and started to profile them, imagining them with a $700 bike and a $4000 bike. Trying to draw patterns, based on what I gleaned from people I've met over the years, and based on stereotypes...
Have you had ride buddies practically disappear due to injuries? These guys are usually pretty fun to hang out with and receive a lot of sympathy, but they don't want that, they just want their broken body to heal so they can get out there and LIVE. They probably weren't very skilled, but if they were on a more capable bike they prob would have fared much better. The excuse, "I could do it if I had a better bike," is doubtful, but is actually half-true. It might not get them to do what they wussed out on, but it does push their limits, which in the end gets them to try more things and progress, and that opens up so many more opportunities. Those opportunities include doing epic tours like biker-pelli. These guys sometimes research for months while injured, looking up bike related stuff to feed their hunger, sometimes using a new custom spec'd mtb project as an outlet for everything they learned, to restart the cycle of riding until their body breaks (unintentionally).
Have you had ride buddies that you see maybe 2-6 times a year, since they're out training on their own, on miles of fireroads, usually on the same few trails conveniently located near them, checking out their elevation, mileage, and whatever other stats on Strava? They might believe skill comes with fitness and hours on the bike, but choose spend much of their time on dull trails. These guys ride way more miles than most, yet they noob it up braking through corners, on rocks, on technical uphills, in ruts, because their wheel went off the trail a little... some tend follow the worn in noob lines on the trail, even the ones that take you through the washed out part of a corner, or mega-rutted part of a switchback, since they assume it's the line everyone takes. Guess all that fitness didn't teach them common sense on the trail, and a new shiny bike doesn't teach them any better, it just makes them spend less effort going no faster than the fastest they've ever been. Maybe they've been in a slump or burn-out and needed some motivation to keep going, and maybe look for a bike that actually can get them to manual, wheelie, bunnyhop, descend, jump, or whatever else they lacked, yet retains everything they like about their current bike, fooling themselves into believing it might actually exist.
Then there's the DH/FR crew that rides 8-12 miles in 3 hours, riding the playground areas with various rock features, jumps, drops, etc. that have little to no transition, practically landing on flat. Once in a while these guys challenge themselves to an epic sufferfest at high alt, drawn by the prospects of a raw DH, and wonder why their parts break on a non-technical uphill (after getting pounded repeatedly). A new shiny bike either holds them back, since they don't want to break it, or revs up their competitive spirit even more. A competitive spirit with an aim to get sponsored, so they can go back to those playground areas and pound/crash their bikes some more, and have their sponsor support helping to cover the broken parts, which are likely breaking JRA again.
There's other types out there, but listing them all out isn't my goal here. My goal is to determine if passion for bikes, lusting after nicer/premium bikes, is a problem or not, and if someone can live with an entry level bike. My opinion is that the problem is not with the bike, it's the influences people expose themselves to. Expose yourself to inspirational adventurous people who ride the divide using services like "warm showers", checking out bikepacking threads to get a gist of preparations, and perhaps you might gain interest in it. Expose yourself to pinkbike and you will gain an interest in fashionable stuff so you would look good in a picture/video, and know WTF people are talking about if you overhear them waiting on line at the lifts. Expose yourself to magazines like MOUNTAIN BIKE [AC710N], and perhaps you might start to use similar terminology to explain things you like about how your bike handles the trail, and how you feel aboard it, and categorizing these feelings as good or bad (ex. bike compresses when hammering out-of-the-saddle, very bad according to MBA). Expose yourself to better riders, on newer bikes, and you might push yourself for a faster rate of skill progression than realistically possible, seeing upgrades as a shortcut to reach the level of riding you want to get to, wanting to at least level the playing field by getting equipment on par with theirs, but tuned to your preferences.
The media has a lot more influence than people think. Just merely seeing things once, puts it in the back back of your head. Hear about it again, and that stored memory starts to surface. The more repeatedly you see it or hear about it, the more it becomes visible in your head. Big companies like Specialized are fully aware of this and market accordingly. I believe the opinions against new bikes are just blind denial, the kind that allows them to personally fool themselves and shut out the urge of getting a new bike, fighting this media and marketing influence, and believe consumer word-of-mouth is somehow directed by the big companies themselves, oddly accepting word-of-mouth regarding smaller companies (even if they're not so small, like Santa Cruz).
How are new premium bikes bad? Do they take away the challenge, offer a shortcut to skill progression that feels like cheating, offer instant gratification and satisfaction without the work, do rides feel less fulfilling? Are you satisfied getting what you want and less of what you don't want, without paying for it in sweat on the trail, instead sweating for the wages (or the qualifications you studied for or the risks you took) you earned to afford it? Is it like paying for a premium account, getting extra features and a status symbol, with perks such as less ads, and more convenience? Perhaps the stereotypical high end bike that is free from scuffs, protected by tape, with fresh tires and grips shows that the owner is getting more satisfaction from each ride, to the point that he feels that he doesn't need to ride as much? Is he supposed to be grinding it down like a beater bike? I find different bikes, from old beat up ones to the latest and greatest, and everything in between, can turn a old trail you've ridden dozens of times into a fresh new experience, and don't think sticking to 1 bike for a long time is as fulfilling as swapping more often. What's important is the new-to-you factor; I'd ride a crappy bike, just to confirm what a crappy bike rode like, and I wouldn't regret it unless I ended up injured or lost something that couldn't be comfortably regained in a short period. Some bikes feel out trails that they like best, and might lead you on a search to find them too, for a top-class experience.
What happens to the previous bikes after people get new ones? Do they collect dust, kept as backup or maybe for when the owner things an opportunity arises where it becomes valuable again, or until there's no more room? I've seen a new term pop up to describe some cyclists, "bike swapper". I believe I'm one too, but I buy up used bikes. The used market is full of great prices, but not good prices for those that bought new for near list price, as bikes can lose 50% of their list value in 1 year (like mine, when I picked it up). My game has become to pick up last years latest and greatest used, hoping those going after the newest hot items (like the Yeti SB5) sell off their old stuff. With 26 wheels "dying", and older bikes losing demand, are people afraid to list their stuff used, fearing it wouldn't sell for much at all and that it's more valuable to the owner not being used? Maybe you've set yourself a policy that you can't get a new bike unless you get rid of the old/current one? I wonder, what if there could be something done with all the used bikes collecting dust, to appeal to "bike swappers", quiver keepers, people who want to rent instead of own, something like time shares or like "warm showers" where you can advertise that you are willing to swap bikes and travelers can come and swap bikes and ride your local trails, allowing both to enjoy new experiences? Would that disrupt high price tag bikes as we know it? What if people simply were honest about selling and put in a decent effort to vivid represent the item's condition and went off some price standard (blue book, or recent sales history on eBay) and buyers haggled less (or haggled within reason, such as requesting a price match to a recent sale), and shipped used stuff in exchange for cash (or some kind of credit), could these rules be applied to a buy/sell classified section?
Excuse the bad grammar and formatting, and lack of proofreading. It's late and I just wanted to get ideas written down while they were fresh.
Have you had ride buddies practically disappear due to injuries? These guys are usually pretty fun to hang out with and receive a lot of sympathy, but they don't want that, they just want their broken body to heal so they can get out there and LIVE. They probably weren't very skilled, but if they were on a more capable bike they prob would have fared much better. The excuse, "I could do it if I had a better bike," is doubtful, but is actually half-true. It might not get them to do what they wussed out on, but it does push their limits, which in the end gets them to try more things and progress, and that opens up so many more opportunities. Those opportunities include doing epic tours like biker-pelli. These guys sometimes research for months while injured, looking up bike related stuff to feed their hunger, sometimes using a new custom spec'd mtb project as an outlet for everything they learned, to restart the cycle of riding until their body breaks (unintentionally).
Have you had ride buddies that you see maybe 2-6 times a year, since they're out training on their own, on miles of fireroads, usually on the same few trails conveniently located near them, checking out their elevation, mileage, and whatever other stats on Strava? They might believe skill comes with fitness and hours on the bike, but choose spend much of their time on dull trails. These guys ride way more miles than most, yet they noob it up braking through corners, on rocks, on technical uphills, in ruts, because their wheel went off the trail a little... some tend follow the worn in noob lines on the trail, even the ones that take you through the washed out part of a corner, or mega-rutted part of a switchback, since they assume it's the line everyone takes. Guess all that fitness didn't teach them common sense on the trail, and a new shiny bike doesn't teach them any better, it just makes them spend less effort going no faster than the fastest they've ever been. Maybe they've been in a slump or burn-out and needed some motivation to keep going, and maybe look for a bike that actually can get them to manual, wheelie, bunnyhop, descend, jump, or whatever else they lacked, yet retains everything they like about their current bike, fooling themselves into believing it might actually exist.
Then there's the DH/FR crew that rides 8-12 miles in 3 hours, riding the playground areas with various rock features, jumps, drops, etc. that have little to no transition, practically landing on flat. Once in a while these guys challenge themselves to an epic sufferfest at high alt, drawn by the prospects of a raw DH, and wonder why their parts break on a non-technical uphill (after getting pounded repeatedly). A new shiny bike either holds them back, since they don't want to break it, or revs up their competitive spirit even more. A competitive spirit with an aim to get sponsored, so they can go back to those playground areas and pound/crash their bikes some more, and have their sponsor support helping to cover the broken parts, which are likely breaking JRA again.
There's other types out there, but listing them all out isn't my goal here. My goal is to determine if passion for bikes, lusting after nicer/premium bikes, is a problem or not, and if someone can live with an entry level bike. My opinion is that the problem is not with the bike, it's the influences people expose themselves to. Expose yourself to inspirational adventurous people who ride the divide using services like "warm showers", checking out bikepacking threads to get a gist of preparations, and perhaps you might gain interest in it. Expose yourself to pinkbike and you will gain an interest in fashionable stuff so you would look good in a picture/video, and know WTF people are talking about if you overhear them waiting on line at the lifts. Expose yourself to magazines like MOUNTAIN BIKE [AC710N], and perhaps you might start to use similar terminology to explain things you like about how your bike handles the trail, and how you feel aboard it, and categorizing these feelings as good or bad (ex. bike compresses when hammering out-of-the-saddle, very bad according to MBA). Expose yourself to better riders, on newer bikes, and you might push yourself for a faster rate of skill progression than realistically possible, seeing upgrades as a shortcut to reach the level of riding you want to get to, wanting to at least level the playing field by getting equipment on par with theirs, but tuned to your preferences.
The media has a lot more influence than people think. Just merely seeing things once, puts it in the back back of your head. Hear about it again, and that stored memory starts to surface. The more repeatedly you see it or hear about it, the more it becomes visible in your head. Big companies like Specialized are fully aware of this and market accordingly. I believe the opinions against new bikes are just blind denial, the kind that allows them to personally fool themselves and shut out the urge of getting a new bike, fighting this media and marketing influence, and believe consumer word-of-mouth is somehow directed by the big companies themselves, oddly accepting word-of-mouth regarding smaller companies (even if they're not so small, like Santa Cruz).
How are new premium bikes bad? Do they take away the challenge, offer a shortcut to skill progression that feels like cheating, offer instant gratification and satisfaction without the work, do rides feel less fulfilling? Are you satisfied getting what you want and less of what you don't want, without paying for it in sweat on the trail, instead sweating for the wages (or the qualifications you studied for or the risks you took) you earned to afford it? Is it like paying for a premium account, getting extra features and a status symbol, with perks such as less ads, and more convenience? Perhaps the stereotypical high end bike that is free from scuffs, protected by tape, with fresh tires and grips shows that the owner is getting more satisfaction from each ride, to the point that he feels that he doesn't need to ride as much? Is he supposed to be grinding it down like a beater bike? I find different bikes, from old beat up ones to the latest and greatest, and everything in between, can turn a old trail you've ridden dozens of times into a fresh new experience, and don't think sticking to 1 bike for a long time is as fulfilling as swapping more often. What's important is the new-to-you factor; I'd ride a crappy bike, just to confirm what a crappy bike rode like, and I wouldn't regret it unless I ended up injured or lost something that couldn't be comfortably regained in a short period. Some bikes feel out trails that they like best, and might lead you on a search to find them too, for a top-class experience.
What happens to the previous bikes after people get new ones? Do they collect dust, kept as backup or maybe for when the owner things an opportunity arises where it becomes valuable again, or until there's no more room? I've seen a new term pop up to describe some cyclists, "bike swapper". I believe I'm one too, but I buy up used bikes. The used market is full of great prices, but not good prices for those that bought new for near list price, as bikes can lose 50% of their list value in 1 year (like mine, when I picked it up). My game has become to pick up last years latest and greatest used, hoping those going after the newest hot items (like the Yeti SB5) sell off their old stuff. With 26 wheels "dying", and older bikes losing demand, are people afraid to list their stuff used, fearing it wouldn't sell for much at all and that it's more valuable to the owner not being used? Maybe you've set yourself a policy that you can't get a new bike unless you get rid of the old/current one? I wonder, what if there could be something done with all the used bikes collecting dust, to appeal to "bike swappers", quiver keepers, people who want to rent instead of own, something like time shares or like "warm showers" where you can advertise that you are willing to swap bikes and travelers can come and swap bikes and ride your local trails, allowing both to enjoy new experiences? Would that disrupt high price tag bikes as we know it? What if people simply were honest about selling and put in a decent effort to vivid represent the item's condition and went off some price standard (blue book, or recent sales history on eBay) and buyers haggled less (or haggled within reason, such as requesting a price match to a recent sale), and shipped used stuff in exchange for cash (or some kind of credit), could these rules be applied to a buy/sell classified section?
Excuse the bad grammar and formatting, and lack of proofreading. It's late and I just wanted to get ideas written down while they were fresh.
