Bike Collecting Article - NY Times
- Thread starter Fat_Bloke
- Start date
Ductape":3pm8vfj7 said:
No problem - the link is in the blog posted by merckx:
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/09 ... lease.html
Have a link anyhows:
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... -much.html
SIMONFREESE
Senior Retro Guru
- Feedback
- View
As someone who is new to the bike collecting obession, I found this fascinating. In my day job (I am a watchmaker) I regularly come across similar types of people who become obsessed with watch collecting, it seems to go on in many walks of life. Harmless enough of course, if your family have the patience!
Rod_Saetan
Old School Grand Master
- Feedback
- View
Monomaniacalism.
zigzag":kwzx9rdm said:
Well if that's your argument then arent paintings just fancy wallpaper? Isn't a Ferrari GTO just a used car or a 1 carat diamond just a bit of carbon? How about a child's first drawing, bit of scrap paper?
Some things are a little more special, irrespective of cost people can attach sentiment and personal value to the strangest things, bicycles included. Museums are filled with stuff like that; ever been to the Science Museum, the Smithsonian, the Design Centre museum?
If a bicycle is just a bicycle then why own any more than one, why buy expensive old parts when new is obviously better? Why visit a website like this when they are just a means of transport and not anything special?
Now Pete, you know I'm usually on your side and more often than not totally agree with your thoughts on this bike madness we are all fond of, but on this occasion I think I'm going to side with ZigZag.
A bike is a tool. A functional item. Yes they can be works of art (thats why we covet them so), but a bike is just a bike. A vehicle designed to transport its rider, to enjoy in the great outdoors. A Picasso or whatever is a painting, something created to hang from a wall to be looked at. Not riding a beautiful bike is like not looking at a painting, or not admiring a childs first drawing, or not racing that beautiful GTO.
As you know I'm a obsesive car nut and there are certain cars (like the GTO) that I personally consider to be some of the most visually stunning art pieces created by mankind. I could spend hours looking at every curve and detail, the way light enhances certain features, the textures, the smells, the craft of its designer and artisan builders.....
....but as beautiful as it is, its a racing car. Designed to win races. I always feel incredible sadness when I see an old Ferarri or Lola or Porsche racecar sat in a museum gathering dust. Its just so wrong. Its a race car. It needs to race.
18 months ago I saw Concorde sat in a museum hanger. I was actually moved to tears to see it sat there. There it was, one of the most beautiful icons of the 20th century, sat doing nothing, destined never to take to the skies again. A terrible fate for such a machine.
Treating a bike as art and hanging it from the wall is so wrong on every level. Its a slow death for the bike and a snub to the craftsman who wrought it into life. To me these people are not bike enthusiasts and should go out and buy paintings instead.
Si
Who will be riding his pristine Schwinn Excelsior through Northumbrian mud this afternoon.
A bike is a tool. A functional item. Yes they can be works of art (thats why we covet them so), but a bike is just a bike. A vehicle designed to transport its rider, to enjoy in the great outdoors. A Picasso or whatever is a painting, something created to hang from a wall to be looked at. Not riding a beautiful bike is like not looking at a painting, or not admiring a childs first drawing, or not racing that beautiful GTO.
As you know I'm a obsesive car nut and there are certain cars (like the GTO) that I personally consider to be some of the most visually stunning art pieces created by mankind. I could spend hours looking at every curve and detail, the way light enhances certain features, the textures, the smells, the craft of its designer and artisan builders.....
....but as beautiful as it is, its a racing car. Designed to win races. I always feel incredible sadness when I see an old Ferarri or Lola or Porsche racecar sat in a museum gathering dust. Its just so wrong. Its a race car. It needs to race.
18 months ago I saw Concorde sat in a museum hanger. I was actually moved to tears to see it sat there. There it was, one of the most beautiful icons of the 20th century, sat doing nothing, destined never to take to the skies again. A terrible fate for such a machine.
Treating a bike as art and hanging it from the wall is so wrong on every level. Its a slow death for the bike and a snub to the craftsman who wrought it into life. To me these people are not bike enthusiasts and should go out and buy paintings instead.
Si
Who will be riding his pristine Schwinn Excelsior through Northumbrian mud this afternoon.
I think that the fact Pete and DrS have such convincing arguments on this just proves that it is not a simplistic answer, or can be answered at all.
On the one hand a thing of beauty is always going to be admired by somebody that finds it beautiful (whether its a bike or a GTO). It may be for aesthetics, functional, historical, or sentimental reasons. They will covet and admire it (from afar) for these reasons and want to preserve it forever.
Conversely another person will see the same beauty and want to experience and feel it with their own hands, regardless of what happens to that thing.
Conclusion. . . . . .each to their own I say
On the one hand a thing of beauty is always going to be admired by somebody that finds it beautiful (whether its a bike or a GTO). It may be for aesthetics, functional, historical, or sentimental reasons. They will covet and admire it (from afar) for these reasons and want to preserve it forever.
Conversely another person will see the same beauty and want to experience and feel it with their own hands, regardless of what happens to that thing.
Conclusion. . . . . .each to their own I say
