Bike snobbery - or is it?

[pete_mcc]

To me, a BSO is independent of price, in much the same way that bike snobbery should be independent of price. And that is something that Bikesnob preaches about in his blog time and time again.

Bike snobbery is about liking good bikes not expensive ones. There have been many expensive BSOs (the first Trek FS, the cannondale EST etc). There are mid range and low end bikes that hold there own against the most top end - Specialized stumper, Orange clockwork and various GTs.

The thing is that often people get annoyed when people say that the bike they are look at on ebay is crap and blame it on money or elitism, when in fact its because the bike is crap.

Honesty and reasoned argument is valuable in ensuring the good bikes get bought and the shit get returned to the earth.

If a bike was shit 20 years ago, regardless of cost, then 20 years later they wont be any better.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Im a snob about more or less everything, bikes, music, coffee, clothes. It could be construed then that I am shallow, but that would probably mean I cared what other people thought of me, which I dont (or do I? lets analyse that virtual cod-psychologists!).

WRT bikes, and specifically 'retro' MTBs, I am snobbish about period, about things being set up correctly, and I also get annoyed when people say that they bought a £150 Kona Lava Dome cos they cant afford/couldnt find anything else/better - you aint trying hard enough.

'Period correct' is down to availability, an individual's tastes and price to some extent, but when I see the proliferation of bikes on here with those nasty modern white Ritchey grips and Charge saddles I wonder why they cant get the ODI attacks (or Oury if you must have white) or Turbos/Flites/Bontragers that are replete on eBay.

Set-up is again subjective and down to the individual, however I would say without providing an example per se, that a bike photographed without pedals, with tyres that were a) useless then and now, and b) white and perfect and with a saddle angle designed to act as population control is not a well set up bike.

Cost/availability - sighs - it has been shown time and time again that great bikes are out there, on Gumtree, on eBay, on the classifieds here. Newbies/people who genuinely do think (or more importantly are told) that one bike is enough/people with better things to spend their money on are not the focus of my chagrin here, but people with a collection of mid-range/low-range/<opinion> not-so-good </opinion> are. I dont have much money to spend on bikes, yet I have a couple of nice ones, I got lucky with some yes, but the three last ones I bought were all less than £100, one of which is very special indeed. I had no more opportunity than anyone else who looked at Gumtree/eBay in London that day, I didnt do some special search (two of them were on the eBay/Marketplace watch here).

Being a snob is not about derision of something you deem to be below you, its about wanting and aiming for the best possible (relatively speaking).

Right, I'm off to worry about the hidden meaning in things people write on my wall on FaceBook (are they really my friends?)

 

[oldave]

"Bike snobbery is about liking good bikes not expensive ones. "

+1 and I therefore am a bike snob (altho' I never knowingly mock anyone else's bike what ever it may be - cycling is GOOD).

I no longer see any point to expensive bikes - whether new or "retro". The 5 in the garage stand me in total at less than either of the 2 that I bought brand new before I learned that that is ALWAYS just silly and less than any of 3 or 4 that I bought second hand.

Frames are IMO the most over-priced (and snobby not in a good way) part of a bike. There is little difference between a 2nd hand steel frame at say 50 quid and one at 10x that - except for the paint job and decals! But then snobbery, be it bikes or many other conspicuous consumerism items, is most often associated with "brands" (which is why "brand names" are so highly valued).

Aesthetics aside, wheels are where my (reduced!) spending goes. All but one of my sets of wheels run on XT hubs - maybe I'm just a hubsnob.

 

[legrandefromage]

ooh... a few contentious quotes in there oldave!

There are a huuuuge differences between frames but thats a whole other thread.

My point is that too many BSO's get sold as something they are not, leisure bikes sold as thoroughbred MTB's or roadie BSO's sold has, er, thoroughbred road bikes.

 

[mikee]

maybe we should have a BSO section
then a gentle hint of a moved post would put the point across

 

[marin man]

now THAT is a good idea

 

[IDB1]

maybe we should have a BSO section
then a gentle hint of a moved post would put the point across

now THAT is a good idea

I concur..

 

[oldave]

Will there be a definition of BSO or will the elite vote/decide?

 

[We_are_Stevo]

But who's going to decide, and on what basis?

Edit: D*mn, beat me to it...

 

[longun]

me too