thecannibal
Retro Guru
I'm not quite sure why this was moved, as bikes built by hand from steel, with designs reminiscent in many ways of early '90s mtb and utilising largely now outmoded constructeur-esque techniques such as tig welded integrated bar/stem set-ups are to my mind very retro by definition. Not vintage, not old, but retro. I would certainly contend that Groovy should be on-topic by virtue of a 'keeper of the flame' status (as used on classic rendezous).
I've offered several apologies and caveats in my previous posts and still managed to be completely misconstrued and have obviously offended some individuals quite profoundly. If the following offends you, please read all my posts to see I was looking for genuine questions to be answered. I've been really disappointed by the reactionary response of some people in an I-thought-you-guys-were-cool sort of way.
Having looked at all the Groovy bikes I've been able to see on-line, I've not found one that I find aesthetically pleasing to my eye. The point has been made that a custom builder will build what you ask, but obviously Rody has some very distinct aspects common to many of his builds. Of course this can be in part attributed to a viscous (friendly?) circle of people who like these aspects of his builds asking him to build them a bike...and so on.
I don't like: extremely long suspension-corrected rigid forks, I understand the practical implications but, nonetheless, they ruin a bike for me; boxy fork crowns (this is the biggest dislike); extravagant stainless headbadges; many of his outlandish paintjobs; paragon dropouts (for a dedicated SS I much prefer standard track ends, for numerous reasons); non-tapering fork blades; oversized steel tubing; square-section seatstay bridges; the GT style rear of the bar/stem combo (I fear for my knees); the extra tt-seattube tube on the El Jefe. These are all personal preferences, but amount to enough reasons for me personally not to choose Rudy for a custom build for myself. I'm sure my thinking his frames are ugly won't deter others from buying them, so why the defensive backlash?
I've offered several apologies and caveats in my previous posts and still managed to be completely misconstrued and have obviously offended some individuals quite profoundly. If the following offends you, please read all my posts to see I was looking for genuine questions to be answered. I've been really disappointed by the reactionary response of some people in an I-thought-you-guys-were-cool sort of way.
Having looked at all the Groovy bikes I've been able to see on-line, I've not found one that I find aesthetically pleasing to my eye. The point has been made that a custom builder will build what you ask, but obviously Rody has some very distinct aspects common to many of his builds. Of course this can be in part attributed to a viscous (friendly?) circle of people who like these aspects of his builds asking him to build them a bike...and so on.
I don't like: extremely long suspension-corrected rigid forks, I understand the practical implications but, nonetheless, they ruin a bike for me; boxy fork crowns (this is the biggest dislike); extravagant stainless headbadges; many of his outlandish paintjobs; paragon dropouts (for a dedicated SS I much prefer standard track ends, for numerous reasons); non-tapering fork blades; oversized steel tubing; square-section seatstay bridges; the GT style rear of the bar/stem combo (I fear for my knees); the extra tt-seattube tube on the El Jefe. These are all personal preferences, but amount to enough reasons for me personally not to choose Rudy for a custom build for myself. I'm sure my thinking his frames are ugly won't deter others from buying them, so why the defensive backlash?
