Anthony":o1elnr01 said:
Young people enjoy change and welcome it. But there comes a time for many people though, where they find that things have changed and they don't like it. Whether it's clothes, music, bikes, whatever. If you don't like modern things, it's just a sign that you're old.
I disagree.
Although I don't consider myself young, nor old - more middle-aged, I largely enjoy change and welcome it.
Change for the sake of it, though, and that's a different thing.
So where bikes are concerned, I like the bikes of the era I consider "golden" - I don't dislike newer innovations because they are newer, per se, I merely prefer bikes and the kit from my preferred era. As for newer stuff, I don't truly dislike it, I just don't want it, and for what I want to do, I don't want to have to embrace it. That's not fear, it's not resistance to change, merely that where one particular hobby or interest is concerned, there's a significant degree of nostalgia involved.
As a generalism, in life, I tend to embrace change, and newer stuff. However, with age (and maybe maturity...) one thing I have become less tolerant of, is change for the sake of change - I've seen that in the bike industry, car industry, and in software and technology products in recent times, in a way that was never imposed in earlier years. The in-built obselence that's proliferating in many consumer markets, these days, truly raises my ire - it's there in software, in technology products, in cars, in bikes...
Apart from areas where my preferences are mucho influenced by nostalgia, I'm not resistent to change where it makes sense and offers a benefit. But where I'm been almost rail-roaded into change, just so that a vendor or manufacturer can continue their revenue stream irritates me immensely.
As to your point about it being related to age, I find that a little naive. My comfort with change, with new technology, I think has always stemmed from my willingness to play with gadgets and technology, to not be afraid, to not worry about breaking something - not anything specifically related to ability, aptitude, or youth. The people I see (both young and old) who don't seem comfortable with technology (especially new stuff) seem to have a different approach - they seem to be almost scared of playing with anything new - almost like they are afraid to play around with some new gadget or piece of technology for fear they will break it, or make it even more confusing.
My personal willingness, even preference, to play around with something new, I had when I was a kid of 6, and is still the same at the age of 40. I doubt it will ever change. I think all that will happen with increasing age, is that I'll still be as bold to play around with new things, but I'll just become increasingly incompetent ;-)
At the comments about whether people criticising have actually tried using this new-fangled bicycle technological wonders, that is completely missing the point - being nostalgic and preferring a different era of bikes isn't about objectivity. I don't think anybody in their right mind is suggesting that most technological advancements in mountain bikes (like suspension, like disc brakes) aren't objectively superior in performance.
But for me - and I suspect others, here - it's a huge irrelevance. I'm not trying to maximise the intensity of the experience any more. That's not going to make me enjoy it any more than I currently do. What does make me enjoy it more, is experiencing something that sparks memories of my golden moments of cycling. I'm not looking for adrenaline when I'm cycling, I'm doing it because I always have, and my favourite era is decades ago.