While keeping on topic, according to Dale's wise advise, let me say what I said before, but in a different way. What I had intended to express was that Bicycling magazine has foisted the "new versions" of bicycles on the racing public, while only wishing to serve the financial interests of the manufacturers. The desire of the manufacturers to provide mass produced aluminum bikes to racers is not wrong. The desire of the manufacturers to make a profit by emphasizing the benefits of these bikes over the older lugged steel design is not wrong either. The tendency of Bicycling magazine to serve the manufacturers' desires without any intellectual honesty is wrong. The benefits of lightness in a bike frame is well known to anyone with a slide rule (oops calculator). The ability of one pound of reduced weight to trim two minutes off your time in a single stage of the Tour de France is purely fictional. In the light of this fiction, highly promoted by Bicycling magazine, let me offer my own fictional story:
The chairman of the board of Sysco systems, the company that manufactures Internet switching boards, is an avid follower of Classic Rendezvous. He owns a lovely collection of British, French and Italian classic road bikes, and he is puzzled why the design features of the carefully crafted lugged frame have fallen out of the racing public's favor. He realizes that the Waterford bicycle company can be bought at a discount, and purchases the company hoping to promote it and transform it into a money making machine. Realizing the Mr. Armstrong has one more good Tour de France in him, he obtains Lance as his team leader. The new team is called Sysco- Waterford, and all the riders are astride steel lugged Waterfords with dt indexed shifting. Lance leads his team to victory while Bicycling magazine is flooded with advertising dollars promoting the new classic racing image of victory. By 1993 half of all racing bikes sold are fine steel beauties. By 1994, few local teams are not dominated by the desire to own the reliable comfort that steel gives. Bicycling magazine promotes the idea that aluminum is fine for mountain stages or time trialing, but for most racing steel absorbs shock, allowing smoother cadence and decreased rider fatigue. The bike style gurus all agree that oversize aluminum has some value, but the overall visual is just too ugly to be seen with. By 1996, bike salespeople regularly can be overheard saying that aluminum is OK for an entry level bike, or a mountain bike, but steel should be thought of as the racers gold standard.
The cultural transformation is complete, and the prices of classic bikes on Ebay become even more stratospheric. The world is a shade bit prettier, but Bicycling magazine still stinks, even while it sings a newer classic song.
Garth Libre in mid 70's Surfside Florida ( 34.3 mph sprint for 0.75 miles of flatland this weekend)