my apologies to the list for participating in and prolonging the thread that has no end. when i posted a reply to whomever about whatever on thursday a.m. i had no idea that it would evolve and devolve into this, today's #1 time sink. i had mentioned that a bicycle from the 70s would be useless in today's peloton. i spent the near-two days since explaining what i meant and why i meant it. if you missed any of it, check the list archives. while i did resort to lightheartedness by today's end, i did so out of frustration, rather than to alienate. simply put, i feel like all my posts came down to one core point-to explain my original sentiment from thursday a.m. all of my opinions and choices are based on my years in the sport and in the business. i have no academic training in any technical or related disciplines. it's all osmosis and seat-of-the-pants. more than anything, i respect the history that preceeded my entry into the industry. my love for classic bicycles and making it my hobby is a result of this respect. in essence, i dream about being as innovative and cutting edge in 2002 as some of the now-considered 'icons' were in 1972. this, alone, fuels me. what i don't want is to assume nothing has changed or improved over the last three decades and, thus, make bicycles to a 1972-ish standard. those bicycles were innovative and cutting edge then, and now they are part of history. and not to assume that racing changes anything, let me borrow a line from an interview that gabe konrad did: "until the bicycles start going by themselves, they may as well all be the same." i believed that when i said it 8 years ago, and i always will. e-RICHIE