[CR]re: super sports and snobbery

(Example: Framebuilders:Alex Singer)

Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 17:31:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: <chasds@mindspring.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]re: super sports and snobbery

Peter Kohler wrote:

How is this future generation to "discover" what they don't see and don't know about? You "archivists" preserve the thing but are not ambassadors fo r the theme if you will.... "retro", classic lightweight cycling. It won't be long until the vast majority of cyclists have even seen a toeclip or pre-index shifters. And they aren't going to see anything that's in

***

Gee, Peter, you bored or something? Posting these trolls?

I say, with the utmost humility, that you don't know what you're talking about.

There are many ways to appreciate a bicycle. One of those ways is to hang in on a wall, and never ride it. I have several bikes like this, and I appreciate them as much, or more, in their preserved condition (mostly, like-new) than I would if I rode them.

Who's to say there's something wrong with that? You? Anyone? What a silly notion. There's no right or wrong to it. There's just whatever floats one's boat...

I appreciate these bikes the way I appreciate any beautiful thing. They don't have to be ridden to be appreciated.

And, for the record, for most of my wall-hangers (and, yeah, I have a few more of those than I thought I ever would, so it goes) I have duplicates that are riders, and I ride them as often as I can..

So I'm hardly hiding anything from the world.

Finally, note that Jay has gone to a great deal of work to post wonderful pictures and descriptions of some of his "hidden" bikes on http://www.theracingbicycle.com

Before you start tossing rhetorical stones, you might have a look.

And, you know, Peter, it might be salutary for you to have a wall-hanger. Who knows? You might even enjoy it.

Charles Andrews SoCal

(I've often wished I could display some of my bikes on a rotating basis at a bike shop somewhere, but the few places I've considered either aren't interested, or aren't willing to make sure the bikes would be secure from theft or damage. Doesn't stop me from wishing though. I'd be much happier to have the bikes enjoyed by people than hanging in the dark--although the dark does preserve them well..<g>)