---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "ternst" <ternst1@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 10:57:32 -0700
>That is correct. I realize and understand the contradiction.
>I also suspect the difference in the "season" of wear is not a big amount,
>cause it would be difficult to quantify, but the feel is there and it's not
>imagination, this isn't Salem hysteria. These are serious people.....
No matter who they are, how experienced they are or how serious they are, they are not immune to the problem of preceiving things they expect, but don't exist. This phenomenon clearly doesn't exist. There is no theory or empirical data that show it exists. So how could anyone feel it?
>But it's the hard riders, as in car racing the competition drivers, who
>determine the limits for the improvement of product to the general sport and
>touring public.
This is certainly a common perception, in part, I suspect, because auto makers' advertising pushes it to the limit. In fact, difficult, specialized use like racing has very little effect on the development of any commercial product, especially cars. It's boring, prosaic, tough-assed testing in test fixtures, analysis, learning from mistakes that leads to progress. Not a romantic idea, I know, but that's real life.
>That's why two bikes, put together in sequence by the same builder WILL FEEL
>AND RIDE ever so differently, and the owner of the matched pair with
>identical equipment will always have a favorite of the pair.
>The old track riders 80 years ago said it, and it hasn't changed today.
>Ted Ernst
>Palos Verdes Estates, CA
>
Again I say it: these are simple structures that obey the laws of physics. There is no magical component to them. If there is no difference between two frames, how can one feel a difference? There is no magic, or even a complex issue here. People, however, are considerably more complex, and regularly perceive things they expect, whether or not they exist.
Steve Maas
Dublin, Ireland