Re: [CR]Insular Knowledge Base

(Example: Framebuilders:Rene Herse)

Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:36:59 -0400
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "John Betmanis" <johnb@oxford.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Insular Knowledge Base
In-Reply-To: <249DDD9704676C49AE6169AE3D2D9F4E050082@Exchange-SVR>


At 09:01 AM 17/04/2007 -0500, John Hurley wrote:
>John Betmanis wrote in amazement of the ignorance of an eBay seller who
>described a bike as being made of "hand braze welded aluminum". Ted
>Ernst replied that he was not surprised because "USA, a car and can
>country, has bred an insular knowledge base by and large."

I should say that it was suggested to me off-list that perhaps the seller was feigning ignorance because there may have been something else wrong with the bike that he "wasn't aware of".

As for people not familiar with bicycle construction thinking a frame made of Reynolds tubing was aluminum because it was very light and painted silver, I'm not surprised. When I was a kid I assumed "Reynolds 531" was some kind of high strength aluminum alloy. This was back in England. Was I ever surprised when I found that a magnet would stick to it!

John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada