When I joined this list several years ago now I remember thinking, these folks are serious about their bikes. I believed that several of you bordered on if not already were bonified bike snobs. Well I guess it has come full circle for me. I just saw a bike on ebay that looked beautiful, was a good name that many people respect and is a bike type that has really come into favor as of late. I will not out the auction as I don't believe in creating any hard feelings on a personal basis.
I just realized that I have become a bike snob. I looked this bike over and went through my mental checklist of things I like about bikes and this almost hit on all cylinders till I saw the head tube joints. There it was, the dreaded, painted over, metal puddle look. No lugs, just gobs of inartistic, electro fused metal puddles joining the top and down tubes to the head tube. The rest of the bike has beautiful lines but once I saw those electrode ripples, I knew it was not for me. No need to tell me how strong the joint is, nor how modern production methods work to make bikes affordable. I understand all of that, for me the lug has become the standard on my basic checklist of bikes that I enjoy to look at, ride and collect.
Ray Homiski
Elizabeth, NJ