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Menu: Home Grumblings UP A Nation of Cowards TIA is a PIA Used car kiddies State Religion Bomb Building Hints Australian bigots Critics sued E-book woes Government murderers Enviro-WHAT? All The News Minimum Wage Scam Shaving sucks Bad coffee sucks Dreams that Die My Evil Twin Corporate Puppet Corporate News Whores Mass Delusions Invisible People Employment Myth Diets suck Lewinsky Chewinsky Road bikes? Where? E-RATE follies Lying politician Links Contact Info My Resume My Public Key EMAIL Eric BadTux Portal[et]	Where have all the road bikes gone? So I go to my neighborhood bicycle shop (in my new neighborhood). I walk through the door. There by the door are three rows of BMX bicycles for children. "Uh oh," I think. The next row is Schwinn cruisers and "beach bikes". By this time I am breaking out in goosebumps. The next five rows are "mountain bikes", meaning a combination of "recreational city bikes" and real-live "mountain bikes" all mixed up. My entire body is shuddering by this time. And finally... at the very back of the store... hidden behind the bicycling apparel, helmets, and other gear... the road bike section. One lonely road bike sits there, looking for an owner. I mosey on over and look at the price tag. $1800. Sorry, not for me. So where have all the road bikes gone? I've checked out every bicycle shop in two different mid-sized cities and the road bike section is always relegated to a tiny portion of the store. And they're always high-end road bikes -- $1,000 and up, with maybe the occasional Giant selling for $600 or so. And woe to you if you ask the guy behind the counter whether he has any road bikes for under $500 -- he looks at you like you're some kind of scum, if he doesn't outright throw you out of the store as obvious trash unfit to grace his establishment. Has the bicycling establishment committed universal suicide? I look out the door at my poor woeful little Giant that's about as ragged as a road bike can get, and I wonder whether it's time to buy a mountain bike. So I test-drive a "recreational city bike", a "mountain bike" look-alike with less nobby tires and a bit less weight. Going more than 10mph on this thing is pretty much impossible -- too much wind resistance. It's nice to be sitting straight up and down, able to look around and see everything. But you can't MOVE. What's the use of a bicycle that doesn't go fast? I might as well be on roller skates, sigh. With that idea in my head, I go to the neighborhood sporting goods store and buy a pair of Rollerblades. Thus answering my own question about "universal suicide" on the part of the bicycling establishment. Links: Rivendell Bicycle Works Ornery folks as irritated with the high-tech nonsense as I am. Too bad a small bicycle maker can't make low-cost bicycles.

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So I go to my neighborhood bicycle shop (in my new neighborhood). I walk through the door. There by the door are three rows of BMX bicycles for children. "Uh oh," I think. The next row is Schwinn cruisers and "beach bikes". By this time I am breaking out in goosebumps. The next five rows are "mountain bikes", meaning a combination of "recreational city bikes" and real-live "mountain bikes" all mixed up. My entire body is shuddering by this time. And finally... at the very back of the store... hidden behind the bicycling apparel, helmets, and other gear... the road bike section. One lonely road bike sits there, looking for an owner.

I mosey on over and look at the price tag. $1800. Sorry, not for me.

So where have all the road bikes gone? I've checked out every bicycle shop in two different mid-sized cities and the road bike section is always relegated to a tiny portion of the store. And they're always high-end road bikes -- $1,000 and up, with maybe the occasional Giant selling for $600 or so. And woe to you if you ask the guy behind the counter whether he has any road bikes for under $500 -- he looks at you like you're some kind of scum, if he doesn't outright throw you out of the store as obvious trash unfit to grace his establishment.

Has the bicycling establishment committed universal suicide? I look out the door at my poor woeful little Giant that's about as ragged as a road bike can get, and I wonder whether it's time to buy a mountain bike. So I test-drive a "recreational city bike", a "mountain bike" look-alike with less nobby tires and a bit less weight. Going more than 10mph on this thing is pretty much impossible -- too much wind resistance. It's nice to be sitting straight up and down, able to look around and see everything. But you can't MOVE. What's the use of a bicycle that doesn't go fast? I might as well be on roller skates, sigh.

With that idea in my head, I go to the neighborhood sporting goods store and buy a pair of Rollerblades.

Thus answering my own question about "universal suicide" on the part of the bicycling establishment.

Links:

Rivendell Bicycle Works Ornery folks as irritated with the high-tech nonsense as I am. Too bad a small bicycle maker can't make low-cost bicycles.

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Where have all the road bikes gone?

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