In article <[email hidden]>,
Michael Press said:In article
<[email hidden]>,
Scott Gordo said:I was poking around and found this bike, a Trek 7.9.
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2008/bike_path/fx/79fx/
Yes, it's a full-carbon, Ultegra/105 $2500 bike built for "Bike
Paths". This doesn't bother me. Business is business. Plenty of people
with plenty of money out there, LBSs need all the help they can get,
and and I'd rather encounter them on a bike than their Escalade.
Silly wheels. I commend them for the extended chain stays.
Nobody here likely wants to hear this, but I see bikes like this as one
part of the weird future of city bikes in North America.
Let me preface by saying this will always be a niche product, both in
volume and in regional appeal: you'll sell city bikes of all types in
cities with a strong bike culture (The Portland/NYC/etc. markets).
Back to this thing: Since the logical extension of increasingly trendy
city bikes is for prosperous people (or prosperous cyclists) to get in
on the fun, there's going to be a certain cadre of people for whom such
a bicycle is a substitute for whatever their "city car" is, be that a
Honda Element, Smart, or BMW 540i.
Even if it isn't directly replacing that car, the bike's price doesn't
seem out of line, and for people who are probably used to the cost of
high-end sporting goods, a $2500 bike isn't that bad. Find out what they
pay to play golf, for example.
Back to this bike. I see no reason why there shouldn't be a market for a
really high-performance city bike: something based off of a carbon
cyclocross frame, perhaps, sporting either a flat bar or a drop bar and
CX levers.
Yes, fenders and a rack. Yes, lighting system. But still, this is a
reaonable starting point, doubly so for a "summer" bike.
I'd like to see how easy it is to build a sub-20-pound city bike with
aluminum rims, Alfine drivetrain, and fenders. No rack: in the city this
bike is the sportster, to be used with light loads for quick trips
(surely the cyclist in question has a crappy city bike too, for heavy
loads and uncertain locking circumstances).
I'd like to see how light a practical city bike would be. In other
words, if I insist on Al rims, fenders, and at least a minimalist light
setup, how light could the resulting bike be? Oh, and no cheater parts
like aluminum cassettes, please.
Yes, I'm talking about expensive bikes. But they would be a lot of fun
to ride, and that seems to me a seriously compensating virtue.
Hm. Carbon fibre fenders...
--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."
