| Re: bikes in the movies
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
> You and I know what sentiment is at work: people want a comfortable
> bike, and assume that full suspension equates to comfort. What they
> don't understand is that they're sacrificing an enormous amount of
> pedaling efficiency to get that comfort, not to mention the weight.
And an enormous amount of reliability is sacrificed as well
on a bike with cheap suspension.
There are trade-offs at work and advantages for most types of
bicycles, but I think many people misunderstand the trade-offs.
They see comfort (and, I suspect, technological advancement)
in heavy bikes with bad suspension. They install 8-foot-wide
seats and drop them all the way into the seat tube. Just
riding a few miles must be quite difficult with that set-up.
These people have virtually no chance of becoming life-long
bicyclists unless someone helps them out of their 'comfort
bike' black hole early on.
The bike industry could be shooting itself in the foot--
by willfully outfitting a good portion of their new customers
with improper equipment and facilitating a fit/position that
guarantees unpleasantness, they may be systematically
eliminating their long-term customers. It may also be
true that since many if not most of the 'comfort bike'
buyers are older folks, there may not be much concern
about molding them into long-term customers.
> The obvious answer is to make every Y26-seeker test-ride it, immediately
> followed by a trip around the block on a 7.3FX.
>
> I think they'll end up like my supervisor at work, who once I directed
> him towards fast hybrid bikes, ended up with a flat-bar road machine (a
> reasonably nice Giant), and is continually impressed by its turn of
> speed.
The writer and director of 40Year Old Virgin missed an opportunity
to have Carrell's character patiently explain to new girlfriend
about the inappropriateness of her gift and exchange for proper
ultra-geeky 700c commuter machine with fenders and lights.
And his repeated ragdolling over the handlebars of such a bike
would be just as rip-roaringly funny to non-cycling audience.
Robert
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