Bike Snob has done it again!

[Steve]

https://bikesnobnyc.com/2024/11/21/be-steel-my-heart/ 

[J J]

Thanks for sending, Steve. Great BikeSnob piece. 

Yesterday I happened to watch GCN's new video introducing the Colnago Steelnovo. Interesting video on its own terms. It's cool to see manufacturing processes in action. I still don't understand why they ditched the steel fork in favor of the carbon fork. They didn't explain that well. 

Anyway, what was funny about the video was how they framed the "return to steel" bikes as some innovative, newfangled idea. 

So many ironies there.... no pun intended. 

Jim

On Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 1:30:43 PM UTC-5 steve...@gmail.com wrote:

https://bikesnobnyc.com/2024/11/21/be-steel-my-heart/ 

[Patrick Moore]

I particularly like the “Irony Drive Multi-Single Gear System” (IDMSGS) for optimized power transfer, minimized friction losses, and intuitive gear choice.

I think that really over-the-top marketing bullshit started in the cycling industry in the late ‘80s — back in the “10 speed” days the marketing depended on heirloom Yurapeen cachet, and the early mountain bikes were so new that anything was “innovative” and marketable. Well, there was Hetchins with the curvey stays and Bates with the Flying Gate and those flamboyant chain designs, but it was all much simpler and psychologically much cruder back then.

[Aside: My nastiest resume clients have been Chief Marketing Officers; perhaps there’s a connection.]

“Psychologically much cruder.” But I wonder. “Stealth Carbon” and F2D and UDH hangers — all that is pretty crudely obvious as marketing, too — is it more sophisticated or just current?  I remember that wonderful, meaningless “Somewhere West of Laramie” ad for the Jordan Playbor motorcar in 1023.

I wish someone would take a generic Chinese-made carbon fiber frame, think up performance acronyms for basic functional parts, and offer it for 18,000 Euros to see how well it sold based on market-speak and price alone.

Patrick Moore, who ride his wonderful Matthews with “RBFD-specific” design and “LCIF” drivetrain technology. (That’s “road bike for dirt" — I know that annoys at least one person; and “lotsa cogs in friction.”)

On Thu, Nov 21, 2024 at 11:30 AM Steve <steve...@gmail.com> wrote:

https://bikesnobnyc.com/2024/11/21/be-steel-my-heart/ 

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning,

But wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish,

I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known.

[J-D Bamford]

Re: Steelnovo…

Columbus’ tube shaping (more than just ovals) is innovative, even if that’s somewhat an aesthetic as much as technical motivator. Hard to know how much non-oval tube shaping improves characteristics versus oval/squished. Colnago isn’t ashamed to admit that aesthetics are an important differentiator for their brand. 

3D printed stainless lugs/joiners are very innovative. Getting a glimpse of that manufacturing process, and the grouping of 4 bikes’ worth of lugs on one plate, is a real treat. 3D printing has become a major topic in mechanical engineering curriculums… it’s the pointed tip of the innovation spear.

Agreed they didn’t elaborate enough on why the steel fork concept was deemed insufficient… but given their close collab with tubing and 3D printing partners, it seems fair to say that it was earnestly attempted. I tend to think weight might have been a driving factor… but the mechanical engineer in me would relish hearing more about the discovered limitations.

The best enthusiast-oriented media houses today (whether discussing cycling tech, mechanical wrist watches, or whatnot) have become excellent outsourced media houses for the brands. Interesting evolution of the roles of media.

[Peter Bridge]

Yes, doing it again is what the Snob always does. Again, and again, and again. He's been doing it again for decades. It's called the same old shtik. 

~pb

[Patrick Moore]

But he is still funny. And to be funny after 17 years of doing the same old thing means that he has something; that something IMO is intelligence; he’s smart.

Long may he wave; or something like that.