[Reynolds531]

It all started out innocently enough. I needed a new floor pump. While at the LBS I checked out the Madone 5.2. Where’s the headset? Where’s the bottom bracket? Where’s the seatpost? Gone, gone, gone. It’s an elegant example of improvement through simplification. Then there’s the flowing shapes, the form following the function and exploiting the properties of the material. I touched it, and just as the atomic arrangement of iron, manganese, molybdenum, and carbon in Reynolds 531 steel seems to channel the great cyclists of the mid 20th century, those carbon fibers vibrate in harmony with the great ones of the early 21st century. I’m being seduced. I want one and it’s shattering my identity as a retro grouch. Please help.

 

[Bocephus Jones II]

It all started out innocently enough. I needed a new floor pump. While at the LBS I checked out the Madone 5.2. Where’s the headset? Where’s the bottom bracket? Where’s the seatpost? Gone, gone, gone. It’s an elegant example of improvement through simplification. Then there’s the flowing shapes, the form following the function and exploiting the properties of the material. I touched it, and just as the atomic arrangement of iron, manganese, molybdenum, and carbon in Reynolds 531 steel seems to channel the great cyclists of the mid 20th century, those carbon fibers vibrate in harmony with the great ones of the early 21st century. I’m being seduced. I want one and it’s shattering my identity as a retro grouch. Please help.

What if you wreck that fancy internal crap?

//did you get that fancy carbon fiber floor pump?

 

[Reynolds531]

What if you wreck that fancy internal crap?

//did you get that fancy carbon fiber floor pump?

No help here. A throbbing desire is irrational.

 

[MB1]

We just got a new bike and I have to admit that plastic is indeed fantastic.

 

[Mapei]

Feel the force Mr. 531. Embrace the future! See if you can wangle a test ride.

 

[MR_GRUMPY]

"Where’s the headset? Where’s the bottom bracket? Where’s the seatpost? Gone, gone, gone. It’s an elegant example of improvement through simplification."

The word isn't "simplification", it's "proprietary."

Do you think that you'll be able to run down the the bike shop, 10 years from now, and pick up one of these parts?

Be afraid.

 

[Reynolds531]

Feel the force Mr. 531. Embrace the future! See if you can wangle a test ride.

The bike shop guy owns one and happens to be my height. i got out the tape measure and everythings within 1/2 inch of where I'd put it. He offered a test ride. I'm sunk.

I figure I'll be doing the St. Louis area cycling community a big favor. Now when people blow by me on my 80's steel bike with toe clips and straps it's no big deal. When they blow by me on a Madone they'll feel better about themselves and have a story to tell.

 

[Reynolds531]

"Where’s the headset? Where’s the bottom bracket? Where’s the seatpost? Gone, gone, gone. It’s an elegant example of improvement through simplification."

The word isn't "simplification", it's "proprietary."

Do you think that you'll be able to run down the the bike shop, 10 years from now, and pick up one of these parts?

Be afraid.

If you were contemplating an affair with Anna Kournikova would you be worried about her tennis game 10 years from now?

 

[handsomerob]

We just got a new bike and I have to admit that plastic is indeed fantastic.

a sign of the apocalypse. MB1 with a carbon bike.

 

[MR_GRUMPY]

Add "disposable" to my list.

 

[SystemShock]

Ugh. Definitely not my cup of tea, but if you still find it fetching and irresistible a week from now, get it (I say a week 'cuz sometimes 'bike crushes' are transitory). We all love bikes here, which opens us up to bike seduction from a wide variety of angles.

It's a bit like the hopeless womanizer who has to date women of every ethnicity and background... :lol:



.

 

[jollydriver]

Real Seduction for a Retro-Grouch

I'm thinking carbon is soooo passe.

For me, seduction should be something old...steel
Something new...stainless
Something classy...Italian

Think Ellen Barkin in Ocean's Thirteen :ihih: ...or this SOMEC Columbus XCR machine:

 

[Reynolds531]

I'm thinking carbon is soooo passe.

For me, seduction should be something old...steel
Something new...stainless
Something classy...Italian

Think Ellen Barkin in Ocean's Thirteen :ihih: ...or this SOMEC Columbus XCR machine:

to me it's still a bunch of round steel pipes connected together, essentially the same as my 1971 Schwinn Sports tourer. And under the makeup, I'll bet Ellen ain't too hot. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm269392384/nm0000289

 

[Paul1PA]

I’m being seduced. I want one and it’s shattering my identity as a retro grouch. Please help.

Resistance is futile! After that Madone test ride, this will be your new User Name, Title and Avatar. :lol:

OCLV_Black
I ♥ technology!

 

[jd3]

I’m a retro grouch. I think there is no better looking bike than one with chrome lugs and stays. That said, I had to try carbon. This spring I bought a Specialized Roubaix Expert. I would have never thought that an un-sprung bike could be that smooth. This past weekend, I went up a hill faster than I ever have. I am very happy with my carbon experiment. I still have my steel Colnago. It still get ridden almost every other ride. It’s not going anywhere. It’s nice to have both.

 

[brujenn]

I bought a Raleigh International in 1973. I started riding again in '07, bought a Lemond (853). I quickly went through 4 other bikes which I still have, but I settle on a CF Specialized Tarmac S-Works - very similar to a Madone with a big number like 5.2

I still have my Raleigh. I like to nod to it as I wheel the Tarmac in and out.

I'm 50, and I approved this message.

 

[phoehn9111]

I smile on my 87 Miyata steel framed Specialized Sirrus.
I smile on my 07 TCR Advanced.
I smile on my Jamis xcr pro mountain bike.
I've been smiling a lot this year.

 

[KeeponTrekkin]

Great frame, but I'm not too keen on the Bontrager components. A lot of Bontrager wheels end up in RBR classifieds as takeoffs. Apparantly, I'm not alone.

There are a lot of other carbon fish in the LBS sea.

 

[Dinosaur]

I hear you

I went into my LBS last year to order another Colnago Master X-Light. I was told by the owner that Colnago's (at that time) were hard to get because of the new distributor. He wanted me to test ride two carbon bikes, one of which was a Trek SL 5.9 (my first thought was "Trek, yeah, give me a break"). I was able to take a long test ride and darn it that Trek did not ride nice, I could not find anything wrong with it. I bought it. Still have a problem with that name on the down tube, but it rides nice.

I was in my LBS last week and they have a brand new Master X-Light Sarronni PR82 frame with a Prescisa steel fork. I was drooling. I had sticker shock, almost $2200. I paid $1695 for my Master X-Light with Force carbon fork in '02.

I still ride my Master X-Light. I get more remarks about it then the Trek. I have run into riders who don't know what a Master X-Light is or have ever seen a steel bike. It's different.
It's hard to imagine that steel bikes are rare now.

 

[T-Doc]

the only help is to go to Henry James' web site and stare at lugs for an hour while repeating "I love skinny steel tubes"