If I went around in the heaviest most inefficient shoes possible to make a statement, people would rightly think I was a tryhard, trying to show off how strong I was, or otherwise basically see it as impractical, quixotic, or foolhardy. Normal people prefer lighter shoes that are more comfortable and efficient. Especially elderly women, people who aren't fitness freaks, etc.Yet if I do the same with a bicycle, all the urbanists want to suck my cock for being "practical". With bicycles, riding something comfortable, efficient, that doesn't ride like a boat anchor, is tryhard, show-off behavior. The least practical bike is seen as practical down to earth stuff for normals, and the most practical bike is seen as status-seeking show-off sports equipment for the very strong. Casuals belong on bikes that convert most of your pedal input energy into rattlecan noises and heating up the tires. Bikes that are reasonably effective at "bike things" are classified as competitive hobby gear.When did this mentality take root and who is responsible?
Can you post examples of what you consider a practical bike VS what others see as a practical bike in your opinion because your post is somewhat confusing.
>>2066650if shoes contained a mechanism that allowed you to give a small, consistent input from your legs and the shoes walked for you much faster even up strenuous hills, then it really wouldn't matter how much the shoes weighed as long as the output was greater than your ordinary leg strength, right?
>>2066650The only example of a bike that I'd consider comparable to lead shoes is riding a fatbike not in winter or on the beach. Even a soft-tail downhill MTB is reasonably efficient on a flat road. It sucks compared to a roadbike, but it beats walking, every day of the week.Next door thread says that Electra Townie is the most popular bike in the US, and it's a good example of a "good enough" bike. It goes. That's all that's expected of it, and that's what it does. It's the equivalent of cheap sneakers. Not as good for morning jogs as proper running shoes, not as good at walking 15 miles a day as hiking boots, good enough for everyday use.
No one cares this much.
I'm not retarded enough to think carbon is like a glass cannon but if you parked a carbon bike on a bike rack everyday it would destroy it
>>2066660>Next door thread says that Electra Townie is the most popular bike in the US, and it's a good example of a "good enough" bike. It goes. That's a great example of lies via statistics. If you count sales by SKU #, and sort most to least, you're going to get market outliers at the top of the list, because it's a low-information market. The rest of the market may have 100 different models for one classification. The Electra Townie may have 5 serious competitors at best, because the buyer is just going to garage it after 2 or 3 rides. So there's no need to tweak it to steal customers away from the competitor. And if Trek is the best selling brand, duh, it's going to come out looking like an incredibly popular bike. Whereas comparatively speaking it's not that popular.If you take an honest look at the market you'll probably find that by lumping all same-ish bikes into buckets, like say, Gravel, Road, MTB, Hybrid, the Electra suddenly doesn't look so popular. Even if you break it down more to say, Road Endurance, Road Aero, Cross Country, CX, etc, you're still going to vastly outnumber the Electra Townie even in the more autistic categories.
>>2066650I didn't realize how strong my legs were from riding my 1948 skip tooth chain bike until I got back to Japan and hopped on my six speed girly bike. Like, I can just leave it in top gear and it's still easier to ride than my classic tank bike.
>IF YOU ARENT WEAIRNG LYCRA, FACE DOWN ASS UP, AND CARRYING Z E R O EXTRA WEIGHT, YOU ARE A LITERAL FUCKING CHILDyou already had a thread>>2054733
i have never seen an "electra townie" in my life and can only surmise that this new wave of /n/ posts about it is viral marketing
>>2066681you probably have and just didn't realize it because they're just basic-ass cruisers and nobody gives a fuck
>>2066684nope. no one here rides cruisers. the typical entry level bike is a "hybrid" "mtb" from canadian tire or an oldschool road bike with very straight body lines.
NOOOOOOO YOU NEED TO GET A "Dutch Style" BIKE OR ELSE YOU'RE A FRED NOOOOOOOOO
>>2066689Damn right brotha
>>2066681Remember that a thing doesn't have to be widely used to be "the most popular thing", it just has to fill in the vacuum of mediocrity that's left when the market runs out of people who care.For example, Coors represents less than 4% of all beer sold in the country, yet it's the "most popular" in about half the country. Miller is slightly less than Coors, yet if you slice the data in an intentionally misleading way, you can make a technically true statement that makes these beers look overwhelmingly dominant even if you almost never see people drinking them IRL.
>>2066694>>2066673It's not exactly dishonest, it's just that the market as a whole isn't dominated by any one single brand, so if you have a single model of bike that manages to capture 10% of the market when the other 90% is shared among literally thousands of different Walmart specials, then it is, technically, the best selling single model of bike, it's just that this doesn't actually say anything noteworthy about the industry as a whole.
>>2066695It is being intentionally misleading to make a false argument. As you said, it says nothing noteworthy about the industry as a whole. Yet people are stating this "technically correct" thing as if it's a huge gotcha that proves all the other bikes are for dorks larping as pros.
>>2066650It's all in your head, Lance, slow down now, this is NOT a race
>>2066673Even if it isn't actually #1, bikes like it are popular worldwide. Omafiets in Europe, mamachari in Japan, every single rental bike in the world, a simple step-through with a simple drivetrain, no suspension and pudgy puncture-resistant slicks is THE standard bike worldwide.
If you don't ride a beach cruiser you are falling behind. My new movie will prove this.
>>2066650rent fucking free, every time.
>>2066681I see them literally everywhere where I live, pretty much every grocery store in town has at least one parked on the bike rack, and they're easy to spot because the name of the bike is printed right on the back of the saddle. For what it's worth, I live in a bedroom community and the coast is about 10 miles away, so I'm close to the beach but I wouldn't consider where I am a beach town strictly speaking.
>>2066650>Yet if I do the same with a bicycle, all the urbanists want to suck my cock for being "practical". With bicycles, riding something comfortable, efficient, that doesn't ride like a boat anchor, is tryhard, show-off behavior.Carbon is simply and totally unfit for urban lock-up situations, throwing into a truck, and shoving into a corner of a garage. It can and will get damaged and it can and will break and that can send you flying under a car. That being said I'm extremely pro aluminum frames. They are better than steel. I don't care if you can't bend them back like steel, that's not worth the weight to me. I do think forks should be steel only for the sake of safety and comfort.All practical bike should be alloy frame and steel forkCarbon is great for serious racing and careful use
>>2066727>My new movie will prove this.THE CHILLEST RUSHA neon-pink title card slams onto the screen: MAXIMUM RELAXATION.We see a pair of tanned calves pedaling with the urgency of a sloth on vacation. MAKO (24, wearing a bucket hat and a Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned to his navel) is navigating the treacherous "Red Zone" of the boardwalk.He isn't on a fixie. He’s on "The Big Kahuna"—a 60-pound, rusted beach cruiser with handlebars wide enough to snag a passing hang-glider.MAKO (V.O.)People think being a courier is about fixed gears, steel frames, and urine-soaked spandex. They think it's about v = d/t.Mako narrowly avoids a toddler by back-pedaling his coaster brakes. The bike screams like a dying whale.MAKO (V.O.)But me? I don't believe in math. I believe in vibes.THE MISSIONMako’s handlebar basket contains a single, lukewarm Açaí Bowl.THE STAKES: If the granola gets soggy, Mako doesn't get his five-star rating. If he doesn't get the rating, he loses his "Top Shaka" status on the delivery app, SandDash.THE ANTAGONISTSuddenly, a sleek, carbon-fiber blur whistles past. It’s VIKTOR, a "Real" Courier. He’s wearing an aerodynamic helmet that makes him look like an aggressive cicada.VIKTOR(Screaming)ON YOUR LEFT, CASUAL! BRAKES ARE DEATH!Viktor leans into a sharp turn at 30mph. Mako doesn't lean. Mako just drifts slightly to the right because a cool breeze caught his shirt.MAKO(To himself)Your chakras are misaligned, bro.THE CLIMAX: THE STAIRS OF DOOMMako hits a dead end: The Santa Monica Stairs. Viktor is already halfway up, bike on his shoulder, sprinting like a Navy SEAL.Mako looks at the stairs. He looks at his cruiser, which has no gears and weighs as much as a small refrigerator.MAKOTime to engage the "Overdrive."
Mako reaches into his basket, takes a sip of a coconut water, and whistles. A group of TEENAGE SKATER KIDS appears from behind a dumpster.MAKOYo, little homies. Five bucks and a hit of this organic jerky if you carry the Kahuna up for me.While Viktor is gasping for air at the top, his quads vibrating with lactic acid, Mako is being carried up on a literal throne made of skateboards and peer pressure.THE DELIVERYMako rolls up to a mansion. He arrives exactly three minutes late. Viktor is already there, collapsed on the pavement, vomiting into a rose bush from overexertion.The door opens. A KAREN appears.KAREN(Looking at Viktor)Ugh, gross. Is he dying?MAKO(Handing over the bowl with a wink)Nah, he just forgot to hydrate his soul. Here’s your bowl, Brenda. I added an extra sprinkle of "Ocean Mist" (it's just sea salt he found in his pocket).She checks the bowl. It’s a melted purple soup.KARENIt’s completely liquid.MAKOIt’s a "Deconstructed Smoothie," Brenda. Very avant-garde. Very 2026.KAREN...Oh my god, I love it. Five stars.THE AFTERMATHMako pedals away at a blistering 4 miles per hour. He passes Viktor, who is being loaded into an ambulance.MAKO(Calling out)Keep it high-speed, soul-crusher!Mako pops a wheelie. The chain falls off immediately. He doesn't care. He just lets the momentum carry him toward the sunset.FADE OUT.
>>2066894>>2066895I’m not a regular visitor to this board, or serious cyclists. 10/10
>>2066894>>2066895i would actually watch a feature length movie like this. calling out over-the-hill californians (and how over-the-hill californian "vibes" are) whilst tacitly admitting that truly, we all wish we were that chill (and that wealthy to enable such chillness) unironically better than whatever >>2066298 was trying to accomplishonly thing i would change is that VIKTOR is not a character. the bike is the character. similar to how mr bean had the THREE WHEELED CAR as his nemesis, not the driver of said car. to keep the pace it's an e-bike and constantly suffers electrical and mechanical problems and bursting into flame is a running gag (it is perfectly fine by the next scene, somehow). the rider is some dude in bootleg motorcycle leathers and his name/face are never revealed, nor even his reason for hassling MAKO. (he is a metaphor for All Other Cyclists, similar to how the Three Wheeled Car is the embodiment of All Other Traffic)i may steal your idea and just write a screenplay myself for yuks
>>2066650Because chasing the dragon of efficiency only the most efficient vehicle and that materials science, considering all economic pressure, wouldn't settle into the most reasonable brew......Leading to what should be the most practical thing in the world, become a fetishized jerk off for yuppies who drive luxury cars with bike racks to ride their bike......not that hard to see...
>>2066726>every single rental bike in the worldI am not sure where you're getting your information but the only bikes I've ever rented were road bikes. A scott foil, and a pinarello dogma. Not only that but this was in europe, the fabled land where everything is slow and everyone hates fun and cars are banned. I rented those bikes, and carried them around the alps in a motor vehicle, because the public transport there sucks unlike in the USA.
>>2066681You're kind of right but keep in mind there's a guy here who thinks cannondale is an obscure startup brand being shilled by viral marketers
>>2068147I think he means like a bikeshare rental bike, like new yorks "citi bike" rentals, which are as he describes
>>2069968He frames it with commonest street bikes, not the step through battleships of bike shares.
>>2069969i would be surprised if he didnt mean what i say
>>2069968That's a completely different style of bike though, have you ever used one of those? No, you haven't.
>>2069968Not just those, if you go a level up to "oldschool" rental places, their fleets will, more often than not, also mostly consist of baisic step-throughs and mtb-shaped objects. Maaaaaybe a bottom tier roadie from local Decathlon, on 3x7 Claris and with tires so bad you'll struggle to keep up with said mtb-shaped objects. High dollar road bikes like ones you rented are only available in super-specialized, and stupidly expensive, places where they'll give you a tour of their exquisite two-wheeled vehicles like you're on some combination wine tasting and suit tailoring, with the obviously gay somelier/tailor dude putting a tape to your crotch before giving you the options that suit your gooch the best. These places, and those bikes, are decidedly not normal.
>>2069961i have never seen a cannondale ever in my entire life. it's all Trek and Giant and if you want a "retro" used bike theyre 99% Peugeots
>>2070002I never seen an peugeots bicycles, that's a french car brand.
>>2070002I never saw a peugeot until I went to college, it seems to be one of those brands rebellious youth are all ga-ga for because it's obscure
>>2070002I've never seen alpinestar elevated chainstay bicycles but they're a dime a dozen in france. You're a bit of an idiot.
>>2066650I've also had it with these urbanists trying to suck my cock all the time, like slow down, boys, chafing is a real thing you know.
>>2070036They made a whole bunch of bicycles up to the 90s so it's not rare at all to find them all over Europe. Most of them were sold in France, Belgium and Spain. I've seen some in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy too.Peugeot used to be one of these industrial groups that made everything, though mostly cars.They're making bikes again but are trying to do upmarket ebikes for the most part. They still do kitchenware as well.
>>2069982i live in NYC and part of my commute daily is by citibike, not that it matters.
>>2070177And you think a citibike rides like an omafiets or an electra townie?
>>2070179i know they do, i owned one i can take a picture next time i visit my parents in queens
>>2070179Outside of citibikes being super stiff 25 kilo bricks so that rapscallions don't toss them into rivers for sport, as opposed to floppy steel stepthroughs weighing half that, they are pretty similar indeed. Upright, undergeared and usually undermaintained bikes that go, but just about.
>>2070654They're heavy so they don't break. And the gearing is fine for what they weigh. You wouldn't be able to do much with higher gearing, and the low gears are low enough for most hills. If you're trying to climb fort george hill or something the drivetrain inefficiency will get to you before any gear ratio inadequacies are a problem
>>2070179>>2070651Had my dad take a picture of my old bike, he has it in storage. So I used to ride this, and now I ride citibike to commute, and I feel comfortable telling you they’re very similar
>>2070660>They're heavy so they don't break.lead is heavy. i guess lead never breaks.
>>2070684If they made a lead bike and sold it for $5000 I'm sure some unracers would buy it just to show how they're not like those elitist "cyclist" snobs
>>2070684
>>2066650boat anchor you say, anyway lightweight bikes aren’t durable or comfortable, for normie purposes they are slower.>practical bikeno such thing, 2 to 3 minutes per kilometre unless you want to sweat like a pig and spend all your time dodging around slower things.want to go shopping ? or transport anything much more than a sweatshirt, lol lmao, its hobo mode.
>>2066650I mean it's true I never understood the fixation for heavy dutch style bikes, I've cycled between second hand steel/aluminium pinarello/look/colnago that I got for dirt cheap each time since they were sitting collecting spiderwebs in some old guy's garage. If they were good enough for Tour de France rider more than twenty years ago they're good enough for me, and I've been commuting by bicycle in a major city for half my life really. I think if people all bought lighter second hand bikes they'd actually love cycling around more. Something I noticed as someone's who's cycled around for a long time is how aggressive and pissy all the post covid commuters are. They're pretty much automobile drivers but on two wheels, mood wise, and I think it's because they're on some heavy as shit piece of hardware that fits into the 'city bike' category. If everyone had lighter bikes they're be in a more easygoing mood And then I've had multiple different carbon bikes over the last ten years of club racing but that's for the sport so it doesn't really matter.
>>2075992>I never understood the fixation for heavy dutch style bikes,it's an Urbanist™ thing, motivated mostly by trying to show off that you're not trying to fast, you're Just Commuting© and doing so Safely®. This isn't a race!!it's also motivated a bit by e-bike rideshare slop bikes. they're designed that way for a lot of pretty good reasons (thicc singular tube to hide all the tracking stuff and pre-ebike batteries for lights and such, that tube is thicker and inherently niggerproofed, they're easy for the sort of casual who doesn't even own their own bike to mount, etc) so on top of Dutch Bike nonsense that came later, that form factor was already associated with urbane commuting by the sorts of people who actually own nothing and are happy about itthe thing before that was heavy beach cruisers with very wide wheels/tires but road bike style tread. again, to present how casual and aloof you are because you are Jus™ Croozin®the less conspiratorial minded insist that they came back into vogue because cruisers are unironically just dogshit and got beat up by the Omafiet and its more amenable to casuals upright seating position, and the typically aggressively bent inward and very narrow handlebars being more suitable for tight paths or traffic.>how aggressive and pissy all the post covid commuters are. commuting has always brought the nigger out of people but coof gave city dwellers a taste of suburban quiet and now zoomers seethe that there are !!other people!! outside. then there's, again, less conspiratorial explanations like the average age of drivers going up because of the prices of cars and updates to licensing, mass migrations where even if you aren't racist it's still more traffic, and some genuine skill rot from coof that never really recovered not just among drivers but among city planners so roads are actually measurably worse than they were just a few years ago. also lots of construction booms everywhere causing even more congestion
>be me, haven't ridden bicycle in years (NEET most of the time so I don't commute anywhere, last job was in walking distance)>have an old Trek that's just slightly too big since as a kid I thought I would grow another inch>be randomly interested, visit /n/>niggery about heavy bikes / noisy hubsDamn, what are current recs for Decently Performant Non-Performative Not Too Expensive Not Too Cheap bicycles?
>>2076027Having an old Trek is cool. repurposing your old shit is great and admirable, what we're arguing about is something for the Very Online. Do you go online and claim that your old Trek makes you morally superior to someone who went out and bought a new Trek because his old bike got stolen or crashed? Do you think that someone who would rather have a $2k bike than a slightly nicer car is a fool or has "wrong priorities"? Then we're not complaining about you, we're complaining about the asshat who did spring break in Amsterdam and now can't shut the FUCK up about how much better people are when they speak in a stupid dutch accent and ride a squeaking rusted old piece of shit that has been stolen and re-stolen 100 times already because for some reason having something that actually works and is properly lubricated is "elitist" whereas going on vacation in western europe all the time is down to earth and very working class.
>>2076027This should work for your uses. Just make sure to take the mech dicks off and replace them with proper V brakes.
>>2076027>>2076028For example this guy >>2076029 is still seething because like a year ago I suggested that spending $1900 instead of $1500 for a bike with a hydraulic groupset was a better idea than spending $1500 now with plans to "upgrade" and then having to spend $800 later because it turns out you can't just swap the calipers you have to toss the whole groupset and start over. And then he tried to strawman and say I was dissing rim brakes, so I said rim brakes are fine just not mechanical disc brakes.For some reason he chose to disregard this advice and now is angry at me over it, so he spams every discussion with screenshots of $17k "dentist bikes" because this is the ultimate and final gotcha/own
>>2069986>>2068147when i was in Lithuania i saw a bike rental place and it was all normal "hybrid" bikes, some with suspension some without, and all flat bars and all-season/condition road tires (not slicks, but not knobby, typical "has a tread so you dont eat shit on rain or grass clippings" tires). your bog standard off-the-rack big box store kinda Generic Bike bikes. the city i was in did not have a bikeshare program and there were about as many bikes on the road as in equivalently dense NA, and i dont remember seeing any bike paths
>>2076029>TrekREFER TO FILENAME
>>2076034Should have listened to my advice. Die mad about it
>>2076034>>2076029>disc brakesWhat in tarnation?
>>2076027walmart mtb with a ebike kit and gas engine slapped on it. scooter brothers we are not back, we never left
>>2076041Actually my parents just ordered escooters after seeing my cousins ride escooters at their kid's birthday party All my cousins are grown with their own kids.
>theirI mean one of them
>>2076027>>2076044Here's your bike, bro.
>>2076046/n/ will unironically defend this and say licensing/training is a jewish conspiracy to keep the white man down
>>2076047No, /o/ will do that. /n/ will say that they can go faster on a road bike, but also everything with a motor that isn't a car needs to be outright banned and driver's licenses should require a ten year education.
>>2076046Peak duicycle.
>>2076027acquire Janky ali express mini velo frame set.attach junk bike parts to it
>>2076096love the rear fender. doing overtime on absolutely nothing
>>2076101took me all this time to realize where said fender is
>>2076046I want a bike like this to take on american highways and offroad the Appalachian trail.
>>2076171>illegal to do soamerica ain't free, this sum bullshit
>>2076171Why you don't buy american ? Are you Hands ok sir ?
