"While your point is well-taken (and well-written), I think the beef is less about parts than the feeling that what you're emotionally invested in has been devalued."
That's a common affliction. I'm a bit the opposite. I take a lot of pride in riding a fairly beat down bike, and riding it better than some riders out on the trail on this season's greatest rig. At the moment I'm on a super sweet Patrol that's only 1 model old, but I'll ride it for another 4 years or until it breaks.
I have an experience seared into my brain that cemented this point of view. In 2001-ish, us Seattle boys were experiencing the shore for the first time. We had fairly nice bikes, I was on a RM Element with a Z3. Trying to ride CBC log rides and skinnies, some dude in a budget beater hardtail and hockey pads just schools the crap out of us. He had skills, and a clapped $400 bike. That guy was rad. Be like him.
Nov. 15, 2018, 2 p.m. - JVP
"While your point is well-taken (and well-written), I think the beef is less about parts than the feeling that what you're emotionally invested in has been devalued." That's a common affliction. I'm a bit the opposite. I take a lot of pride in riding a fairly beat down bike, and riding it better than some riders out on the trail on this season's greatest rig. At the moment I'm on a super sweet Patrol that's only 1 model old, but I'll ride it for another 4 years or until it breaks. I have an experience seared into my brain that cemented this point of view. In 2001-ish, us Seattle boys were experiencing the shore for the first time. We had fairly nice bikes, I was on a RM Element with a Z3. Trying to ride CBC log rides and skinnies, some dude in a budget beater hardtail and hockey pads just schools the crap out of us. He had skills, and a clapped $400 bike. That guy was rad. Be like him.