How far depends on what it means to you.
Or in this case me.
I mean a bicycle is a bicycle no matter how pretty or expensive.
The thing about bicycles is that the more expensive you get, the more exclusive it becomes, so exclusive that name brand begins to mean nothing to the common folk.
Remember Avanti cars?
Unfortunately, exclusivity cannot overcome homeliness, though it tries hard.
Fortunately, it's sort of difficult to make an ugly bicycle, Pinarello Dogma notwithstanding:
Hoku and I had a brief conversation about the a Dogma we saw on the Honolulu Century Ride, he saying it had too many curves, me defending all that is Italian.
Still I have to sort of agree with him, too much is well, too much.
Help me! I'm melting!
So anyways, I'm looking to upgrade myself, be upwardly mobile if you will, to show off my dedication to cycling and to spending my hard earned money in general.
Doing all I can to support the economy don't you know.
The problem here is, for me anyways, there seems to be very little middle ground.
Okay, let's look at what for me anyways means.
I started off looking at frames under $1k, I mean I'm not made of cash though I do sort of ruffle when I walk.
Loose fitting shorts.
Which reminds me, I haven't worn corduroys in a while.
Do they even make them anymore?
So I'm looking at some frames, and then I decide well darnit! I'd like a lugged frame.
Mr. JRA's structural evidence aside, I'm just like the way it looks.
Image is everything.
Don't you know.
Well, there aren't a ton of lugged frames out there, TIG being the steel joinery of choice.
Not unless you step up to the plate, and when I say step up to the plate, I mean step up to the plate.
Now we're talking Incredible Lightness of Pocketbookness(ILP), you know, that vast emptiness between $1k and $2k.
Hmmmmm.
I hadn't planned on traveling so far out of the solar system.
The orbit of Mars seemed plausible, I didn't think I had the fuel to visit the gas giants.
If you know what I mean.
Then there's the bling factor, which as I said above tends to decrease in value the more the bicycle increases in value.
I'd like to see that graph.
Of course you know what your bicycle is worth, but bling ain't bling if only you know.
You know?
I mean I'm trying to reach Poseurdom Zen, but lemme tell you, it ain't easy.
So anyways, I've been looking for a nice bicycle frame, a bicycle I can adorn with Swarovski crystal topped valve stem caps and live out my life in bicycle bliss.
So far, not so good.
I've only looked through half the interwebz though, so maybe there's still hope.
Maybe.
5 comments:
A Pegoretti Luigino would be my Italian steel frame choice...But as you say- the higher up in cycling stratosphere the bike is, the average Joe in the street wouldn't recognize it as such.
Mind you, other bike enthusiasts will know and surely that must count for something....
-Trevor
Luggity luggity. The only way I get my luggity action is in working with old frames rather than new. Not the same as a nice new purchase, but I gets what I can.
Trevor's right... you'll get yer drooling factor from other bike freaks, especially on the Internets.
Pegoretti is like out there near Pluto or maybe the Kuiper belt.
I just can't wrap my head around his paint jobs(and I'm an artist! sort of) as my tastes run more classic.
I did get to see a lime green Zullo and it sort of caught my attention.
Zullo is up there in Pegoretti land though.
Rantwick, yeah vintage is another option though not too many frames in my size. Also shipping to here is like $150 bucks unless you got a UPS account.
I jest of course of about recognition, but it is a motivating factor to at least look fast.
Imagine going to Italy on a tour of various custom and small frame builders, taking in the local scenery and food, truly experiencing the environment where said frames are built. It sounds great. But then don't go. Just add up how much money the trip would have cost, add that to the amount you thought you were willing to spend on the frame, and then live vicariously through the frame itself. Or something.
Having never been to Europe, I've entertained that very thought.
Logistically, it would be a nightmare though, at least for now.
If I were to go with a domestic builder, I could pop in and pop out, you know, just to pick up said frame.
I haven't exactly ruled out a domestic builder.
More on this later.
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