Further to yesterdays post, an anonymous benefactor generously offered to underwrite my Craigslist Spinergy purchase in the name of content creation:I should point out that this benefactor has in no way requested anonymity; I just think its more fun to refer to an anonymous benefactor. And before you get carried away, no, the anonymous benefactor is not Grant Petersenthough a Roadini with Spinergys is exactly the bike the Internet needs right now:[Photo: Rivendell]Anyway, naturally I sent the seller another message agreeing to pay the full asking price, but as of now I have not received a reply. Perhaps I offended him with my initial lowball offer, or perhaps theyre just gone, but either way I now find myself in the ironic position of really wanting those Spinergys after having roundly mocked them. And maybe $200 is a bargain after all, because heres someone in Sheepshead Bay who wants more than that for just one:Hes definitely banking on the Return of the Fixie:I like to think the Must pick up in the ad doesnt mean you have to come get the wheel, but instead refers to some sort of magical Excalibur situation whereby only the most worthy Fixster will be able to lift it.Anyway, it could be that these Spinergys have slipped through my fingers (severing several digits in the process with their wind-cutting blades), and if so let that be a lesson to you about the dangers of haggling:Also, speaking of requisitioning materials for this blog, I looked further into the possibility of obtaining a steel LeMond in the exact same size as the crabo-tanium Tete de Course, putting exactly the same parts on it, and comparing the bikes in order to determine once and for all what effect (if any) frame material has on ride quality:Alas, in looking at the geometry charts in the catalog, it turns out the Tete de Course is a little different from the steel bikes:How much of a difference does this make to the ride? I dunno. But the comparison doesnt work if there are any differences at all other than frame material, so thats that.Of course that famous blind test should have put this whole thing to bed in 1996:[I really need those Snapple shorts!]While the tester felt he could detect the differences between different steel tubesets on otherwise identical bikes, he also decided his preferences were basically random:Then again he also takes for granted that different materials ride much differently:Though whos to say those preferences arent equally random? Between the rider and the bike there are so many variables its no wonder your favorite bike often happens by accident:I never seriously entertained the possibility of actually liking that bike, but I ended up loving itand even then I didnt end up keeping it, opting instead for a bike of a similar vintage that fit similarly but was also a little more versatile and practical, relatively speaking:Its easy to make fun of bicycle marketing, but youve really got to feel for these companies who have to compete over potential customers by pretending any of these random ride impressions are easily quantifiable or anything but subjective. Obviously a bike must be designed properly for its intended use, but so many of them are extremely similar, and so beyond that its like selling a fragrance:Then there are the bike booms followed by the inevitable busts, and right now we seem to be in the middle of a big fat bust:Apparently, their parent company is throwing them overboard to focus on their watersports business:So basically theyre ditching bikes for this:I want to know if wakeboarding is to waterskiing as gravel is to road ridingor is the new thing going to be gravel wakeboarding, where you get pulled down a dirt road by an ATV whilst kneeling on a carbon fiber board? And is wakeboarding really a better investment than bikes? Or is this company just stupid? (According to one source, its the latter.)Meanwhile, on the road side, power meter company Stages Cycling has also just blown up like a Fred whos powered right through the feed zone without stopping:This is probably bad news for anyone whos bought a $749 bilateral power meter:And of course Trek recently right sized itself by 10%, and are cutting prices to match, which means you can now get that top-of-the-line road bike youve had your eye on forfuck it, never mind, theyre still insanely expensive:But obviously not all their bikes are that expensive, and being old and obstinate and out of it and completely mired in vintage bikes as I am, I figured I should at least take a look at the sort of bike normal people are buying these days:Back in the previous century, when I was a young single person just starting out in a career I would eventually fail at, I walked into a bike shop in order to purchase myself a serious bicycle. In those days, the main question was, Road or mountain?, and to be honest even as I walked into the shop I still hadnt quite decided. Fortunately, the shop gave me a great piece of advice, which was basically, You live in the city, what they hell are you going to do with a mountain bike? So I got a road bike and rode the hell out of it. Then I got a mountain bike, and every other kind of bike, and I started a blog, and here I am scrounging for used Spinergys on Craigslist.But things are different now. The choice is no longer simply Road or mountain?, and if I was that wide-eyed shopper today Id probably be contemplating gravel bikes along with everything else:Im old and jaded, and disc brakes are enough to make me balk, let alone IsoSpeed:Im also uneasy about the idea of a frame that requires a skid plate:But setting aside my own prejudices Id say these kids today have it pretty good, what with their bikes that do both road and trail and even hold stuff in the downtubeand prices are more or less in line with what you would have paid 30 years ago. Would I be lured by the promise of adventure if I were a young person shopping today? Possiblythough if I were living in the same place I was then Id probably still wind up with a road bike. Plus, no matter how varied your riding everyone has sort of a root note, and a road bike is what mine seems to be, despite the ever-present danger of encountering a psychopathic driver:Insanity in midtown Manhattan NYC A car jumps on the sidewalk and tries to take out a guy. Unsure what started this . pic.twitter.com/jCiCnSwD4l Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) April 24, 2024All this video is missing is someone yelling at the driver for being in the bike lane. Actually, maybe thats what started it.