Putting The Past On A Pedestal – Bike Snob NYC

Earlier than Gravel Mania, and earlier than Mounted-Gear Fever, there was Mountain Bike Insanity:

It appears positively quaint immediately that driving mountain bikes in an city setting would warrant a TV information section, however again then it did:

Then once more, we’re speaking about Canada, and what else actually occurs there?

Anyway, on the finish one of many interviewees poses an insightful and prescient query:

“When you should buy mountain bikes at Canadian Tire for $99.95 as a substitute of $700 at a specialty bike store it’ll be attention-grabbing to see if the upscale market section that needs to be totally different, or that has to have its pasta selfmade, whether or not that individual group will proceed to remain there or whether or not they’ll go on and discover one other specialised leisure commodity.“

Nicely right here we’re nearly 40 years later, and checking the Canadian Tire web site he was solely off by two cents:

On one hand the mountain bike did grow to be the default “kind issue” (ugh) for the division retailer bicycle, and the “yuppies” (or their generational successors) did certainly transfer on–the ’90s noticed the street bike increase, then got here the fixed-gear craze of the aughts, and ultimately gravel, together with concomitant information tales about “the subsequent massive factor.” However, the high-end mountain bike itself continued to evolve, and ultimately grew to become one thing that bore little resemblance to the easy, versatile bikes of yore and as a substitute grew to resemble motocross bikes–a lot in order that now increasingly more of them even have motors:

In the meantime, on yet one more hand (that’s three palms if you happen to’re protecting observe) the sporty but rugged town-and-country enchantment of the mountain bike quickly yielded a brand new sort of all-around bike known as the “hybrid:”

[From here.]

At the moment “hybrid” is synonymous with boring, however for a short time there it was moderately thrilling:

Clearly these had been the forebears of immediately’s gravel bikes, however simply as immediately’s mountain bikes hardly resemble their ancestors, fashionable gravel bikes have additionally advanced into a totally totally different species:

There’s definitely nothing fallacious with that if it’s what you’re into, however if you happen to lengthy for an alternate actuality wherein these authentic mountain bikes and hybrids underwent continuous refinement but didn’t fully throw off their former selves, then you may start to understand one thing like this:

[Photo: Arlo Weiss]

And whereas I bristle on the implication that I’m some kind of yuppie eater of selfmade pasta, I’ve however gratuitiously fancified my ass pedestal state of affairs:

Although I’ve undermined the improved aesthetics considerably by putting in a pair of Ergon grips, which look much less like a bicycle part and extra like one thing you’d discover in a CVS subsequent to the Dr. Scholl’s:

From this lofty perch yesterday I engaged in a few of the avian pictures for which I’m well-known:

And in addition loved some early night path driving:

Whereas some would possibly think about the two-speed drivetrain an affront to the singlespeed ethos, in a means it’s an excellent bolder assertion. See, Massive Bicycle has robbed us of all however one chainring within the entrance and retains including extra and bigger cogs within the rear:

So what could possibly be extra anti-establishment than having just one cog within the rear and a number of chainrings within the entrance? Additionally, a thread-on singlespeed freewheel is the very antithesis of a 13-speed cassette that prices $600:

Which pairs with a $700 derailleur:

Which you want as a result of apparently gravel has grow to be sentient and is now able to throwing issues at you:

Sure, happily after years of finicky indexing methods and fragile derailleur hangers, now you can spend 1000’s of {dollars} on a system that’s nearly as dependable as a metal bike with a friction drivetrain from 40 years in the past…simply so long as you bear in mind to cost it: