I always try to refrain from dissing the very industry that has provided me with tools to enjoy cycling for 60 years now. Since I was 5 and riding my 24" Schwinn Tornado (yes, I was tall at a young age) to today riding my Trek Checkpoint ALR4 (yes, that's the aluminum version with two chain rings btw, didn't see the need to spend another $900 to get a carbon bike that I have 700 x 45 tires on) to modifying and riding old bikes from the '30s - '60s (Rat Rod Bikes; that's why we're all here, right?).
My Felt Dispatch single speed road bike was one of the most fun bikes I ever owned. But at a certain point, about 7 years ago, the twinges in my knees told me that gears were better for me in the long run, than pride. My Fisher CR7 was my first real mountain bike. Raced and rode the heck out of that for 6 years. Never failed me once. And it cost $1100 in 1989. (I worked it off all summer in my first year as a bike shop employee. Who had $1100 to spend on a bike in 1989? ) I nearly endo-ed in the parking lot test riding the first bike we got in the shop that had 'linear pull brakes' ( V-brakes they became know as) because the braking power was so much greater than I ever experienced with my cantilevers. Mid '90s front suspension forks were getting refined, and boy, did they take the beating out of my wrists and shoulders. Was the extra 2.5 lbs added to the bike weight worth it? You bet!
I didn't ride a full suspension mountain bike till 2015. I rented a Santa Cruz Tallboy in Arizona our first year out there, every where I looked people were on full sus bikes. In about 30 minutes, I was sold! Nimble and still a great climber, that 120 mm travel fork and 100 mm travel rear Fox shock really smoothed out that rocky, sharp, hard terrain of the desert Southwest. A couple years ago I went for more travel in the suspension, lost some of my climbing ability, but the BIKE handled the drops and let me not take the 'perfect line' every time; and kept me on the trail. My skills have diminished , as well as my stamina, but the BIKES have kept me going.
Not all of us are 'freaks' of nature like
@Karate Chicken Industries and
@us56456712 . Most of us are just out there giving it all we've got and enjoying ourselves; whether it's because of or in spite of, technology and all of it's advances. I still sell bicycles to new riders. Actually, I should rephrase that; I sell fun, adventure, physical fitness, and knowledge of what various bikes are intended for and can accomplish. The bikes sell themselves.
A love for cycling is contagious. Spread it!
