Ah, disappointing fixed.org.au wasn´t mentioned! The AFR did contact me, and I did reply, but apparently that wasn´t good enough!
Anyway, at least Andy got a mention!
nick
That’s the main reason I try as far as possible not to buy new bike stuff but to trade or get them used. The enviroment could definately use abit more recycling and I certainly need to learn that I don’t need to constantly consume to make myself happy.
To bring home your point about the bike store, I was at a prominent bike shop recently. A dude was interested in getting a high-end road bike, clearly his first as he was asking alot of newbie questions. The sales guy, obviously new, basically just told the buyer what he wanted to hear. As I was paying for my stuff (no one helped me by the way), the manager of the store tells the sales guy “give him 20% off, just get rid of the thing”. Normally, I wouldn’t mind 20% off a new bike but clearly the shop isn’t interested in whether the bike is right for this guy. At the end of the day, its about pushing the products along.
Des
I’d just like to notify everyone about their breaking of forum rules. Posts over two sentences will not be tolerated 
Jeepers!
And a warning to you Spud for also breaking forum rules.
The correct, in context usage of the verbs “to break” and “to brake” will no longer be tolerated… 
Quick question. How do people feel about fixies being featured in the press per se – is it a bad thing altogether, or just bad when the pieces are so obviously written by people with no clue?
The reason I ask is that I do some work for a magazine, and had been tossing around the idea of pitching a feature about bikes (inc. fixies) in Melbs to them. Being still kinda a newbie in the fixed-dom myself, I’d probably need a lot of help with it from you peeps if it goes ahead.
Would be interested in your thoughts.
I’m ok with any article as long as the author has done enough work to produce it.
i’ve been dissatisfied with the way i explained things here earlier.
i had something i thought was important to try and explain and in conversation with others about this, while most people get what i mean, i’m not i succeeded particularly well.
and than this week the perfect analogy reared it’s little head.
it’s been raining here in brisbane the last couple of days and i’ve been working as per usual.
i’ve been using my big black crumpler bag.
and i’ve had to line it with plastic bin bags to make it even slightly waterproof, and today the main strap let go again.
sthis bag is about 3 years old.
in that 3 years, i’ve had to completely alter the way the strap works, remove all the inside pockets so it works well as a bag, and repair it about 6 times.
it wasn’t waterproof the day i got it, and now isn’t even shower resistant.
it’s an australian product, from an australian manufacturer. i bought this before all the production went off shore.
now i also have an old red crumpler bag that is a little too small for work generally, but i used it for about 5 years. it’s still in almost new condition, it’s way more water resistant, has much better build quality and materials, and it’s had a really hard life.
the red bag cost me about $140 in adjusted to today money (it actually cost me about $100 then). the black one cost me about $250 adjusted (i believe the new vietnam special of this goes for about $300).
so i went looking for a replacement.
and discovered that crumpler only make crap now. although to be honest, it wasn’t much of a discovery.
i’m sorry to say that. i used to love this company, and the guys who owned it. i rode for the same company as these guys when i first got to australia, and i had one of the first ever original bags of stu’s. i rode with that bag around the world and eventually traded it for a bike in toronto about 8 years ago. it was a great bag, made by a messenger, for a messenger.
all the new crumpler bags i looked at were shit. cheap material, shoddy construction, badly designed for work, and obviously made for people who won’t ever put them through even 10% of a working messengers day.
so i went and had a look at other companies. chrome, timbuktoo, manhattan portage, bunch of others, and what i was finding was a lot of messenger style bags, with very limited warranties, and not particularly well designed features for absurd amounts of money.
don’t get me wrong, the chrome bags are very good and of the mass produced, hipster come get some bags out there, these are the best. but a new chrome is nothing compared to the one i rode with back in NYC.
now all of this does have a point with regards to this topic, and heres where i get to it.
the huge rise in popularity of these kinds of bags has resulted in a massive drop in quality. it has resulted in an increase in price for even moderately worthwhile bags.
and has actually decreased the choice available for the working messenger.
it is now necessary for me to contact a company like pac desgns in canada or bagaboo in europe to purchase something that will be worth buying, and the cost is going to run about $500.
i was planning to get a pac designs bag anyway as i honestly believe they are the best quality, the best design, and offer the best working bag you can get. but i would have happily bought a crumpler if they had anything worth buying.
how does this fit with my earlier rant?
the same thing is happening to other aspects of the fixie culture (i fucking hate that phrase, but it fits here for now) with the cost of parts sky rocketing, and the availability dropping.
one point that abodigital made a couple of times in his reply to me was that the products he was/is building aren’t for my “broke ass”.
and that’s true, because for that kind of cash i’d want a hell of a lot more than he’s offering.
still though, the implication is clear.
spend more money on the same thing you would have spent a lot less on before the trend hit. and be prepared to pay the people who make the product a lot more for that product. but DON’T expect any increase in quality for that product.
have a look at velocity.
deep v’s were considered the cheap ass alternative that you bought until you have the money to buy good rims.
couriers and messengers all over the world bought them because for the money they were strong (ish), light (ish), and cheap (ish).
unfortunately they became the hot trend, must have item.
they became the hot must have item because they were seen on the bikes that were becoming trendy, and that started the cycle. people saw them on the trendy bikes, so they got them for their trendy build, and people saw them on the bike and so on.
messengers were using them because they couldn’t always afford anything better and they knew that they would be reasonably reliable. now they cost 5% less than open pros.
same thng happened with aero spoke. a couple of messengers had them because it made locking the bikes easier when using the huge kyrpto chains in NYC. now they are retardedly hard to find, and cost a bomb.
what the fuck are we doing?
anyway, this isn’t a dig at velocity’s quality, they make a decent rim.
it isn’t a dig at abodigital, who makes what look a like decent bike.
it is a dig at the COST of those products though.
i have no problem purchasing an expensive product. money is the very least of things i have to worry about at this stage in my life. it doesn’t mean i just want to throw huge fistfuls of the stuff away for no real gain though. i certainly don’t feel a need to lob wads of cash at people to help remove choices from my lifestyle and actually make it more difficult for me enjoy the things i love doing. i work as a messenger because it gives me a freedom in my work place that i didn’t get following any other career, it gives me a reasonable income to pursue my hobbies, and it combines my work and play in very pleasant way.
and it’s why the whole fixie scene depresses me on a semi regular basis.
we are encouraging people to come and join our little community of fixie riders. and that’s a good thing.
but some of us are encouraging people to spend big, and get raped for only their own profit, and that’s bad.
we have many new riders who enjoy fixies for what they are, and that’s good.
but we have many more who have come to this just be sure they have the latest hip thing, and that’s very bad.
because when this bubble bursts (and it will, just ask the guys with a million pokemon products) where do we go to get parts and accessories for ourselves?
i hope you like the new crumpler range, cause that’s all you git here now.
i wrote the above on the back of a run sheet while having lunch today, and debated with myself before i typed it up and posted it because i didn’t want to start a slanging match with anyone, or get into a fight over what is after all, only my opinion.
if you agree, fine, if you don’t that’s fine too.
if you want to comment, either positive or negative, i do welcome a discussion on this.
if you just want to flame me, or spend 10 lines in invective bile vomiting, please use PM.
The same places you went to before fixed got too popular?
I don’t disagree at all…but I don’t care that much either.
For as long as time, people have been doing/saying/buying things for reasons others don’t agree with.
It’s the nature of modern commercial society that companies will jump on anything that they can screw some dollars out of so it’s inevitable that it leads to poor quality alternatives to a better original.
The only advice I can offer is to stop caring so much what and why other people do things, and lower your expectations. You’ll be less likely to be disappointed. Otherwise, you’ll just end up causing yorself stress.
Ha! Someone with sense! I’ve never understood the Crumpler obession- perhaps ‘back in the day’ as you suggest they might have made some half decent bags, but these days they’re just another trendoid hipster bag to put your iPod, MacBook Pro and organic lentil sandwich you bought down the road from Soul Food. These newer Crumpler bag designs (newer as in ever since they went big- think shopping centres) are more about aesthetics rather than functionality.
For me, the ultimate bag is my small Ortlieb messenger bag that is more function. Sure, it looks like a bumble-bee from afar, but it’s waterproof, durable and kicks Crumpler into the ground I reckon. And I’m not even a messenger.
I like what you wrote- you did go off on a few tangents :evil: but I think your argument is very valid.
Get involved with any sub culture(for want of a better word), and you will see this. Happened with beater/rat rods, happened with hardcore/punk(that one still stings). You get into something and its awesome, and then it gets bigger and the recriminations start. Rest assured, the herbs will not drop off, and you will not get their parts for cheap if they do, unless all the indie rock type hipsters(not your generic, gots me a cool bike hipster) get on the smack, then you should check the local Cashies.
I cant speak for every trendoid hipster who rides a fixie, and doesnt eat meat, but i dont see the two as having anything to do with one another.
VEGAN FOR LIFE!
If we weren’t meant to eat animals, they wouldn’t be made of meat.
I love animals…they’re delicious!
hey craig, im still working on a photo of my back yard looking cleaned up, too much grass for one man to eat.
Hey Erle
Why Vegan instead of just Vego? (yes it’s a serious question)
Do you ride on a leather saddle? (another serious question, argh this is killing me…must make smart-arse comment)
From a sustainability perspective, it’s estimated that the ecological footprint of a vegetarian (lacto-ovo) is half that of a meat eater, whilst that of a vegan is one tenth that of a meat eater.
From the point of view of animal cruelty, the farming of dairy and eggs can involve some pretty inhumane practices – under such circumstances, the animals would probably be better off dead anyway.
b_rad hit a few nails on the head.
Personally, I had been vego for maybe 5 years, I had changed my diet due to compassionate/ethical reasons, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it seemed to go vegan. Why take a stand on eating chicken, but support battery farming? just one example I guess.
I do actually ride a leather saddle( i know it may seem hypocritical), BUT! it was 3rd hand and sitting in the garage for a long while. I used it for the same reasons I still wear leather boots I purchased before going vegan, it was there, and it would be more of a waste for me to throw it out, than to use it. I dont ride leather straps.
Basically, I try to minimize my impact on other species. Now im off to ask a tree if its ok if I hug it, consent is a tricky word.
So then you can eat them
My comment was in no way related to Vegans- perhaps my usage of the term ‘organic lentil sandwich’ might have used some rephrasing. How about ‘organic prosciutto and buffalo cheese panini’ sound? :evil:
i was the actions coordinator for greenpeace in qld years ago and got into a big argument with a few of the vegans there.
the basic argument was this. i ride a motorbike. i wear a leather jacket and boots. i get told i shouldn’t use the leather jacket because of the ethical grounds for the leather. they suggested a synthetic jacket instead. my response was that it does around 4 times the damage to the environment to use a synthetic as it does to use leather, and the leather is a by product of the meat industry anyway.
in the same overall scheme of things, a synthetic bike saddle for environmental reasons is a BIG step backward.
i guess it comes down to individual preferences, but do bare in mind the total environmental impact of a given item, not just it’s vegan providence.
Thats much better :lol:
It just comes down to what you’re comfortable with. Some people are jerks about it others arent. I can totally see the practicality(for a bunch of reasons) in wearing/using leather. My parents have a very comfortable leather couch, Its not like I dont sit on it. I just wouldnt buy one for myself.