!Jones' Sock Puppet wrote:

I recall when a decent bicycle cost a day's wages and you could ride
the damn thing in cut-offs, a T-shirt, and sneakers. If you were
*really* high-tech, you had a Bendix two-speed kick-back. It was
heavy, noisy, and difficult to ride; however, real *men* rode bicycles
in those days... and no self-respecting faggot would have been caught
in Spandex!

Nowadays, bicycles cost more than an African wage-earner can hope to
make in his or her lifetime! There's something wrong here!

In real terms bikes are /much/ cheaper now than they were in the past
thanks to mass production in Taiwan. I can actually buy a bike for a
day's wages: granted I wouldn't because it would probably be pretty
hopeless, but I can do it despite a public sector job.

Why can't I buy a decent friction shifter anymore? Indexed shifters
are OK until they wear a little bit, then they're useless. I can't
adjust my front cage with an indexed shifter...

The bar end shifters on my touring bike, and my wife's, can have the
indexing turned off just with a twist of a D-ring on the side. That
turns them into a pure friction shifter. I'm fairly sure these are
still available.

... but, mostly, how come I gotta wear these goofy-looking panties? I
simply cannot be seen in public wearing these things! I'd sooner ride
nekkid!

Plenty of folk ride in normal, everyday clothes. In fact ISTM in Europe
far more people do that than ride in lycra if you're looking at total
bike journeys rather than the weekend Chain Gangs. The great majority
of my journeys are made in whatever day-to-day clothes I happen to be
wearing when I need to go out on the bike, plus jacket and cap.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/