Jeff Strickland wrote:

"SMS" wrote in message
...
Jeff Strickland wrote:

Shimano probably knows how many gearsets it sells, and where they are
consumed. I suspect the 50M number is a bit high too, but I don't
make and sell gearsets, so I don't really know. But, I am not calling
them liars, you are. And when you call somebody a liar, that's a bit
like the pot calling the kettle black, ergo I'm right. Again.

Shimano never stated that 50 million Americans mountain bike. What
they said was "50 million Americans ride a mountain bike." What they
didn't say was that many of those mountain bikes are not ridden
off-road, and that in fact many could not be ridden off road for very
long before falling apart, being of the Target/Wal-Mart variety.

"http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/cycle/sac/us/en/news_and_information/news0/shimano_and_imba_release.html"


It's a good cause that Shimano's become involved in since scientific
research has shown mountain biking to be a low impact environmentally
sustainable activity with no more impact on natural resources than
hiking, and far less than many other recreational activities.


Thanks, but I get all of that. I was responding to Vandeman's assertion
that there is no way for there to be 50M mountain bikes. He asserts that
Shimano is not in a position to know this sort of stuff.

Right, I have him kill-filed, but I see now that he changed what Shimano
actually said, into "50 million Americans mountain bike," from ""50
million Americans ride a mountain bike."

Perhaps there should be some sort of an agreement, where Vandeman agrees
to stop lying about mountain biking, and mountain bikers agree to stop
telling the truth about Vandeman.