those infomercials

wrote:
Have they started running those infomercials for "landriders" yet? I
haven' t seen them. Maybe they don't exist anymore since most people
discovered they're useless crap!

The commercials have been running regularly in North Florida for some
time. Like most infommercials, they exaggerate the difficulty of
whatever the product is supposed improve upon. And while I personally
don't find shifting all that tricky, some people are intimidated by the
thought of it. So what's the problem if those folks go out an buy one
of these bikes? At least they're out riding and enjoying life. A few
may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better bike. You know,
something everyone in the NG would approve of. Even Fabs. But then
they might be jeered because they spent too much money on a bike.
Yeah, better not buy one.

Art

wrote: So what's the problem if those folks go out
an buy one of these bikes? At least they're out riding and enjoying life.
A few may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better bike. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's ONE possible scenario. Or, they might go out and discover that
riding is more than just shifting, and get disgusted with the whole mess.
The bike goes into a dark corner, and they go back on the couch in front of
the TV. Next time someone mentions biking, their reaction is: "Oh, I tried
that. It was no fun."

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in
:

wrote: So what's the problem if those folks
go out an buy one of these bikes? At least they're out riding and
enjoying life. A few may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better
bike. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's ONE possible scenario. Or, they might go out and discover that
riding is more than just shifting, and get disgusted with the whole
mess. The bike goes into a dark corner, and they go back on the couch
in front of the TV. Next time someone mentions biking, their reaction
is: "Oh, I tried that. It was no fun."



Having seen the recent infestation of the Sunday morning airwaves with
these commercials, I can't help but be amused by the fact that they're
advertising to people who won't even get out of the house to go to church,
or to beat the Baptists before they exhaust the local Golden Corral or
Shoney's Big Boy buffet. They are also extremely dishonest in the way they
show people 'properly' riding one of 'them thar high-falutin' bikes'.

You've also missed the obvious bonus.

Think how EASY it is to sell the bike at a yard sale when you can advertise
"As Seen On TV" and "Shifts Itself".

It's probably the best instance of RE-cycling in normal cycling.

HA!

Wish someone had one at a yard sale around here...

I'd buy one just to hang on the wall - and be able to speak with impunity
about the design.

C.


"wvantwiller" wrote in message
...
"Leo Lichtman" wrote in
:

wrote: So what's the problem if those folks
go out an buy one of these bikes? At least they're out riding and
enjoying life. A few may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better
bike. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's ONE possible scenario. Or, they might go out and discover that
riding is more than just shifting, and get disgusted with the whole
mess. The bike goes into a dark corner, and they go back on the couch
in front of the TV. Next time someone mentions biking, their reaction
is: "Oh, I tried that. It was no fun."



Having seen the recent infestation of the Sunday morning airwaves with
these commercials, I can't help but be amused by the fact that they're
advertising to people who won't even get out of the house to go to church,
or to beat the Baptists before they exhaust the local Golden Corral or
Shoney's Big Boy buffet. They are also extremely dishonest in the way
they
show people 'properly' riding one of 'them thar high-falutin' bikes'.

You've also missed the obvious bonus.

Think how EASY it is to sell the bike at a yard sale when you can
advertise
"As Seen On TV" and "Shifts Itself".

It's probably the best instance of RE-cycling in normal cycling.

In article ,
"Leo Lichtman" writes:

wrote: So what's the problem if those folks go out
an buy one of these bikes? At least they're out riding and enjoying life.
A few may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better bike. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's ONE possible scenario. Or, they might go out and discover that
riding is more than just shifting, and get disgusted with the whole mess.

Maybe the Land Rider is just the right bike to stick
a rocket engine on -- see if it autoshifts right
off the cluster :-)


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

(dgk) wrote:

snip
Now, come up with a bike that pedals
itself and you've got something!
/snip

To late. They already did. I think they call them "motorcycles" or
something like that...

- -

"May you have the winds at your back,
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

"Chris Zacho "The Wheelman"" wrote in message
...


To late. They already did. I think they call them "motorcycles" or
something like that...



Panasonic has a folding electric bike that's rated pretty good.
(and it IS based on a "bike" not a scooter or motorbike...)

Leo Lichtman wrote:
wrote: So what's the problem if those folks go out
an buy one of these bikes? At least they're out riding and enjoying life.
A few may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better bike. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's ONE possible scenario. Or, they might go out and discover that
riding is more than just shifting, and get disgusted with the whole mess.
The bike goes into a dark corner, and they go back on the couch in front of
the TV. Next time someone mentions biking, their reaction is: "Oh, I tried
that. It was no fun."


Biking without shifting, it's like taking a Ferrarri and bolting the V12
to a 3 speed Slush-er-matic, it takes the fun out of it.... Heck you
might as well drive a Taurus....

I always like shifting on a bike, it seems natural, and adds to the
experience. Modern bikes with indexed shifting make it easier. Fixed
gear is for masochists, and Landrider looks like something for someone
who would rather be driving an Oldsmobile....

W

wrote:

wrote:

Have they started running those infomercials for "landriders" yet? I
haven' t seen them. Maybe they don't exist anymore since most people
discovered they're useless crap!


The commercials have been running regularly in North Florida for some
time. Like most infommercials, they exaggerate the difficulty of
whatever the product is supposed improve upon. And while I personally
don't find shifting all that tricky, some people are intimidated by the
thought of it. So what's the problem if those folks go out an buy one
of these bikes?

They can get a much better "easy to operate" bike from a bike shop,
including fitting and post-sales support.

I rescued one of these from the curb on trash day. It was a complete
piece of junk. I thought perhaps I could salvage some components, but in
the end, threw out everything but the frame. That, while poorly made,
with globby welds, heavy tubing and POS headset, was interesting in that
it was a 26" wheel frame with slack angles, rigid fork, canti studs and
rack braze-ons -- a very utilitarian configuration that's kind of hard
to come by (at my price point). I threw some MTB components on it,
fenders and racks, and my wife loves it as a commuter, although it's
kind of heavy. The frame and fork (minus headset & BB) were all I could
use, even on a beater.

"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Leo Lichtman" writes:

wrote: So what's the problem if those folks go
out
an buy one of these bikes? At least they're out riding and enjoying
life.
A few may even upgrade from the Land Rider to a better bike. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's ONE possible scenario. Or, they might go out and discover that
riding is more than just shifting, and get disgusted with the whole mess.

Agreed. Although I go against the crowd and would not advise someone new to
cycling to go out and buy an expensive bike because it may not be for then
and they will probably bang it up more in the beginning.

But I would not advise starting out on a total piece of crap. Question is:
Is this bike a PoS? My suspicion is yes but I don't know it for a fact.

My rule of thumb is that anything advertised via infomercial is either an
out-and-out fraud or simply garbage.

--
'Oh lord!
Won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches
I must make amends.' - janis joplin rendition