Subject: RE: What did you learn from your test ride? All respect to Josh, he's very knowledgeable, but I thoroughly disagree… You can tell the difference between bikes… they do "behave" differently.
I have quite a few bikes (and had many more over the years ) and there's just certain bikes that "feels better" than others and it's not only about fit (right now, I have two bikes that have identical fit, but feels quite different… one being slightly softer and mellow and the other more aggressive and just plain fun… I use them for different types of riding… )
I think one of the key take-away from the article (and one that i DO agree with ) is that there's lots of perceptions that dictates what we ride. (ex the wheels discussion in the article ). Same goes for frame materials… carbon is supposed to be comfortable and aluminum supposed to be stiff. A modern aluminum frame can be really comfortable (without giving up stiffness ) and you can find carbon frames that are quite uncomfortable or carbon frames that are super stiff… changed in materials, manufacturing methods and design will change the perception over time…. |