Manufacturing genres: the adventure/gravel/allroad/ bike euphoria

I overheard a conversation at a brewery the other week where two guys were chatting some pretty heavy bike nerd.  "Modular, Adventure road, compliance, frame flex" were all words and phrases that came from the opposing end of the bench where I sat.  I am listening to these two wax poetics about the miraculous wonders that are supposedly going to materialize via new frame acquisition.  The second guy talks about his "cross bike" (wondering if he actually uses it for cyclocross?) and how having an all road/gravel/adventure bike would be a highly welcomed "new" addition to his stable.  I am thinking to myself that this guy can obviously lay down some serious dollars in the name of a very, very similar bike judging by the components and frame materials he spoke of: my mental math has me thinking around $4k easily.  I find myself contemplating the ultra subtle differences between what this guy is describing and what he apparently already has in his possession.  I am thinking two final thoughts: If he didn't have $4k of seemingly easy to come by disposable income would he even consider what he is actually talking about, and if he would even have the inclination in the first place had the ever crafty marketing think tanks/"engineers" not conjured up these not so different bike niches.  God forbid he defiles his cross bike with a few roll bags and maybe a triangle: thats just a no-no. This guy clearly doesn't  need a new bike.  I frankly don't think even truly wants one.  What i do think he wants in fact is a new product that makes an abundantly clear lifestyle statement to his buddies when he goes out and rides that damn-near carbon copy of a redundant bike he is about to purchase.  He wants to make it clear that he was not the last one to miss the bandwagon of "new is hot" inertia that our beloved cycling industry is collectively taking us for a ride on.

Here is a really nice budget build touring bike from the 80's.  Big clearance/tires, bag/basket, slack-ish geometry and some
new components bring this bike back to life as a fully functioning paved/dirt road bike that can be used to camp and such

Calling it what it is 

 In December of 2015 I wrote a blog post called is the "adventure bike" phenomenon a double edged sword?  The basic premise was questioning the rational of owning a different bike for every new cycling category the industry collectively threw at us.  The goal of the post was not to discourage new riders from purchasing a bike and stimulating the bicycle industry as much as it was a question of biting the bullet on a high dollar purchase in the name of marginally differing geometries and designs.  You see the thing is that I think adventure/rando/gravel/whatever bikes are some of the best bikes to do just about a little of everything.  They bridge gaps well, are usually less expensive than full-tilt race machines (be it mountain or road) and are typically more comfortable and practical in the process.  Acquiring one of these bikes is great if it is one of your first purchases; but if you own a cyclocross/randonneur/touring bike already you might want to ask if you are really doing yourself a service as much as you are the bike/component manufactures.

Inconsequential is the word that comes to mind when I hear riders rationalize their way into a new bike to fit the "in-genre" bill.  Its all pretty reminiscent of the all mountain/enduro/gravity craze that we are still trying to sort out in the mountain biking world over the last four or five years.  People buying bikes with an extra 10mm of travel, 1 degree slacker head tube angle and 4-5 mm thicker stanchion tubes etc has caused the used bike market to explode with perfectly capable machines spanning 1-5 or so years in age.  For a song these frames and full bikes can be had as the aforementioned mentality has cleaned the slate for yet another generation of "it" bikes to fill that ever illusive sweet spot of perfect bike riding bliss.  This wont end any time soon, so perhaps its worth asking yourself what will work for you, is within your budget, will last a long time, will be easily serviceable and retain some form of value over the long run if resale or trade is a concern. 

With the reintroduction of slick-ish 26" 2.25 tires dubbed "all road adventure" becoming en-vogue, a 26" mountain
bike conversion seems like a fairly logical way of achieving the goal with that old mtb you might find yourself having the
garage.  Somewhere a rider repurposes an early nineties mb-3 as a seemingly well equipped, drop bar camping/touring bike.

 

When is enough enough

 

If you couldn't tell by now, I am in no way a fan of the bike industry as a whole.  As questioned and elaborated upon in previous posts throughout the blogs short time-line I have really dug deep into the collective psyche that encompasses both the producer and consumer.  I have looked and am still looking far into bike related consumption patterns and both the positive and negative byproducts that incur.  My big curiosities lay in how and why we buy what we do, when we do and as often as we do.  Sometimes the answers are far from what I might have initially guessed as I move forward in my inquires and subsequent contemplation.

  By nature of  the critical subject matter that has dictated my writing as of late I am sometimes made out to be something like that old grouchy archetype who just cant stand "forward" movement.  Often I get lumped into categories like this by those that maybe catch the tail end of a thought or conversation I am sharing with someone.  People see my bikes and associate me with retrogrouches so much so that I have jokingly embraced the moniker by placing a sticker that a friend gave me which reads "retrogrouch" on the top tube of my grocery/camp/whatever bike.  But its not so much that I am anti progress/refinement/change as much as it is that I don't buy the notion that "new" entails inherent goodness; that high frequency equates to quality, or that supposed refinement translates to revolution.  Many an improvement come along over the years, but the fundamental concept that we should discard and upgrade as each iteration "supersedes" it's last is entirely part in parcel with the tremendous levels of waste, bike related debt and component/bike standardizing-frenzies obfuscating older components and bikes.  We are all to often glutenous consumers who chase the "new" at a rate that has us looking for solutions to problems that were created by said chase altogether.