What if

dennisn

What if a component manufacturer came out with a drive and shifting system that
worked better than anything now out there? Better, smoother, easier shifting, great
durabilty, low maintainance, easy set-up and adjustment, cheaper than the rest, and lighter than everything else. But it was about as ugly as a two week old dead possum
alongside the road. Would you buy it? Or would you wait until the "pros" started using
it(there-by making it "cool" to have)? Or would you not be able to handle the lack of bling?
I know it's a stupid question but I'm a little bored.

Dennis Noward

andrewgturnbull

dennisn wrote:

What if a component manufacturer came out with a drive and shifting system that
worked better than anything now out there? Better, smoother, easier shifting, great
durabilty, low maintainance, easy set-up and adjustment, cheaper than the rest, and lighter than everything else. But it was about as ugly as a two week old dead possum
alongside the road. Would you buy it? Or would you wait until the "pros" started using
it(there-by making it "cool" to have)? Or would you not be able to handle the lack of bling?
I know it's a stupid question but I'm a little bored.

Dennis Noward

Can we go back to the tubs v clincher argument instead?

Cheers, Andy

PhilofCas

no, stay with this one, it's going down a bomb (only having a laugh Dennis).

Shadowduck

dennisn wrote:

What if a component manufacturer came out with a drive and shifting system that
worked better than anything now out there? Better, smoother, easier shifting, great
durabilty, low maintainance, easy set-up and adjustment, cheaper than the rest, and lighter than everything else. But it was about as ugly as a two week old dead possum
alongside the road. Would you buy it? Or would you wait until the "pros" started using
it(there-by making it "cool" to have)? Or would you not be able to handle the lack of bling?
I know it's a stupid question but I'm a little bored.

Dennis Noward

Ok, I'll give a semi-serious answer...*

If it was better than everything else, the UCI would probably ban it - heaven forbid there'd be any major innovation in bike design!

If the UCI banned it, the majority of race-oriented roadies wouldn't use it.

So... It would probably end up used on commuter bikes, tourers and MTBs.

And yes, of course I'd use it!

*Ignoring the fact that anything so much superior to everything else would pretty much automatically be more expensive than everything else (they charge what folks will pay, not what it costs to make), and the fact that anything lighter than current designs would have trouble being totally fugly - there just wouldn't be enough of it!