Do certain bikes give off a certain vibe?

veronese68

notsoblue wrote:

The funny thing about "Fosters Ice" and "Guinness Extra Cold" is that the lower temperature dampens the taste of the drink. Guinness Extra Cold is marketed at people who don't really like guinness.

I was told Guinness Extra Cold was made to settle faster, better for busy bars. But it's true, beer that's palatable when really cold can be rank just a few degrees warmer.

rolf_f

notsoblue wrote:

Plenty of phones marketed towards Rolf's demographic:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/tag/mobile%20ph ... y/products

Very good!

TBH, I've never owned a mobile phone. I have a work one and the last thing I want to do is carry another around with me. If they give me a Smart Phone, I'll use that (unless it is an Apple one - I wouldn't sully my fingers with anything from Apple) but it won't excite me as an object anymore than a microwave oven would. I find it really odd how exciteable people get about phones.

What I find really hilarious are Kindle adverts. All of a sudden, you have these ridiculous adverts which try to suggest that it is now trendy and youthful to read - not because anyone wants to read any more than they used to - but because there is now a trendy and youthful way to actually do it!

bigmat

Rolf F wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Plenty of phones marketed towards Rolf's demographic:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/tag/mobile%20ph ... y/products

Very good!

TBH, I've never owned a mobile phone. I have a work one and the last thing I want to do is carry another around with me. If they give me a Smart Phone, I'll use that (unless it is an Apple one - I wouldn't sully my fingers with anything from Apple) but it won't excite me as an object anymore than a microwave oven would. I find it really odd how exciteable people get about phones.

What I find really hilarious are Kindle adverts. All of a sudden, you have these ridiculous adverts which try to suggest that it is now trendy and youthful to read - not because anyone wants to read any more than they used to - but because there is now a trendy and youthful way to actually do it!

Smartphones are great. Mobile internet, GPS, TV, MP3, clock, torch, spirit level, gaming machine - oh, and phone... It is way beyond the kind of product I dreamt of as a child - just brilliant!

notsoblue

Rolf F wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Plenty of phones marketed towards Rolf's demographic:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/tag/mobile%20ph ... y/products

Very good!

TBH, I've never owned a mobile phone. I have a work one and the last thing I want to do is carry another around with me. If they give me a Smart Phone, I'll use that (unless it is an Apple one - I wouldn't sully my fingers with anything from Apple) but it won't excite me as an object anymore than a microwave oven would. I find it really odd how exciteable people get about phones.

Well I like my smartphone because theres so much I can do with it. For example the convenience of having access to Google Maps wherever you are is pretty incredible when you think about it. You just never get lost any more. Its even possible to check out what your destination looks like at street level before you get there. I could have never imagined we'd have access to this in our pocket when I was growing up. In some ways its even ahead of sci-fi from a decade ago.

Rolf F wrote:

What I find really hilarious are Kindle adverts. All of a sudden, you have these ridiculous adverts which try to suggest that it is now trendy and youthful to read - not because anyone wants to read any more than they used to - but because there is now a trendy and youthful way to actually do it!

Well they just have a product to sell don't they. Its also trendy and youthful to drink particular beverages and drive particular brands of car.

clarkey cat

I find it really odd how exciteable people get about phones.

I find it really odd how excitable people get about bikes.

notsoblue

Veronese68 wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

The funny thing about "Fosters Ice" and "Guinness Extra Cold" is that the lower temperature dampens the taste of the drink. Guinness Extra Cold is marketed at people who don't really like guinness.

I was told Guinness Extra Cold was made to settle faster, better for busy bars. But it's true, beer that's palatable when really cold can be rank just a few degrees warmer.

I was told that by someone who was involved in the marketing of it. But then people in marketing tend to be cynical like that :P

rolf_f

notsoblue wrote:

Well I like my smartphone because theres so much I can do with it. For example the convenience of having access to Google Maps wherever you are is pretty incredible when you think about it. You just never get lost any more. Its even possible to check out what your destination looks like at street level before you get there. I could have never imagined we'd have access to this in our pocket when I was growing up. In some ways its even ahead of sci-fi from a decade ago.

Rolf F wrote:

What I find really hilarious are Kindle adverts. All of a sudden, you have these ridiculous adverts which try to suggest that it is now trendy and youthful to read - not because anyone wants to read any more than they used to - but because there is now a trendy and youthful way to actually do it!

Well they just have a product to sell don't they. Its also trendy and youthful to drink particular beverages and drive particular brands of car.

Oh, I can see the use of Smart phones - but I can use Google Street view before I leave home if I really need to etc etc. Generally, it's another thing of huge emergency value but not that much day to day value. Yes, you might not get lost with one but then before Smart phones, the country was not full of people getting lost all the time anyway - I can walk from A to B through unfamiliar streets in London and I'll probably get where I want to be 5 minutes later than if I'd been using GPS; ie no big deal. I stopped wearing a watch for a while and that was quite nice - if I had a meeting in London, I no longer cared when it finished as I didn't know whether I'd catch the next train or not anyway! I'd probably only regret not having a Smart phone when something disasterous happens to the trains and I can't work out what the best way to deal with it is.

When I get one, no doubt I'll find the functions (I won't call them 'apps' because that is tragic!) useful but they aren't anything worth rushing out in a hurry to get.

As for the Kindle - you're absolutely right. It's just funny though. If there was a way of making toast digitally in a small, white, perfectly formed piece of plastic, then that would become the next trendy lifestyle thing to do.

Tricycleboy

I can see the benefit of a kindle on a long tour or something, when 6 books would be too much to carry. Other than that, i only read 1 book at a time so might as well just carry a book.

While they look as good as paper to read, i still like having paper, for the feel and smell as much as anything. And keeping them on my bookshelf after i've read them. Although this is now becoming a space issue in the flat...

I think its probably the same way old people feel about vinyl/ mp3s, which doesn't bother me at all.

veronese68

I didn't like the idea of a Kindle, but my wife reads loads so I bought her one for Christmas. On a 2 week holiday she will read at least 14 books, I bought her a Kindle. She loves it, if anything she reads even more now as it's so easy to carry it around and you don't lose your page so can easily dip in and out of it.

EKE_38BPM

I bought MrsEKE a Kindle and she loves it. Directly because of her Kindle, her Mum and sister both bought one. The Kindle's were not bought for any cool factor (I was actually anti-e-book readers) but because of the convenience factor.
MrsEKE has always been a reader, but she reads even more now.

I got her a Kindle for Xmas. She got me a book mark of an elephant scratching it's bum on a tree.

gtvlusso

I think that e-books are quite nifty. I must admit that I had some audio books when I was commuting in the car long distances...they were pretty good too.

I always wanted a copy of 'War and Peace' read by Alvin and the chipmunks....just to send to someone I did not like for Xmas.

jonny_trousers

Back to bikes:

I don't know about the bikes giving off a certain vibe, but I certainly make assumptions of the rider depending on what they ride. A Trek or Specialized costing less than £1.5K, for example, I assume that the rider doesn't really know what he wants and has been flogged something he recognises the name of by a national chain. Anything above £1.5K tells me that he had better be impressively fast or he has more money than sense.

A Boardman tells me that you bought on the Cycle to Work scheme (even though I do know they are quality bikes at a very reasonable price).

Pretty much any of the high quality, but smaller scale companies tell me that you at least have a sense of style (even if you are neither fast nor have as much sense as you do access to money).

All that said, Specialized is a funny company for me. I want to dislike them for their multinationalness and their dull, generic bikes in the middle of their range, but I just can't help liking their high-end bikes and the gear designed with proper road riding in mind (I suspect their mountain bike stuff is the same too). I think someone said a few pages back that they put very little thought into what they produce, but I don't think anything could be further from the truth once you get into their better quality gear. Specialized have always offered something a little bit different and it often works incredibly well.

There's a bloke who does circuits of Regent's park rides a beautiful S-Works pro quality bike. he's pretty nippy and I would say averages 22 - 23mph on his own, but he must be at least 17 stone. I can't help judging him, I'm afraid, but as much in a good-on-you-mate-at-that-pace-the-pounds-will-be-dropping-off-in-no-time way as in a if-you'd-only-laid-off-the-pies-for-one-week-you-could-have-bought-a-bike-costing-two-grand-less-and-still-be-carrying-the-same-weight way. But then if he can afford a bike like that then I don't suppose he needs to give a toss about what peasants like me think.

NB. I'm well aware that my assumptions will be highly flawed.

Ben6899

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

There's a bloke who does circuits of Regent's park rides a beautiful S-Works pro quality bike. he's pretty nippy and I would say averages 22 - 23mph on his own, but he must be at least 17 stone. I can't help judging him, I'm afraid, but as much in a good-on-you-mate-at-that-pace-the-pounds-will-be-dropping-off-in-no-time way as in a if-you'd-only-laid-off-the-pies-for-one-week-you-could-have-bought-a-bike-costing-two-grand-less-and-still-be-carrying-the-same-weight way. But then if he can afford a bike like that then I don't suppose he needs to give a toss about what peasants like me think.

I'm not sure I've seen this bloke, but I'll keep an eye out for him.

Have you seen the bloke on the Parlee? Now there's a bike!

asprilla

I tend to have several books on the go at the same time. A kindle is a godsend. It's very useful for holidays when you need literature and guide books. I'm taking Rough Guides to Japan and Tokyo, Lonely Planet Japan and Eyewitness on my kindle as well as numerous novels.

kieranb

well, noe of my bikes were bought new and all made up of mainly second hand bits. Of course in buying those bits I had a certain image/statement/look/feel I wanted to achieve with the complete bike. So my racin' bike is built around a 2nd hand cutom paint job old alu pinerallo prince. My track bike/good weather commuter is built around an old harry quinn frame, my MTB is an old specialized hardtail and the last bike, my bad weather commuter and shopper is an old rigid gary fisher converted to SS with rack added. Not sure if there is a consistent image running through all of these - one is probably a reluctance/ability to buy the newist and best! And a desire to put together and understand my own bikes. No consistency in component choice either.

jonny_trousers

Ben6899 wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

There's a bloke who does circuits of Regent's park rides a beautiful S-Works pro quality bike. he's pretty nippy and I would say averages 22 - 23mph on his own, but he must be at least 17 stone. I can't help judging him, I'm afraid, but as much in a good-on-you-mate-at-that-pace-the-pounds-will-be-dropping-off-in-no-time way as in a if-you'd-only-laid-off-the-pies-for-one-week-you-could-have-bought-a-bike-costing-two-grand-less-and-still-be-carrying-the-same-weight way. But then if he can afford a bike like that then I don't suppose he needs to give a toss about what peasants like me think.

I'm not sure I've seen this bloke, but I'll keep an eye out for him.

Have you seen the bloke on the Parlee? Now there's a bike!

I tend to see him between 6:00pm and 7:00pm. You can't miss him.

Not seen the Parlee. Lots of very nice bikes, though.