Have you ever noticed that their stuff is shit but your shit is stuff? — George Carlin
A cycling journalist is a person who can hold two completely contradictory notions at the same time without his or her head exploding.
For example, bike racing is simultaneously beautiful and ravaged by dope (think Lindsay Lohan, if you can bear it). And a $2,679.99 Fisher Transport+ cargo bike “isn’t remotely cheap” while a $7,659.99 Trek Top Fuel mountain bike apparently is eminently affordable.
I wouldn’t buy either bike, myself. I have an old titanium hardtail that suits my mountain-biking needs, and for shopping expeditions I can always ride the Soma Double Cross with panniers fore and aft ($519.98 frame and fork; build kit, racks and panniers not included).
The biggest quarrel I have with both the Transport+ and the Top Fuel involves not their pricing but their extreme specialization. You probably shouldn’t ride the former on a nifty bit of single-track or the latter to the Safeway. But I can handle both on the Double Cross. Five minutes with a couple hex keys and a combo wrench and I can have my choice of a loaded tourer, sport tourer, rigid 700c mountain bike or cyclo-cross bike.
And that’s no shit. Stuff. Whatever.
Mad Blog Media 
In these times I sure miss George Carlin
Similar to O’G’s Double Cross, my schizophrenic ride is my Surly Cross Check. I’ve lost track of how many different configurations I’ve seen this bike in. Mine has been a touring bike (rode it loaded from Grand Junction to Durango and back), a winter all-weather road bike, and, in its current mode, a nice towner and commuter (assuming I ever get somewhere to commute to). I’ve seen others build it as an actual cross bike, a road bike for the weekly fast club ride, a 29’r mountain bike, a single speed, and as a something resembling something built 50 years ago (think brooks saddle and mustache bars with leather grips, very cool). $400 frame and fork (retail).
Now, tell me again what you get for all those thousands of dollars?
I use a steel LeMond “Poprad” for a winter bike though I’ve finally used up its mojo as the bike that I’d never get rained on while riding. Up to just a few weeks ago I’d take this fendered thing out whenever the weather looked theatening, figuring even if the skies opened up my socks would stay clean. It’s still a nice bike for generaly riding around though I use a freebie Schwinn World Tour that’s 5 zizes too big as a shopping bike. The grcoery stores and downtown post office are just flat roads away so a one-speed 40-14 gear will get this beater pretty much everywhere with ZERO fear of theft while I’m inside doing business. This bike is plastered with with “Burn Carbohydrates, not Hydrocarbons” and “Environmental stickers don’t mean SHIT when they’re stuck on CARS” so it’s my righteous indignation mobile though I’m probably perceived as a homeless guy when using it! Expensive, limited-use bicycles seem to be rather silly to me, I’d like to see rules making the pros ride the chrono stages on the same bike they use elsewhere rather than these goofy “Shivs” and such.
Larry T, I like the way you are thinking. My last 25 mi./40K ITT was ridden in 1985 on a Cinelli Centurian with 36 spokes per wheel on the old Moriarity (NM) course, a bumpy out and back on a breezy day. Even I could ride a 58 min. and change on that high altitude course. About halfway through the TT, I noticed I had forgotten to take off my pump. That’s how “invested” I was in that TT. The “real” hour record has to be ridden on a 70s-Eddy Merckx-Mexico City-style bike; why not road time trials?
I have had a couple of all-rounder bikes, but the reigning champ is my ’98 Kona Jake the Snake that has beeen a rando bike (it did PBP), a cross bike (it won a state age-group champ and rode at Nats), a single speed, and now, a 1X8 commuter with fenders, front rack with mini-panniers, and lights. Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin.’
What I really would like is a 700C/29er “rough stuff” steel-framed, drop-bar bike, set up to take fenders, racks (if needed), double or triple chainring, and up to 50 mm/1.95 inch wide tires. I have seen some contenders in this category (Rawland Drakkar, Salsa Fargo, Singular Gryphon), but they each have some deal breaker for me (no size with top tube in the 56-57 mm range, disk brake-only frames, track-style horizontal dropouts, etc.). Know of any frames or bikes in this genre I am missing? I am probably just too picky!
Dale
Thank you Patrick for calling bulls*t on how many bike journalists with froth over race-only toys, while denigrating the transportation bicycle.
Dale: Consider a Velo Orange Polyvalent. I bought one to set up as a shopping bike, but I’m using it as my main commuter/rando bike. Very comfortable with 650B X 42 tires, but still a fast ride. Cheap too!
jeez O’Grady have a Barley Wine, Grant Petersen called…said stop being so grouchy–look at what Twek did to poor Gary, I mean Klein, no I mean Fisher, man look what they did to bitter ol’ Greg, Twek is about to have a P.R nightmare on their cheesehead hands, so please forgive their money-grab mentality.
Oh. My. God. Alexi Grewal is coming back for the Tour of Toasted Sandwiches.
I love this story, but how will he eat Quiznos without most of his teeth?
VN says he had to scrape to get a very old Trek. Can someone get him some good equipment? How about some free dental work? And hook him up to a daily blog. He is gonna be The Most Entertaining Quote in the peloton.
“We’re gettin’ the band back together, man! Who’s got Steve Hegg’s phone number? Yeah, yeah, Rishi’s playin’ bass. Of course I’m playing lead guitar. It’s my band! Seriously, somebody call Hegg. Now. Why? Because I said so. And we need a drummer.”
Now I am gonna watch the Tour of Toasted Sandwiches. I wish I had one of those tri-color, fade Pinarellos. I wish I still had my blue hairnet like the yellow one Grewal wore in LA in ’84.
Guess whose birthday?
http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/SomeHistory.aspx
Cranky Cyclist:
Thanks for the suggestion on the Polyvalent! I love Velo-Orange. Have done lots of business with them.
Dale
As they say (no matter how much the editorial staff denies it) the content of these mags, websites and blogs is mostly driven by the advertisers, NOT the readers. The revenue from the reader for a subscription, etc. doesn’t pay the freight these days (if it ever did) so when folks making transportation bikes (or those selling EXPERIENCES like bike tours to Italy, etc.) start to pony up for full-page ad spreads you’ll see plenty of editorial about that stuff. Don’t hold your breath!
As to chrono bikes, more than a few pro races (like the Merckx deal down in Qatar in the early season) tell the boyz to leave the TT bikes at home and simply ride the same bike they use for road stages. Seems like a reasonable idea to me, saving a whole lot of freight costs for the teams while not changing the overall outcome of the event as everyone is riding more or less the same equipment.
The Salsa LaCruz is becoming my favorite all-around bike.The Six-Thirteen clearly wins hands-down for century rides or just going fast on weekends, but as others have said, the race bike is limited while the cross geometry can handle quite a few incarnations. Probably will go for another cross bike, a lighter one for summer commuting, while the Salsa will get is fenders, lights, and fat tires back on pretty soon.
What worries me is while we all slam that expensive and highly specialized crap, someone has to pay the publication bills so that the staff on VN and BRAIN can still collect their checks. As Larry sez, those cash cows selling somewhat irrelevant shit in Buycycling need to be milked. Remains to be seen who will be left standing if this recession goes on as long as I think it will.