In real life, I'm an early technology adopted. But, I don't buy new bikes (or new cars) very often, so my adoption of new technology built into the bike (like indexed shifting, disk brakes, etc.) has been late and "lumpy" - generally coming after renting a bike on a vacation or business trip.
Early on I was in Seattle and rented a bike with disk brakes and got caught in the rain - after the first downhill stop I went "oooh, I want this!" I never got the "ooh" factor for numbers of rear cassettes once they went above 8.
A few years ago I had two business trips where I got to sneak in bike rides on rentals. One was in San Francisco and I rented a bike with a 1X drivetrain and the other somewhere that rented me a bike with a 2X drivetrain and electronic shifting that was set up where I just hit up or down and it figured out whether to just shift the rear derailleur or to move move front and rear derailleur.
I had the "Oooh, I want this" feeling from no more left hand shifting on both bikes but each had some disadvantages for touring, too. Three years ago it was time to retire the old Trek 520 and looking realistically at the types of touring I was now doing, I went with a Jamis and the 1x mechanical drivetrain that gave up top end but got me pretty close to the same low end as the 520's granny gear - with no batteries, and fewer cables/parts on the bike.
Shoe technology: I always hated laces on bike shoes, so early on became a convert to buckle type. When my pair of those finally fell apart, I got seduced by the dial type technology but quickly found it too fragile for me (the BoA dial has a lifetime warranty, but the part on the shoe does not) - I went a step back in technology to Velcro. An added bonus is I can annoy my retired teacher wife at lunch stops by repeatedly scccrrcchhing the fasteners like her students would do when parents started sending them to school in Velcro sneakers....
Mike, ever since I was a kid I've never been able to keep shoes tied. I've been yelled at by lacrosse coaches, Catholic school nuns, women to whom I am related to by marriage, and random concerned strangers behind me on escalators, but I am just a shoe tying failure. I went with slip-on loafer style business shoes since none came with Velcro!
hah! My Miyata had Biopace! Oval chainrings were the thing in 1987. I don’t remember feeling any difference, but since that bike was my first real quality bike, I expect that difference just blended in with the others.
In real life, I'm an early technology adopted. But, I don't buy new bikes (or new cars) very often, so my adoption of new technology built into the bike (like indexed shifting, disk brakes, etc.) has been late and "lumpy" - generally coming after renting a bike on a vacation or business trip.
Early on I was in Seattle and rented a bike with disk brakes and got caught in the rain - after the first downhill stop I went "oooh, I want this!" I never got the "ooh" factor for numbers of rear cassettes once they went above 8.
A few years ago I had two business trips where I got to sneak in bike rides on rentals. One was in San Francisco and I rented a bike with a 1X drivetrain and the other somewhere that rented me a bike with a 2X drivetrain and electronic shifting that was set up where I just hit up or down and it figured out whether to just shift the rear derailleur or to move move front and rear derailleur.
I had the "Oooh, I want this" feeling from no more left hand shifting on both bikes but each had some disadvantages for touring, too. Three years ago it was time to retire the old Trek 520 and looking realistically at the types of touring I was now doing, I went with a Jamis and the 1x mechanical drivetrain that gave up top end but got me pretty close to the same low end as the 520's granny gear - with no batteries, and fewer cables/parts on the bike.
Shoe technology: I always hated laces on bike shoes, so early on became a convert to buckle type. When my pair of those finally fell apart, I got seduced by the dial type technology but quickly found it too fragile for me (the BoA dial has a lifetime warranty, but the part on the shoe does not) - I went a step back in technology to Velcro. An added bonus is I can annoy my retired teacher wife at lunch stops by repeatedly scccrrcchhing the fasteners like her students would do when parents started sending them to school in Velcro sneakers....
2 weeks ago