The Daily Grind

By Rob Manning

The Escalating Arms Race

It doesn't matter what bike you're riding if you're enjoying it.

I’m sure you all read my piece a few months back about building my trailbike (May ’06) and how I loved it so. Well, I still love it, but something strange has happened the past few weeks. Of course the weather is nice, as the blazing sun makes for longer days and more riding. The Kona has seen many miles since its birth, and I’m growing to love its performance even more with each ride. Something strange is in the air though that I must confess…

As summer progresses, leafing through bike rags at Barnes and Noble, often over a large (or venti, if you speak yuppie) café _mocha, throws me into a world of new bike reviews, products and technical articles. Advertisers slather the pages with enticing pictures of their wares, trying to suck the hard-earned money right out of your pocket to benefit their bottom line. After my last trip to the bookstore, I began to talk openly about adding gizmos and gadgets to my trusty steed.

Fellow riders enjoy reminding me that I’ve often said that my bike is “everything I could have asked for or wanted” and that I wouldn’t change a thing. A valid point indeed but I have been painted into a corner by my own haunting words from a day long passed. I began to pontificate on the reason for needing all these expensive new parts. Unfortunately for you, having been shushed on the spot (girlfriends tend to do that), now you get to listen to my rant.

It’s as simple as this: Building, owning, riding or buying a bike brings out the “cold war” in people. There’s a constant arms race to own and ride the newest, fanciest, slickest, swankiest and most awe-inspiring piece of equipment to hit the market. Carbon fiber, titanium, fancy anodized bits and ultra-weight weenie parts are a few examples of the artillery various factions rally around.

Nobody is immune, no matter how much willpower they claim to possess. Everyone has that one little thing, one single part, that tiny obsession that draws them into the cold war of cycling. Even with my girlfriend present, I am immune-neither is my checkbook- no matter how much I wish I could be. It already started with forged and carbon parts in the form of an X.0 derailleur. My symptom’s progressing too- I’ve got my eye on X.0 shifters and a new crankset to replace the oh-so-bland LX cranks that served me dutifully through the past two seasons. Or there’s the other project I’ve got in my head: a short travel, lightweight full suspension rig. Let’s face it; 5” travel all around is unnecessary sometimes, and it doesn’t hurt to ride something 6 pounds lighter on those long hot days.

Damn...I’m doing it again.

As we share the same dirt, the different powers go head-to-head. Geared riders compete against singlespeeders; 29ers fling pooh at 26ers; full suspension jousts with full rigid riders, and hardtails cower in the middle; all-mountain riders laugh at downhillers, and free riders leave tire tracks on XC racers. It’s getting to be downright ridiculous when you witness some of the things people argue over (especially in online forums). In the end, don’t we all ride the same trails on two round wheels?

New bikes...the next atomic weapon?

I’m lucky to ride with people who could care less about what’s underneath them. We all ride because we love it. The bike is only the tool to give us this pleasure we seek. Sure, I’ve drooled over people’s bikes on the trail and they’ve drooled over mine at times. I don’t care. I have my reasons for buying and riding what I choose. If people want to inflate their egos by claiming their derailleur, fork, shock, whatever-thingamabob is better than mine, then so be it. I hope it makes them feel better. I want to go and ride and I hope for their sake they feel the same.

So am I going to build a short travel bike? Probably, but not until I get around to it. I’ll still hang out, drinking large café mochas in Barnes and Noble, flipping through the rags and checking out the shiny new schwag. I’ll still talk about picking up this part or that part, and get shushed about it. The fact remains, the great equalizer is how that bike performs for you out on the trail and if you’re having fun. If you have the most expensive, most current prototype bike on the planet and you can’t pedal 10 feet up a fire road without falling over, I’d say that speaks for itself. You may be winning the arms race, but you’re losing the cold war.