” Constructed of high-modulus carbon fiber with a hexagonal honeycomb cross section”

first of all: try to look up modulus in a dictionary, or on wikipedia. if it aint there… could it be a made-up buzz word? i think the new plug in for “high-modulus carbon fiber” should be ‘chinese plastic’.

hexagonal honeycomb cross section: where? to do what? and arnt all honeycombs hexagonal? ok so: hexagonal honeycomb cross section = structural marketing non-sense.

“the SL1s is designed to be light” there are bikes that are designed to be heavy?

“To ensure your power is translated into speed, Fuji incorporates short, 405mm chainstays and an interlocking aluminum bottom-bracket shell for stiffness.”

interlocking? does that mean its wedged in like a puzzle piece and not glued?

“Adding a bit of aesthetic beauty, and a bit of compliance for comfort, according to Fuji, the top tube arcs to join the seatstays, and is pierced by the seat tube.”

ok first off, this bike looks like every other black carbon bike ever, except it has the name of some film i used to use in giant white letters. shouldn’t makers aim for a ‘bit’ more than a ‘bit of aesthetic beauty’? is that all your 6,000 dollars gets you is a bit of comfort and good looks? what a sad world. i know 20 dollar goodwill bikes that have more comfort and better aesthetics than any chinese plastic bike ever could.

“On the short and steep 12-percent grades we rode in coastal Orange County, California, the SL1s proved to be a powerful platform that practically solicited out-of-the-saddle attacking.”

luckly i am on the no call list.

‘encourages a run-and-gun riding style.’

um, are they encouraging shooting other riders while running with your bike? i like to ride my bike, and shoot cans when not riding the bike.

i do love how completely non-informative most bike reviews are.

“A proprietary technology, called Wrap, is used in the junction of the head and top tubes. A 6/4 sheet titanium is built into the heavily shaped top tube. It flares, pinches and partially wraps around the 3/2.5 double-butted ti head tube. The multishaped down tube encircles the head tube to create a highly stiff focal point for control and responsiveness. The 3/2.5 seat tube ovalizes and wraps around the bottom-bracket shell for increased weld surface and additional strength. Chainstays are asymmetrical 3/2.5 butted titanium with a V bend for solid power transfer, and the oval seatstays are designed for vertical compliance. Cosmetically, the Archon undergoes a 14-step finishing, graphics and coating process for a lustrous sheen that will turn heads.”

amazing that the writers can wank off litespeed with one hand and type with the other. this is 90 percent of the article. it is followed by more wanking, in the form of a 2 line endorsement of how the bike rides like a carbon bike. so: actual bike review to wanking ratio: 5:27. kinda like the anna nichole coverage vs the walter reed coverage at fox ‘news’.

the next review, on some kestrel chinese plastic bike, has a startling 10:1 ratio of marketing buzzwords to actual ‘analysis’. my guess; these cats don’t even ride these bikes, but rather ask the company to tell them what they think it rides like, and then they cut and past tech BS for the online catalogue, and presto! article written, paycheck received.

out of 50 bikes bicycle magazine reviewed, only 2 were not chinese plastic, and zero were steel or aluminum. none of these bikes could accept fenders, a rack, a generator light, a bag of any kind except those tiny 1 tube and a co2 bags, and only a few could handle a broken spoke. this from a magazine obviously aimed at beginners. also, only 2 bikes reviewed cost under 1500 dollars. what message is ‘bicycling’ sending

what message are the makers sending by continuing to support this magazine? speed sells, even if it doesn’t make any sense. Lemond, long a hold out on carbon crap, has gone almost totally carbon for 07. bianchi and jamis remain the last hold outs for production steel bikes.

some of the hype is so preposterous that it would function as a joke in an earlier age:

” all-carbon bike attracts attention, and from just about everyone, tech geek and fitness rider alike. During testing, I heard comments from “that red paint is sooo sparkly” to “I can’t take my eyes off those seatstays.” That’s because there’s a lot going on, with not only the seatstays, but also with the tube shapes. The Buenos Aires is built with LeMond’s new Min/Max technology, which minimizes weight by using less material and maximizes stiffness via smart tube shaping. Tube diameters are also adjusted by frame size for lower weight and increased strength.”

last time i checked, almost every quality steel bike made had tubing specific to the size of the bike. the butts would be out of wack if this were not the case. isn’t it the goal of any tube spec’er to find the lightest tube to reliably do the job?

also: ‘sparkly red paint’ …are 5th graders writing this crap? no, that demeans 5th graders.

i wish these mags would start writing about how to finance these bikes. imagine if this marketing were to be applied in other, non-sports walks of life. ‘the stanley pro-ccountant desk unit account-o-typer: add and subtract faster than your officemate with advanced high modulus pressure sensative sub-static key interfaces.

just gimme the pencil and paper, asshole.