Final week I discussed Jobst Brandt and his ideas on lengthy chainstays. Subsequently, I discovered myself studying Jobst Brandt’s ideas on plenty of issues, in addition to Tom Ritchey’s ideas on Jobst Brandt:

As a Cervino rider, the Nishiki jersey and shorts within the above photograph caught my eye:

And I think he too could also be using a Cervino, as a result of shade apart, have a look at the shifters:

It’s laborious to inform for positive, however they positive do appear to be they’re within the tell-tale jackrabbit place on prime of the downtube:

See?

So what’s the importance of all this?

I don’t know, both, although if that’s in reality a Cervino then it represents the one identified up to date photograph of 1 within the wild, a discover of main significance to the modern-day Cervino neighborhood, which so far as I can inform at present consists solely of me:

[La communauté de Cervino, c’est moi.]

As for the Nishiki rider within the photograph, no one is aware of for positive what occurred to him, however rumor has it that he was killed and eaten by Jobst Brant himself, who disapproved of his bicycle’s unnecessarily difficult shifter configuration.

A tall story? Maybe. However there’s no denying that Jobst Brandt is the closest factor the biking world has to Paul Bunyan. 6’5″ tall and with, based on Ritchey, a “voice like Darth Vader,” Brandt didn’t even carry water bottles and as a substitute slaked his thirst by ingesting from mountain streams. He additionally broke cranks like they had been matchsticks with a frequency that nearly beggars perception:

And like Bigfoot, we solely have grainy “proof” of his existence:

As somebody who used to lurk within the rec.bicycles.tech newsgroup I used to be at all times in awe of his persona, his pragmatism, and his prose, which was as unadorned and purposeful because the gear he favored. It has been awhile since I’d delved deeply into his posts, however thankfully they’re now archived, so these days I discover myself perusing them once more. As I’ve talked about earlier than, it’s ironic that the gravelistas have embraced Brandt as their “godfather” when a lot in that world runs counter to what he espoused, from overcomplicated bikes with plenty of gears to costly organized rides to advertising and marketing run amok:

Mainstream discourse at present is anodyne and biking has readily embraced the fashionable mandate to not offend, which is ironic since biking is a bodily endeavor that inherently includes problem, even when undertaken casually. Certain, the arbiters of style have at instances taken this too far, like Rapha within the early days, and maybe they’re rightly feeling a bit penitent for all of the self-wankery:

[Oh for fuck’s sake spare me.]

However on the identical time there now appears to be a pathological aversion to acknowledging that a part of the enjoyment of biking is that it may be a problem. Contemplate the style during which we’re promoting our soul to the e-bike, a tool that fully undermines the human-powered ethos of biking–but Lob forbid you say something detrimental about e-bikes, or query the (sorry) ridiculous declare they’re going to interchange automobile journeys on an enormous scale. We’re actually surrendering our bike lanes to motorized automobiles for concern of seeming illiberal.

Embracing the problem of biking doesn’t imply it needs to be bodily grueling, neither is it that dirtiest of adjectives: “ableist.” Rivendell doesn’t promote struggling and self-flagellation; they promote using slowly and in consolation. Sure, that’s additionally advertising and marketing, however beneath the lugs and the leather-and-cotton baggage is the concept the bike is a machine comprising of steel and cables, and that there’s a satisfaction in working it. In the meantime, SRAM now sells digital shifting on the idea that it’s “meant to simplify the using expertise” and that “riders can deal with their experience, not their gear.” Rivendell might need to maintain you comfy, however that’s completely different from holding your hand; working the gear could be very a lot part of the experience, and that’s an excellent factor, not a foul factor. Utilizing a friction shifter as a substitute of merely pushing a button could also be extra “difficult,” but it surely’s additionally extra rewarding. It feels good in the identical manner having the ability to play one thing easy on a guitar feels good, whereas the fashionable biking business needs your bike to be extra like the David Lee Roth soundboard.

In current a long time the thought has been that we’ve received to do away with the “limitations to entry” with a purpose to get extra folks using, however in so doing we’ve overlooked the truth that climbing over limitations is a part of what makes it enjoyable within the first place, whether or not it’s using over an precise mountain or just dialing in a shift. Not solely have we flattened the panorama, however we’ve fetishized the act of doing so, and we’ve changed the limitations that when dotted that panorama with a bunch of meaningless symbols:

1,000,000 firms promoting the identical gravel bike, accent model after accent model, influencers passing themselves off as craftspeople, bike bloggers misplaced up their very own asses, and the umpteenth rebranded Panaracer tire.

Certain, clearly individuals are nonetheless boasting about their laborious rides, and you’ll go to sure web sites and see lavish pictures of peoples’ bike tenting journeys styled like trend shoots (or go to Bicycling and examine some middle-aged man’s designer biking trip), however underpinning it all of the message should be, “You are able to do this too,” and there’s aways a motorbike or a bag or an article of clothes or a life-style on the market together with it. There’s no one telling you that you simply don’t want all these gears and also you look ridiculous:

Jobst Brandt was about conserving it easy, however at present the people who find themselves ostensibly about conserving it easy recoil on the suggestion that perhaps you will get by and not using a 13-inch gear and denounce it as “street biking hegemony:”

As for me, Jobst Brant’s loopy gearing is among the causes I made a decision to deliver the Kestrel to Switzerland, and I’m glad I did:

I’m not saying I’d essentially do these climbs with a 42×21 once more, however I’m actually glad I did it as soon as.

And in the event you assume saying folks don’t want disc brakes on their street bikes is edgy, how about saying dual-pivot brakes are for timid novices with weak fingers?

This sounded insanely curmudgeonly even to me, however then I thought of it: the only pivot brakes I’ve work simply superb. Not solely that, however they don’t should be adjusted to run so near the rim, the brake pads are a lot thicker, they usually open wider to let the wheel out and in–a problem with dual-pivots whenever you’re utilizing fattish tires:

Earlier than lengthy I used to be window-shopping them for my Milwaukee:

[Via eBay]

I’m not saying we must always all return to single-pivot brakes, however coddling folks includes sacrifice on our personal elements, and it doesn’t take lengthy to neglect what we’ve given up. Dropping just a little rim clearance was arguably well worth the trade-off, however dropping the power to shift and not using a battery will not be.

Typically the very best influencers are essentially the most offensive ones.