While many of the technologies introduced in the last five years do offer tangible benefits to riders, the speed with which the cycling industry is turning over tech, introducing new and standards and scrapping old ones, can be maddening. Worse, it's turning people away from the sport.
My eyes were recently opened to this when discussing bikes over a few beers with a pair of friends. They’re not friends I would consider 'cyclists'; they don’t race, they certainly don’t shave their legs, and they only ride few times a month. If I were to categorize them in terms of hobbies, the term 'outdoors bros' seems to fit.
They ride bikes, but it’s not an all-encompassing passion or identity. They also rock climb, fly fish and ski. So while they think cycling is cool and they enjoy having high-end bikes (albeit somewhat dated), they have garages full of outdoor gear to manage. Bicycles are just one slice of the pie.
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Both of my friends were in the market for new mountain bikes, as theirs were four and six years old, respectively. We discussed options and they were both dumbfounded by the quagmire of choices they had to wade through. I did my best to explain all the changes that mountain biking has gone through in the past few years.
It didn’t go well.
“So quick-release axles are out; everything has thru-axles now,” I explained.
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