It is a bummer when nicely crafted bicycles go unused, but they will make their way back into the market at a discounted rate for people who want to put some miles of them. If only 1 or 2 percent of new rando bike purchases encourage people to take longer bike rides with books and some swimming trunks or rain gear on a warm night then it seems okay to me. I think this kind of riding can be more enjoyable over more of your life than max tempo stopwatch based activities and for me the more people on bicycles the better.
Besides, it is not like anyone is forcing anyone to buy them and it is no more ridiculous then people riding pro tour level carbon rim skinny tire go fast machines on non competitive rides for exercise.
I might argue that "most" people on traditional road machines are riding bikes a little bit too far on the performance side for maximum enjoyment. Years of working in bicycle shops and selling road bikes to people which I later had to try and cram bags and racks and higher bars and lights onto seemed to point to this problem.
I think that the "rando" fad that we are is great, when it passes we will be left with a bunch of practical bicycles and equipment in the marketplace. Much better than all the crap left over after the fixie fad, ultra narrow riser bars, frames with no brake mounts and million pound "aero" rims.
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Originally Posted by livingminimal
I think you're the exception, rather than the norm. And its beautiful. I am legit glad there are people enjoying this stuff. I also think a lot of purchases are social media driven these days (Crust, a dude who uses a dead child for his screen name, etc) and never actually use the bikes for any rando purpose. Or they might for the next six months while John Prolly has em hot.
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