Styleman on Diamond coiffed helmets...

[William]

Is Lazer's diamond-encrusted helmet so over the top that it's stylish?--Francis Tortorro, IN

In general, as you know, I strongly endorse the efforts of all who try to look as pro as possible. But Lazer's $7,000, special-edition Genesis helmet--encrusted with a 1.18-carat diamond on a gold nameplate and originally created for Quick Step racers who won a Classic or ProTour stage--is a tough call even for me. When assuming a pro look, you must always keep two unbreachable precepts in mind:

1. The higher you climb in the hierarchy from newbie to pro, the less you should imitate one. Full Euskaltel kit paired with an orange Orbea Orca and Campy tubulars on a 15-mile charity ride? Genius. A simple ProTour jersey in a Cat 3 race? Loser beyond pity or salvation.

2. Always remember that pros don't pay for the decadent gear they ride--and as a corollary, if you pay a lot to do so, you are stupider than they are. For context, this makes you stupider than people who rock mullets and believe taking a shower fills your legs with water. Yet, stupid people are happy people, and I would change places with you in an instant if I could.

The Genesis exists in a gray area between these two guiding principles. Flying that lid at a lunch ride is a stroke of genius neither Einstein nor Yamamoto could have conceived. And yet, while there's an ecstatic amount of beauty to be found in laying the helmet down on the cobbles while trying to hold Boonen's wheel through Arenberg, the crash that costs you $7,000 will occur when you topple over at the stoplight in front of the Pizza Hut at 10th and Main.

If you fancy yourself unskilled and lacking all potential, yet happy, run the helmet.

[William]

Q: "Which cycling magazine would look best my coffee table, and Style Man responded":

"There hasn't been a bike magazine worth the strain on your retina since Coureur was turned into Sporting Cyclist in the mid-1950s. John Borland Wadley founded, wrote and shot most of the few issues of Coureur, creating one of those expressions of singular vision and honest love that sometimes gets called art. Of course he went broke. In the tradition of publishing, an outside investor destroyed everything admirable about the magazine — to great financial success and mainstream popularity. Wadley's ashes are scattered on the Col du Glandon; the ashes of cycling journalism are scattered in front of us every day: There are the breathless news publications that conspired with racers for decades to conceal doping and now address this foundation of the sport with the kind of sham shock and outrage perfected by political parties whose senators have wide stances. There are the twee art imprints whose readers pee their pants every time they gaze upon a black-and-white photo of a precious, wool-shorted hero they'd previously never heard of but now — in breath reeking of St. Raphael, espresso and loneliness — will pontificate upon for the duration of every group ride until the next issue arrives. There are the buy-cycling magazines that, depending on the guile of their bike-and-clothing comped "editors" churn out reviews that on a scale of integrity range somewhere from marketing firm to shill to whore. There are the illiterate local rags that keep it real — because "it" is about the only word they end up spelling right — and whose hatred of top-tier racers and bike manufacturers turns into obsequious fawning the moment the racer or a product manager actually talks to them. Journalism takes the exquisite guanciale that is cycling and grinds it up into potted meat food product, and the longer we support this process the more disgusting the mush we're fed — now there's even a cycling magazine run by a girl."

[dsteady]

I'm going to miss Style Man. Did you know that last one about the magazines is his last column for Bicycling?

[BumbleBeeDave]

This should hold you . . .

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5

BBD

[BumbleBeeDave]

THIS one should!

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/

BBD

[dsteady]

THIS one should!

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/

BBD

Oh yeah. I've got bikesnobnyc bookmarked on my browser.

[djg]

. . . so often not worth reading, but swinging for the fences and making contact on the way out.

Of course, they won't let you wear the pro tour jersey in a Cat 3 race, but still . . . point 2 and the magazine rant are fantastic.

[offen4312]

potiskanje, tako lepo temo dobro delovno mesto