Quote:
Originally Posted by HenryA
A bike builder who has been around since the 80s has about run the course of human life. So, to the extent that those builders are animated by an individual, they have simply run out of steam and are done.
Add in that modern life is so influenced by social media hyping what’s new and you have a situation where the new thing is necessary to success. For those who have been around long enough to see the new recycled for its second or third iteration, its hard to get excited about new.
For me, part of the mystique of a bespoke bicycle was/is that another human put large amounts of intention into the concept, design and realization of the bike. As above, the latest new thing seems to rule today. I’m pretty much unimpressed. A lot of the new things answer questions I never asked and still don’t today.
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I think you're on target, but I wonder over the next decade or two whether the target market for custom bikes will shrink as we old guys die off? Is there as large of a cohort of, say, 30 year old cyclists that as they age and their finances improve will want the equivalent of a Kirk, Bingham, or Peg?