Low Gears and Internet Shaming

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Ewiser

Don’t think so. He is more about enjoying the world riding. Which is how cycling was before all those who think they are pro racers found cycling.
Those would comment don’t know anything about that part of cycling. They have grown up with the mindset of we must go faster mentally Jo in

That doesn't negate Philster's post. If Russ was only interested in enjoying the world riding, why does he pay any attention to what random internet posters think of his gearing?

[benb]

Originally Posted by Ewiser

He is more about enjoying the world riding.

He is about talking about biking on video and getting people to watch him talk about biking so that he can get ad revenue and make enough money to talk about biking full time without the need for a traditional job.

Originally Posted by Ewiser

Which is how cycling was before all those who think they are pro racers found cycling.

You're talking about some period in the 1880s wait 1870s wait 1860s?

The US apparently had over 100 tracks for bike racing by 1890 and over 600 professional racers... we have been seeing who is faster and emulating faster racers for a really long time.

[Ewiser]

What ever you want to think.
As we see the reason of his video post live here in this thread.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Today, Sram can run 2x with a 10-36 cassette, and ranging from 50/37 chainrings to 43/30. With 1x, Sram offers 10-52 cassettes compatibility. Shimano offers cranks ranging from 54-40 to 46-30, 2x cassettes ranging up to 11-36 (officially) and 1x cassetts ranging up to 10-51.

The industry is absolutely catering to folks who want wider gear ranges. Maybe it's not perfect, and not every rider's desire is being catered to exactly, but it's not nothing either. This is what's frustrating to me about trying to watch his videos. He's out there taking shots left and right, then acting all surprised when he gets some pushback.

It's fine if that helps him get clicks and make a living, but we don't have to take his complaints seriously.

I'm 100% with you on this. I unsubscribed earlier this year because there seemed to be a shift in his tone from "check out this cool non-mainstream stuff" to "Alt bikes/gears/products are the best and everything else is dumb because I said so". I also understand that he's got to generate clicks and viewership and unfortunately modern social media and content creation is driven more by decisiveness than being fun to watch.

Not sure if anyone follows twitch-type video game folks, but Shroud is VERY well known and has palmares in the videogame professional world and called out this change recently as well. Just being entertaining and good at something isn't good enough to get views and subscribers. You've got to be abrasive and cause controversy to pull people in to click your videos if you want to build a following.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by BRad704

I also understand that he's got to generate clicks and viewership and unfortunately modern social media and content creation is driven more by decisiveness than being fun to watch.

Not only deciveness - "I'm right and everyone else is wrong" - but also divisiveness - "I'm right and everyone else is stupid".

Clicks and subscriptions equal revenue, and revenue, either monetary or ego, are what they're after. I'm sure that many start out well intentioned, but it doesn't seem like many stay that way.