Are The Big Cycling Brands Destroying Cycling?

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Just a quick intro this video is representing the voices of so many people who work in the bike industry I regularly in contact with people who work at Specialized Tre Canon Etc or ex-staff members they say hey Harley doing I love your [ __ ] you’re speaking truth I don’t agree with everything you

Say but what you say about the industry is bang on point these new bikes are just [ __ ] [ __ ] we hate working on them they have no soul Etc we agree with you all right that is the common conclusion I get from some the big dogs

Or some of the the crew who work in these big dog companies okay so just let you know this is not just me thinking it I’m representing the voice of many many people who work in procycling uh Road cycling Etc I appre I appreciate you tuning in and I’m not going to waste

Your time telling you what you want to hear you’re going to hear what you need to hear there’s going to be some truth bombs in this video in this podcast the bike industry is cycling dying is cycling dying B about my background I’m 46 years of age I’ve

Never had a driver’s license I did my first crit in 1997 did a little stint as a pro wanabe racing in Belgium and France and England Etc and I live in breand cycling it’s my favorite sport it’s not a sport for me it’s a lifestyle it’s it’s something I have to do every

Single day I I like cycling so much I’ve chose never to have a driver’s license I’d prefer to ride than drive I’ve ridden across Australia I’ve ridden many the world I I love cycling and I love getting people into cycling and I am devastated as a first world problem

Devastated at what I see today in cycling when I walk into the bike shop into a bike shop what represents you know the current industry standards Etc and it’s not the bike Shop’s fault because bike shops are B basically told what to sell and how to sell Etc it

Comes some up top corporate corporate and the bike Mar you get today are absolute [ __ ] garbage they have zero Soul the only thing good about some of them is a really nice paint job they look the colors are fantastic and then you look at what’s involved with the

Maintenance and how heavy and non Arrow they are today I was riding one of the most expensive bikes out there that money can buy I won’t mention what brand it is I won’t mention the model but I was riding today and I was crosswind and I was looking down at the

Front wheel and I was just thinking this bike’s touted as [ __ ] Arrow I can literally feel the resistance the front of the front wheel all right that disc thing down the pizza cutter on my road bike that’s meant to be eror I could feel it affecting the handling I could

Feel the extra drag on a road I’ve ridden thousands of times thousands of times I’ve rid this road all right you probably blindfold me and I’ll tell tell you what road I’m riding okay and I’m so I’m riding this bike on like my test track and I’m just thinking [ __ ] this

All right now I’m grateful to be able to ride I’m grateful to be able to have the most you know the most expensive bike retail out there one of one of and people listen to my opinion I’m very grateful for that and I was just like I

Got to speak up man all the brands like this it’s not just you know it’s not just uh in no particular order Canal pinell Tre cello specialized you know blah blah blah it’s just it’s the way it’s headed it’s headed in these bikes are absolutely soulless they’re heavy they’re not Arrow

Go ride them in windy conditions they are not Arrow they are [ __ ] parachutes on Wheels and you know and then this talk about the S Works SLA I remember having one of those one of the only people in Australia to have one the first people

In the world to have one and I was writing it and it’s knocking all right it’s a knocking when you when I got at the Saddle knock knock knock on the front end and what’s that it’s up put a different wheel in there still knocking

And I was like and I’m a bite mechanic all right the world’s best bite mechanic but I could definitely work in a shop and I’m just thinking I can’t you cannot be [ __ ] pulling this thing apart to find out what’s knocking I’m going to have to buy

You know order in some new Hydro cable lines I have to trim it and cut it and [ __ ] feed it through the steerer and make sure it’s not the angles aren’t too bent and make you know like i’ do a [ __ ] front and rear rebled to find out what weather’s knockins coming from

By pulling the fork out and checking all the bearings and stuff front and rear rebled and buy and cut and refit new housing and hopefully I get it [ __ ] right just to check where the [ __ ] is the knocking coming from now on my other

S Works Tac my sl12 3 45 or six I can just put my [ __ ] bike in a tree at the park pull out a multi-tool pull it out and have a suu at the [ __ ] park waiting for a mate cops could pull up mate what are you doing just waiting for

A mate if you know you know so it’s just it’s crazy man and the price what the [ __ ] man how much are they you I mean like what the [ __ ] is going on now I’m all for making cycling you know getting the hobnobs in here great but what about

The entry level Noob right the dentists the barrs we got those covered for right but the noobs man like when I worked in a bike shop over 20 years ago amazing had an amazing job love my job had great boss you know I worked in basically a super store of Australian

Cycling am of stock we had top level top shelf we also had entry level stuff someone could come in I want my first robot I’d sell I could sell them uh you know a $1,500 Australian bike or even $2,000 with drce 10 speed 7800 right

Thei brand a LE Sport back in the day if you know you know you know or even three grand full carbon frame full drew a some Richie WCS a nice [ __ ] bike man you 2013 you get Shram red a aouri uh amazing frame better than SLA s

Tac I’ve owned both and I’m not a specialized hater I wear specialized hat on my videos sponsored by specialized have been you know a big fan and dismayed at the same time and this Missouri bike $2,100 full Shram red brand new 10speed Shi to your door full

Carbon frame top tier carbon frame not super duper light but [ __ ] legendary frame and for I mate got one the other day I think do I need do I need bike number 62 do I have room for bike 62 you know and I rode it I rode around

The park and I was like damn R in the street this is [ __ ] good bike better than the latest [ __ ] you know so I’m just thinking like what and what about the noobs out there man someone said the other day oh but you like no one’s forcing people to buy $10,000 or $20,000

B h yeah no one ever has no one is forcing the kids to go do crack cocaine people choose to do it and they get involved with whatever but the noob out there what’s the noob getting the noob’s getting a [ __ ] Marita or a specialized laay Disc break with these

Heavy as heavy as [ __ ] alloy wheels shitty hubs crappy tires and they go right out for the first time and you don’t get a you don’t pitch a tent right you don’t start dripping if you’re a trick you just like oh yeah oh this is cycling yeah I guess it feels

Better than the Huff Road when I was 8 years old right those bikes back in the day the $1,500 Trek with 9pe 105 they [ __ ] rode good and they still ride good today right and he buang a set of serums on there and they’re [ __ ] legendary bikes right you race a grad R

Cat one all right the bikes today the entry level bike 105 9 10 kilos it’s a [ __ ] gravel bike with road tires all right and uh you know it’s crazy so I see personally I’m going to call it I see cycling dying off at the T and under

Here recently amazing event an event I’ve been watching and promoting for over 25 years now since 1999 and I’m just seeing the numbers dropping man up Wanga up mof it’s just in the village it doesn’t have the same pop all right and it’s you like I remember specialized would do like a

Demo day there in the village and uh and then eventually the cost too much they went outside the village and you know and I and they have like the SL 3 for demo and sl4 for demo and I remember riding these bikes saying man this is a

[ __ ] sick bike right and the sl6 demo that sick bike sick B making videos about it and then uh now look this [ __ ] 15 kilo Rubes all these [ __ ] $10,000 Shram rival Tac slats demo days and he ought to pay 20 bucks to do it I

Guess just filters out the just the tie kickers and the the dentists I get it but you know me [ __ ] man so it’s just and if you jump on a a Tarmac sl4 with like just some light some decent wheels on it man Rim brake you ride that thing

Man you’re going to be chasing buses down highway just like I was back in 2012 or 2013 whatever it was you know the bikes back then are [ __ ] incredible and you can still get them today for peanut prices secondhand if you know you know near New Mint Condition okay because all the dentists

And barers who get in the keto diet they quit cycling they sell their bike or they’re going to upgrade to to aerody disc [ __ ] FF machines and so that the bikes these days the good bikes sell for peanuts and the crappy bikes with no soul and don’t ride that good they sell

For a lot all right so yeah so I was riding I was riding I was riding the super bike today the super bike of 2024 and I’m like I just you know I can’t do another I can’t do a video about this bike because it’s just it just represents all the [ __ ] bikes

Out there right now okay it represents all the bikes there right now and uh yeah anyway that’s the deal it is a travesty what’s going on in cycling I had the event there noobs will be like you’re doing right is crazy he’s having a middle Edge crisis it’s like dude I

Had that [ __ ] 10 years ago okay um but it’s [ __ ] it it’s crazy man crazy and the the speeds of people going up nor and summer is getting slower on average except for Chris Harper who ripped up a new com good on to Chris Champion effort there but imagine how

Much faster Chris Harper would have gone up Norton Summit he he did it solo around 10:30 a.m. doing 100K ride or so and he ripped up 11 minutes flat up north Summit on a road Disc break bike okay now imagine if he was on you know a

Proper giant like a proper TCR or something like that or even a Propel Rim Breck he would have gone up there in probably like 1040 okay literally at that speed every second every gram every drag that really really matters but the average speeds of people going up north in summer is getting

Slower now yes sugar phobia is a cause of that but what about the young kids out there who are watching my content you know they’re not going faster on these new bikes they’re going slower okay the world tour Riders are going faster because they’re like really

Cranking on the on the sugars even extra but I’m talking about the the average racer out there ain’t going faster you know on these new bikes they get they get an old bike that’ll go even faster room break for the wind anyway that’s just the deal there it’s it’s crazy the

New and so that’s why Cy is cycling dying in the Western World yes it is because the bikes don’t have the same [ __ ] vibration man you don’t get the same [ __ ] pop when you ride these new bikes compared to the bikes they were meant to replace the old amandas TX

Sinaps defi tcrs super six um you know the bian the pineros you know the rim break models the super bikes of 10 years ago of [ __ ] of 20 years ago are [ __ ] way better than the latest junk out there the only thing the only Advantage the new bikes have is raking

In extra Revenue in these hard times for bike shops and I think times are got about to get a lot harder because your noobs ain’t walking through the door or if they’re walking through the door they’re walking back out with no purchase cuz they’re like [ __ ] F this is

Expensive 4,000 bucks what 4,000 I can’t do that you mean you you could back in the day you could get a 105 bike for $1,000 man in Australia ,000 Aussie dollar full 1059 speed for ,000 bucks all right with a Columbus trooping what the [ __ ] do you get for a

Th000 bucks now you get bro get the [ __ ] out the store you broke CT you know that’s what you get it’s crazy man so yeah I I could work in a bike shop now because of that I was cuz CU I know what’s going on and I know what the

Options are out there and I just like couldn’t do it so and here I ain’t out I’m not out here to really to to to rag on anyone who works in bike shops I got so many crew you know I talk to regularly who work in bike shops or own

Bike shops or etc etc I’m that heat of ragging all like that I’m here more to to rag on corporate up top people who DCT your local bike shop doesn’t dictate the IND industry right they just represent what’s going on whether they like it or not okay what dictates industry is Corporate

Up top and those people don’t [ __ ] ride bikes whoever designed the SLA tarmac doesn’t ride a [ __ ] bike man whoever signed off on let’s kill the rim break tarmac and let’s just push this break out there they don’t ride a [ __ ] bike and if they [ __ ] do they

Don’t have a [ __ ] soul and they don’t give a [ __ ] about cycling all right they don’t give a [ __ ] about the future of cycling all they care about is profits bottom line and yeah big business is about profits they get it but like you’re just killing your own industry by

Putting out this shitty product that’s [ __ ] heavier it’s a nightmare to work on it has no soul nobody likes working on it nobody likes [ __ ] swapping the bars out on SLA Tac no [ __ ] body likes that job all right no one likes that job okay and by definition of that

Take away the payment hey dude could you SW my bars on my SL time AC no one’s saying yeah I’ll do that for you all right if you if You’ have got an sl4 time AC right and I’m I’m riding down the street you’re like hey D Rider hey

Mate can you help me for a second I yeah cool what’s going on I’ve just bought some new bars and I don’t know how to put them on my bike you got 10 minutes can you put them on for me I don’t have any money though I said dude I don’t I

Okay I’ll show you how to do it pull out your camera just for a video all right I’ll do that I’ll swap your bars out for you in the park with a [ __ ] multi- tool now if you got an SLA and hey I’ve spent 800 bucks on some bars and I’m

Dead broke can you install them for me bro you [ __ ] got [ __ ] sucker bro I ain’t pulling [ __ ] out I my phone to film this [ __ ] you know good luck in a nice way you know I mean like no one likes working on these new super bikes unless they’re getting paid handsomely

For it and even the people that are getting paid for it it’s just not fun to pull Hydro Cables through these [ __ ] dentist bars that feel like like [ __ ] to ride and if you have a crash you got to Chuck them in the bin all right it’s

Just just a waste of [ __ ] man it’s just unnecessary wank all right the ergonomics is [ __ ] uh you want to give yourself an injury then ride those one piece past them combos yeah maybe if you’re 20 of age and you know you’re like you got insane flexibility and all that and you

Can pull it off but even then you’ll still have better performance on a traditional stem and a traditional row bar you be to absolutely fine tune and detail that fit just for you and have it custom every time you ride the one piece bar stuff you can’t do that anyway we’re

Rambling on here this is the deal thanks for tuning in I’d event that um a lot of people a lot of people industry feel exactly the same you wouldn’t believe how many X or current employers I get from the big Brands specialized Treck Canal etc etc you know jamas Fel even

The people who just tune in send me a DM or they see me at a Expo whatever hey doing right I love your [ __ ] what you speak is truth I wish I could say it but I lose my job blah blah blah keep it up all right so I represent so many people

In the bike industry man all right they don’t have a choice if they speak up they lose their job or they get ostracized or bullied or whatever okay so anyway that’s the deal thanks for listening