Going for Speed
The ability to instantly (almost) share information across the world is a powerful tool. Newsgroups have the potential to be wonderfully useful. Just think, you wouldn't necessarily have to buy every new gizmo that comes out (or talk a friend into it). You could get honest non-commercial opinions from others. You might occasionally find some obscure chain lube or tire that just fully kicked ass, and you could let the world know. Or you could query the group and find out before wasting your money that the guy who designed the mtb tires you were interested in DOESN'T EVEN OWN A MOUNTAIN BIKE. Unfortunately it doesn't quite work that way.Mostly I'm talking about the rec.bicycles.off-road, the only newsgroup anyone would want to read, but it seems like other cycling related groups are similar.
There are three problems with rec.bicycles as I see it. The first is that many people feel compelled to comment on things they know nothing about. The 2nd is that many posters don't demonstrate their credibility. We are forced to guess how much experience they have with the subject in question. The 3rd is that many posters are more interested in making sarcastic and stupid remarks than they are in contributing to the flow of information. Let me give you an example: Recently a gentleman posted a query about SID and Bomber suspension forks, their respective weights , etc. Another rider, who happens to own one of each of these forks, and who has plenty of riding time on them, posted his impressions, along with the weights OF HIS FORKS AS HE WEIGHED THEM (2.6 and 3.9 lbs). This individual showed us his credibility. He stated that he owned the forks, he raced them both and he personally weighed them. This is 1000 times more valuable than the dork who posts an opinion but fails to tell us whether he actually owns one of these forks. If someone said "well, i haven't ever ridden one, but i read in a crappy, fucked-up magazine with lots of manitou ads, that the rock shox forks are no good." Well, that would be useful. We would know to completely disregard the writer's opinion. Likewise, if someone said "Well I've broken dozens of cranks, and I'm an engineer, so I know exactly how to install cranks and whether or not to grease spindles", then you might realize that someone who's proud of destroying equipment is not the best source of info for proper installation and maintenance of that equiment.
Now I like sarcastic stupid comments as much as the next guy, probably more than most. It's hard to resist making fun of the fellow who posts a query for information on how to lighten up his cannondale (throw it away and buy a real bike, haha). Sometimes however, the comments are just plain stupid. For example, the SID-Bomber post got a response from some self-righteous fucking idiot that "all scales weigh in lbs and ounces, or metric and decimal." As if the original poster musta just made the weights up since they were in tenths of lbs. Not only was this guy wrong, but his post had nothing to do with the topic.
Another good example of this phenomenon: There is a fellow who posts frequently on just about every topic on rec.bicycles.off-road. For anonymity's sake, we'll call him "David Bloke." Now mr Bloke called me to task because offered some seating position advice in response to a query. I referred the query-poster to an old article by Keith Bontrager, and mentioned that I more or less agreed with his ideas on the subject. Mr. Bloke wanted to know how I could agree with KB if I rode a Fisher genesis geometry bike, which he claimed had a different seating position than Bontrager recommended. Where did Bloke get the idea that genesis geometry and seat position have anything whatsoever to do with each other? I can't imagine. The fisher catalog clearly states that the genesis rider compartment remains the same as the traditional mtb. I can only surmise that Bloke didn't feel the need to actually have any freaking idea what he was talking about. He went on to tell me how bontragers have extra steep seat angles for forward seating position. Now bontrager's geometry is posted on the web, so I checked it out and noticed that in all except one size, the bontrager seat angle is virtually identical to fisher's. Conclusion? Mr Bloke is just making shit up again. Unfortunately, Bloke is reasonably educated, and writes fairly well, so people tend to believe him, even though he has no clue. He is an excellent example of what's fucked up about the whole newsgroup idea. To make it worse, now that rec.bicycles.off-road is moderated, some guy will reject my post when I point out publicly that Mr. Bloke is an ignorant jerk who needs to ride more and shoot off his mouth less when he doesn't know what he's talking about.
What to do? Here's my suggestion. When you post a response or an opinion to a newsgroup, give us something to go on. Tell us "I raced this tire all last year, and did several backcountry rides in loose, rocky terrain, and I think......". Give me a reason to believe you. If there is no reason to believe you, post anyway, but let us know you're just jerking off. Say "I've never ridden this tire except in the parking lot of my bike shop, but it looks really stupid, and that's more important than whether or not it works." Then we can still be entertained by your witticisms, but we'll know to take your statement with a grain of salt. It'll supply the sarcastic "tone of voice" that's missing in print media.
Here's my other suggestion, if you don't own a mountain bike, don't post anything about mountain biking, ever. This shouldn't be too hard. I don't post stuff to rec.latex-boats.animal-sex because my boat is made of inflatable polyethylene and I don't have any experience with latex boats. Why someone who's proud of not riding a mountain bike would want to talk with god's annointed few I can't even guess. I know, you're about to say " but suppose you rode your road bike in the dirt all the time, all day and broke lots of stuff?" Riding a road bike in the dirt is not mountain biking. Is this clear? RIDING A ROAD BIKE IN THE DIRT IS NOT MOUNTAIN BIKING! It's fun, and you can do some killer rides, especially if you live in some single-track challenged area that has lots of pavement and fire-roads, but it's not mountain biking. If all you do is ride a road bike in the dirt and design mtb tires that no one (i mean no one) wants or buys, then shut the hell up already.
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