would a new bike turn heads?

[jeffhop]

last weekend i was at a 4x race at my local trails (hamsterley forest in county durham) so i rode over on the oz to take some pics of the nutters..sorry racers in action. i think i now know what it feels like to own a ferrari, you know the one where u see it in the car park and youve just GOT to have a look. well it was like that for me and the oz at the weekend. i lost count of the amount of people that just stopped and stared at the bike, i had people saying they always wanted one but coundnt afford one, others said they always wanted one and mine was the first they had actually seen and others that turned to their mates and said `thats a f@kin gorgeous bike, what is it?`i think the oz got more admiring looks than any of the race bikes on show! i was just wondering if the same reaction would have occured with a specialized or a cannondale or any other mainstream brand. it may be 6 yrs old but it can definately still turn heads!  



here are some of the nutters i mean racers i was talking about earlier

[willem]

Ain't it true, though?
As much as I like the old aluminum Proflex's, those carbon bikes will be state-of-the-art for a long time.

One thing I'd like to measure sometime, is the actual difference between, say Specialized FSR "vertical axle path" and the "pivot arc" on something like your bike or my 856. Does a centimeter of horizontal travel from a single pivot make a significant difference?

I can see there might be a noticeable difference between a single pivot and a VPP bike like the Santa Cruz, but I sure would like to see some actual scientific measurements.

Seems to me if there was a significant "measurable" improvement on our dinosaur designs someone like Specialized or Cannondale would publish data to support the marketing splash. (oh yeah, C'dale went with the old single pivot )

In the end, all we really have are subjective opinions for magazine editors - with questionable motives - and our own limited experiences to draw from. In my biz, we call that "anecdotal BS."

...despite this crazy rant, I still lust after Simon's new Whyte bike.

Adios, it's Friday night! [smiley=beer.gif] [smiley=beer.gif] [smiley=beer.gif]