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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!nbs-amrf!libes
From: libes@nbs-amrf.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Stolen Bicycle
Message-ID: <280@nbs-amrf.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-May-84 21:55:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: nbs-amrf.280
Posted: Thu May 17 21:55:34 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 19-May-84 00:01:08 EDT
References: <1577@dartvax.UUCP>
Organization: National Bureau of Standards
Lines: 32

Sorry about your bike getting roughed up, but why fret about the
logos?  I'm thinking about a TREK but if I buy one, the first thing
I'll do is take off all the decals and the plate on the steering tube
(I checked...they all come off easily and without marring the paint)
and then perhaps paint something artistic on it and maybe my name (in
small letters, please!).  Then, at least in some sense, the bike won't
be completely "assembly-line". 

Of course, I can't get rid of the logo stamped into the seat stays but
I'm not that fussy (I just hate Trek's frame decals!), I mean there
are logos all over every piece of the bike - derailleurs, handlebars,
brakes, rims, tires, panniers, saddle, water bottle, etc...you'd think
we should get paid for riding such a mass of rolling advertisements!

In fact, I wonder sometimes if a lot of bike manufacturers all buy
frames from Fred Foo in Taiwan, stamp their name in metal somewhere
(top of the seat stays seems pretty common), paint it so its
recognizable (that they painted it) and throw on appropriate components
for their price.  To make a more expensive bike, change to a different
manufacturer's components (same quality) and put on 531 decals.  Print
in your brochure that its weighs a pound less.  Put on an aerodynamic
saddle and water bottle and charge $100 more.  (Uh oh...I'm starting to
froth at the mouth....)

Has anyone noticed that bike brochures look exactly like car brochures
- all gloss and slick?  I hated shopping for a car cause all the
salesman are lying through their teeth and I'm hating shopping for a
bike, too.

How do others feel about these things?

Don Libes       {seismo, allegra}!umcp-cs!nbs-amrf!libes