Want vs Need - Are Cyclists Out Of Touch? | GCN Show Ep. 570

Do you REALLY need a new bike? Should you buy new overshoes or cycling sunglasses? Dan and Si discuss whether cyclists have forgotten the difference between needing and wanting new cycling gear. In cycling shorts, UCI gravel champions are moving to amateur gravel races and city cycling infrastructure is paying off!

Challenge start date: 10th December 2023
Challenge end date: 25th February 2024

Prizes to be won for those who enter and complete the challenge including ROUVY subscriptions and a smart trainer!

00:00 Intro
01:00 Want vs need
10:54 Cycling shorts
21:13 Rouvy Challenge 👉 (Paid promotion with @ROUVY)
22:27 Hack/bodge
29:10 Caption competition
31:57 Comments of the week
36:53 Coming up on GCN

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Hack/Bodge

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🎵 Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵
December Batch - Discovery
Afternoon Swing - Five Dime Fellas
News To Me 3 - Jon Bjork

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📸 Photos - © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sprint Cycling Agency

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[gcn]

Let us know what your cycling wants and needs 🚲

[mountainmusic]

On safety tech: I have a device that constantly broadcasts a high resolution image of what is happening behind me to my left eye, is super light, and never needs to be charged. It's called a mirror, and it costs less than $20. Garmin varia is good, but the take-a-look mirror is way more informative.

[SamTheEagle]

As a cyclist what I need is drivers who are vigilant for other road users as they share the infrastructure with me.

[SIvers-orke]

The equipment we “need” is whatever puts a smile on our faces and gets us out riding. Anywhere from new bar tape to a new bike. If it makes you want to ride more, you need it.

[m.neilsmith]

As for the udder cream, here in the US at the farm supply stores there is a product called Bag Balm that is for the same purpose. Farm folks regularly use it on chapped hands and faces as well. Bag Balm (and I am guessing udder cream as well) is just petroleum jelly and lanolin. When I looked at the ingredients for my chamois cream, two of the main ingredients are petroleum jelly and lanolin.

[davidkendall]

The "need for enjoyment" point is a good one. I've ridden Claris and I've ridden 105 and Ultegra. 105 and Ultegra make me want to ride. Riding Claris wants me want to rip the front derailleur off and turn the bike into a 1x (I actually did this).

[MrCyclist]

When I got into cycling 40 years ago I thought I needed Campy Super Record and then Ultegra . Now I ride Shimano 105 and do 12, 000 km per year at age 79 and not getting tired. But I do need and love my De Rosa Nick. BTW, I rode today in Vaughan, Ontario 7C mostly sunny and totally dry roads and zero snow anywhere and sunny forecasted for the the next 10 days.

[hammer]

My cycling need is GCN+ documentaries to get me through the wet-cold season.

[DetroitJohnny]

On the Ford media website it explains that the warning system uses the existing parking assist radar to warn the driver not to open the door. It doesn't seem to require anything of the cyclist. I would assume it also helps to keep the car doors from being torn off by a passing truck

[spinnerg]

I have a top-of-the-line SRAM Red-AXS road bike, a TT bike, a gravel bike, a Fatbike, a MTB, even a tandem bike, a smartbike, powermeters and the whole shebang ... but the only thing I really want and need is a good cycling partner, one I always want to ride with and share my joy of cycling ! ... The only thing better is when she is also a life partner ! xo

[lilbruin]

The thing I thought I needed was little bike computer. I ended up w just a cateye odometer – distance, time, av speed, etc; not even cadence – and it is the one thing that made me a better rider (fully acknowledging that I am not a good rider; I'm slow, not skillful, fall off too often). Seems I am just ocd enough that I can't stop at, say, 26km; it has to be 30. Adds up to more time in the saddle and more fun, even if it is nerd fun.

[mikesmith]

Udder cream or "Bag Balm" was the go-to for the leather chamois in the wool shorts I used in the '70s. Pre-ride prep included several minutes rubbing the chamois to soften it up. Your comment brought up memories of the smell (pre-ride - the post ride smell was very different.)

[markcowell]

I can't do without my GCN elite water bottle (which currently, I don't actually own), but anticipate I will shortly, simply by saying it is THE most essential accessory on any bike ride, from a dart down the shops through to a 1, 000 km endurance!

[g.chrisboynton]

When I lived in the Netherlands (mid 90s), I commuted to work on a bike. I "needed" two bikes. A winter weather "beater" and a summer weather road bike for a fun blast on my commute. I loved all my commutes, best fun ever, even on the beater in the hail. Coming from Miami crazy car culture I couldn't get enough commute cycling. Instead of arriving all stressed out from the commute, I was arriving totally pumped.

[pointbreak]

24:48 this looks like a Lezyne Drive pump which I have. The key part of taking it off the valve stem is to make sure NOT to pull out while unscrewing it. You gotta just gently unscrew it and it will naturally pull out itself. They're really good pumps.

[chrisbanting]

Understanding the actual difference between "want" and "need" is what many of us need.

[nateisright]

My first road bike was $300USD. I put 5k miles on it the first year and it was the first bike I completed a 100 miles ride on. Nice stuff is nice though. I’ve upgraded since then but don’t think you must have big bucks equipment to have fun cycling adventures!

[MrRotten]

In Canada, "slushy roads" are roads that were covered in snow, but it warms up and the snow begins to melt, but not fully. Kind of like riding on bumpy soft ice. Not just "wet".

[karlnorgaard]

This last summer, I was invited to join some guys for a group ride. Most of them had very current bikes, eqipped with electric shifting, disc brakes, oversized pulley wheels, aero bottles, ceramic bearings, etc. I showed up with my best bike, a 12yr old Pinarello FP3, which I bought cheap in a thrashed, abused condition. I spent a year collecting all the needed bits, rear derailleur and derailleur hanger, handlebars, chain, saddle, tires, cable. My bike has 10spds, rim brakes, alloy wheels, external cabling, old fashioned skewers. Ive no head unit, power meter, clutch, or buzzing freewheel. I love my bike, its more bike than a rider of my caliber deserves, but I got a good deal on it. My Giro shoes are probably older than the bike.
Considering all this, at our first stop, my old girl was the belle of the ball. Everyone was gushing over my old Pinarello, wanting to lift it, give it a good inspection. I felt like the guy with a mint Datsun 240Z at a car show.
Im known as a bike guy locally and many people ask me what they should buy. I tell em to start at pawn shops, private online second hand sellers. I figger if you buy an older bike, you can buy the state of the art from a few years ago. For us mere mortals, the difference in performance between this years best and brightest model and a quality steed from several years ago is immeasureable. We need to focus more on the act of cycling, the reason we all started. The only data I collect on my rides is total elapsed time, from my wristwatch. The phenomenon of newer=better is found everywhere. Try taking your car back to the dealership for a trade in towards its current counterpart. You want the same car, just newer, fewer kms, reliable. If the manufacturer and dealer have their way, you'll drive away with something that scarcely resembles your old car, loaded with pointless, sexy features you could easily live without. More than likely, the extra complications will actually make the vehicle less reliable, more prone to failure.
I ask people, "how many TVs have you bought in your life"?
Then, "how many TVs did your parents buy"? I have vintage steel frames Ive set up many times, put hundreds or thousands of kms on em, only to strip em down again, repaint, rebuild and sell. Some have even come back to me to be refurbished again. This unheard of today.

[philpaterson]

Hack/Bodge: when the valve core comes out after pumping a tyre... roadside, in the wet at 6am on the way to work. Been there. In my case i didn't have any tape, so my only solution was to just ride with the pump hose hanging free. It was ok, as long as i kept my speed below 24 kph... otherwise the centrifugal force would make the hose fling about and hit the spokes. Wasn't pretty, but got me to work.