Exercise R Us

Question:

Pete, I am in complete agreement with you.  Every year Rock Shox puts out a new fork (or two, or three…) and completely bombards the public with advertising and hype.  The North American mountain biking magazines help in this hyping by giving absolutely glowing reviews to the newly released products, because Rock Shox has a 6 page full color ad in every damn magazine (I’ll exempt Dirt Rag because it is difficult to get in Canada). Example, Mountain Bike Action (MBA=Mountain Bike Asswipe) tests the Rocky Mountain Equipe and more or less say the Mag 21 is a dated, non-functioning suspension fork.  Gee, the same Mag 21 that they absolutely gushed over in 1994.  What a joke!  Then they rave on about the Judy, which in my opinion is an overweight piglet with just OK action. The challenge here is to not to fall into the ‘gotta have the latest equipment’ trap.  Rock Shox (and Shimano) hope we do, and they’ll keep cranking out the products and people will keep buying them. Ride Hard, Eric Harvey

Response:

Here’s what I don’t get.  People blast Shimano all the time, because UG doesn’t work with HG doesn’t work with IG, and 6-speed doesn’t work with 7-speed doesn’t work with 8-speed, and the derailleurs/shifters/everything are disposable. (Never mind that UG chains will work on HG cassettes and vice-versa, and IG derailleurs are better than, and will work to replace, HG/UG derailleurs, and all Shimano derailleurs will work with each other except Dura-Ace.) But Rock Shox just recently turned their line over to the new Judy system!  It’s MCU and hydraulic damper. The dampers aren’t rebuildable, but nobody complains! The new Quad 5 and Quad 21s are MCU instead of elastomer, and the old elastomers aren’t compatible, but nobody complains!  I don’t get it! Another thing:  Some people hate Shimano because they’re such a big company.  SO IS ROCK SHOX! Well, there’s a thunderstor