Suit you, Sir?
“A fine suit is only as good as its lining” once said someone more versed in the art of the clothier than me. They didn’t actually, I just made that up. But it sounds like it could be something that an Italian tailor would say, but I’ve never met one of those either. The point is, a suit, or a bicycle, or even a person, can be shiny and attractive on the outside, but may not be all it’s cracked up to be underneath.
It, or they, may not have any soul. (*Not ‘a’ soul, because that is merely a concept dreamed up by nuts to scare other nuts and their offspring into conforming to and fearing some other nonsensical notion which most kids would see through in five minutes if they weren’t the spawn of the spawn of a long line of morons. But I digress.) I’m talking James Brown soul, not the misogynistic bits, but the funky hip shakin’ do the splits bits. I’m talking Soul Train audience soul. It’s not an entity, it’s a sensibility.
The finishing touch to a nice suit, or jacket, is the lining. You can have a jacket that is so expensive you won’t even tell your friends how much it cost, but if the lining is pink and white stripes then people are gonna notice. It can spoil an otherwise outwardly attractive garment. Sometimes, a matching plain liner can be a bit too boring, so a balance of understated yet attractive is required. Same with a bicycle. The metaphoric suit lining for a bike has to be the inner surface of the fork legs.
Matching the fork to the bike isn’t something that has always been done, in the carbon era at least, with a history of plain black or exposed weave units with whatever brand all over them, totally mismatching and taking away any aesthetic uniformity. Conversely, having every component painted exactly the same colour (and every wheel decal or logo the same) can have the effect of monotony, and depending on the base colour, be a bit dull. A painted inner fork leg gives the counterpoint needed in a subtle way, and depending from the angle the bicycle is viewed has that suit liner quality down pat. It says “I may Look Fantastic, totally relaxed and at ease with my Awesomeness, but take a look inside, just there… yeah, I’m all business, but when it’s party time, I’m on the soul train.”
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@Phillip Mercer
No getting anything past you, eh mate? Was it the link I provided?
It may not be custom steel but I loves me the custom tailored paint job on current #1, that is until Don Walker builds me my road steed with extra low BB for mo'betta stability. Can't. Fucking. Wait. Spoiler alert: We'll have it in our booth at NAHBS.
I can't remember what @Roadslave said exactly, but the spirit of his quote is worth noting because he is also the originator of the term 'Look Fantastic at All Times'. I mean, we all say that shit, but he capitalized it, and that made it more important and official, obviously.
He said something like, "Every man needs to have a tailor, a frame builder, and a wheel builder."
So. Fucking. True.
We can become our own provider in any of those categories, but fuck me if that shit ain't troof in it's bones.
@brett
Didn't see the link. I was sneakily reading at work so can't watch video without fear for my job. you know how it goes, they see me not working, yada, yada, yada...
@Oli
You took that pic from that wierd angle just to disguise the big scratch you put into it last week, didn't you?
(Twists dagger)
If it makes you feel better, my CX/Gravel crusher which is meant to crash, doesn't have a scratch on her magnificent paint scheme, while the road steed's non-drive (left!) side is all mangled up from various incidents of non-focus on my part.
So the bike that we're meant to routinely come off is flawless, and the one we are meant never to come off is jacked.
Yes, I have a nice slash of red on the inside of my forks. It means I can't get away with lazy cleaning.
Also, a note to others (probably not Velominati), if you're going to clean you're bike, clean all of it.
I saw 2 half decent road bikes on the train this morning, both in states of utter disgust, filthy dirty, saddlebags, dork disks...made me sad.
Just wanted to take the opportunity to express my solidarity to all my friends in Belgium today. I know this site isn't for political posturing or opinion, but felt that as we all have an affinity with our Belgian friends that you'd allow me the exception.
Je suis Belgium
@frank
What scratch? I don't know what you are talking about!