Slowman wrote:
"If anyone related to slowtwitch is posting information why this is a great bike, is because they are being paid or enticed to do so in one way or another."
among all the new intro bikes that have come out lately - by diamondback, cervelo, felt, bmc, cannondale, canyon, QR, cube - two of these companies are non-advertisers and have not advertised for the last several years (or ever).
one is cube. they don't sell in english-speaking areas and we're an english-speaking site. the other is cervelo.
now, i like to think cervelo will repent of this decision. i hope they will. but i thought that last year and the year before, and (i think) the year before that. i don't know where they advertised but i know where they didn't (here).
further, i have no deal with cervelo now. none was promised. i have no "insertion order" (parlance for a contract to advertise) from them. yes, it will really chap my hide to see the ads in other magazines and not this one, as has been the case over the past years.
what i really should be doing right now is meeting with and having mai tais with my advertisers. in kona. instead i was in kona last week, reviewing this bike, riding it, learning about it, because i thought that would be the better editorial decision (and that came after a week in vegas reporting on interibike, and i draw the line at 2 weeks away from The Compound).
so i bought a ticket, sat in coach, flew to kona, and returned on the ticket i (not cervelo) bought to see and test this bike.
this bike has downsides, most notably weight, price, and the need to move to new wheel platforms. all of which i acknowledge in my articles about this bike. it also has upsides: ease of use, adjustment, wrenchwork, and travel in a bike with world class aerodynamics and well thought out capacity to carry your stuff aboard.
if you don't want to buy the bike, don't buy the bike. avid slowtwitch readers also saw coverage of two recent new bikes - the QR PR3 and the canyon speedmax - with price points below $3000. we don't simply write about bikes that you and i can't afford to buy.
this doesn't mean there aren't personal motives on my side. annie hed is family to me, and i wanted to see all about this frame she makes in her minnesota factory. still, i think if you simply read my reporting on this bike, it's a pretty dispassionate list of what this bike is and what it does.
so, call me an ignorant slut, call me deceived, uninformed, or an idiot. but please don't call me bent. maybe instead express why this bike really isn't fast, doesn't stop when you put the brakes on, doesn't carry all the water, food, spares, etc., really isn't easy to adjust, pack and travel with, doesn't fit and handle well. because in my reporting it does hit all these marks. instead of impuging my integrity, express in big boy, grownup terms why my reporting is false.
I think you should have taken a week of rest at home with your wife and hang out with your dogs and horses, and then headed out to Kona this week to do exactly what you said (meet with your advertisers etc). I don't think Cervelo could have paid for a better objective write up on this machine. And big thanks for covering the <$3000 price point bikes.
