Expand Quote
Skateboards just aren't that complex of a mechanism, and people really don't want them to change much. Just look at bikes. I would argue that they're more complex, and that market has been pretty stagnant since the 90's, with mainly changes in materials being the "innovation".
I think this is a good point, especially since most of the technological difference between the new trend, gravel bikes, and 90s stiff mtb (what's the term for no shocks? not hardtail I don't think) is pretty much just geometry and frame material. Though I suppose most of this difference is supported by the real technological upgrade, which was the disc brake, which allowed different geometries and tire sizes, gearing, etc
The term for no suspension is “rigid”
I’m not trying to be a dick, but after I quit a job I hated and eventually went back to school, I spent 2014-2019 as a bike mechanic/sales guy at a pretty high end shop.
A modern gravel bike is insanely different from a 90’s mountain or road bike. A few of the big differences include, carbon fiber and/or hydro formed aluminum frames, tapered steer tubes, integrated headsets, through axles instead of dropouts, tubeless tires, single ring drivetrains with wide range cassettes, hydraulic disc brakes(you mentioned these), clutch derailleurs, and electronic shifting if you like tech stuff and have money to burn.
The only thing that hasn’t changed is the general shape of the frame, and that’s only because the UCI said it couldn’t. Since racing drives development, the silhouette of a road style bike hasn’t changed much since the 90’s, but pretty much everything else has.
That’s just for gravel/road style bikes. A modern mountain bike is essentially from a different planet than one from even like 2006.
I just don’t think it’s a great comparison because pretty much the entire bike industry is driven by companies saying “here’s the new shit, it’s amazing and your old shit is garbage now.”
When I lived in that world, I was using employee discounts and flipping a $7k retail mountain bike every season, which I found stressful even without much risk of losing money.
Now I have a 3-season old mountain bike that I like and try not to let my brain get poisoned by keeping up with what’s new.
I think the beauty of skating is that it’s affordable and accessible. You can have a tub of old parts and cobble setups together to fuck around with.
You can do the same thing with bikes I guess, but it’s a much, much bigger pain in the ass and nothing ever fucking works like you want it to.