We run big cassettes because we gots the big climbs.
That Pas Normal scene got real big real quick. Elitist as fuck though. how much are their bibs?
Well you get 20% off list price. So 12-15k for a bib and a jersey of the current season. But paying all those people in the shop and the photographers, sometimes the car that joins does cost money. Quite a few people told me that the owner of PNS taipei makes a loss but does it for fun/support as he made his money elsewhere..
Yeah after joining a couple times I decided to buy a kit too from current seasonâŚ
But on stand collection website they actually have pretty cheap prices for some older clothes. Very good value for those.
But yeah hard to see any bikes not absolutely top spec on the rides and max 1-2 years old⌠Only Red and Dura Ace and wheelsets that often cost well over 100k ntd
Sounds like typical brand obsessed bullshit here. Itâs always something you have to spend lots of money on. Doesnât matter if itâs cyclingâŚcampingâŚwhateverâŚso childish and materialistic.
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mid life crisis?
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The bikes I saw coming off the truck for a recent triathlon were stunning in that beautifully ridiculous sort of way.
A man after my own heart
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Actually hiking with sleeping in the government shelters still has loads of people coming in with really old rather shitty gear. Wild camping at sites further away from streets is also like 50/50 bling bling Vs rather basic gear.
But yeah cycling here is really a bit like golf⌠some weeks ago chatted longer with one rider afterwards over breakfast turns out he is a major VC in Taiwan.. he kinda turns up each ride with a different absolute top end bike to go with use case and clothes colourâŚ
The price of PNS, Rapha or MAAP vs production cost and major expense being marketing leads to this. Thereâs not really any independent bigger cycling groups here in Taipei. In Taichung FTL and nekoâs fun are pretty big both independent group rides. But expensive bikes there are also the norm however in much more reasonable terms Vs Taipei PNS. The MAAP or Rapha rides in Taipei are rather short distance and slow - so that basically leaves PNS as main choice.
Btw Adne van Engelen smashed the Buddha hand KOM by about 10% and likely not even going race pace. But from what I know (he stayed a week or so with us in Taichung some years ago) Adne like any professional cyclist overstates his weight to make the power numbers more believable. So his 51kg are rather 45kg⌠and then having 330w FTP just means crazy climbing speed. But yeah he is really too light/small for big tours hence only riding on continental teams not world tour level.