...the single-bolt split on the Scott seatstay. Am I missing something or is that all there is?
Nope, Andre, that's all there is, from what I could see of it. My thoughts exactly. Sure looks clean and spiff now, but what about later?
A few years back, American publication
Bicycling magazine used USD$1,000 as the marker point for an "entry-level bicycle". I would argue it is, in fact, considerably lower when one considers the huge volume of USD$199 pseudo-"Schwinns" sold by Wal-Mart. Still, the Sub-10
is at the lower end of things for a Gates belt-drive bike, as you've observed. I think they'll become more common at lowish price-points.
If this is the case, perhaps the manufacturer doesn't intend the frame to last forever. "Long enough" may be the goal here as with many similar designs. Also yesterday, I was in a LBS and overheard the employee cautioning a buyer that "carbon bikes really only last about 4 years". FOUR YEARS for an expected bicycle frame lifespan?!? Steel is, indeed, real in comparison. My 1970 Raleigh Gran Sports still looks and rides fresh, as does Dad's 1938 Hercules. There may be something to that employee's statement when real-word users get 'hold of carbon bikes. As I was walking out the door, a nice little Subie WRX STi ProRally-lookalike pulled up with a Yakima rack and *two* carbon bikes. The owner had fitted light alu racks to each, using unpadded P-clamps on the seatstays. Bikes and cars both do it for me, so after he entered the store, curiosity got the best of me and I drifted over for a look. The carbon clear-coat around each clamp looked frosty, and I'm guessing the clamps had damaged at least the outer layers of the carbon roving, beneath the clear-coat. Yikes. The clock has already started ticking on those two.
I feel I'm seeing more deliberate temporal dependency in cycling designs -- moving closer and closer to the 18-month designed product life we're seeing in cell phones, cameras, and other high-tech consumer goods. If that is true, then it would account for such things as single clamping bolts on frame-breaks designed for belt access. Sure, it won't last as long, but does it have to (from the mfr's point of view)? Consumers seem to be getting used to the idea of non-durable but still expensive high-tech goods, especially those that are fashion-driven. I know people who traded in their perfectly good black iPhones when the white ones became available, and took a big contract hit to do so (our cell phones here in 'Merka are subsidized by the carrier contracts, rather than purchased outright...unless consumers choose differently and pay out-of-pocket and unlock a phone to put on their contract). They wanted to be different...just like everyone else...and then they weren't different anymore when everyone got a white one. Wait till Apple introduces the...
red one.
Apropos nothing much, I guess, but we're beginning to see a fall-off in another durable good hereabouts, the tattoo. They surely last awhile and for a bit they were the hot thing among the young-and-trendy and those who thought they were or wanted to be. Well, now they've become hot among the crowd at the senior-centers, they aren't so cool anymore for the twentysomethings. When Gramma puts a harsh on your Edgy, it ain't so great, and the fastest growing demographic at the removal clinics is...you guessed it...twentysomethings. What's the old design-school saying? "Nothing says Yesterday like something designed for Tomorrow".
Best,
Dan.
