Re: Why is Shimano so hated by some?

Donald Gillies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Evan Evans) writes:

> > What's wrong with Shimano?

> 1.  They killed Suntour.
> 2.  They only make throwaway items.
> 3.  They hadn't won a tour de france in decades until Lance/TREK.

Several of these are wrong (IMO), but this is the wrongest.
No component manufacturer has ever won a Tour de France,
nor will ever win a Tour de France.  Bicycle races are 
won by humans and components make damn little difference,
which is one of the attractive features of the sport.  
I can think of other sports/games which have become an 
engineering competition as much as anything else.  That's
fine (engineers are competitive humans too) but it is nice
to have a sport and pastime where buying the latest high-dollar 
X gives you no discernible advantage, other than to conspicuously
consume.

> 4.  Their approach to components is like Borg to humans.

This is an ironic complaint, given the above.

> 5.  They do not care about bicycle aesthetics (not since sante')
> 6.  People who buy Shimano pay more over the long term to run their
>     bikes because entire components / subsystems must be replaced to
>     effect simple repairs.
> 7.  Mr. Shimano was never a bicycist, so far as anyone knows.  Just a
>     so-so industrialist.