Monday, April 14, 2008

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Someone helpfully pointed out the aforementioned fact to me in the comments last week (and added a decidedly incorrect—both politically and personally—slur which I shall not repeat), and I've gotta say, they're right. Thank you, Mr. Anonymous. Then again, it's interesting that you'd choose to quote a song written in 1964 to complain that I'M too caught up in the past. Interesting.

The problem, of course, isn't with progress. I love progress. I'm not sitting here typing this on an IBM Selectric, am I? Were I a true retrogrouch, I'd be Xeroxing copies of a zine and mailing them around the world.

Regardless.

What I'm against, as it should be readily apparent, is the re-appearance of bad ideas that I thought were long since dead. The one-piece seat/post combo? I thought we killed that off in the '80s. But those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, and so on and so forth. I can't wait until mag wheels get popular again. "Oh man, you don't even have to TRUE them!"

Anyway, I thought a verse from the Dylan song would be appropriate here:

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

I don't know what it all means, but it sounds good, I guess. Although since it uses the words "wheel" and "spin" in the same sentence, I can't help but feel a little nervous.

Also, since the effects of "times a-changin'" led to Dylan himself going from this:




to this:



you'll pardon me if I don't take the expression too seriously.


And if you're happy about the trend of bikes going from this:


to this:



maybe you're on the wrong blog.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

funny that troys bike is pegless and liams pegged[?]

Anonymous said...

How the hell did they get that bike to stand on that rail?

CMcMahon said...

I'm fairly positive that McMurray's bike could destroy the universe.

Anonymous said...

I'm happy with a lot of the way bikes have changed as they have gotten a lot nicer design wise. Don't forget that before we all rode tanks like troy there most of us rode either dirt bikes or holmes with slams. Its been more of an oval then a full circle I know but certain elements have gotten better production wise at least. As for the way people ride that's a whole different debate since we have kids now that can tailwhip but can't roll in on a ramp.

Anonymous said...

this is the best bmx blog ever. seriously!

Anonymous said...

I love it...bike number two is the quinessential everybike - the setup mirrors every. single. bicycle the 15-22 crowd rides. Some guys the other day were commenting on my "super slim" 25 inch bars the other day. In a lifetime of riding BMx, I've seen and ridden slim bars, and believe me, I told them, this ain't it....remember everyone's setup in 2000? Fast forward to today's trendy setups that are too wide to get through a door without turning sideways. What's that, my tightly-panted young friend? They "give you more control?" Sorry, pal, I've gotta chuckle at that one. You're 5 foot 7, buddy - your arms angle outwards on those things like Nixon getting on a helicopter yet you still have three inches of unused grip extending PAST your pinkies. Don't tell me about control. You're just happily aboard the current-look bandwagon. Oh, and I've ridden high seatpost, too. This ain't it, either.

Anonymous said...

In BMX you can tell the age of the rider by how high they run their seatpost...Unless they're a flatlander, then all bets are off.

Anonymous said...

awesome post again. we have begun to ride scooters, not cool.

Anonymous said...

i pride myself on running a "trendy setup" with my grand slams, slammed seat and overall weight of 25lbs, but thats because i learned on an old 36lb dk and im 6ft with a 6ft6in armspan (yes i just measured that laugh all you want) therefore justifying the big bars