ohhyeok90 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2017 3:44 pm
Antoine wrote:
I was thinking South Korea is pretty new in cycling (at least with road bikes) and people may be unaware that light frames,components and wheels can be easily damaged unlike heavy city bikes. And never have experienced broken spokes, bend rims, scratched paint, broken seatpost, ... .
While lying on the floor a bike can be damaged by a passing car or anybody walking around, so why do that when there is a wall or something nearby ?
Because you don't care or you are overconfident of the overall strongness of the materials. And therefore you can do things wrong like over tightening bolts.
There is underestimating tone on your mention as far as I feel.
but I understand. I do not know that metro of paris smells piss, until my friend who traveled france told me to.
so here is some info for you about cycling in Korea.
There have been cycle competition in Korea since early 1900's, and one of the most famous athlete is 'Um bok-dong', he had won the competition over japanese.
https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%97%84 ... 5%EB%8F%99
He rides Rudge-Whitworth from UK
besides road cycle race, Keirin is popular sports ever since and many people rides cycle as leisure.
during '70 to '90, MTB is more popular in Korea but trend changes to cycle again in recent 10 to 20 years.
it means we are not 'pretty new in cycling'.
we've seen Lance Armstrong won Tour riding alloy bike.
there are lots of people buying first gen of carbon bike in Korea and so many cycling fans buy high-end bike nowadays.
you can see here.
http://corearoadbike.com/board/board.ph ... Menu02Top1
I don't know how I stumbled upon this thread, but I couldn't disagree more.
Korea has seen somewhat of a surge in road cycling popularity in the past 8 years or so, but it's still very new and inexperienced. Just some examples:
1) Most mechanics still don't know how to work on campagnolo parts! It's shocking I know, but I can name 5 major shops in Seoul alone that refuse to work on campagnolo. Another shop that claimed to be familiar with campy ended up installing the cable routing on the FD incorrectly causing a chain slip and significant damage to a very nice carbon frame! I should have checked their work but wow!
2) Most riders start off with an Ultegra level bike (105/Sora are looked down upon as being "entry level garbage"), and within a year, will upgrade to a Dura level bike, and then quit after 3 years! It's comical seeing this cycle. I can count on one hand the number of riders I know who have been riding for over 10 years.
3) You still have morons riding on crowded bike paths with no sense of road manners or safety. Random u-turns, sharp turns without signalling, changing lanes without checking over their shoulder, abruptly stopping with no apparent warning, texting while cycling, etc. I don't know if this is a Korean thing, but I've never seen so many accidents on bike paths among cyclists. One of my friends had his brand new Parlee frame wrecked going 10mph in a slow zone because some idiot in front of him suddenly did a uturn causing a collision.
4) Piss poor diet and nutrition. It is shocking how many cyclists with $10K bikes will stop and eat the most unhealthy food imaginable after a ride. I am talking just straight junk, like fried chicken, fried ramen noodles. They also stop to eat ice cream (not the real kind, but the fake frozen sugar bomb kind) during the middle of a ride! And then they'll crawl up easy climbs at literally 5mph on their $10K bikes while taking pictures of each other. Worst part is, so many cyclists smoke cigarettes! They'll stop every 10 miles to smoke it's shocking.
5) Crazy instagram scene. There are so many riders out there who carry DSLRs, and they are actively taking pictures or video while they are riding on roads with car traffic! Fine if it's an isolated bike path with few people (they also do that on pedestrian rodes) but on cars with roads? AT NIGHT? It is mind-bogglingly dangerous, but they do it.
6) The consumerism seems to dominate the act of actually riding. The standard uniform these days seems to be Rapha/Pas Normal, 100% or similar level goggles, the latest Abus or Kask helmet and of course, the flashiest bike they can extend their debt-load to afford (you see people with gear far more expensive than their cars!). And these same people will ride less than 5,000 miles in a year (in many cases, less than 1,000 miles), but take enough pictures in a single season to last 10 years.
7) They love talking about gear, but I don't know a single rider who has ridden on downtube shifters, and very few would know how to remove a crank arm or a chain. Guys show up to rides with improperly inflated tires, don't know how to repair flats, gear is all jacked up or improperly maintained (loose bolts, poor chain tension, etc.). And that corearidebike (Dossa) he posted? Talk about a gathering of scam artists and outright nasty people. The number of scams, cheaters and liars on the used market ("wheels ridden only 1,000KM" when in reality it's more like 5,000 and has been in a crash!) is scary. You see listings of items that are claimed to be in great condition, but a trained eye can tell have been poorly maintained and really abused and used. I used to buy used on eBay in the US all the time because at least you can check the user ratings, but I only buy new here since anyone can list items at anytime.
Now there are a few hardcore "oldies" who really do know their stuff. But on a whole, the factors above are indicative of a culture that is still new and "enamored" with the "idea" of cycling, as opposed to the actual act of cycling or any history or tradition surrounding it. And you have this vicious turnover of cyclists who come and go, usually in a 3 year time frame. But that's about how long "gear" alone can maintain your interest in a physically demanding sport.
This does tie into the fact that until recently, Korea was not really that interested in exercise to begin with. Korea's culture (much like Japan) is very work/school oriented, and sports have been the realm of those who "Gave up" on school. Unlike other countries, students are discouraged from engaging in physical sports during the school year so they can focus on studying. And of course with the heavy work and after-work drinking culture (which is thankfully going away it seems), the last 10 years is really the first time in Korean history where outdoor sports has really taken off in a big way (I don't count fishing, camping or hiking to be sports). You see the same boom in running.
But of course the air pollution is driving many cyclists away, so we'll see if this momentum can sustain itself. There have been a disturbing number of LBS closures and bike sales are generally down across the board, so fingers crossed.