Weight Weenie of the Year 2006 - please VOTE NOW

[C a s r a n]

As announced: nominations are finished here. Time for the final election poll of Weight Weenie of the Year 2006.


Voting can be done during 14 days from now one.



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Some things I want to post here as well:

Another word on 2 nominees who will not run the election:

- Zakeen: Adam, you got the most nominations of all, but decided not to be running in the WWotY poll. A pity, imho, but with your post you once again showed all the classy style I admire you so for: you honestly said you're not sure how busy you'll be next year and if you will be as much on this forum as you'd like to be. Thanks. Still, I like your contributions and style so much, your generosity, your true WW spirit, following your excellent race results and career... and still finding time to be on Weight Weenies, even in the airport. You would have been an awesome Weight Weenie of the Year. But we're glad you're on this board and hope to read from you many more!

- madcow: the third most nominated member. You have an unbelievable knowledge and experience we all benefit from, and we're very gratefull for that. You are the man behind so many things, like last years WWofY election. You deserve to be mentioned here.


Last thing:

Bill Niko, bigfellow, was nominated as well, but not enough as he deserves to be... He has a big place in our hearts and minds. I will not let him run in a poll, for obvious reasons. Bill does not need any vote from anyone to be sure he's a top guy; he is missed here so much.

and

Some personal thoughts: "Why a Weight Weenie of the Year and who should it be for what reason?":

Being WW of the Year for almost 12 months now, I start to realize what it means having this title. It's not only a personal honour to me, it's a task as well. It means, so I felt, you have to be a proud ambassador of this site and incorporate what being a Weight Weenie is all about: and it's more than putting every new bicycle component on a scale (of course, that's the least you need to do!), but mainly having an open mind towards new products, quality, people, bike riders, etc... I never thought this 12 months ago, but in July I actually ended up having a job in the bicycle industry; but the Weight Weenie thought is still my guiding line, even professionally.

I don't know every single reason why people voted for me, but somehow they must have appreciated my presence on this forum; if not necessarily the content of my posts, then maybe some of my enthousiasm about cycling and towards other members of this great community. Thing is, I am by far not the most informed guy about WW products (though I do my utter best to follow as much as I can), I have by far not the lightest or most expensive bike collection (though of course I can by no reasons complain and it only improved over the last 12 months), I have not the most impressive race results (I do not even have the 50% of the capacities of a pro), etc. But for some reason, I was fit for the title.
What I'm trying to say: think about what a Weight Weenie of the Year should be like. It's up to you to decide what is important. And if you ask me, it's not simple. Having a couple of 10.000$ or sub 6kg bikes is not enough if you do not show a daily attention to weight weenieism; competiting on the top of the cycling sport, even with a light bike, is not enough if you do not make valuable contributions to the forum; post a word in every topic, up to 10 posts a day, is not enough if it doesn't add any valuable info... etc. (examples are not referring to existing members!)
I'm sure we have a lot of members combining several of these great qualities, with the current list of nominees in this topic as a good guideline.
Please think about it, and post your thoughts.

If any of you wants to address me in private concerning the election, please drop me an email: pieter_deneve@yahoo.com (my PM-box needs to be emptied every day, so mailbox is easier).



Best regards,



Pieter



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@ mods: please make this a sticky topic. Thx!

[FelixOr]

Great going, C a s r a n! Thanks for doing this.

Too bad i cannot place 2 votes. ... still have to make up my mind

[strobbekoen]

How about making this a "sticky" so it stays at the top of the listings ?

Koen.

[LJ]

Thanks for the work Casran, I think I speak for us all when I say that you have been a great ambassador for the site this year. Dont stop being you

2006 has been a mixed year for weight weenies, which unfortunately started with the sad loss of our good friend Bill Niko. The spirit exhibited on this site is often overwhelming and the way we remembered Bill would have made him proud of all of us.

The year quickly moved on to the Giro and then the Tour de France. The darling of Italy soon became the villain and the whole episode sparked much debate here on weight weenies and continues to do so.

September saw a brave attempt from our own Frankie-B to reach the summit of Cho Oyu without oxygen. Whilst from a personal point of view Frankie was disappointed, his contribution to the whole expedition was outstanding and meant others in his group succeeded. Total respect from me to you Frank!

December is now here and the Fairwheel bikes team have initiated the Give Kids the World charity drive. We work tirelessly to make this a success in the hope that we can put a smile on just a couple of childrens faces. We thank all of you that have helped so far.

From a personal point of view, 2006 has been a good year. There have been some great cycling trips and some terrific friendships made. I've managed to see off woof woof who vanished with more of a yap than a bark I've also enjoyed seeing some of your stunning bike builds and hopefully I have built a few of my own. Notwithstanding this I also hope that I have been instrumental in helping just a few achieve their own dream of a weight weenie bike.

2006 has been a good year. Good luck to all those entered in this vote and cheers to you all for 2007!

LJ

[mrowkoob]

LJ if you win WWoty you better stop riding those heavy pina frames eh?

[RTW]

Mads all the way.

He is the only person nominated who regularly contirbutes to all areas of this site (MTB, Road and Training - not sure about CX!) and that for me means that he is the only real candidate. Personally that the Bovine pulled out is a shame for me. Because he posts everywhere. This site isn't just for roadies, and I think that for all of the good that the other nominees do (and no discredit or disrespect is meant), it must be recognised that we constantly encourage a polemic view. For example that this vote is in the Road section and not the Weight Weenies section is almost laughable. I will admit that many people don't go in the Weight Weenies forum, but that isn't a reason to make everything of interest happen here, it will just exacerbates the problem.

Personally I think there are a lot more helpful people (as a percentage) and less garbage on the MTB section than appears on the road section. Anyone who has knowledge about just one discipline is useful but in no way should be the representative or ambassidor of this site.

Mods can we move this please?

[madcow]

Mads all the way.

He is the only person nominated who regularly contirbutes to all areas of this site (MTB, Road and Training - not sure about CX!) and that for me means that he is the only real candidate. Personally that the Bovine pulled out is a shame for me. Because he posts everywhere. This site isn't just for roadies, and I think that for all of the good that the other nominees do (and no discredit or disrespect is meant), it must be recognised that we constantly encourage a polemic view. For example that this vote is in the Road section and not the Weight Weenies section is almost laughable. I will admit that many people don't go in the Weight Weenies forum, but that isn't a reason to make everything of interest happen here, it will just exacerbates the problem.

Personally I think there are a lot more helpful people (as a percentage) and less garbage on the MTB section than appears on the road section. Anyone who has knowledge about just one discipline is useful but in no way should be the representative or ambassidor of this site.

Mods can we move this please?

This debate seems to come up repeatedly over last year.... It really boils down to what is WW? Each member has a different vision as to what the board should be about, and that creates diversity. No disrespect to Mad(as I was one of those that nominated him), but does posting in different sections of the board make someone more or less of a WW? Why not the person that built the lightest bike, or the one who tuned the most pieces.

The reason for more helpful people being in the MTB forum, is smaller membership creates a more tightly knit group. Each one knows the other and is more willing to help and be nice. As it grows that is going to slowly change.(that's a sad statement.)

And as for why this is in the road section. Well, I guess that would be my doing. Last year when I created the WWOTY contest(See how I took credit for your idea LJ.) it had to be posted somewhere. At that time, the announcement section was only used for basically reporting issues with the board so that didn't seem like the proper place. I talked it over with Frankie_B and LJ, and none of us had any solid ideas. It basically came down to it had to be in the Road, MTB or CX section. The road being most heavily visited was the obvious choice, so I made a judgement call:

The thread title didnt say Road WW?

why is this a sticky in the road section?
More members would vote if this were a sticky in road, cyclo, training and mtb sections. Alternatively more this to the WW section

I put it here because I know this is where the most traffic is. But it's a good point. We now have it posted in MTB and CX sections...

I guess I set a precedent. However, last year there were more MTB riders in the final 10. Anders, Tippster, and Cyco, all of whom posted in the MTB forum, inversely nobody from the CX forum made it. However this year, we have just Mads as a regular from the MTB side, and we have Simon from the CX side. Anders did quite well in the running last year, 3rd most votes overall.

Thanks very much for the nomination. It's great to see there is nominees from all the forums. Even though my heart is sold on mountainbikes, I always check out the road forum when I'm here. Many WW tricks are shared by both road and mountainbikes, so we can all learn from each other. I hope to build a WW road bike when time and money allows it

The bulk of the posters on this site are roadies. They read and post in the road section, and because they are the dominant party, they will probably be the ones that elect the winner. However, look at it this way, by having only one regular MTB section poster, Mads chances of winning are increased. He has the possibility of drawing the vote of every regular in the MTB section, as simon does with the CX section. However, both of these guys are active in the road sections and may steal a few votes from the roadies as well.

we set the precedent again this year by telling C a s r a n that we weren't going to organize the contest, and as the current title holder he was responsible for it. We didn't layout any real rules, and left it up to him. Next years winner will have the same responsibility befall them, and if it's an MTB poster, then they will have the option to host the contest in that section as well. Or perhaps Simon will win and will host it in the CX section. It's a bit chaotic, but sometimes chaos is beautiful.

Now back to topic for me. I seriously don't know who to vote for. Everyone has some great attributes that make them worthy. And each one is better than another in different ways.

Going through the threads from last year, I found this. It got me questioning what makes WW of the year:

Now that this thread is coming to a closing, I'd like to thank everyone for showing their support. I really think we got a nice group going on here and a good cross section of people from different fields of knowledge. I also hope that those which have been silent will make themselves heard more in the future. I know there's still a lot of untapped knowledge out there!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to everyone

I think it's the level of the entire board that makes it hard to pick a single from the herd.

[C a s r a n]

Great post, Jason! Many thanks for all your efforts, the spirit and class you bring in your posts. That is why you got all these nominations, and I think you would deserve the WWotY title as much as the ones in the current poll. Thanks again.

[Provost]

Mads all the way.

He is the only person nominated who regularly contirbutes to all areas of this site (MTB, Road and Training - not sure about CX!) and that for me means that he is the only real candidate. Personally that the Bovine pulled out is a shame for me. Because he posts everywhere. This site isn't just for roadies, and I think that for all of the good that the other nominees do (and no discredit or disrespect is meant), it must be recognised that we constantly encourage a polemic view. For example that this vote is in the Road section and not the Weight Weenies section is almost laughable. I will admit that many people don't go in the Weight Weenies forum, but that isn't a reason to make everything of interest happen here, it will just exacerbates the problem.

Personally I think there are a lot more helpful people (as a percentage) and less garbage on the MTB section than appears on the road section. Anyone who has knowledge about just one discipline is useful but in no way should be the representative or ambassidor of this site.

Mods can we move this please?

Good posting Rich. However, I think WW of the year is a complete waste of time. It adds no value to the forum at all. It only seems to alienate regular users from what would outwardly seem as a bunch of elitists (not the case in reality).

I've been on this site a long time, long before it took a rapid turn downwards in quality of posts during 2005 / 2006 (under another ID of course). There was no WW of the year in 2004. We didn't need one. Don't need one now. Casran is the guru for 2005? He has a couple of Eddy's bikes with Lightweights, a few pro's who he *knows* and a job at a distributor and he's WW of the year. Does he know anything about any of the cool gear we saw back in the 70's, 80's and 90's? He has a positive attitude? Sure he does, but so does just about everyone else on the site.

You won't see me kissing the [beep] of the WW of the year qualifiers. Sure, the guys on the list are knowledgeable and add a lot of value and in some cases humor to the forum. However, what is the point of glorifying one person?

Maybe this forum will become the great source of information it once was but I doubt it.

[Edit by Frankie]

[Frankie - B]

Hello Provost,

Thanks for your time to write whats on your mind.

But IMO it is quite easy to critisize people. I also see that you contributed to this site under a different username. Please step forward and reveal your old identity. If you don't feel like doing that in public you can also PM or email it to me.

Maybe this forum will become the great source of information it once was but I doubt it.

Is this your way to ask if you can become a moderator? Because, by doing so you can have some influence. If so please contact me and I'll ask the other mods what they think of you. (ofcourse we need to know your old ID then, but I guess you will understand that.)

[strobbekoen]

Provost,
Why not just consider this as a bit of fun ? Sure, it's not important, but there is no harm in it, is there ? It does not have to take anything away from the regular posts made on this forum either. It's only kissing *beep* if that's what you feel you would be doing. The question is why you feel that way.

[Frankie - B]

ok, let us leave it at that.

Provost, it is all in your hands.

[Provost]

Frankie / strobbekoen,

Thanks for your words. Not looking to become a Forum moderator.

I prefer to leave my comments as they stand. Also prefer to keep my regular ID confidential. You may trace my IP but that will not reveal my identity.

Perhaps there are other people on this site who share the same opinion as me but prefer to keep quiet.

Everyone on this site has knowlege to share and offer. No one should be singled out and idolized as a grand poobah / WW of the year.

[LJ]

I prefer to leave my comments as they stand. Also prefer to keep my regular ID confidential. You may trace my IP but that will not reveal my identity.

Do I really need to roll out the picture of the Paris with the Carrots again?

[jerk]

the jerk is just honored to be nominated. everyone on the list is a deserving charachter and thanks to everyone for making this place the special place it is.....on the mountain bike side; the jerk just got back from a 3 hour night ride on a 29er- couldn't have had more fun with clothes on.

for off topic weight weenie contentthe 29er weighs 10,1kg caked with mud.

fisher 29er frame
x/o drive train
bontrager carbon rider bar, stem, seatpost.
pmp double crank,
29er race disc wheels-

3rd mountain bike ride of the year; a bit bruised and beat up- but a big shi'ite eating grin



jerk