The Carburetor Chronicles

Gear

Most of my gear choices are based on getting the most for my dollars. I work my ass off, my kids will be going to college soon, my education is not even close to being paid for, so my recreational dollar needs to be well spent.

The gear covered here will be bike or bike travel related. The opinions are mine alone, if you rely on my opinion exclusively in making a choice you are asking for trouble. My wife will gladly tell you that I am wrong about a great deal of things.

Before you go any farther you ought to know how I go about picking gear. I apply the middletech philosophy to most purchases. Of course sometimes I am just attracted by shiny metal things too.

The Middletech Philosophy

First off, I am an intellectual pirate. I have probably never had a truly original thought in my life.  I am OK with this because unless you are going to email me a copy of your Nobel prize acceptance speech you probably haven't either.  I am sure this theory has been better explained elsewhere, and I am probably not the first guy to use the phrase but I like it and I am using it. You're not the boss of me.

There is high tech where you pay top dollar for the best available. I am not that guy. I drive an old pickup truck, I ride old air cooled motorcycles. I did put up a website but I did it on an old copy of Front Page on a $600 computer, and that include the LCD monitor.   I think technology is the means to an end, not the end itself.

At the other end of the spectrum is pennytech.  Pennytech theory dictates that you can probably fashion a solution to the problem at hand for just a few bucks and a few hours in the garage.  Aesthetics are usually not a consideration.  Rat bikes are an excellent example of Pennytech, neither is the dollar value of the time invested in fashioning the solution. Since most practitioners of Pennytech philosophy consider garage therapy a fundamental part of life this is a good thing.

I buy stuff according to the middletech theory.  Middletech says you can buy 85-95% of the available performance envelope for nearly any product for about 50% of the price of high tech.  You will see that most of gear and motorcycle choices fit into the middletech philosophy, but I am not a devout practitioner so there will be some crossover.

dp 12/03

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