The Paceline.
In my continuing search for the end of the internet, I stumbled across The Paceline Forum. Since most of the forums I frequent have either faded or devolved into an endless cycle of the same old topics discussed the same old way, I joined up looking for a fresh take on the subject matter.
So far, it looks like there's a healthy chunk of the active membership that could be classified as custom builder fetishists, mixed in with a bunch of people that just like to ride road bikes. Plenty of dogmatic beliefs on display that characterize all bike forums, but little of the "big man behind the keyboard" syndrome that make so many of them unbearable. People respectfully disagree, almost as if they recognize that other users are actual human beings. It's weird, and I'm not quite sure how to deal with it. It won't last. It can't last.
Other than the freakishly civil behavior, there's a very active classified section that has a lot of really nice parts. For a parts whore like me, it's a dangerous place. Every day there are new listings that have me contemplating new projects. I've never owned a really nice steel frame. What if I combined this with that and made something else that would fit into this hole in my bike quiver that I never knew existed but now seems completely obvious to anyone with half a brain. Dangerous.
It always nice to find a place on the internet where people can get together and talk about what unites them, without excessive guidelines or moderation. Just people acting like adults, like they would in a face-to-face encounter. These days, it's becoming rarer and rarer.
So far, it looks like there's a healthy chunk of the active membership that could be classified as custom builder fetishists, mixed in with a bunch of people that just like to ride road bikes. Plenty of dogmatic beliefs on display that characterize all bike forums, but little of the "big man behind the keyboard" syndrome that make so many of them unbearable. People respectfully disagree, almost as if they recognize that other users are actual human beings. It's weird, and I'm not quite sure how to deal with it. It won't last. It can't last.
Other than the freakishly civil behavior, there's a very active classified section that has a lot of really nice parts. For a parts whore like me, it's a dangerous place. Every day there are new listings that have me contemplating new projects. I've never owned a really nice steel frame. What if I combined this with that and made something else that would fit into this hole in my bike quiver that I never knew existed but now seems completely obvious to anyone with half a brain. Dangerous.
It always nice to find a place on the internet where people can get together and talk about what unites them, without excessive guidelines or moderation. Just people acting like adults, like they would in a face-to-face encounter. These days, it's becoming rarer and rarer.
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