One of the greatest things about the English language is that anybody can use it. You don’t even have to know how! Consider me (or I, or myself, or whatever the correct grammer be), who’s written several books, innumerable articles, and a daily blog for like 25 years despite possessing the intellect and literary acumen of a below-average middle school student.
Nevertheless, I’m always trying to better myself, and lately I found myself studying up on the phrase “beg the question.” These days people mostly use it to mean “raises the question,” but as you may know that’s not what it means at all, at least originally:
First, the traditional use: beg the question was originally a logical fallacy also known as petitio principii. It’s kin to circular reasoning in which a person assumes the conclusion in their premise. That is, the truth of their argument is based on an assumption that hasn’t been proved, and needs to be.
For instance:
Same-sex marriage should be forbidden, because marriage must be between a man and a woman.
Democracy is the best system of government because of the wisdom of the crowd.
These arguments are fallacious because you can’t use an argument to prove itself. Whatever premise you’re using to support or validate your case has to be independently proven – it can’t amount to the same thing as the argument itself
Wait, I think I get it now! So begging the question is when you say stuff like we shouldn’t have rim brakes because I tested bikes for 25 years:
See, same-sex marriage should be forbidden because marriage is between a man and a woman, just like we should drop rim brakes because they don’t work with the latest gimmicky wheels:
Bikes and wheels are now designed with cutting-edge aerodynamics, freed from the constraints that rim brakes put on design. These constraints include narrow rims that had to have a flat brake surface – limiting aerodynamics, limited tyre sizing and baggy cable routing.
Yes, the cutting-edge aerodynamics few people need…and hookless to boot! Is the latest plastic wheelset really better than a traditional wheel from the rim brake era? In some ways maybe yes, but if you prioritize strength, simplicity, compatibility, and ease of maintenance it may very well not be. Saying we need disc brakes because they work with today’s wheels is like saying we need corkscrew-shaped penises because they fit inside helical vaginas.
And yet he doubles down. See, rim brakes can be terrifying on descents…if you’ve been using plastic rims and glued-on tires:
But rim brakes can be terrifying and downright dangerous on descents. If you’ve ever had a carbon rim delaminate on a descent thanks to overheating (I have), or had a tyre blowout or tubular tyre roll off because of heat build-up, you’ll know what I mean.
Granted, disc brakes absolutely solved the problem of carbon being a bad braking surface, but there’s no reason for most people to be using carbon rims in the first place. It’s like buying a bidet because it solves the problems you’ve been experiencing due to wiping your ass with sandpaper.
But wait! Disc brakes are also better because he has a German weight-weenie bike:
Incredibly, he uses the words “epitomised everything good about rim brakes” and “Zero Gravity calipers” in the same paragraph:
My old classic Storck Scenario, with its featherweight DT Swiss/Tune hand-built wheels (made by the legendary Harry Rowland), epitomised everything good about rim brakes. It has solid braking performance and lots of feel from the weight-weenie favourite Zero Gravity calipers – and it is seriously light.
The Storck Scenario is my favorite John Grisham novel.
Then he says rim brakes are bad because they wear out your rims:
Alloy rims and rim braking are excellent, although it’s sacrificial. The more you ride, the more wear you put into the rims. I’d rather replace a disc rotor than a rim.
Even though the bike looks to be about 20 years old and is still rolling on the same rims.
Yes, rims do wear out eventually, and yes there are people who really do need discs because they ride day in and day out in utterly foul conditions, but I’d argue that when we’re talking about terminal roadies the point is moot. Rim brake or disc, 9 out of 10 people who buy weight-weenie equipment from German wänkerhäusen like Storck and Tune will ditch their wheelset in favor of Next Best Thing long before they wear out their brake pads, let alone their rotors or rims.
Now, I should state for the record that I do not mean to impugn the writer, whose work I certainly enjoy. For example, he’s made some other strong arguments in the past, such as why you should get a custom bike:
[“Can you make it more corskcrew-shaped?”]
The answer of course is that a custom bike costs the same as a “range-topping mass produced bike,” which come to think of it is also begging the question.
But when it comes to the whole rim brake thing I can’t blame him for being confused. See, what these people get wrong is that it’s not really about “saving the rim brake;” it’s about saving history instead of rewriting it. It’s about not instantly and disingenuously invalidating the bikes that served you well (and in the case of bike journalists also gushed about for money) for decades–and that will probably continue to roll for many decades more, just as long as too many people aren’t brainwashed into thinking these perfectly good bikes somehow became unrideable in 2018 when the UCI started to allow disc brakes on road bikes.
Of course when it comes to rhetoric there’s begging the question, and then there’s answering the question nobody asked, which also happens a lot in the world of bikes. For example, have you ever asked, “Who holds the world speed record for cycling from Lisbon to Vladivostok?”
Me neither. But the endurance cycling community (that is to say people on expensive bikes who look like fleeing hostages, e.g. Lachlan Morton) is now rallying behind this guy, who is determined to become the new answer to that particular not-asked question:
In fact he’s so determined that he’s now in detention after he was turned away at the Russian border but kept attempting to enter anyway:
The most recent and detailed account, in L’Equipe(link is external), suggests the 44-year-old is in pre-trial detention in Russia and French government officials are now working to assist him. It also states he was arrested near the Russian border having crossed through some woods after being denied entry.
I realize endurance cyclists will do absolutely anything to avoid having to go to an actual job, but of all the countries to fuck around with, you choose Russia? The country run by this guy?
Sure, the emaciated set may not believe in international borders because they make arbitrary record attempts inconvenient:
But I’m fairly certain that’s what Russia is trying to achieve, starting with that pesky border between them and the Ukraine. I mean Russia is currently waging a war that has killed something like a million people so far and this guy tries to finagle his way in like it’s a Stop & Shop at closing time?
This is what happens when you make decisions on an empty stomach.
And lest you think I’m not a fan of endurance cycling, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, a friend recently shared this video with me, and this rider embodies the spirit to which we should all aspire:
Who needs disc brakes when you have whiskey?
I’m pretty sure you can get that same sweater over at Rivendell.