"180mm front forks on an AM bike..." I wonder how much travel he has on his rear forks. ;)

One size fits all? Nice try but it's not true in real life. Seems like a copout. Headtube angle is crazy. I'll take a TOP, personally, for the geometry and simplicity: integrated headset and seatclamp and Spanish bottom bracket.

I think the market pushes the tech because the core users push the tech. Compared to cars or motorbikes or other far more involved machinery with many more parts, I think the gear heads (myself included) love that they can know, with relative ease (compared to cars, etc.) about every part. What it's made of, how it works, etc. This group is the one buying the high end components anyway. We spend all day talking about it, why wouldn't marketers cater to it? Someone can throw down a bunch of cash on a spendy bike and have no clue how it works and they're welcome to just enjoy it. My brother does it that way and he rides way better than me, even though I know much more about the bikes. (but who does he come to when something breaks? Yep.) The bad thing is that the companies are clearly pulling tech out of nowhere to try to please the tech heads, and I would wager a good 80% of the stuff they say we need to upgrade to each year and most of the new standards, don't really serve to make the bikes or rides any better. They have to find a way to make us want to replace our derailleur each year. Otherwise, how will they make money? Stuff can't last too long, and they have to outdo it. But look at the success of a company like Transition. Super simple, classic designs (which a lot of techies think are garbage) but they've made super fun bikes and had great success. They don't have stickers all over their bikes describing the latest this and that, they just know what a fun bike is and they make it.

@samsemtex. Not every advantage. Skiing is rad and definitely faster, but IMO snowboards take the cake when it comes to shredding pow. It's no coincidence that powder skis look more and more like snowboards every year. Lack of control and getting stuck on flat spots betrays some inexperience.

Come on folks...he was joking about the money and girls.