Reddit mentions of Wald 1372 Standard Small Front Basket - Multi Fit

Dude, you might be making a lot of assumptions, I am not totally certain you read my post all that carefully.
Mara + is a general recommendation for a general city cyclist and will be better and faster than vast majority of tires people currently have on their bikes.
Of course Schwalbe has a ton of different, more and less puncture resistant tires, the Mara+ is just the most puncture resistent. Despite having had Marathon racers/Regular Greenguard Marathons and Supremes and a bunch of others, I do not like them quite as much as the Mara+ for my daily rider bike, with all those other models I still had a way more flats caused by glass and other large debris. Besides the punctures, the sidewalls of Marathon racers are quite thin and caused me issues. The rolling resistance difference is small. But yes, you are right, the regular Marathon tire (1) is 170 grams lighter than the Marathon+ while offering a fair amount less puncture protection.

 

When I want to go fast I have a road bike (90s Specialized Sirrus) and a bunch of other bikes I can use.
However, unlike you and I, the average user may not have a fully kitted out workshop and a bunch of skills they can rely on at any time to fix flats or other problems. They may rely on their bike to get them to work on time or appointments, always. In that sense adding 340 grams of weight to their bike is probably a decent trade off for many people who would rather not spend money or time on flat repairs quite significantly more often..

 

Having said all that, Marathon Racers and regular Marathons are both a perfectly fine! choice for tires too if people don't mind the chance for more flats and prefer a bit less weight and bit more speed, people can compare / judge for themselves: https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/tour-reviews/compare/schwalbe-marathon-2015-vs-schwalbe-marathon-plus-2015-vs-schwalbe-marathon-racer-2015
 

About steel VS Alu and VSF, well, I did recommend to never buy new if at all possible, in generally the value is not there and then there is the theft issue. I could go on about how new derailleur bikes always have 27 or even 30 speeds and how those components wear out faaar faster and are way more expensive to replace than the 24 or 21 speeds you are likely to find on older MTBs,.. Yet I didn't want to get into all that. Some people like hub gears, some people like to convert their bike to singlespeed, some people will just ride whatever comes cheaply and works well with a second hand bike, I support all of that. Whatever works, safes you money and time and puts a smile on your face.

 

Having worked on many 1000s of bikes and frames across about a dozen professional shops and perhaps 20 bike co-ops, my experience with Alu frames and their failure rates differ from yours.

I have not seen not nearly as many broken steel frames (all things being equal, like both having a double diamond style frame and how old the frame is!) as Alu frames. It is not even close,... not even in the same league/ballpark. Again it is a trade-off some people make. If you are willing to have your entire bike be about 1 Kilo lighter (that will be about the diff between an Alu and good steel frame) total, and you do not mind that the frame is essentially disposable on the mid-term, that is a possible choice. From all I have seen, the expected lifetime of an Alu frame that is used daily and lives outside is 15 years at very most, I have seen plenty that failed in 2 to 7 years though, I mean experience, about 40% or more. Besides that being unacceptable to me from a reliability/cost perspective, I also do not like the environmental implications. The embodied energy to produce an Alu frame is absolutely through the roof compared to a steel frame. For myself, bikes/frames should ideally last for life, not be environmentally messed up to produce nor be semi-disposable. Lastly, producing a new Alu frame as cheaply as possible in Asia vs. buying a second hand frame, the environmental impact is rather different there too...

 

Simply put, the fast wearing, more expensive to replace, modern parts and the frame that will fail rather too fast and the much higher risk of theft, higher cost and environmental reasons above is why I would never recommend a new Alu Cube or Focus over a used, quality, steel bike for anyone who doesn’t put a huge premium on shaving off a few seconds on the average city ride. YMMV!

 

Funny enough, I do not recommend a hub Dynamo and matching lights for everyone due to weight and cost reasons (easily a 100 to 200+ euro upgrade). XD I use fixed Reelight magnet lights myself. I love them, but they are much harder to mount and cost about 3x as much as decent, simple LED battery lights,.. which will keep you just as safe. I don’t want to drive up costs or complexity for everyone just because of my personal preferences. Of course if you bike often on rather dark stretches of road or do not have great eye sight, then I would certainly recommend to look at a hub dynamo setup! For all others, you can get various, very light, cheap, rechargeable back and especially front lights that will illuminate the road well enough. Of course, you might have to take it off when you leave your bike or secure the light to your bike. It simply depends on the person and how often they ride really rather dark stretches and bad roads.

 

I do agree that Froschrad or Contoura are a better deal/choice than VSF in some ways. Of course I was aware of the fact that VSF is (part of) a very large company and does not produce their components in Germany. I partially included VSF because they can be easily purchased all over Germany, but again, my go to is used, older MTB due to the stellar value and some being are around 10 to 12.5 Kilos. Problem with Contoura is that almost all their bikes have Disc brakes and their 26 inch bike is a bright, rather light blue.

I dislike Maguras and to a lesser degree disc brakes for city (non off-road) riding, for various non-standardization, cost, maintenance, ease of repair and other reasons. I always recommend V-brakes with good brake pads. Yes, I am a proud Retrogrouch XD Unless of course something modern is far better and as reliable/easy to fix, then I will happily use and recommend it! Reelights, Mara+, V-brakes, LEDs, all those things are newer than the MTBs I am telling people to buy and I love them.

I never did, nor would recommended just any basket for everyone. What I did write is that I, myself, personally really like the smallest WALD basket, according to the companies’ website it weighs just under a 1000 grams.

 

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B007WKOAK2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3MS2T5CROUES8&dchild=1&keywords=wald+fahrradkorb&qid=1575025492&sprefix=wald+fahrrad%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1

 

This basket will not “destroy” your handling. I never have and never would recommend any heavy baskets or front racks for the average cyclist. My recommendations are always based on practicality and intense real world testing, never on style / “hipster” considerations, personally I couldn’t care less about that.

 

What made you sure I do not use or recommend racks and panniers? I like and recommend both. On my daily rider I run a Tubus rack, sometimes Ortlieb panniers as well as that WALD basket, besides the basket I also a large messenger Chrome backpack I use very often. All of them have upsides and downsides and I use them for different purposes, but I do find my specific front basket indispensable for my usage in the city and I use it every day. YMMV.

I never have and never would recommend 50 wide tires for any frame that was not purposefully build for them. I recommended 28 through 42 width depending on your weight, how much luggage you tend to carry, what kind of premium you place on speed vs comfort and how often you ride over bumpy or slick terrain.

 

Finally, what I would like to emphasize to you or anyone reading this thread: above everything else, anyone that loves and rides and / or repairs bikes (any! bike) has my support, more power to you! :) Whatever bike makes you happy, keeps you safe and inspires you to ride and enjoy it more, that is exactly the right bike for you! In that sense my opinions and recommendations here or anywhere are irrelevant and don’t matter at all.