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They are all garnish because there is no culture around bicycles as everyday transportation. So it's become an enthusiast market with flashy inventions but litt
by revelation 13y ago
They are all garnish because there is no culture around bicycles as everyday transportation. So it's become an enthusiast market with flashy inventions but little improvement in the core categories like reliability or safety.
It's a market where all you can buy is the kids plastic version of a Porsche or a literal Porsche.
- mesofile 13y agoActually, there has long been a strong culture of bikes as transportation for ordinary people in Europe, and to a great extent this has bled over to US cities as more commuters have taken up cycling and created a demand for more utilitarian gear. In the late 90s I had the same complaint you make above, but this is no longer the case. Along with their road and MTB lines all the major marques have introduced a range of 'street' or 'city' models. The real challenge of improving anything in cycling, from an industrial design perspective, is that a bike is a product whose primary virtue is minimalism. Adding features can be useful for certain niche markets (suspension for downhillers, aero bars for racers) but for the most part a bike is only improved when one can deliver the same (or improved) characteristics of handling, comfort and durability while using less material. Sometimes this is a question of design improvement, but this is rare -- many designs recur over decades (like integrated headset bearings) without ever really becoming essential. More often improvements come from better materials and fabrication techniques.
- cgh 13y agoYou clearly are not Dutch or Danish.