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Old 05-22-13, 07:15 PM
  #201  
Bandera
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: TX Hill Country
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Originally Posted by NathanC
Bandera can stick to his penny-farthing and be done with it.
Nathan,

How very snide.

Although I do of course own a penny-farthing and a very nice unicycle it seems that you are implying Luddite tendencies to myself due to my considering the current crop of E-shifters somewhat less than optimal. A bit funny to me actually as I have over the last 40 years been an "early adopter" and promoter of a few cycling innovations. Here's a list in no particular order that bucked the cycling status quo:

Clipless Pedals
Hardshell Helmets
Dura-Ace Components
130 BCD/ 39T
Indexed Shifting
American Framesets
High Performance Clincher Wheel Sets
Cassette Gear Sets
Aero TT Bars
Aluminum Race Frames
Cyclo-Cross Racing
Moulded Saddles
Mountain Bike Racing
Cyclo Computers
Aero Brake Levers
Moulded Shoe Cleat Mounts
Synthetic Chamois

All of the above received a hearty "that's not how it's done" in the community but now they seem the obvious norm to those who weren't there and don't know the technical history of the sport. I've never jumped on the band wagon of the latest fad, and there have been lots of them that never went anywhere, just because it was new/cool and massively marketed. Successful innovation involves requirements planning, cost/benefit analysis, extensive field testing and sometimes several generations of design. Good mechanics are both skeptics and open minded, some find current fads amusing, the answer to the question that no one asked or simply overpriced Fred magnets. Some don't.

Must go adjust the spoon brake on the Penny-Farthing, good thing it's not hydraulic actuation.


-Bandera

Last edited by Bandera; 05-23-13 at 06:35 AM. Reason: editing
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