Originally Posted by 63rickert (Post 21298729)

The technical novelties that came with introduction of the bicycle were ball bearings and pneumatic tires.

Ball bearings had existed, they were simply too expensive to use, and designers figured how to get the job done without them. Bikes created the demand for ball bearings. Bikes were the killer app that made ball bearings a thing. After a lot of false starts and dead ends the technique for making balls in bulk was the tech for making marbles. Toy marbles. Just start with small pieces of steel instead of small rocks. It was seventeenth/eighteenth century tech.

Pneumatic tires were completely novel. I want to keep them. All that's needed to make a tire is needle and thread. Oh, and rubber. Which means international trade is needed. Global trade has been a constant since the Bronze Age. It might be nice to try a tire with a casing made from Dacca muslin. From what is known of that fabric it would seem ideal. But the stuff only exists in museums. No one has known how to weave it for about 200 years. Preserving just that sort of knowledge is what Luddism was about.

All the other details that go into current bicycles are just that, details. A derailleur is a series of levers and pivots. Any Luddite mechanic can understand any derailleur. Or at least any mechanical derailleur. Electric derailleurs we won't even think about.

Luddism was always about valuing persons over commerce. Not hostile to nice things. Or more specifically not hostile to nice things made by humans.

Originally Posted by livedarklions (Post 21299035)

We can argue all day about social movements, but it's a pretty silly enterprise.

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard (Post 21288245)

Just need basic functions. Time, speed, trip distance, average speed, total distance, ride time. I really appreciate you ringing in, but I am not a watch kind of person at all.

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard (Post 21299070)

Ya think? Two things are all but guaranteed in forum threads. Argument and drift away, far away, from any parameters the OP sets or ideals he establishes.

This thread is a shining example. It is clear from the OP in what context the word Luddite was used. Yet, here we are.

I think everything from an abacus to the Hubble telescope computer has been recommended.

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard (Post 21288245)

Just need basic functions. Time, speed, trip distance, average speed, total distance, ride time.

Originally Posted by Paul Barnard (Post 21537414)

I ended up getting the Lezyne Macro Easy GPS. I like it just fine. It does everything I need it to do. It feels like a fairly substantial unit. The size is just right. Set up and operation are simple. It allows add on sensors like heart rate and cadence. My only complaint at this point is that the rubber plug for the micro USB port is awkward.