Sy Reene

And the pocket watch came about because there were all sorts of problems maintaining a grandfather clock at sea. :-)

livedarklions

Big difference being that I'm carrying the phone for about a zillion other reasons anyway.

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tomato coupe

I guess you're trying to make an analogy that no one needs a bike if they already own a bus (or a pair of shoes), because the bus (or shoes) already does what a bike does? Okay, sure.

Kontact

It's not great optics for a hobbyist (cycling) to complain about the foolishness of other hobbies (horology). Neither count as necessities.

tomato coupe

In no way am I claiming horology (or any other hobby) is foolish. I love wrist watches, and I own a few. But, from a functional point of view, they are redundant if you carry a cell phone.

wolfchild

And yet plenty of people carry both...A wrist watch is actually great for checking time, so you don't have to pull your phone out of your pocket just to check the time.

wolfchild

Some cyclists take your analogy a step further and don't carry a spare tube and a repair kit because they think that a phone and a credit card is all that's necessary. Not functional at all but foolish.

tomato coupe

Again, convenience and redundancy are different issues. I own two very similar road bikes; they're almost totally redundant, but it's very convenient to leave one set up on the smart trainer year round.

livedarklions

I'm not going to get into the rather obvious issues with comparing two different riders on different bikes (about equally fit is too imprecise for this to be meaningful), but even if you're correct, you should keep your mouth shut about it so you can continue to get underpriced high-performance bikes.

tomato coupe

This analogy is so far off the mark it's laughable. A spare tube does not have any overlapping functions of a cell phone, except maybe if used as a paperweight.

livedarklions

Depends on where you ride. It'd be foolish for me because I get too far out to find someone to pick me up even for money. If I just rode inside a city, might be perfectly reasonable.

wolfchild

How is my analogy far off the mark ??...We're talking about cycling here and not browsing internet or playing games on a smart phone...A phone isn't going to fix your flat or tighten a loose bolt or fix a broken chain or make an adjustment on your bike. You need tools for that.

livedarklions

The analogy is that the function of the spare tube in that context is to prevent a flat from stranding you. The cell phone is functioning to "unstrand" you by summoning help or a ride.

Kontact

The extremes of bicycle depreciation are not going to change. I have a bunch of bikes, all purchased at bargain prices despite their like-new appearance. If one wishes to buy an $14k Aethos on a budget, you just need to wait six years and give the dentist that has had it hanging in the garage $2000.

tomato coupe

Duh. A tool kit (or spare tube) and a phone clearly are not redundant in their functions. A wrist watch and a phone are redundant in their functions. That's why your analogy is bad.

VegasJen

I frequently wear a wrist watch, but more as an accessory. I do wear one at work though for counting pulse and respirations. Far easier than pulling out a phone and selecting the clock function, etc.

elcruxio

I have to ask, in what meaning are you using the word redundant?

If "exceeding what is necessary or normal", well definition doesn't quite fit...

If "serving as a duplicate to prevent failure of an entire system" then yes I suppose it's to an extent a redundancy but still doesn't quite fit.

If "no longer needed" well need is a tricky thing isn't it? Because people's needs are to large extent defined by their preferences. And so can a convenience actually be unneeded?

If you don't have a need to know the time while riding a bike, ie. if you mainly do it recreationally then no, you probably don't need a watch. However in my case as I use my bike for utility, I often need to know what time it is whilst riding, so I can speed up to avoid being late. Thus I need to know the time and having a wristwatch is both safer and more convenient. I don't have a garmin on my utility bike. It'd be redundant for that sorta use.

I don't strictly need to use a bike for utility. I could drive a car. So the bike isn't absolutely necessary. But I wouldn't call the bike unneeded or redundant just because I have alternative modes of transport available. The car can play music and access the internet as well. And make phone calls. You know this comparison is a pretty good one if I say so myself.

Koyote

Smartwatch ftw.

Kontact

Both will get you home. Duh. You can't wear a phone on your wrist. Duh.

Maybe you should be using "duh" a little bit less?

tomato coupe

I honestly have no idea what point you're trying to make anymore. You seem to be spewing out random thoughts.

Kontact

I'm saying that these pointless side arguments you like to make and the insulting way you do so are aggravating and unnecessary. A more moderated forum wouldn't tolerate such behavior.

livedarklions

​You do understand the older one gets, the less likely you are to realize any benefits from that 6 year wait, right?
Probably makes more sense to look at the available 6 y.o. bikes now.

genejockey 

I can't do more than 4 fields on the screen at a time, myself, and time of day is something I need to know far less frequently than speed, cadence, HR, and distance covered so far.

But I'd be hypocritical if I insisted everyone had to agree with my preferences, wouldn't I?

wolfchild

Yes the difference is $ 9000 dollars....You're basically paying $ 9000 extra just to gain maybe 1 - 2 MPH and save yourself few seconds.

genejockey 

Pocket watches predated the marine chronometer by a couple hundred years, though. Interestingly, some of the best marine chronometers were produced by Hamilton, which also produced some of the best mass-produced pocket watches.