Thursday Thoughts ~ “Inventions”

In the past week I’ve encountered a couple of historical oddities.  It really doesn’t matter what they were, the significant thing is that, at one time, a lot of bicycle folks thought they were the complete and total, can’t do without it, gotta have it, killer, HOT STUFF.  Of course, at this point in time, almost no one remembers these things.  They both have two things in common.  1)  They seemed like a good idea at the time.  2) Some Pro used them and seemed to go faster.  BLOING!  Instant marketing!

Something there is about the bicycle that makes a certain kind of individual want to tinker with it.  Improve it.  That’s kind of interesting, in that, since John Henry Lawson designed the first safety bicycle,* the basic design and shape of the thing hasn’t changed much.  Yes, there have been some successful variants, and materials have improved amazingly.  The look and shape of the thing has undergone some alterations.  But nothing truly major has changed.  It is for this reason that it is sometimes said that,  “The bicycle is the machine where they got it right the first time.”

In point of fact, if one were to somehow place an authentic reproduction of one of those very early “safety bicycles” in a bike rack alongside a collection of modern bikes, it would hardly be noticed.  For comparison, imagine parking a “curved dash Oldsmobile" in the middle of your local shopping center parking lot.  It would certainly draw a crowd.

The automobile has changed dramatically in the last 100 years.  By comparison, most of the changes in bicycles have been more of refinement.

However, the fact remains, some folks just can’t resist the urge to tinker around with the thing.  These tinkers seem to fall into two categories.  1)  The really serious and passionate.  2)  The Man With An Idea! (MWAI)

That first category is populated by folks who are passionate about cycling, who have educated themselves in various serious disciplines, such as engineering, materials science, human factors, exercise physiology, etc.  They tend to work for companies that produce innovative bicycles or bicycle accessories.**

The second category consists of well meaning, under-informed, folk who are convinced that if everyone would just listen to them, and completely re-tool the way the bike is designed, built, and ridden we would, at last, achieve Nirvana.  It should be noted that almost every example of this category is a relative newcomer to cycling.  They either don’t ride, or don’t ride much, or haven’t been riding for long.  And yet they stand ready to revolutionize our sport.  In other words, idiots.  Sometimes these folks are just socially functional eccentrics, afflicted with a relatively harmless mania.

Now we have come to a new era in history.  We refer to the era of the internet.  The era fo I.C.E.  (Internet Changes Everyting)  More specifically, with the new phenomena of crowd sourcing, a lot of these folks actually manage to get some product out there.  Add to that, there are always countless articles, available on the internet, that prove that the MWAI’s fantasy is founded on reality, and simply must be put into widespread use.

Then too, some of these apparent MWAIs are just plain charlatans, or some kind of con artist.***

Over the past 25 years or so, some MWAIs have actually managed, for a short time, to implement some of their manias.  At one time it was decreed that we would all be riding 650C wheels.    Does anyone else remember the Softride™ Beam?  Fortunately these things have now gone the way of the Nehru Jacket and the Leisure Suit.

*There is some argument on precedence here.

**Sometimes they start such companies, and sometimes they are quite successful at it.

***I am reminded of the big Saddle Scare of the 90s.  Riding a bicycle was supposed to make a man sterile, or impotent, or something.  This fire was fueled by several major market magazines.  It was based, in part, on articles written by a “noted urologist.”  And then, about two months later, PRESTO! this same urologist had designed a magical bicycle saddle that was going to save us all!  Just imagine that.