Breast...

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Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
Just don’t like the idea of something emitting radio waves millimetres from my breast tissue for several hours of bike rides. Probably unfounded, just me being paranoid.
Police officers have been doing just that all day and every day throughout their working lives since the 1960s, I've never heard of any health concerns that have been caused by that.
 

numbnuts

Legendary Member
As a trike rider back pockets are a pain in the arse :sad:
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Just don’t like the idea of something emitting radio waves millimetres from my breast tissue for several hours of bike rides. Probably unfounded, just me being paranoid.
I'm with you on that. I also wonder about men carrying them in trouser pockets.

Of course they're safe. They used to say that about cigarettes too :smile:
Surprisingly (?), it is estimated that about 520 men will die of breast cancer in the UK this year, so phones in chest pockets would not be a great idea for us either if the radiation risk is real... :whistle:
Carried mine there, chest mount radio holder, for 15 years. Now have breast cancer.

I've no plans on being one of the 520 though.
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
I'm with you on that. I also wonder about men carrying them in trouser pockets.

Of course they're safe. They used to say that about cigarettes too :smile:

They say that it's safe because the physics of such things has been well understood for a
century. If if you don't understand or believe the laws of physics, considering the billions of phone users worldwide surely something would have turned up if our understanding of physics was wrong
 

Once a Wheeler

…always a wheeler
They used to:
548638
Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi in the 1950s. Perhaps the aerodynamicists saw those front pockets as a pair of air brakes and banned them from the sport.
As you say, they would still be really useful for less competitive riders.
 

DRM

Guru
Location
West Yorks
 

Once a Wheeler

…always a wheeler
They used to:
View attachment 548638
Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi in the 1950s. Perhaps the aerodynamicists saw those front pockets as a pair of air brakes and banned them from the sport.
As you say, they would still be really useful for less competitive riders.
Afterthought: the answer probably lies in the tubs wrapped around their shoulders. A high degree of self-sufficiency was essential for racers who could get separated from their service vehicles for long periods. As rider support improved, the need for on-board food and clobber declined so jerseys could dispense with a couple of pockets. From a look at the photographic record, the demise of the breast pocket seems to have occurred around 1970.
 

Once a Wheeler

…always a wheeler
Mid sixties, I believe.
Quite possibly. Here's an interesting pic from the 1969 Liège-Bastogne-Liège:
548777
Eddy Merckx is in second place and is led by a domestique, Rik Van Schil. Merckx appears to have no breast pockets whilst the domestique has a full set. That may well illustrate a progressive transition away from breast pockets as motorized support improved; the domestiques retaining the pockets for back-up purposes.
 
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