Name one thing that does not make sense in Cycling

[bpsmith]

To you they are. To others maybe not.

Depends on the light levels and the location tbh.

Cyclists in High Vis disappear on country lanes as they blend into the background easier than a contrasting colour during the Summer and parts of Spring/Autumn.

Wearing absolutely plain black with very dark backgrounds would have the same effect, but where do you cycle where the background is black?

As it gets darker, the colours come into play again, but then a set of good lights covers that.

Personally, I wear black, but my Winter gear has reflective bits on front and back. I think that is more important than the colour, if anything.

Much like the uniform of a Fireman is predominantly dark with reflective elements.

 

[bpsmith]

You have a Winter bike and a Summer bike, but the Summer bike is dirtier than your Winter bike as you try and squeeze those extra couple of rides in before swapping over!

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I ride 300 or more km each week, and have done this for years, and it's been years since my legs stopped aching day and night, and yet I continue to enjoy cycling, which just doesn't make sense .

 

[Dogtrousers]

Tyre sizing (ISO-ETRTO excepted).

I think this is the winner.

Specifically the thing that really doesn't make sense to me is "700C" which means - (correct me if I'm wrong) - the diameter of a wheel which would be 700mm if it was fitted with an obsolete kind of French tyre called a "C", which would seem to have been 39mm in diameter. So, 700C=622mm. But there is actually (almost) nothing that is really 700mm in diameter, because most 700C whees aren't used with tyres anywhere near that big. Yeah, that makes sense.

And to my previous suggestion of threadless headsets, how about those security quick release hubs that need a special tool to remove them, effectively making them slower release than wheel nuts. "Lawyers lips", which I suppose do make some kind of sense. The fact that no one has invented anything to properly fully supersede the puncture prone pneumatic tyre. The fact that bicycles aren't advertised with their effective gear range, while adverts make a huge song and dance about the number of gears.

Oh, and endless arguments about high vis.

 

[MacB]

Tires, it's the Americans fault if they didn't cling so stubbornly to imperial measurements we'd have moved on ages ago.

Tyres and rims are easily compared via ETRTO as Tim points out

 

[Accy cyclist]

Surely the HiViz is even more important without the row of cones?

One in ten motorway accidents is a collision with a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder

The argument for HiViz vehicles is reinforced by your statement

Have we got our wires crossed? I'm pro high viz for almost everything,though you seem to be assuming that i'm not.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Tires, it's the Americans fault if they didn't cling so stubbornly to imperial measurements we'd have moved on ages ago.

Tyres and rims are easily compared via ETRTO as Tim points out

But many of the confusing measurements (eg 700C) aren't imperial, so it's a bit rich to blame the Americans. Not that I'm averse to blaming them anyway.

But yes, the ETRTO system does make sense.

 

[jayonabike]

I'm pro high viz for almost everything

If everything was in hi viz how would you stand out in your hi viz?

 

[Dogtrousers]

If everything was in hi viz how would you stand out in your hi viz?

Easy. Hi-er Vis.

 

[MacB]

But many of the confusing measurements (eg 700C) aren't imperial, so it's a bit rich to blame the Americans. Not that I'm averse to blaming them anyway.

But yes, the ETRTO system does make sense.

True but my experience, personally and professionally, is that Americans are very resistant to change. How much of that accounts for the weird mishmash of imperial/metric around the world I don't know, and I suffer from it like most others.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Y

Depends on the light levels and the location tbh.

Cyclists in High Vis disappear on country lanes as they blend into the background easier than a contrasting colour during the Summer and parts of Spring/Autumn.

Wearing absolutely plain black with very dark backgrounds would have the same effect, but where do you cycle where the background is black?

As it gets darker, the colours come into play again, but then a set of good lights covers that.

Personally, I wear black, but my Winter gear has reflective bits on front and back. I think that is more important than the colour, if anything.

Much like the uniform of a Fireman is predominantly dark with reflective elements.

Yes i'll accept that black or other dark stuff is ok just as long as it has a small amount of high viz on it.However 100% black i don't like! As for the where do you cycle where the background is black? The other evening i was driving over a hill on my way home from work it was going dark and very misty and murky as they say. I only saw him a few yards away but there he was dressed head to toe in complete black with just a flickering rear light for his visibility contribution! No doubt someone is going to say "So you did see him then,so what's the problem"?,but i only saw him a few yards away and as for that coach following him up his backside nearly i don't know if the driver had seen him or not?!

 

[Accy cyclist]

If everything was in hi viz how would you stand out in your hi viz?

True but everything isn't high viz. If the day comes where everything and everyone is covered in high viz then i'll wear black to make myself visible

 

[Hip Priest]

Mudguards on a frame that is not designed for them.

They're essential for me, as someone who can't afford a winter bike and doesn't want to be a pariah on winter club rides!

 

[Dogtrousers]

They're essential for me, as someone who can't afford a winter bike and doesn't want to be a pariah on winter club rides!

I do club riding mainly in winter (in summer I'm off on my own) and cobbled up crud-catchers and the like on racing machines are a must to keep Kentish gunk out of my face. So hooray for them.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

There's a stretch of road between Rotherham & Wentworth that looks like it's uphill but you're actually going downhill. Now that does not make sense at all!