Re: Thoughts on industrial design

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 5/2/2025 2:28 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:

Am Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:17:50 -0400 schrieb Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>:
 

These rides make up the bulk of annual riding for almost all members of
our club. The group on this ride were almost all retirees, and it seems
to be their main form of recreation. I'm unusual in that I have other
outdoor activities I also do regularly.

 
There are bicycle clubs in Germany, almost all of them members of the
national biycle club and bound to its rules
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Cycling_Federation>
("Bund Deutscher Radfahrer", BDR), a member of the UCI.
 
When our children where young, we considered getting a club membership
in a local club for them. We lost interest when we where told about a
strict helmet law: nor helmet, no rides - at a time when only the very
small minority of organzized bicyclists in Germany and other European
countries used bicycle helmets.

I wonder if that was before or after the UCI rule mandating helmets. Our
club still has no rule mandating helmets on normal rides; but I'm one of
very few who will attend a ride without the special hat.
 
Cycling attire is very much a fashion thing! There's certainly benefit
to comfortable riding shorts, aero jerseys etc. for fast or long rides.
But the other day, one member led a leisurely 15 mile ride followed by a
wildflower walk in our nature preserve. I showed up in normal
lightweight slacks and shirt, normal shoes, as I'd wear to ride to do
some shopping, visit a friend, etc. Everyone else was attired as if to
ride 75 miles.
 
 

Rather depends on how leisure it was even a fairly leisurely pace aka
commuting my work has no showers etc, still makes sense for cycling shorts
I found, and related is civilian clothes do wear out remarkably quickly
certainly cotton shorts I found barely lasted the summer just commuting a
few days a week.

Plus for number of folks it’s just what they are used to!

Roger Merriman