10 Wheels

Was on My Race Bike when I took the pic.

livedarklions

Hmmm, I may have to give it a try. I usually don't wear gloves, though. I'm weird that way.

10 Wheels

Gloves Good When you Crash......

livedarklions

Not a topic I'm going to debate because I find gloves unpleasant generally except in the cold but I've had a few crashes, and I'm very good about keeping my hands on the bars. Gloves are only a factor if you outstretch your hands when you crash.

Maelochs

Gloves prevent you from tearing the flesh off your palms while breaking your wrists in a crash.

Milton Keynes

I like gloves because they help me keep gripping the handlebars even if it's hot out and my hands are sweaty. Plus a little bit more padding on my hands doesn't hurt, either. I never have a problem with my hands going numb.

Maelochs

it is not a debate. It is entirely a matter of personal preference. This is the old "which color is better" type of "debate."

I wear gloves because I find that even the minimal padding improves comfort. I found this--for myself---by riding with and without. Others are different and have different opinions. "Right" in this case .....

is the opposite of "Left." Very important because the gloves fit better on the proper hand.

livedarklions

Exactly! All I meant by that was that I wasn't inviting people to try to talk me into wearing gloves. I have no problem with people explaining why they like them. I've tried them and they make my hands uncomfortable, give me more callouses, and I find putting them on and off awkward and annoying. I'd never claim that anyone who doesn't experience that is wrong, I suspect a lot of this has to do with variations in our hands and skin. I have a latex sensitivity that might have something to do with this.

And I prefer calling it the "what's the best shoe size " argument. Best color can actually have some objectively correct answer--e.g., what's the best color for desert camo?

CargoDane

Actually, it depends on the desert. Antarctica is a desert, and there's a center with very little snow too. So even that isn't so cut-and-dry (no pun intended).

livedarklions

Not sure there's a lot of call for camouflage in Antarctica, but for what it's worth, I probably would wear gloves there or, more likely, mittens.

CargoDane

It was an example, but let's say you were there to study wild life. You'd probably need white, as the interior is so dry there isn't anything living there. And yes, that includes your gloves.

How about the Saguara desert vs the Atacama?

Here are some various deserts - you may need gloves in quite a lot of them - especially at night:

But, more importantly: There isn't just one "desert camo" - objectively speaking.

Milton Keynes

Blue. Unless it's the color of a bike, then red. Red bikes are faster.

livedarklions

So there would still be a different right answer for the best color for different deserts. Think you kind of lost the plot here. There's also "best color to promote visibility" under a given set of conditions. It would have nothing to do with the characteristics of an individual person, unlike shoe size or whether gloves are comfortable or not, which was the only point I was making.

CargoDane

Oh, so now you suddenly have various modifiers after having been confronted with different looking deserts.
But with such modifiers, there are also such things as best gloves for a given set of circumstances. It's just that those parameters are different than the parameters of the looks of a given desert (obviously, as gloves and deserts are not the same).

But, anyway, you accuse me of losing the plot, when I confronted you about you saying that there is something that is objectively best "such as desert camo". Look at desert animals, they haven't all evolved to have the same camo either.

You could have come up with a better example, but you obviously couldn't. So much for "having lost the plot".

Wildwood 

lightweight, invisible, super cheap, with a good sales pitch and unlimited capability.

unobtanium at the accessory level.



free your handlebars and your mind will follow

livedarklions

​​​​​​I have no idea what the hell you think we're arguing about, but it sure has nothing to do with the thread.

All I said was " what's the best shoe size" is a better analog than "what's the best color." I do have a really good candidate for "stupidest quibble ever" thanks to you. Maybe you should get a hobby?

thesongs

There is already a horn that blares like a car horn. It's called loud horn. However, the problem is that it is heavy. It'd be interesting to get one that is far more lighter, that perhaps you can honk two or three times before having to recharge, and which can fit rechargeable AA batteries.

livedarklions

Invisible would lose the "impress your friends" consumer. It needs to be just the right amount of visible to support the sales pitch.

Maelochs

Speaking of losing the plot .... the most important aspect of any accessory is that it must be sufficiently useful to justify the cost and the real estate on the bike. Something which mounts securely, is light, dismounts easily, and is totally useless, will not even get mounted .... or purchased.

preventec47

In the year 2005 I was in a pack of 5 riders tailgating each other going down a hill about 30 mph and the 2nd riders front wheel touched the rear wheel of the leader and there was a terrible pileup. My best buddy lost all the skin from his left palm and after two years of several surgeries to transplant skin graft from his back and inner thigh he now has about 60 percent use of that hand forever because the palm is so sensitive and will not build callouses etc. From that day forward I ALWAYS wear gloves and helmet. AND I NEVER NEVER ride closer than ten feet to another rider.

preventec47

TWO needed products...
1.. A helmet with some kind of screen that can be looked at up and to the side with a lens that will show the display of a camera that is pointed
to the rear of your bike. This is assuming a revolutionary breakthrough does not occur with rear facing mirrors.
2. A Mirror maybe or the screen of a smart phone size that can be looked at while looking straight down when on a bike with drop bars and it is difficult to keep your head
raised to look ahead especially when doing an all out sprint. If you used a mirror you would have to train yourself I think to process what might be a reversed image or even
upside down etc. I have tried a mirror about the size of a pack of cigarettes attached to top of my stem and all I used it for was to watch out for a car or other object in which
case I would instantly raise my head for the direct view.

I can usually hear cars approaching from the rear and if there is clear and easy access to a sidewalk I will jump to it and let the car pass. I would like to be able to know about approaching traffic from behind before I hear it however.

livedarklions

I don't group ride and, as I said, I think training myself to keep my hands on the bars protects my palms far better than wearing gloves would. It also has allowed me to recover my balance rather than crashing in several instances.

Geno929

A small, secure brake light / turn signal would be nice!

Maelochs

A rear-facing camera with a screen on the stem would be a good thing. I might not use it because it would just be more tech, more batteries, more stuff .... but a lot of people would use one, I think. Such a camera could be equipped with the radar systems some manufacturers already offer. obviously it would be easier and probably safer to glance down at the bars to see traffic behind, than to try to turn one's head, which can sometimes offer too limited a view.

Turn signals, not so much. Turn signals work on cars because they are five to six feet apart. On a bike, they couldn't be much wider than the bars--40 cm? And even then would need to be on breakaway mounts of something because hooking a solidly mounted turn signal would be disastrous. If they were not far separated, they would blend in with the tail light, and a driver might not be able to tell which was which or which way the rider intended to turn. Even an arrow-shaped light might be hard to distinguish until the driver got very close. Maybe a big, central, foot-long arrow with the head at either end with the whole thing illuminated for straight-ahead riding, and either end plus the middle lit for turning?