skidder

Well that explains some of it. That must be why they kept changing the rules trying to keep Peter Sagan from winning the points race in the major tours. But that ungrateful Slav kept winning anyway!

Steel Charlie

Those are the exactly same creatures that control the IOC. They're working on a crossover sport that will include barely pubescent girls in painted on attire and professional cyclists.

Hermes

He is unaware of that.

Mtracer

If sport regulating bodies never updated the rules for equipment, golfers would still be using wooden shaft clubs, various sports would still be using balls made from some part of an animal, so on and so forth. I guess, maybe cycling should only be competing on Penny Farthings.

Updating rules to evolve is not inconsistent. Inconstant would be applying the rules inconstantly. Which I'm sure happens a bit, but more due to the way individual judges apply rules. And in general rules are written to try to avoid ambiguity.

I don't really think anyone expects to compare sporting records from 100 years ago to those today. Heck, if you literally never updated rules, records would simply plateau. While you would then be able to compare a new record to an ancient one, things would get rather stagnant. It's just plain fun to have a record broken every once in a while. It keeps excitement and interest on a sport. And really, equipment advances are part of the sport. Perhaps there are some sports where equipment plays virtually no roll. But in cycling, we are riding a machine. It is literally the most significant thing defining the sport. You can't have cycling without a bicycle.

I think the UCI idea of a bike being a production bike is a pretty good way to do things. It keeps teams from being dominated by an arms race that will always be won by the team with the deepest pockets.

There's nothing keeping someone from creating the Luddite Cycling League (LCL for short).

50PlusCycling

Sports has a vested interest in seeing records broken. Breaking records increases public interest, attendance, viewership, and clicks. More of these things means the ability to get more money from fans and sponsors. The UCI did ban “exotic” time trial bikes some years ago, like the Pinarello Sword. But the decrease in use of certain performance-enhancing substances slowed down riders. Faster bikes allow modern riders to ride faster than previous generations without chemical assistance. No one today on an early 2000’s bike could come close to matching the drug-induced performance of early 2000’s pro riders.

scott967

I imagine the rules are set to allow participation by a good number of sponsors.

scott s.
.

PeteHski

The idea of rules is to define the basic layout of a bicycle ie upright design with 2 open wheels, crank, pedals etc and then allow natural development within that framework. It’s the same principle with motorsport technical regulations. They define a framework, but they are not intended to prevent development within that framework.

Of course the UCI could have specified that all bike frames must consist only of round, fixed diameter tubing, but they clearly decided that would be overly restrictive. Aerodynamic shapes are allowed, but there are plenty of restrictions. It is certainly not a free for all.

Outrider1

This^

Koyote

You guys are all crazy. UCI is controlled by George Soros. Duh.

genejockey 

SOROS!!!!

Everybody DRINK!!!!!!

StanSeven

Wow. What a thread. Rydabent started it with posts by Larry, Indy, smd4, vegan, calamariachris, and Koyote. And it’s still just two pages.

Koyote

Pretty much everything great about bf in one thread, right?

indyfabz

Wut

rsbob 

A virtual who’s who of BF. You go guys!

tomato coupe

George Soros was born out of a marriage between the Romanovs and a powerful French Lizard family. Everybody knows that.

tomato coupe

The moderators must feel like the LA police watching the crowd outside the movie theater on opening night of Boys n the Hood -- it's a real powder keg in the making.

Shadco 

It’s not like they are racing bents, I don’t get his complaint.

.

cb400bill

Thread reopened.

dedhed

You guys weren't around when it was guys like Sydney, Operator, and some others that Tom Stormcrowe had to keep in line

mstateglfr 

This thread was better when it was locked.

cb400bill

No one is making you read it. Or post in it. But you.

mstateglfr 

Was just joking around by saying the thread was more productive closed than open.
I am well aware nobody is forced to read or respond to threads, but always good to hear it stated again.

3alarmer

.
...if Blanche DuBois posted in General Cycling, she would quickly be disabused of her notion, about depending on the kindness of strangers.

genejockey 

*snork*

But, you know, we have had Blanche DuBois posting here about never carrying a spare tube and instead depending on getting help from strangers.

rsbob 

Other than the official name, what does UCI stand for?

Unequivocal Cycling Interference?
Useless Cycling Infrastructure?