Mr. Spadoni 

Cockpit when used in reference to a bike. If you want to pretend your bike is an airplane, put a baseball card in your spokes.

gugie 

Worse yet - flashing headlights. When did headlights become a warning sign instead of a way to light the road ahead of you? Very distracting to everyone approaching them. Also flashing tail lights.

A flashing light should be limited to emergency vehicles and people emergency situations, such as a car broken down at the side of the road.

The Germans have it figured out - I understand they're outlawed there.

steelbikeguy

are you kidding? It was hard enough to get the drivetrain on the correct side.... as evidenced by this image from the 1974 Raleigh catalog page for the Super Tourer (a pretty cool bike).



Steve in Peoria

iab

A trade agreement would be prudent.

iab

While I understand your wish to reduce seizures, but your own sentence is the explanation. I will take the increased visibility to cars over a 30-second inconvenience any day, all day and every day. That said, I'm one of the 3 people riding a bike in these parts. Your area may have a higher bike density and cars may be more aware of a bicycle's presence.

Sismologue

Bahah, this gave me a good laugh! I mean, I guess they look pretty?

rhm

The verb "wrench."

I'm fine with the noun.

stewartp

-If I plan to race on tri bars I'm damn sure going to train on them as often as I can

gugie 

It's not an inconvenience, and I'll discount the seizures arguement, it's just less safe. The organization that represents a lot of people that ride through the night (RUSA) specifically rules them out on their rides for a reason, and are riding in rural areas that see bicycles at night maybe never. Portlandia bicycle density is pretty high, and that makes it even worse because over half of the bikes have flashing tail and headlights. It's very distracting while I'm trying to concentrate on looking for broken glass and potholes on my ride home. I often wonder what a car drive riding behind me sees - my non flashing tail light, or are they distracted by the flasher on the other side of the road? If flashing lights are so safe, why don't cars have them on full time? Another issue is that it makes it difficult to judge a bike's speed.

Perhaps a compromise is to have both a flashing and constant light. The few bikes I've seen with both don't distract me much.

Yeah, I'm sure this bugs me more than most people, as I appear outnumbered out on the streets at night.

iab

Flashing lights are safer because they are the exception. Cars are expected on the road and don't need special consideration. If everything was flashing, there would be no exception.

But again, in my area, I am the exception on a bike. ymmv.

gugie 

I think you nailed it. You see three bicycles on the road any given night, I see 20-30 on my route home in the dead of winter and it's raining.

masi61

On my bike club rides when we are in a group, the group leader asks all riders to put their tail lights on solid. This allows our group to still be seen and to not impair our vision while we complete the last part of our ride after dusk.

Rocket-Sauce 

Forgive me quoting myself...
My wife pointed out that guys* that ride this way, would almost certainly turn off the high beams in their cars for oncoming vehicles

*always guys. Ladies have more sense.

mosinglespeeder

I'm a grumpy grandpa, so this question could go on and on for me

-multi colored bar wrap that looks like someone barfed on the bars
-poorly wrapped bar tape, on a otherwise nice bike, the lack of detail, lines that waver/or is lumpy, exposing the bar clamps....is a weak craftsman
-stems that don't match the seatpost...terrible, proverbial mismatched black and silver
-stems that are so erected it appears to be a perpetual priapism, which inevitably is a poor bike fit
-seats that are >2 degrees tilted forward, and inverse to the above, looks like it may never get up again
-cables that are visibly frayed....the owner should be whipped with a wet noodle, 39 times

Unca_Sam

Low lumen flashing lights in the daytime to increase visibility in low visibility situations (shade, heavily parked streets), solid at night to light your way and provide a consistent distance estimate for overtaking traffic. Solid up front all the time will be fine too, though flashing draws my attention more quickly. I'm only really concerned about failure to yield situations for the front, when the driver may only be giving a glance before pulling out.

sincos

Straps used to come with (or maybe you had to get separately, I forget now) a button that screwed onto the end of the strap. With it on there's no way it would thread through the "buckle" (which isn't a buckle but a raised lip that you can just flick to loosen enough to pull out.) Also, a well used strap will take a bend upwards, in the opposite direction*, which is yet another reason why there's just no way the one pictured was accidentally installed in a hurry by someone who used the thing. As Steve in Peoria said, it's like walking out of the house having forgotten your pants.

*Unless it's a nylon strap, which is to be avoided because it will eventually fray and the teeth will get caught in the fabric just as you come to a stop. Horizontally.

There. Have I dated myself yet?

Mad Honk 

I still use those and there is only one way to install them to be effective. The twist holds the strap from moving while cinching it up, and allows for ease in releasing the strap. The buttons are used to facilitate the cinching up of the strap on the down stroke for the rider. HTH, Smiles, MH

SurferRosa

I like writing, Campañola.

So much easier to pronounce.

Drillium Dude 

Ooh, here's a light-related one I experienced for the first time on my final ride of 2020: those pesky red lights on the backs of some helmets! I came upon a woman with one of these contraptions and though it wasn't set to blinking mode it was still bright enough to force me to squint my eyes at a distance of 30 feet. Much, much too bright to be located in the middle of many a cyclist's sight line.

And yeah, badly-adjusted headlights which can cause momentary blindness is even worse. I wonder if the owners of said lights just don't realize they could initiate a head-on - in which they themselves might be involved?

DD

panzerwagon 

This is ridiculously subjective, but bikes painted black. The palette of available colors is so vast, that choosing black makes utterly no sense to me. The same issue exists in cars today. Just compare with photos of the highways in the 60s-70s-80s. Now all you can see on the highways is black, white, and some shade of gray. We can’t all be secret agents, can we? And don’t even get me started about matte black.

gugie 

@rhm came up with a solution which I helped him implement.

beicster 

Oddly, when I was riding bicycles and motorcycles a lot, I never had trouble remembering that the front brake lever was in different places on each. I figured it was the fact that throttle was on the right side on motorcycles and that kept it front of mind.

Slightspeed

Downtube shifters, first.
Old school toe clips, straps and cleats, honorable mention.
I'm down to one downtube shifter bike now. I can live with that. Actually I bought a set of Suntour bar end shifters for it, but another bike came along that needed them more. Well, you get the idea.
I keep around a set of Campy quills, straps and toe clips, but have re-soled my Vittoria cleated shoes with ribbed rubber soles. To be used only for the occasional Eroica, if and when it comes around again. Otherwise its mtn SPDs for me.

obrentharris 

Hah!
I'm not the only one.

My other pet peeves:
White socks. We had to wear them if we wanted to race in the seventies. I've disliked them ever since.
Silent freewheels, freehubs. I enjoy the sound as it modulates up and down with differences in speed.
CO2 inflators.

Brent

gugie 

I've stopped at least 4 times to help someone inflate a tire when their CO2 cartridge malfunctioned/didn't know how to use them. Tubeless? Yeah, I guess, but all 4 of those times were road bikes.