I rode one of my "normal" bikes to work today for the first time in ages as I felt the need to get some practice in on a 26-inch wheeled bike ahead of my cycling tour in New Zealand later in a few weeks time.
As always happens when I ride a "normal" bike after months of noodling around town on a Brompton, I spent the whole trip going through thoughts like this:
"Mannnn, these wheels are so huge, and they roll so slowly!"
"Why is this bike so heavy?"
"What the heck is this top-tube even for? All it's doing is getting in the dang way..."
No, seriously, why do we have top-tubes on bikes? And why are they so dang high? Is there some benefit (outside of racing) over a step-through bike?
And why, is it more common to have lower top-tubes on women's bikes than men's? Don't men have a greater reason to want to avoid coming into sudden contact with a metal pole positioned at groin level (should a sudden stop cause them to move forward)?
Honestly, the smart thing to do would be to make step-through models the norm for all bikes that don't need the extra stability for racing purposes.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. "Normal" bikes are weird.
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