Had a conversation last night at souths, and I think drunkenly at the track day as well, when it was mentioned that some bike shops are selling bikes without foot retention (clips and straps)
Riding fixed isn't like riding anything else and to actually get the most out of it, your foot and your pedal need to be held together somehow, whether riding clipless or the aforementioned clips and straps, so why are shops selling people fixed bikes without them?
Do they have a duty of care to their customers, (and lets be honest riding fixed is big enough now, that people are coming in, pointing at a bike, because they want the look) who are riding away with no way to keep their feet on the pedals in an attempt to slow their bike down.
Should shops not sell bikes without some clips and straps, should they charge them more for it, or should they continue to do as they are doing, which is giving people the opportunity to buy into a culture of cycling, and then tell them to harden the fuck up when they hurt themselves trying to stop as pedal bashes them in their shin...
(pretty sure they don't tell them to harden the fuck up, but you know what I mean)
Shouldn't it be a case of each one, teach one, if the people in the shops who are making a living (hopefully) from selling our beloved style of bikes, don't want to make sure people don't hurt themselves learning what we know already, should they be told/forced to, can they be told/forced to, and can we as a community tell/force them and would we want to.
Wondered what others thought?
Ps. I wonder if this will be our very own RLJ/Helmet hell, or if this has already been regurgitated ad nauseum on the other cycling forums that I don't frequent.
Pps. If this has been posted/discussed before apologies...
Had a conversation last night at souths, and I think drunkenly at the track day as well, when it was mentioned that some bike shops are selling bikes without foot retention (clips and straps)
Riding fixed isn't like riding anything else and to actually get the most out of it, your foot and your pedal need to be held together somehow, whether riding clipless or the aforementioned clips and straps, so why are shops selling people fixed bikes without them?
Do they have a duty of care to their customers, (and lets be honest riding fixed is big enough now, that people are coming in, pointing at a bike, because they want the look) who are riding away with no way to keep their feet on the pedals in an attempt to slow their bike down.
Should shops not sell bikes without some clips and straps, should they charge them more for it, or should they continue to do as they are doing, which is giving people the opportunity to buy into a culture of cycling, and then tell them to harden the fuck up when they hurt themselves trying to stop as pedal bashes them in their shin...
(pretty sure they don't tell them to harden the fuck up, but you know what I mean)
Shouldn't it be a case of each one, teach one, if the people in the shops who are making a living (hopefully) from selling our beloved style of bikes, don't want to make sure people don't hurt themselves learning what we know already, should they be told/forced to, can they be told/forced to, and can we as a community tell/force them and would we want to.
Wondered what others thought?
Ps. I wonder if this will be our very own RLJ/Helmet hell, or if this has already been regurgitated ad nauseum on the other cycling forums that I don't frequent.
Pps. If this has been posted/discussed before apologies...