JOL/Gurney Straps

The following is just my opinion and supposition, please feel free to ignore me and skim over it all.

[INDENT]

RIPPING OFF PEOPLES DESIGNS IS NOT COOL.

Seems to me that there is a lesson in Industry here, in that JOL came up with the idea, but it has taken him so long to get them out that competitors have been able to copy them and get their product out there before he has even had a chance to finish making his first batch - i am still going to wait it out for JOL's cos i think his will be the best product.

Do you honestly think this current batch of designers are the first ones ever to have this idea? Platform pedals and straps have existed for years. I am sure someone have thought of doing this before but it takes more than the idea.

There are two things to bear in mind:

• The current vogue for trick riding and Polo means there is actually a market for this kind of strap (I doubt anyone would have predicted the Power Straps' resurgence).

• Both Jol and Jeremiah are more than just the ideas men, they also have the skills to make their ideas. I could have thought of this before either of them (I mean potentially, I'm not saying I did)but there would be no use moaning about it because I know I could never have put the idea into production.

Everyone's at it now...these look rather similar to JOL's...http://www.aurora-collective.com/

Superficially yes. Especially in the first photo but read the whole post.

"Since velcro straps are pretty comfy to ride with, but pretty expensive and mostly made for platform pedals, my girlfriend and i decided to make our own. High quality, but for a better price and of course fitting for road and track pedals."

Jol has already said that:

I think the straps will be too much doubled to go through sylvans, sorry.

So the Aurora straps do something which the JOL Strap does not. They could argue that their product is not aimed at the same market.

Also, you can clearly see that this design uses a metal buckle: One of the JOL Straps selling points is a total lack of hardware (so that, for all they look like Jol's from the top, the design is probably more akin to the Holdfast straps). I don't like the look of the junction between the strap and buckle on the inner side of the pedal. It doesn't look very substantial and that's where they will wear and snap: I think that by making the strap narrower to fit through road pedals they have made the design weaker.

I think the Chicago Wigg straps are hardware free and eerily similar to the JOL Straps but coincidences do happen. There are a finite number of solutions to the problem of foot retention and lots of clever folk all trying to solve it first. If anything, this scramble to claim who came up with the idea proves you've probably found the best solution.

As for ripping off the idea. What are you looking for? Recognition that you were the originator? A patent or a license on the idea? That only you can produce the straps (does anyone really think any of these people can produce enough to supply a global market?).*

When I wrote, "you," this isn't actually directed at anyone in particular, I didn't know what word to use (grammar fail).[/INDENT]

The bottom line is this: JOL Straps look ace, have the best name, no silly screenprinted logos and they are made in the UK (please support your local scene).