RobinLaidlaw

@gabriel-mission9: But it is about the only realistic way to control bolt make up on a bike, there's a limit to what else you could do. For my job, we do far more complex things to accurately control make-up of parts for critical equipment in the oil industry but I don't think many people working on bikes are going to have access to a hydraulic bolt tensioner or ultrasound equipment to detect the length change of the fastener. So the options are really to specify a torque (preferably with the state of lubrication specified), design for torque to yield or delta turn (not practical on small short bolts) or to make everything so chunky that it's hard to break (which actually is standard oil industry practice - no bolts on offshore equipment small enough that someone can strip them with hand tools). What would you propose instead of torque?

I absolutely agree that we should just ride and enjoy the bikes we have, but the solution to that issue is at the other end. It's up to us to change our behaviours, you cannot blame a media company for producing their product and supporting the industry that supports them. I find myself remaining quite happy with my current bike/car/other consumer item when I don't engage with with media focussed at that item. If you only look at bike websites when you actually need a new bike you'll probably find yourself "needing" a new bike less often and happier with what you have. When I worked, many year ago, in physical bike shops the happiest customers were very often the old blokes with their ancient touring bikes that only came into the shop when something needed repaired, and the rest of the time they just rode the bike they had and enjoyed it.

Why? It seems to me that if you need to spend significant time on the system to get used to it, perhaps you would be better spending the same amount of time getting used to dealing with a slight tendancy to wheel flop at low speeds. Other than the comment from Barel, it feels like this is aimed at less experienced riders to help them ride slack bikes at low speeds more comfortably. Perhaps it would be better to offer bikes with less agressive geometry to these riders instead? But I suppose that means greater tooling costs for two sets of frame geometry, when this can just be added at little cost and increase the profit margins. Anyway, no thanks.