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01-24-2007, 01:55 PM

On Jan 24, 3:27 pm, Werehatrack <raul...@earthWEEDSlink.net> wrote:
> On 24 Jan 2007 08:39:55 -0800, "landotter" <landot...@gmail.com> may
> have said:
>
> >The bravery of the American casual cyclist is certainly lacking (My
> >neighbors were amazed that I rode errands in a drizzle yesterday), but
> >that's not the reason we don't have full chain case bikes. It had very
> >much to do with the weight of imported bikes and the law (duty I
> >believe). A full chaincase put a lot of bikes right over the limit.
> >That's the reason my rod brake Raleigh Tourist has a hockey stick
> >chainguard and not a case.The regs were doubtless devised carefully; I have no doubt that the
> limits were established at just the point at which the typical non-US
> bike would be over the low-tariff limit. Of course, there are many
> ways to address such an obstacle, but the obvious one in this instance
> was to simply acknowledge that US riders didn't care about a full
> chain case anyway, and delete the non-feature to save weight and cost.
> (Not that it weighs that much, really; the one on my Puch isn't much
> more than a pound.)
>
> If full-case chains were in demand in the US market in the era when
> bikes were still made here, rest assured that Murray, Huffy, Schwinn
> and Columbia (among others) would have commonly provided them. That
> they didn't is ample evidence of the absence of demand in the
> marketplace...and it wasn't a matter of weight on a bike that already
> weighed 40 lbs, as plenty of them did in those days.

Tut tut, you know as well as I, that the bicycle marketplace isn't so
much driven by the needs or demands of the consumer as by trends. :-P

The Swedes could have well done with closed chain cases as well,
considering the climate, but Swedish made bikes rarely had them. It was
as much a feature on British and Dutch roadsters as a styling element.
The Swedes had their own style, check out some of the neato full guards
here:

http://www.cykelhistoriska.se/sofiero06.html

01-24-2007, 01:55 PM	#15 (permalink)
landotter Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Needed new bike design On Jan 24, 3:27 pm, Werehatrack <raul...@earthWEEDSlink.net> wrote: > On 24 Jan 2007 08:39:55 -0800, "landotter" <landot...@gmail.com> may > have said: > > >The bravery of the American casual cyclist is certainly lacking (My > >neighbors were amazed that I rode errands in a drizzle yesterday), but > >that's not the reason we don't have full chain case bikes. It had very > >much to do with the weight of imported bikes and the law (duty I > >believe). A full chaincase put a lot of bikes right over the limit. > >That's the reason my rod brake Raleigh Tourist has a hockey stick > >chainguard and not a case.The regs were doubtless devised carefully; I have no doubt that the > limits were established at just the point at which the typical non-US > bike would be over the low-tariff limit. Of course, there are many > ways to address such an obstacle, but the obvious one in this instance > was to simply acknowledge that US riders didn't care about a full > chain case anyway, and delete the non-feature to save weight and cost. > (Not that it weighs that much, really; the one on my Puch isn't much > more than a pound.) > > If full-case chains were in demand in the US market in the era when > bikes were still made here, rest assured that Murray, Huffy, Schwinn > and Columbia (among others) would have commonly provided them. That > they didn't is ample evidence of the absence of demand in the > marketplace...and it wasn't a matter of weight on a bike that already > weighed 40 lbs, as plenty of them did in those days. Tut tut, you know as well as I, that the bicycle marketplace isn't so much driven by the needs or demands of the consumer as by trends. :-P The Swedes could have well done with closed chain cases as well, considering the climate, but Swedish made bikes rarely had them. It was as much a feature on British and Dutch roadsters as a styling element. The Swedes had their own style, check out some of the neato full guards here: http://www.cykelhistoriska.se/sofiero06.html