Negative progress: Kit advances that aren't

alan_sherman

I'm having a rant about progress that isn't progress because two things have annoyed me in my virtual shopping for new stuff.
1) Internal cabling
2) non-replacable batteries in phones

I've been looking for a cheap gravel / light tour type bike. So aluminium generaly. But most have the most god-awful internal gear cabling. They can be bad for a number of reasons:
1) large bung holes on the down tube - look ugly
2) Introducing holes on the frame provides stress raisers which makes for potential early failure (A few stories of Whyte frame cracking)
3) How the hell do you adjust front deraillleur cable tension? Usually they introduce a horrible in-line adjuster.


It is hard to find external cable routing on these bikes. Planet X full Monty, Ribble CGR and Genesis Vapour seem the only ones. Norco, Pinnacle, Saracen, Whyte, Ribble, Mango, Orro. Grr. Cannondale and Genesis CDA go for a cable stop - but no cable adjusters. Half wayhouse to no where!



And I need a new phone. Phone batteries have a finite life so need to be changed (usually after two years in my experience). But now almost all have sealed in batteries. Only the Moto G 5 seems to have a user swappable battery. Rubbish, take the metal bodies and glass backs and give me a plastic body (which I'll cover with a rubber bumper anyway) and a replaceable battery!


End of Friday rant.

As you were

Alex99

Bikes with external cables exist. Vote with your wallet.

I agree, non-replaceable batteries are disturbing.

meanredspider

Are phone batteries generally non-user replaceable? How many phones are complete junk when the battery fails?

On this point, you have to blame "our" (the consumer's) demand for slimmer, sleeker, phones that do more and more. Packaging all the resources (chips, batteries, antennae, ports, switches, SIM, speakers etc) into such a tight unit is a work of art. In my experience, the processor has fallen behind the curve before the battery gives up. So I think the battery is a red herring - it's our demand for more that is the issue.

alan_sherman

My Samsung s2 managed 4.5 years.... 2 batteries in that time. I prefer to look after stuff and make it last if possible!

capt_slog

I find one of the nice things about exposed cables is that if you have a slightly-out gear selection, you can pull the exposed cable like a bow string whilst you're riding along and see if that makes the problem better or worse. From that, it's easy to work out if you need to tension or loosen the cable a bit.

Batteries in phones. If you dropped your old phone in water and you were quick enough rescuing it, it was possible to take the battery out and save the phone, before it started shorting all the delicate electrics.

So with you one the above, although I do like the sleeker finish of internal cables

I'll add to the list...

The lack of a spare wheel on cars, replaced by a bloody silly kit where you inject fluid into the tyre plus a little compressor to not blow it back up again in most cases. A skinny, or space saver was bad enough. My current car has room for a full size wheel, so I bought one off the ebay.

Buttons on TV remotes (Kindle Firestick fo example), my mobile phone, and car key fobs, which are so stiff, close and tiny that you are forced to use your nails to press them, with the obvious consequences of this.

joey54321

I like the idea of internal cables in a gravel bike, keep them away from the mud as much as possible = longer life. I've never found the lack of a barrel adjuster on the front mech an issue (nor do I use the barrel adjuster on my externally cabled bike) and I personally think they look nicer internal than external (obviously personal preference).

rick_chasey

Disposable cutlery & crockery.

meanredspider

Thru-axles - utterly pointless on a road/gravel bike.

lostboysaint

meanredspider wrote:

Thru-axles - utterly pointless on a road/gravel bike.

See I just can't agree with that. But then I'm 6'4", 98kg and, as a result, can very easily feel the difference.

meanredspider

lostboysaint wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Thru-axles - utterly pointless on a road/gravel bike.

See I just can't agree with that. But then I'm 6'4", 98kg and, as a result, can very easily feel the difference.

Im sorry but there's almost no mechanical reason why they should be better - and I'm not much lighter than you and ride discs on both QR and TA. If you can feel a difference, I suggest it's coming from somewhere else - most likely forks or wheel construction.

rjsterry

Rick Chasey wrote:

Disposable cutlery & crockery.

I see you've not done children's birthday parties yet.;)

rjsterry

The proliferation of umpteen proprietary bottom bracket and headset 'standards'. I suppose it's inevitable that there is a flurry of new formats and then things will settle down to the best two or three of each.

Garry H

rjsterry wrote:

The proliferation of umpteen proprietary bottom bracket and headset 'standards'. I suppose it's inevitable that there is a flurry of new formats and then things will settle down to the best two or three of each.

Wot he said^

First.Aspect

meanredspider wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Thru-axles - utterly pointless on a road/gravel bike.

See I just can't agree with that. But then I'm 6'4", 98kg and, as a result, can very easily feel the difference.

Im sorry but there's almost no mechanical reason why they should be better - and I'm not much lighter than you and ride discs on both QR and TA. If you can feel a difference, I suggest it's coming from somewhere else - most likely forks or wheel construction.

Thru axles, tapered steer tubes and oversize crankset spindles etc are all "sugar pills".

rick_chasey

rjsterry wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Disposable cutlery & crockery.

I see you've not done children's birthday parties yet.;)

Fair.

Though all the adult chumps I see eating and drinking with disposable cutlery & crockery at their desk when there's an office kitchen cupboard full of plates, cups, glasses and proper metal cutlery have no excuse.

rjsterry

Garry H wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

The proliferation of umpteen proprietary bottom bracket and headset 'standards'. I suppose it's inevitable that there is a flurry of new formats and then things will settle down to the best two or three of each.

Wot he said^

What's wrong with A JIS square taper, I ask you? <muttermuttermutter>

FocusZing

The explosion of SUV's. Heavier, less aero dynamic, consequently uses more fuel. The majority of people don't use them off road, it's just a style thing (loftier position more imposing car).

Tattoos. What the hell is wrong with the perfect skin we are born with, wonderful kit. I see people with the most ridiculous sprawl plastered all over them, akin to a building on the wrong side of town.

Good quality leather trainers, now the vast majority are this synthetic sh1t.

Idots buying vinyl again, it was sh1t then and its sh1t now. "Yes but its like D-Ream are playing to me in the room...", feck off! you marketers wet dream.

First.Aspect

Beards are a retrograde step.

Useful for keeping warm, but now they've invented buffs, which can be removed when you need to eat something.

FocusZing

BMX. I thought it was as hot as Princess Leia, until a couple of mates p1ssed passed me on their racers. The gearless wonders are still roaming freestyle.

capt_slog

Fecking pedestrian crossings where the light for you to cross is ONLY above the button you press. Great if you're the one who pushed the button or you're near to the light, bloody useless for all the others who can't see it.

The other problem with these is when you are at complex crossing somewhere you're not familiar with, and you don't know if the green man you're crossing on is the direction you're actually walking. WTF was wrong with a red/green man symbol on the opposite side of the road so you can all see it, know which way to walk and how long you have to cross? I'd like to get the person who came up with this idea in a room with a baseball bat.

bendertherobot

Threads which turn into rants that don't go into the rant thread.

capt_slog

bendertherobot wrote:

Threads which turn into rants that don't go into the rant thread.

Shouldn't this be in the "Trivial things that annoy you" thread? It's hardly a kit advance

Matthewfalle

Rick Chasey wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Disposable cutlery & crockery.

I see you've not done children's birthday parties yet.;)

Fair.

Though all the adult chumps I see eating and drinking with disposable cutlery & crockery at their desk when there's an office kitchen cupboard full of plates, cups, glasses and proper metal cutlery have no excuse.

As an aside, do your colleagues know you think they are a bunch of chumps? Or do you look down on them but still proffer words of faux friendship?

Perhaps someone should may them your true feelings.

First.Aspect

Matthewfalle wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Disposable cutlery & crockery.

I see you've not done children's birthday parties yet.;)

Fair.

Though all the adult chumps I see eating and drinking with disposable cutlery & crockery at their desk when there's an office kitchen cupboard full of plates, cups, glasses and proper metal cutlery have no excuse.

As an aside, do your colleagues know you think they are a bunch of chumps? Or do you look down on them but still proffer words of faux friendship?

Perhaps someone should may them your true feelings.

Yes, surely these people should dispose of the disposable cutlery that comes with their salad, without using it, instead getting the stuff from the kitchen and cleaning it afterwards. If landfills are stuffed with *unused* disposable cutlery, then eventually Sainsbury's will stop making it.

rick_chasey

Do I tell them that it's odd they're choosing to use disposable cutlery when real cutlery is available?

Yeah I do, though not every time. Is quite a dull conversation when you've already had it.

earth

meanredspider wrote:

Are phone batteries generally non-user replaceable? How many phones are complete junk when the battery fails?

On this point, you have to blame "our" (the consumer's) demand for slimmer, sleeker, phones that do more and more. Packaging all the resources (chips, batteries, antennae, ports, switches, SIM, speakers etc) into such a tight unit is a work of art. In my experience, the processor has fallen behind the curve before the battery gives up. So I think the battery is a red herring - it's our demand for more that is the issue.

Do people really demand slimmer phones and more gizmos on them? I don't know anyone who says they could really do with a mm less thickness to their phone.

I have some demands from my phone. I want the battery to last longer than a day. I want 3G/4G capability and for it to act as a WIFI hotspot so I can use my tablet via it's mobile internet connection where ever I am. And it has to work well as a phone. If the new 3310 could act as a WIFI hotspot I would buy one tomorrow. But my demands go unheard so instead I will stick with my Samsung XCover which has a removable battery that lasts for about 30 days on standby.

pblakeney

Contradictory, do people really demand that phone screens are near pad dimensions?

secretsam

FocusZing wrote:

The explosion of SUV's. Heavier, less aero dynamic, consequently uses more fuel. The majority of people don't use them off road, it's just a style thing (loftier position more imposing car).

Many of them have no off road capabilities anyway

FocusZing wrote:

Tattoos. What the hell is wrong with the perfect skin we are born with, wonderful kit. I see people with the most ridiculous sprawl plastered all over them, akin to a building on the wrong side of town.

"Tramp Stamp", ditto ridiculous piercings. "Ooh, look at me, I'm different!"

FocusZing wrote:

Idots buying vinyl again, it was sh1t then and its sh1t now. "Yes but its like D-Ream are playing to me in the room...", feck off! you marketers wet dream.

Yes, yes, yes. Limited capacity, easily damaged, unwieldy and hard to store. Absolute sh17. Hipster idiots with more money than brain cells.

You are indeed a God among ranters. Well played. Have a million upvotes.

Pross

Not sure if it counts as an advance but the current fashion for cycling shoes to go back to being lace up. I get the advantage that you can control the fit across the whole foot but you lose the ability to adjust fit while riding e.g if your feet swell up or you want to tighten them up for a climb or sprint. However, the biggest issue is having laces flapping around next to your chain or chainrings which isn't a great idea. If you want the benefits of the fit of laces you can get them with a Velcro fastened flap to protect the lace but going back to exposed laces seems a pointless case of style over practicality.

secretsqirrel

Soft-close toilet seats.

What's that about?

pblakeney

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Soft-close toilet seats.

What's that about?

Wife goes to toilet in the middle of the night. You've left the seat up. She slams it down. You wake up. Soft close. Stay sleeping. Until she digs an elbow.