Comments on: Top 10 Most Useless Bike Gadgets

By: Hope

Hope — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:12:04 +0000

To each his own, I always say. If a bunch of junk on your bike makes you happy, do it. It doesn’t have to be “critical” to the operation of the bike. Boy, people sure get hung up on being PC on the most inconsequential things. Save it for something important.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:15:46 +0000

Can we please get our attention off of trivialities like what’s on a person’s bicycle? Who cares if they have a picture of Clark Gable mounted on the wheel? As long as they know how to ride and don’t cut off cars or run over pedestrians, I really don’t care what their bike has on it. Like I don’t care what a car has on it, except maybe too much bass response.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:31:10 +0000

I agree with some of the writer’s thoughts, like the computer, but I’m not a “serious” cyclist. I ride for fun. So do others. I do use my bell, because I live and ride in a crowded metro area, and believe it or not, that “ding” actually makes people pay attention – even when they’re texting! The rest of the so-called “non-essentials”, I say it’s up to the rider. It’s as much a freedom of expression as a mode of transportation.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:40:45 +0000

I would have to disagree with computers. Of course it depends on what type of computer you are talking about, but I use a small “computer” that gives me my speed, distance, time, heart rate and several other things. It has proven to be a great training tool for both recreation as well as performance. I wouldn’t give it up for the world.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:42:38 +0000

Many of the things on this list are simply decoration. of course they are useless. Most decoration is. If it had a use, it wouldn’t be decoration. Also, pegs, really. I mean those aren’t useless at all. They are very useful and I don’t know anyone that would put pegs on their racing bike anyway. This article is crazy.

By: Do-dah-day

Do-dah-day — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:27:46 +0000

Our reviewer seems to mistake the concept “useless” with “non-essential.”

by this standard, paint and decals are “useless.” On a busy hiking-biking trail, I would rather have a “useless” bell to alert pedestrians I’m passing by. Why? After about 20 repetitions of “on your left,” it makes more sense to have a machine (a bell) to handle the necessary noise making.

Likewise with horns. If you ride in busy urban traffic, where the bikes in a bike lane can pass vehicles on the right, a genuinely life-threatening situation can arise if a driver tries to turn right while a bicycle is in the right-rear area of the motor-vehicle. A horn can be a life-saving (or tooth-saving, or road-rash-preventing) technology.

Baskets are not necessary? And trailers aren’t necessary for tractor-trailer trucks? Bikes are not exclusively used to transport humans — sometimes humans carry cargo. Baskets are one way to transport cargo (such as poodles, chihuahuas, loaves of bread or, well, you get the idea.) Carrying cargo in one’s hands is dangerous. Among the items on the list, baskets are the most useful, and the most essential in some situations.

Flower-holders and day-light spoke decorations are matters of beauty. Is all art useless? Does adorning a bike with art make either the bike or the art less useful, or diminish the purpose of the bike?

For decades now, the bicycle industry has dictated to consumers approximately how we should use our bikes. We have mountain, road, pro, and some nominal commuter bikes. But the real innovations that could move the industry into the mainstream of transportation solutions remain marginalized — recumbents, electrics, partially-faired. In the mean time, every carnal desire we can imagine has become available for cars: DVD players, GPS, bass speakers capable of leveling small buildings… yet bikes remain the purview of niche markets, styled for narrowly defined purposes (how many people actually ride their rugged “mountain” bikes in the mountains?)

The USA is so far behind the world in bike technology such as tricycles, transports and hybrid motor/human powered vehicles it might never catch up. Painting it into a corner where even carrying a flower on our bikes is considered “useless” — well, that seems useless.

By: Shazell212

Shazell212 — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:41:39 +0000

Who created this list? All these items are useful to the bike rider at some point. You may not need them for the bike to function, but they are useful!!!

By: julie

julie — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:56:25 +0000

he-he, maybe same people who advised to do it for VW Beetle

By: lindsay

lindsay — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:32:45 +0000

I have all of these accesories on my bike except for # 2 and 5. i don’t think that they are useless and i love my bike the way it looks))

By: conell

conell — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:54:50 +0000

Flower holder is very smart)) I wonder who could come up with this, should be a girl