my brooks is getting a cutout!

[KnottedYet]

I think we're already seeing the change from the high-fashion weekend warrior wannabe look, to the more utility cyclist. Look at the popularity of mixtes and Electra Townies and Dutch bikes of all sorts.

As gas prices continue to climb, we'll likely see more comfortable "city" bikes and a concordant drift of accessories (wider saddles, functional panniers and baskets, lighting, bright colored clothing)

Just look at how the shape of helmets has changed over the last 30 years. First they were round, then faux-aero, now they are becoming round again. That is fashion more than function for the vast majority of riders. (how many of us REALLY needed teardrop shaped helmets 15-20 years ago? Honestly?) Or quill stems? They disappeared for a decade or so, cuz racers weren't using them and suddenly they were unfashionable. Now they are coming back, cuz they're so darn useful and dependable.

Bear in mind though, that the cutting edge is where the innovations are. We need racers and "X-treme" riders, to enrich the mundane biking worlds most of us ride in. Look at how many folks assume that indexed shifting is necessary! How many of today's kids even know how to shift friction, let alone ever owned a bike with friction shifting?

As far as saddles go: let's not forget that Brooks had a patent on "cut outs" long before Georgena started crankin' 'em out and started a new revolution. For the anatomy of some women (and I've seen more female anatomy in my job than I ever dreamed I would) a cut out is a real necessity, just like for some of us a ridiculously wide saddle is a necessity. I'm grateful for the variety of women's saddles, I just wish companies didn't assume "wide" always requires more padding or that "women's" always requires an extra wide nose and big cut out.

Bikes were transportation, then toys, now they are becoming transportation again. Things will change. In another generation they'll probably be toys again, and I will feel like a fool for hootin' and hollerin' about bikes as the best transportation option in my neck of the woods.