If Necessity is the Mother of Invention, who is the Father?
Mon, January 11, 2021 
Have you noticed how simplest things in life have become high tech when they don’t really need to? For example, the paper towel dispenser.
What was wrong with just pulling on the paper, or operating a simple lever at the side?
Every one of these devices is different, so you stand there like an idiot with your hands dripping wet, trying to figure out where the “electronic eye” is.
Is it on the front, is it underneath? Shouldn’t there be a little red light somewhere? You wave your hands all around this abominable black plastic box. How about one that delivers paper towel when you punch it? Dry your hands and relieve your frustrations at the same time.
Invariably someone will come to your rescue and show you how it operates, making you feel like a total retard. (That used to be a politically incorrect term, but no one ever uses it to refer to a mentally challenged person anymore, it is only used when referring the type of person who can’t operate a stupid paper towel dispenser.)
Why make the simple things in life high tech, when there is no good reason other than we can? Or because we have the technology. The makers of these “Black Box” towel dispensers will argue that by eliminating the handle, they eliminate a source of germs that could re-contaminate our clean hands.
Now wait a minute, every person using the towel dispenser has clean hands. They have just washed them, that’s why they need a paper towel. And, anyway after sterilizing our hands thoroughly, we grab the filthy door handle as we leave.
Why do we need electric can openers? One of the times we really need a can opener is during an emergency when the power is out. And the bicycle, one of the simplest and most efficient machines man has ever invented, is being made more and more complicated.
To be honest, it took me many years to get over index shifting in the late 1980s. At the time, I was in step with the European cycling community who scoffed at the idea, as did Campagnolo. This was tantamount to a violinist needing marks on the neck of the fiddle to show where to place your fingers.
Of course, the engineers at Shimano knew better. They knew that in America there were people who actually did not know how to operate a friction shift lever. Maybe they had great foresight and could see this same nation of people, who in the future, would not be able to operate a paper towel dispenser.
I always felt that index shifting was developed to cater to the “Instant Gratification” element. Nothing that requires a degree of skill, gives instant gratification. Muffing gear changes on a hill is no fun, but then neither is learning to play a musical instrument. However, the rewards are far greater once you master the skill. The satisfaction of doing something other people cannot, for a start.
In the case of indexed shifting, Shimano was proved to be right, and Campagnolo spent years playing catch up. I will agree that indexed shifting has developed into something that is useful to all cyclists, including the pros. No one wants to go back to friction shifting, even old farts purists like me.
When I started cycling in the 1950s, racing bikes were the exact same machines as those ridden by the Pros in the Tour de France. It was like that up into the 1980s. What the professionals used, dictated what was sold on the open market. If you were a newbie and wanted to ride a racing bike, you had to deal with friction shifting. There was nothing else.
The mountain bike changed all that. Here was a whole new animal, and a whole new breed of cyclist. They were not trying to emulate the pros in the Tour de France, and they didn’t want to learn friction shifting. So indexed or click shifting came first to the mountain bike, then the road bike. This led to more and more gears. This was not necessarily a bad thing, although I think they should have stopped at 10 gears, no one really needed 11 or more.
Today, it is no longer what the pros ride and want, but rather what the corporations that sponsor the pros want them to ride. And that is, new stuff they can sell to the American leisure rider.
A prime example is Disc Brakes. The pros don’t really want them but they were forced on them. I have never used disc brakes, so I can’t speak from experience. I understand they work better than caliper rim brakes in wet conditions. But I do know enough about bikes, to know that the last thing I need in the wet is more stopping power when the real problem is the tires gripping the road.
If it is raining, I can lock my wheels up without even trying, with my old tech caliper brake. I do not need a brake that will lock my wheels up a split second faster.
There is an old saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” I always wondered who the Father was. Today I know the father is the one who takes something simple that works, and fucks with it to make something that is more complicated, costs more, and does not necessarily work any better.
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Reader Comments (14)
The French have a phrase which translates as ‘’the most elegant solution’’, which involves simplicity as s criteria. ‘’La solution le plus élégante’’
I used to be a disc skeptic, but cheap mechanical calipers converted me. They're kind of like V brakes, except there's only lateral adjustment and it's a single screw. So with a 2.5mm (in my case) allen key and 30 seconds I can have properly adjusted brakes. Somehow with V brakes it seems there's always something not quite right. And discs do "just work where rim brakes often take a revolution just to clear the water, an the damage when there's mud can be horrific (I've destroyed a front rim in one, ~1000m descent). It's not so much new rim is $50 vs new rotor is $50, but the ease of swapping the rotor in and the reduced chance of needing to.
Then I discovered hydraulics. Well, for my tandem I decided that hydraulics were probably going to be useful. After about 20,000km I thought "these things surely must need maintenance by now" and indeed it turned out that one of the brake pads was nearly half worn out. So I'd carried a bleed kit and 6 spare brake pads for 20,000 km for "no reason". That thing ate chains though, Mt Drives are no friend of chains (and I assume the Pinion likewise, since it also likes tiny chainrings and the corresponding very high chain tens on) Of course, I live at (one of) the other end(s) of t he cycling spectrum from you... touring recumbents with Rohloff hubs and a round-town long john. I like my maintenance intervals to be dictated by the Rohloff 5000km oil change, and ideally tyres don't puncture until about then either.
Moz
Note from Dave. Moz had trouble posting this, so he emailed me and I posted it on his behalf. I also encountered the same 403 Error, and so tried a different Browser and it worked.
Any device where the correct operation is not apparent to a 'reasonable person' is a design failure. This was Capt. Murphy's issue. Not that someone did the job wrong but that he designed it so that it was easy to do wrong.
I still don't index shift much, I swap wheels between a 6, 9, and 10 (of different brands) so none of my stuff is compatible unless I happen to put the 'right wheel on the right bike'. Though I do have one newer bike with index and hyd discs. Both features work exactly as they should, reliable and no extra maintenance. The hyd disc is very easy to control and modulate even in low grip situations. The solid feel is what impresses me the most. Need them, No. But they do work.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Good points. I think the deal with the towel dispensers is "owning" the account for refills. So the supplier gives away the "new improved" dispenser free, then gets all the proprietary refill orders (until someone else retools - I doubt you can patent a paper roll shape, but maybe)
I'm a fan of brifters as I'm tall and reaching for downtube shifters is not as easy as it once was. Safer in traffic, too.
I have disc brakes on some bikes - makes wheels swaps easier (fatter for winter, etc.) but again nothing at all wrong with rim brakes. Mind you some shorty cantis are not really strong enough IMO
I resisted lycra shorts but wouldn't go back for anything. Lycra, throw-in-the-washer, clothing has been a great thing for cycling. Double-pivot brakes are a genuine improvement over sidepulls. And indexed shifting is essential if you're as hard of hearing as I am...and lucky enough to have occasional riding companions.
You are too young to remember, but the glorious Osgear Super Champion,
was indexed, you could even drill an extra hole or two in the quadrant to upgrade
from 3 speed to 4 or 5 speed. First speed gear allowed into the Tour of France.
I think the reason for the electric towel dispensers is to reduce use. It is very easy to grab a big wad or push the lever six times with a mechanical dispenser. The electric dispenser has a lag to discourage repeated dispensing by one user. They get impatient and don't grab so many. This saves the owner money buying towels and removing trash. Overall, I think reducing paper towel waste is not a bad thing, even though I find those dispensers mildly annoying. Similar principles apply to the electric faucets.
Some technological advances are legitimate improvements. Clincher tires, shifting, and braking have improved. Others are just marketing. I have finally embraced indexing, but still prefer bar-ends to brifters. Others may differ.
At my office, in recent years, the managers changed not only the towel dispensers but also the soap dispensers to the electronic kind. None of them are connected to line power, mind you, only batteries, so not only are they more complicated to use, but maintenance now includes a battery change. It's also "fun" when both soap dispensers have a dead battery and yet a full bag of soap...
I like to claim I coined the phrase that index shifters are like frets on a fiddle, but I'm sure it has occurred to others. Don't forget that S-A and similar hub gears had index shifters, but they were mostly for average consumers, not proficient cyclists. All my road bikes (except one with a fixed wheel) have friction shifters except for a MTB I acquired a few years ago, and I like it, but it's just for short jaunts around the neighbourhood.
I believe index shifting is just one more attempt to sell bicycles to unskilled people not interested in acquiring another skill. Just like cars. There are so many nanny systems now, beginning with automatic transmissions decades ago, intended to sell cars to incompetent, lazy drivers, even giant TV screens on dashboards for the zillions of options, when distracted driving is supposed to be illegal.
As for disc brakes, in my opinion they're an unnecessary complication for a bicycle. After I had a terrifying ride ride down a mountain in the rain not knowing if my Campag brake blocks would stop me at the bottom, I put on some of the salmon coloured brake blocks and no more problems.
Everything is being dumbed down to accommodate inept, lazy people. Dave, I'm sure you remember when a car's owner's manual told you how to adjust the valves, instead of not to drink the antifreeze.
It is really stupid to have electric flushing, faucets, towel dispenser and not a door opener!
I too resisted index until I bought a 1991 Pinarello Montello with DA DT 8V drive train. Made it easy to still have DT's but with index. Then I thought it would be cool to try "brifters." or STI in Shimano speak. So I installed Chorus Ergo's and used Wheelsmith spacers on the rear block with a 9V Chorus RD. Sold!
When I purchased the 1988 De Rosa Professional frame set, I had to decide what to hang on it. Found a full set of wheels with Ambosia Nemisis with Record hub with a 10v Block for under $140. The direction was set , all Campy 10V. Had to rebuild the Ercos but wow!
The MTB with rigid fork was converted to air suspension which didn't really work well with rim brakes. The disk is incredible, Avid 7.
I assume you ride a bike that you built. Wondered if you can tell us how you set up, with what components and why. Thanks
Where I worked they installed automatic flush systems with proximity sensors on the urinals. It worked, ensuring no more stink.
“ Any device where the correct operation is not apparent to a 'reasonable person' is a design failure.”
YEP! Most musical instruments are simply TERRIBLE designs requiring LESSONS in how to operate them properly. FAIL!
I suppose it is primarily that “reasonable” has become unreasonably dumbed-down in a convenience culture.