john said:"Olympic Seen parked in the bike lane near my apartment."
(Bike pedal w/o pedal, only the spindle sticking out)
In the 50's it was common to see bikes that the primary pedal mechanism
had fallen off. Usually the spindle / pedal was also bent, giving an
odd feeling to the pedal stroke. Occasionally I would ride one of my
bikes that way. Although not for long, I was somewhat fussy, even as a
kid.
Interestingly, I haven't noticed this condition for many years. I'm not
suggesting that it doesn't exist here in the U.S., but not enough for
me to notice. It offends my sense of order, so I suspect that if it
were prevalent today, I would have noticed it. (or Perhaps I've lost my
sense of order ; ) I suspect manufacturers make pedals much better
today than back then. I wonder when bare spindles stopped appearing?
It's like having something stolen, you don't miss it by it's absence.
More likely, there are to other factors at work. First, you aren't
getting to see the bikes in the truly poor neighborhoods (where such
things are still seen, though not terribly often). Second, the price
of a pair of cheap imported platform pedals is so low that outside of
the poorest neighborhoods, a failed pedal is going to get replaced
pronto. Third, a much smaller percentage of kids ride bikes for
significant distances on a daily basis today, ergo they don't wear out
the pedals as often.
I used to see a bare spindle sticking out of a crank on a bike at the
police auctions fairly regularly, but now that the city here is
recycling as many of the bikes as possible, I hardly see any bikes at
all.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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