I don't want to be more connected. I don't want a 'smart lock' that interacts with my phone. I don't want push notifications to my cycle computer, feeding the Fear Of Missing Out. And I don't want glasses that shove data straight into my eyeballs. These are the tenets of the Skinny. Well, some of them.
I'm a huge fan of new technology, and I honestly think there's never been a better time to be a cyclist, or to be into bikes simply as mechanical works of art. But there is a whole new category of bike products that's nibbling at the fringes of cycling, trying to get a slice of the pie by imposing on us a ridiculous notion of how the world operates. It comes slithering to us with the sly promise of 'connectivity', or a vow to solve a problem that sane people simply don't have.
Perhaps the most egregious and absurd example of this trend comes in the form of so-called 'smart locks', proof if ever it were needed that where 'smart' is stuck in front of a word, there's no guarantee you'll find intelligent life.
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Ask yourself this – why does someone buy a bike lock? They buy it so they can leave their bike somewhere when they go to work, or to the shops, or out in the evening. What functionality does that imply? Simply, a mechanism that opens and closes securely, and only in the hands of the person holding the key. It's not complicated.
What, at the end of the day, are these for?
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