THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY BIKES TO CHOOSE FROM

"PERFECTION IS ACHIEVED, NOT WHEN there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

- MATT PHILLIPS

In recent months, engineers from two different cycling brands have referenced this quote during our discussions about new products. It comes from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Airman's Odyssey, though he is best known as the author of The Little Prince. (Saint-Exupéry, however, seems to be riffing on the Latin phrase entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, or "entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity."

This is a tidy encapsulation of the most famous work of William of Ockham: Occam's razor.)

Like an earworm, Saint-Exupéry's quote is stuck in my head. As I ride bikes and think about cycling equipment, it keeps rising to the fore. Ironically, both engineers used this quote to describe the underpinning philosophy of incredibly complex products: One was electronically controlled wireless suspension, the other a carbon full-suspension mountain bike.

Bicycles are simple: two wheels connected inline by a frame. From there, we've modified, evolved, tweaked, tuned-always adding more and more. So much has been added, in fact, that the market is now flooded with an overwhelming amount of equipment, technologies, and features. There is so much out there with so much overlap that browsing a bike shop or shopping online is an exercise of sensory assault.

I can find examples in any corner of cycling, but I'm going to use gravel bikes and equipment to highlight my complaints. Gravel is the "newest" cycling category (hilarious because the first bicycles were gravel bikes).

These are drop-bar (though not exclusively) bikes primarily intended for use on nonpaved road surfaces.

Let's look at Specialized's gravel bike line.