On Friday, November 8, 2019 at 8:28:22 PM UTC, wrote:

Personally I find touring bikes incredibly ugly with all that bolted on junk but I don't have to ride one so I won't make a remark when it pops up here.

Lou

Touring cyclists have their own aesthetic, and they are very attached to their principles as expressed in what you call "bolted-on junk". I'm not defending them one way or the other, just pointing out that they have reasonable, logical preferences to do with they style of cycling. On their behalf, I thank you for your good manners in not mentioning it.

To me the peloton on their drops with their arses in the air look like a bunch of gorillas in too-small cages, but I won't be mentioning it to them either. I don't expect them to share my aesthetic that machines should serve man, not be designed so badly that man must contort himself to the machine.

Andre Jute
Horses for courses