Sadly, most engineers can’t see the many shades of grey. It’s either black or white.
It’s this tunnel vision that usually precipitates their sanctimonious attitudes.
ROTFLMAO
You forgot to put a bunch of smiley emoticons in your post!
But, if you weren't jesting and just professing your own brand of sanctimonious ignorance, then I feel obliged to post this to a public forum...
Working engineers almost immediately learn the world is not perfect and no two parts are ever exactly the same. It's all gray. But still, all those gray parts have to work together. And, with amazing accuracy, good engineers can predict whether a gray device or part can do what is intended without actually making one. Frequently, they don't even get to make it. They simply describe and document it with enough detail so some low paid menial can make it per specifications. Many times the part maker doesn't even know what the part will be used in. But, still, if the parts were made to the engineer's specification, a million parts can be made and they will all work in the machine as designed.
People making one offs, can hand fit a bunch of trial and error made parts together that may or may not stand the test of time and use. But, they would go bankrupt and starve if there was a sudden demand for a million of them. ...unless they hired an actual engineer to revamp all the parts of that one-off for mass production.
Further, it only takes an average Joe with a little skill or training, to repair a damaged, neglected, abused machine. Slightly more skill to make a part that will fit onto one of them. To design a part that the average Joe can make AND which will fit, work properly, and reliably onto a million similar vehicles is beyond most people's comprehension or capability.
Go ahead try it! I double dare you! Make a replacement starter push button switch to fit in the stock bar control of a 77 Cb750. Now offer it to everybody that needs one for the price they will pay...and feed your family.
Anyone who has made more than a one-off learns that a test case or example of one proves only the very basics of concept. And usually, the test case of one was made at the cost of many failed parts before the one in the one off.
Certainly I can appreciate a unique work of art and the considerable skills it can take to make it all come together and please the eye. But, such things rarely stand the test of time and even more rarely stand the test of reliable and repeated use. A wonderful example is MRieck's gorgeous and very well made million dollar CB. To my knowledge there is only one. Ask him if he'd like to make a million of them. Ask him if he thought he could sell a million of them at a profit. Would you buy one at his named price?
You want sanctimonious? How about a small group of idealists who believe they can improve a wildly successful vehicle design by having the mad skills and superior ability of removing a center stand? There's some tunnel vision for you, IMO. Additionally, you have absolutely no right to complain about engineers as a class unless you avoid every single item designed by them. To do otherwise is just plain hypocrisy. So, when will you be making your own spark plugs? ... Or carburetors, rather than adapting one created by some talented engineer onto your engine (designed by another group of talented engineers) ? Are those carbs or tires that you selected designed by people that only understand black and white? If so, why on earth would you tolerate using them on your machine?
Yes, I know. It's a hobby to some. People do all sort of things for their hobby, and I'm all for its benefits to the individual. But really, don't fool yourself into believing you are making design "improvements", oh so superior to the original machine because you made it lighter. You only slightly entered the realm of the many trade offs or grey areas that the engineers made over 30 years ago. Often, you are mostly changing things for change sake (or aesthetics) rather than any measurable or demonstrable improvement. (Many here don't even do any changes, they just talk about it and argue in a forum to pass the time. Hey, sounds like a hobby!)
Could the original machine have been made lighter? Of course! Would they have sold the population that they did at the higher price it would have demanded? I don't think so.
So you can bash "engineers" all you want, free speech and all. But, look around yourself and note just how dependent you are on them. Unless you park your bike in a smoke stained cave, you are just being a hypocrite and #$%*ing about those who know more than you do.
Sanctimonious, idealist, or realist, you can chose for yourself. Some days, I'm just flippant.
(But I, at least, try to maintain a perspective)
Someday, I expect there will be a faction that emphatically believes the best looking bikes have hatchet marks all over them from where it was "lightened" ...with style.
Cheers,
