Now repeat after me..sit on your monkey bones, sit on your monkey bones....

After reading the very last contribution on todays letters page, it's obvious that The Age have retained that work-experience sub editor. Brings me to the point, can I be bothered tearing off a reply or just have another gentle sigh of exasperation as this Fairfax publication veers ever downwards towards the crappy standards of the Hun or Daily Terror?

Bum-brained bikies
Alan Attwood missed a major point in his article (Metro, 10/10) about numb-bummed bike riders: he failed to mention that saddle pressure on the perineum creates an inability to understand and obey most road rules, especially red lights. John Nieman, Monbulk

As for the 'discussion' generated by The Journal of Sexual Medicine mentioned in Attwoods article, it's yet another storm in a tea cup (or should that be chamois?). The same boring discussion gets re-aired every couple of years. And has it's counterpoint on virtually every freaking cycling forum more often than our Gentlemen friends could ahem, point percy at the porcelain. The truth comes from learning to adjust your bikes basic geometry. Not scare tactics. Not choosing to not to ride. Not choosing to stay in the car. Do the authors of the article in The Journal of Sexual Medicine know anything about basic geometry/setup of a bike? Do they even care?

Regardless, anyone who rides around numb or in pain for any length of time without adjusting their bikes basic geometry or seeking assistance must be fecking numbnuts. And this is not an elitist assumption. A certain percentage of the population when faced with a problem probably will take steps to educate themselves in order to solve it. Another percentage can't/won't/shalnt - and unfortunately end up utilising a service industry/medical practitioner to repair it for them. ie: think Podiatrists, Cardiologists, Chiropractors, Cleaning Services, Smash Repairers etc etc etc. It's education vs regulation and legislation. The bike industry has a huge role in designing adequate models for domestic markets - but invaribly churn out cheap lowend imports. Any possible solution for better mass-produced bikes, comes from cyclists, as we are the products end user group. This should take a longterm approach with our 'community' educating themselves and working with industry/government to enforce satisfactory design standards.

If I had my way, the majority of the shite for sale in Kmart etc would be withdrawn & all bikes for domestic market would come equiped with guards, lights, highly detailed instructional manuals (with relevant local information, links and networking tips) and all that daggy unfashionable stuff. Back to the saddle positions for a moment, this again could be seen as an example of the condenscending and ignorant prevailing attitudes towards cyclists and cycling in general. Populist stuff without hard data analysis is relatively easy copy to spin in the media - and we should object to it at every opportunity.

Now go learn something: Revisionist Frame Sizing--by Sheldon Brown and especially these bits: Saddle Front/Back Positioning and Bicycle Saddles

UPDATE: Jovial aus.bicycle thread + Euan gets his letter published, see below in comments.