What are some of your unpopular cycling related opinions?

I hate being called a cyclist.

This is one of mine. Closely followed by you don't have to shave your legs.

Disc brakes are overkill on a road bike. Purely a money spinner with no benefit to road cyclists.

A couple hundred quid for a bike fit is worth a lot more than a new set of carbon wheels.

Taking it handy is more enjoyable and fun than going fasshhhhtttt!!!

Can I add

Its better to invest in comfort than speed.....

(Why does it matter if you are going at 34k per hour or 37k per hour).

Running is harder than cycling.

Said this during the Tour and got plenty of flak for it so definitely belongs here.

Sprinters are grossly over-rated and get a disproportionate number of chances to win races, overinflating their real abilities.

Sprint stages in Grand Tours are boring and worthless and if I was running the UCI, they would be eliminated or kept to a minimum, maybe 1/2 per Grand Tour, 1 in the first week and the final stage perhaps. Would also probably help cut down on crashes as well.

Wheelsucking your way to the final 500m is not particularly amazing or noteworthy, considering everyone in a given race can pretty much do that. I do have respect for the likes of Sagan, Boonen, Zabel or sprinters pre-Cipollini era who didn't have dedicated sprint trains and could actually race a bit, but Cipollini, Cavendish etc, uhhh awful. Still irks me that such limited pros were World Champion, especially when it was 95% down to their respective teams.

Have barely watched a sprint stage since the mid 90s. Sprinters, go and race against the real sprinters on the track.

Hmmm. I would possibly argue that the GT contenders have a 'non-skill based' advantage merely because of their physique meaning achieving winning levels of power to weight ratings are possible for them while they aren't for most. Some of the more skillful riders could never realistically target GT's for this reason.

So maybe my unpopular opinion would be that a strong palmares including classics victories is more deserving of respect than a couple of GT podiums. The length of the GT's obviously play a significant part rather than any individual stage but who is a more skillful or impressive rider? Peter Sagan or Chris Froome?

Taking it handy on descents is actually fine.

Your bike can be worth less than your car.

Dropped seat stays on new bikes are sh1t looking and the myth that they are for comfort is also bs. Just buy a TCR or other sloping top tubed frame to have a bit of seat post flex.

Also disc brakes on road bikes are just marketing and not needed. How much descending for long periods in wet weather are people actually doing....

Oh yeah - long socks are for footballers 😁

Xc bikes are more versatile than gravel bikes

In the future we will look back and consider the recent years to be a period where we produced ugly bikes: discs, dropped seat stays, aero frames, oversized box tubes and head tubes, curved forks, Di2 batteries.

All have sacrificed aesthetics for meaningless gains.

Think a 1980's Escort XR3, or Opel Corsa with post factory added flared wheel arches, power bulges and over sized rear spoiler. I will admit I thought they looked good at the time, but now look back and ask myself what were we thinking.

Recently got a Trek Domane 2 because it was the best spec I could afford. Definitely the best bike I ever had but god do I hate how it looks compared to my "crappy" old Barracuda Tifosi.

I also hate all these black parts on a bike. I miss chrome handlebars and brake calipers

For varicose veins.....😉

2x10 speed is peak number of gears.

11 speed is annoying because it isn't an even number

12 speed is unnecessary

🙉

Cant agree with this, having done lots of both.

In short, it all depends on how fast you are going.

Running a 5k in 15 minutes is not the same as running a 5k in 25 minutes is not the same as running a 5k in 35minutes.

What I would agree with though is that with running, its easier to put in a High Intensity work out. 8 x 200m sprints is hard to replicate on a bike. Maybe cycling up the hill in Howth at max speed possible would be close.