Retrogrouch Reader....

Or how to procratinate from writing software. In my last post I mentioned Grant Petersen who use to be the Marketing Director and now run Rivendell Bicycle Works. For long time cyclists, Petersen can be described as being just a wee bit opinionated, maybe divisive, often controversial, but always good for a thought provoking quip. I was looking for a decent reference in Wikipedia, but instead got caught up in a few of his old interviews.

One interesting article came from the Dahon website titled What they don't tell you about Bicycle Commuting and it's spot on. Petersen has no interest in guilt trips or even noble causes, just an amazing sense of taste and aesthetics. I think it would be fair to say if Steve Jobs made bicycles, he'd be Grant Petersen. Dahon's and Bike Fridays are these interesting folding bicycles. I've investigated them as a means to create a bike/mass transit option.

Grant Petersen talks about his design philosophy in this interview and he talks about the power of simplicity. This is an example of how he thinks...

Simple things make people feel smart, or at least competent, and complication has the opposite effect. If people feel smart and competent, they’re happy, and happy people are nice to other people, and it all starts or stops with how hard it is to use something.

Good Stuff.