🚀 go-pugleaf

Matthew T. Russotto <russotto@wanda.pond.com> said something like:
: }instance, once considered exotic and expensive.

: Not as far as I know.  Old bike helmets and the new bike helmets
: are pretty much the same thing, only the new ones have a decorative
: plastic cover instead of a net.

That simply isn't true. Modern helmets are lighter, safer, more
comfortable, more aerodynamic, and signficantly cheaper tham the racing
"hairnets" of my youth. Competition drove the price down, yes, but
advances in plastics made low prices possible.

: }Indeed, was not
: }aluminum once a "precious" metal because of the expense of its
: }production a century or more ago?

: Yes, but that's probably the only example of something like that.

WRT safety? I can think of a few: ABS was available on high-end Mercedes
in 1987. Today Dodge Neons have them. Traction control can now be had on
$15,000 Saturns. Halogen headlights with projector lenses. Pyrotechnic
pretensioners. Rear fog lights. Active handling systems. Disc brakes. All
available on the highest end vehices of yore, and advances in technology
have invariably made them cheaper as time went on.

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