Have you ever heard of an extremophile? No, its not your friend who only listens to identical-sounding black metal bands with identical-looking scratchy letter logos. An extremophile is an organism that can survive pretty much anything, like those little wormy things they thaw out of the Siberian permafrost:And yes, I know your extremophile friend has every single identical-sounding Siberian Permafrost album on vinyl, good for him.Well, the bicycle world has its own extremophiles, and while most people associate durability and longevity with steel, one of the hardiest of all extremophiles is the venerable Trek 1200, which is of course made from glued-together aluminum:Its a scientific fact that you cannot walk more than half a block in New York without encountering at least one Trek 1200. Furthermore, 85% of them still have intact Biopace stickers on the chainrings, and fully 98% of them boast original pie plates:The world really never needed another bike from Trek after the 1200, which could by why theyre in such trouble.Meanwhile, I guess the whole Sea Otter thing is happening, and its clear from the coverage that the industry has made its decision and the move to 32-inch wheels is officially a Done Deal, as evidenced by this Ari Fleisher:So far it sounds like the new wheel size is ideal for riding short distances through crowds:Beyond that, both of the Ari 32 prototypes I saw had unique-looking prototype negative-rise Race Face stems to compensate for the larger front wheel. Foxs bike also had a set of Race Face branded wheels with its own Vault hubs, so those are also clearly ride ready prototypes as well. The bright red Raicam Racing brakes arent a common sight, either. I had a chance to ride Foxs bike up and down a crowded pathway between the booths, which was my first time on 32 wheels. It was paved and there were lots of people around, so I cant say that I took much away from the experience, other than that the fork was definitely functional.OK, so in case youve lost track, heres a brief summary of the past six years in bicycle retail:In 2020 governments wouldnt let people go to work and instead sent them checks to do nothingBored out of their minds, they all decided to buy bikesThe big bike companies went hog wild, overproduced, and bought up a bunch of bike shops, because if history has taught us anything its that bike booms never endPeople went back to work and the bike boom ended immediatelySo now theyre engineering a wholesale shift to a new wheel size that will make all these bikes they cant sell instantly obsolete.Makes sense to me.But hey, what do I know? The world has a way of confounding your expectations. For example, when I was younger there was this idea that Australians were rugged individualists:Or at least lovable eccentrics:But then I got older and learned that Crocodile Dundee was basically Hitler:[Maybe the most Guardian article that ever Guardianed.]And far from being a land of rugged individualism, Australia is a place where you cant even ride a bicycle without wearing a helmet. In fact, doing pretty much anything on a bicycle in Australia will land you a fine, even if youre South Australias top traffic cop:Heres what happened:Supt Johnson, head of SA Polices Traffic Services Branch, was fined after taking a selfie while cycling on a residential street and posting it to his Strava account.Mr Johnson said he had been winding down after a 200km ride with friends last year, and he was less than 100 metres from his home when he took the photo.And heres the photo:Wow. As far as Im concerned, hes guilty of nothing, apart from being a huge Fred. Even here in New York its not illegal to use a phone while riding a bicycle. Certainly using a phone while driving a car is dangerous, but using one while youre ridingto take a picture of yourself no lessisnt any different from any of the other things you routinely do on the bike, such as eating, drinking, sticking your gloves in your jersey pocket, or going downstairs and rearranging the furniture, if you get my meaning. I say anyone in favor of fines just for taking a photo while riding a bike has nothing to rearrange.