Two of the best people who are not selling anything are Tom Anhalt (http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/) and Robert Chung. They both post a lot in various forums like Weight Weenies (which is more about rolling resistance and aerodynamics now that we know that they are more important) and Slowtwitch (more triathlon focused but has a lot about general bike tech).
Josh Poertner from Silca is also good but has things to sell.
Of course what everyone is saying above is right -- fitness and rider weight matters the most. But it is fun to look at this stuff especially once you have achieved some level of fitness.
It is very odd that the New York Times hasn't published an obit for him. Maybe they will take some time to do so but I always thought that they had these things pre-baked.
I heard about his death elsewhere this morning and was surprised I didn't see it before. They have a ton of obits for less consequential people.
This is very cool but I just wish the NYFD would stop being so ultra-conservative and start allowing home batteries like the Tesla Powerwall in NY buildings.
This was something I always heard before I experienced it but the truth is it wasn't so bad. You definitely weren't sitting in a full First Class seat (which were smaller in any case back then) but it was still perfectly comfortable especially for the relatively short duration.
And because the overall experience was so cool -- board directly from the lounge, the led display showing how fast you were going, seeing the curvature of the earth (sorry flat earthers), arriving before you left, etc. -- you never thought about the seat. I'm sure if you took it all the time you might care but most people it was awesome.
Apologies for the slightly off topic question but can anyone point me to the best test/comparison of Alkaline batteries vs. the new Lithium rechargeable ones? Older rechargeable AA and AAA batteries were terribly short lived and so mostly useless but I assume Lithium ones are much better?