CJ wrote:It is not necessary to show that TO is more dangerous than other features of bicycle design, only that it is dangerous enough to not want to foist it upon an unsuspecting member of the public.
Probably true, but with huge respect (disagreeing with CJ is always something to do carefully), we haven't shown that - only that some people have slightly caught their feet. There's a potential to be caught out in an awkward position, but that exists with other things. I'm in the camp that says covering bikes in labels saying "use these V brakes gently", "keep off gravel", "only use SPDs for real after careful practice" and "if you ride this bike at less than 5mph and steer sharply you might catch your feet" would lead to fewer cyclists and make bikes sound really dangerous.
I'm more bothered about the mudguard release issue, because that happens at speed and I can't just move the blockage out of the way.