The Bike Seat... 'Objectified'

So many objects are industrially designed and mass produced so well, that we hardly ever stop to think, "Why is this like this and not another way?"  Take the bicycle seat for example.  There are various types of seats for different purposes.  For all racing bikes, the seats are quite small and hard.  They seem uncomfortable to me, someone who rides a cruiser with a big cushy bike seat.  But, when I asked a UC Davis bicyclist the reasons behind the racing bike seats design, he told me they were that way because they are lighter, they don't get in the way of your peddling legs, and they absorb bounces.  I had never considered the design of my cruiser's seat.  It was created for comfort... while cruising along.  They can be this way because there is no urgency for lighter bike parts or design for speed.  In the industry, however, designers plot out every decision in creating various seats.  They are then mass produced once a product is suitable for merchandise, and consumers like us sometimes never think about the intense design process that went in to creating the seat for the bike we purchase.