I'm just old enough to remember the push in the 1970s to adopt the metric system in the US. I vaguely recall the Saturday morning PSA cartoons that made the kilometer a friendly character. But apparently he wasn't friendly enough. In fact, to most people, he was a frightening commie agent. So the US is one of the three countries in the world that don't mandate the metric system. Burma, and Liberia are the other two. So now you need two sets of sockets and wrenches. Here's a nice write up about the history.
As cyclists, we use a pidgin system of measures. When you're getting sized for a bike, you measure your inseam in inches, but spec out the frame in centimeters, unless it's a MTB. Your crankarm length is in millimeters, but gearing charts are in inches. 40 miles per hour is a really fast sprint! Is 50 km/hr? Your stem length is in millimeters, but the diameter of the steerer tube is 1 1/8". The length of race courses is given in miles. But when you're getting toward the end of a race, the signs are marked out at 400 meters, 200 meters, but if you win by throwing your bike, you beat someone by inches.
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