I found an old (2018) thread about hiding the bike glow, but figured a new thread would be better than necromancy. The idea isn’t ‘getting rid of’ anything, but giving individual users more control over what they see on their own screen. Sorry in advance for the stream-of-consciousness vibe here.
Caveat 1: I’m not grumbling, this isn’t coming from a place of dislike or making the game significantly worse and I’m going to rage quit or anything. 
Caveat 2: This is low priority, I get that. It’s not a demand by any means, but a ‘wish list’ entry.
Caveat 3: There is a ton of subjectivity here. Glowing bikes vs riding through a volcano and a yeti and dinosaurs and ymmv and all that.
But it would be nice to have the ability to switch off certain in-game visuals. I like bikes. One of the reasons I like Zwift (not a major reason, but one of the reasons) is because you can ride, and look at other people riding, ‘real world’ bikes, and I can geek out a little. And so there are plenty of days when I think to myself, “Self, this would be cooler if those bikes over there weren’t glowing in a way that real bikes don’t glow.”
And then there are days when I think “Huh, that rider there has a glowing screen floating in front of them that you’d never have floating in front of a rider IRL.” And then streaks of fire, of course (and I know there are threads on that as well, but to me that’s less common and less of my issue here). Lesser issues to me, but under the same umbrella.
So that brought me to this question: do people want their bike to glow for their own enjoyment, or is part of their enjoyment tied up in the fact that everyone around you sees the bike glowing too? Not judging here–I think kit choices are a similar thing. We choose the kit our avatars (and us IRL) wear in part for us, and in part for the observation of people around us.
Would it diminish the enjoyment of the person using the glowing bike or the fire socks if they knew that other people around them might not be seeing it? If individuals had a way in the settings to ensure that things looked more ‘normal’ on their own screens?
Would it be a good idea to let Fred ride around on his glowing bike past Susan, who on her own screen sees Fred ride past on a non-glowing bike? IF it was an easy implementation, would it be a good idea?
Related issue: the workout screens. Is the reason that everyone can see that someone is doing a structured workout because people want an explanation for why someone is riding ‘oddly’ up a hill? Is it because I want people to know that “I’m on an off interval, that’s why I’m going slow!”
How important is that? (Also not a rhetorical question. Is it important?)
Maybe I’m on the edge of the bell curve. And that’s cool if so I don’t care about dinosaurs or volcanoes and such. But it would be nice most days to look around and see ‘normal’ looking bikes and riders tearing around through these places. Without taking away someone’s ability on their own screen to see their cool glowing bike (and they are cool).