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Author Topic: Bickering about bicycles, now with occasional tips about motorised vehicles  (Read 242291 times)

The Seldom Killer

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I'll caution you that old Peugeots are not always the lucky find they once seemed. Saddles are nigh impossible to change and this isn't helped by proprietary seatposts which just aren't available any more. Also the brakes are about as good as swiss cheese, although these are much easier to replace.

Still, they do look quite lovely and the chainset on that one doesn't seem to be the old unservicable version. If it is a bit too small for you, you can cover that extra inch by raising the saddle, setting it back and, in an emergency switching out the stem for one with a longer reach. Alas switching the stem means you'll lose the lovely blue bar tape.
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Patrick

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You know seatposts are made out of metal pipe, right? That isn't exactly tough to come by. You might run into difficulty with metric measurements but even then I doubt it'd really be that big a deal.
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StaedlerMars

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I ran my bike into a tree about a month after I finally fixed my handlebars situation. Now my back wheel is all out of shape.
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LTK

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...Did you run into it backwards?
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I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

valley_parade

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You know seatposts are made out of metal pipe, right? That isn't exactly tough to come by. You might run into difficulty with metric measurements but even then I doubt it'd really be that big a deal.

57cm.
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Wait so you're letting something that happened 10 years ago ruin your quality of life? What are you, America? :psyduck:

The Seldom Killer

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You know seatposts are made out of metal pipe, right? That isn't exactly tough to come by. You might run into difficulty with metric measurements but even then I doubt it'd really be that big a deal.

You'd think so wouldn't you.

Sadly not all metal pipe is the same. Getting 24mm piping with adequate torsional capacity, collared tollerance, and thermal expansion properties isn't as easy as it might seem. Oddly these things aren't common place at the local hardware store. Then you need to get it inner beveled for a either a form forged brace or a canted mounting plate, neither of which are sold as a retail item. Should you manage to get hold of the one you want (I recommend plate over brace but for personal reasons), you would need to get someone to perform a heat expansion mounting.

Then again, you could always get the seat post rebored, although history hasn't born good witness to this practice. Current retrofit preferences seem to favour used of a CCS shim to adapt a smaller off-the-peg seat post.
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valley_parade

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GUYS IF THAT PEUGOT ISN'T MY SIZE I'LL GET A DIFFERENT BIKE, OKAY?

It's just pretty.
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Wait so you're letting something that happened 10 years ago ruin your quality of life? What are you, America? :psyduck:

Lunchbox

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I have an old peugeot.
It is pretty but it is so painful to ride, I think it is a bit big for me. The brakes are pretty much non-existent and the seat is the most uncomfortable thing ever, it hurts my lady areas so much.
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The Seldom Killer

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A diversion from the two wheeled/four wheeled discussion, but on a somewhat releant road safety issue, how in the blue festering fuck is this shit genuinely allowed to happen?

http://t4america.org/blog/2011/07/18/prosecuting-the-victim-absolving-the-perpetrators/
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pwhodges

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Because there are people who truly believe that it's the right thing to happen; read the comments.
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Lummer

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Seriously. I had my bike jacked like three times in my freshman year of high school. Cut the cable with bolt-cutters in their backpacks, it was fucked. I really, REALLY hope your post isn't relevant to your current situation, man.

It was, unfortunately. Real "monday morning" kind of thing. Luckily I have a backup bike so I could still get to work, but that bike sucks so hard. It's a cheap MTB where EVERYTHING is rusted, and it's not even two years old. The fork can't move, brakes drag on the wheels and only two out of 18 gears work. Fuck that thing.
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valley_parade

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I have an old peugeot.
It is pretty but it is so painful to ride, I think it is a bit big for me. The brakes are pretty much non-existent and the seat is the most uncomfortable thing ever, it hurts my lady areas so much.

'Parrently pro cyclist guy Dave Zabriskie has a company called "DZNuts" which makes dude and lady-part friendly seats.

edit: No, sorry Ally. Cream, not seats. Cream.
http://www.dz-nuts.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=20
« Last Edit: 20 Jul 2011, 08:58 by valley_parade »
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StaedlerMars

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...Did you run into it backwards?

It was a pretty impressive crash.
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valley_parade

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Hoogerland impressive?
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Patrick

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I have an old peugeot.
It is pretty but it is so painful to ride, I think it is a bit big for me. The brakes are pretty much non-existent and the seat is the most uncomfortable thing ever, it hurts my lady areas so much.

'Parrently pro cyclist guy Dave Zabriskie has a company called "DZNuts" which makes dude and lady-part friendly seats.

edit: No, sorry Ally. Cream, not seats. Cream.
http://www.dz-nuts.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=20

I am a little shocked you didn't remember something like that, considering the innuendos that could be made all day about that.
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valley_parade

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I'm pretty sure he had them in mind when he came up with the name. Zabriskie's a pretty funny dude.

edit: Pagebreak. The joke is "deez nuts".
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Wait so you're letting something that happened 10 years ago ruin your quality of life? What are you, America? :psyduck:

look out! Ninjas!

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Hoogerland impressive?
Nothing is Hoogerland impressive
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Van donk III

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The Seldom Killer

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15207973

Quote
   Based on wasted time and fuel, congestion cost about $115bn (£74.5bn) in 2010
    1.9 billion gallons of fuel were wasted while standing idle, which would fill 38 super-tankers

Source: Texas Transportation Institute

Holy shit America, 1.9 billion gallons of fuel. You could drive all the way around the world 30,571,420 times at average commuting mileage.

If you take the population of the US to be 312,367,000 (wikipedia), eliminate 24.3% for those under the age of 18 and 12.9 % over 65 and the 9.1% national unemployment rate (US Census Bureau/US Bureau Labour Statistics) gives you 167,741,079. If we assume 80% of those commute by car at $3.50 a gallon in gas (AAA), every commuting driver spends $500 per year sat in their car going nowhere.

Really, in this economic climate you can't come up with anything better to do with your money than that?
« Last Edit: 13 Oct 2011, 13:14 by The Seldom Killer »
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ackblom12

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Not with our average commute times and public transportation infrastructure.
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nekowafer

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Yeah.. the public transportation freaking sucks. In Baltimore, at least, a bus will often not come on time at all.. then two will arrive at the next scheduled time. I was late to work all the fucking time when I took the bus.
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The Seldom Killer

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But if in Baltimore, a city of 2.7 million people, 50,000 of those single occupancy commuters were to move to public transport, that would be an extra 2.5 million into the local public transport economy, reduce congestion by the equivalent of 43,000 cars (even buses could move faster and more predictably) and create several jobs. That's just on the idling costs of commuting by car alone.

Other costs saved would be available to be disbursed into the local economy supporting local businesses. The only losers would be the Oil companies, a net drain on local economies and the national economy with much of their profits exported to tax havens and to oil producing companies, no shortage of which harbour entities hostile to the US (or terrorists as some people like to call them), which in turn the US spends a near metric ton of cash fighting in overseas wars.

Then there's the decline in fatal road accidents, which cost the US economy around 2.2million each time.

Too bad it'd never happen.
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LTK

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For real? Public transport may get a lot of flak here in the Netherlands for various reasons - most commonly, everything seems to break down when the weather deviates from 'fair' in any degree - but in my experience as a train commuter, delays are the exception rather than the rule. I guess I'm not travelling the longer distances like you would in the US, but I wouldn't expect delays so regular and significant that you often run late even with careful planning.

Oh wait, this thread is about bikes, isn't it? Well, last week I found that my second (older) bike broke, apparently during the time it was in the secure bike storage. It was pedaling fine when I put it there a week before, then when I mount it later, the gears weren't connecting to the back wheel, so I was pedaling without result half the time. What the hell, bikes don't just break overnight, do they? The repairman said the mechanism was basically worn out, and the entire back wheel had to be replaced. So now I have a wheel that whirrs. Well, at least it keeps me going.
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Quote from: snalin
I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

pwhodges

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Oh wait, this thread is about bikes, isn't it?

It started out being about cars and driving, but I changed its title a couple of times as the subject shifted to cars vs bicycles, and then mostly just bikes...

Quote
So now I have a wheel that whirrs.

I like fixing things like that; but it would cost you more to come to Oxford with it than to replace it, I imagine.
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LTK

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Well, the guy was initially going to fix the connector, but then found that this particular wheel didn't allow the decoupling of wheel frame and connector. Whatever was broken was inside, thus impossible to fix. The bike wasn't completely useless; if I was very careful about the force I put on the pedals, and kept an even pace, it would connect just fine. But I didn't want to risk the thing breaking completely on me when I'm about to start my new job. Otherwise I'd have to endure a godawful tram ride there instead of being able to cycle - buses and trains are no problem, but I really don't like the city trams.
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Quote from: snalin
I just got the image of a midwife and a woman giving birth swinging towards each other on a trapeze - when they meet, the midwife pulls the baby out. The knife juggler is standing on the floor and cuts the umbilical cord with a a knifethrow.

ackblom12

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But if in Baltimore, a city of 2.7 million people, 50,000 of those single occupancy commuters were to move to public transport, that would be an extra 2.5 million into the local public transport economy, reduce congestion by the equivalent of 43,000 cars (even buses could move faster and more predictably) and create several jobs. That's just on the idling costs of commuting by car alone.

Yes, but you still have to cover the issues of "now" is the problem, and even then there's no guarantee that the bus system will actually change it's routine in a positive way. I can't say much for Baltimore's public transportation cause I have never been there, but there is a reason why the bus is not anyone's first choice in Rochester, NY. The only way to go anywhere in the city on the bus, is to either be on a good line directly to your destination, or you have to take a bus that heads to Downtown, and then transfer from the Downtown hub to wherever you want to go. This might not be so bad except that the only people who want to head downtown are the office workers. Downtown is a near deadzone otherwise. To top it off, the bus system changed to this from another system that, as I understand it was also poor, because the city council requested it and it was supposed to "revitalize" Downtown. It has of course had zero effect on Downtown and it's basically just forced longer bus commutes. This isn't even going into smaller cities and towns that have no public transportation option available at all.
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Carl-E

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When I first got out of grad school and started working I bought a bike with fat tires and retro styling that I rode to work for years.  But a couple of years ago, when we decided to take our bikes on vacation, the bike rack fell off the van, and guess whose bike was at the back and broke the fall?  I did a few repairs, but it never rode right again, the frame was bent. 

Then I lost the in-town job, and had to drive to work.  Still do.  I pretty much quit biking completely and even scrapped the old bike. 

But a couple of weeks ago we were at an auction, and there was this bike, it seemed to be in pretty good shape for it's age, and it looked... somehow familiar.  I got it for $5, took it home, and miraculously the tires held air.  The chain was still lubricated, the derailleurs worked, the brakes were good.  I've been using it for errands and choir practice and the like, anything in town.  But the first time I rode it... it was spooky, and I realized why when I got a good look at the decals. 

It's an exact clone of a bike I had in grad school, over twenty years ago.  Same make and model - hell, it's the same fucking color.  Even the same pinstriping on the fenders... It can't be the same bike, that one was destroyed in a horrible accident involving a pickup truck that left me with a jaw broken into four pieces, and left the bike with its front wheel tangled on the pedals.  I missed that bike terribly, and the retro one was an attempt to replace it. 

I'd say it's like finding a long-lost friend, but I've never done that.  It's more like coming across one of your old favorite toys in the attic, only I'm not too big for it. 

Guys, you have no idea how happy this makes me! 
« Last Edit: 14 Oct 2011, 09:53 by Carl-E »
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The Seldom Killer

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Yes, but you still have to cover the issues of "now" is the problem, and even then there's no guarantee that the bus system will actually change it's routine in a positive way. I can't say much for Baltimore's public transportation cause I have never been there, but there is a reason why the bus is not anyone's first choice in Rochester, NY.

That is a very good point. My post was a very simplistic view of the economics alone and I'm fully aware of the complexities of implementing a funtional public transport system that meets the needs of the people in the areas that it serves. Any authority looking to do so would have to be prepared to make a lot of bold moves against the resistance of those whose lives it ultimately seeks to improve. It would also have to accept that it would be very unlikely to get it right first time and plan to make changes throughout the programme.

I say authority because I believe that local authorities should be strongly involved in any local public transport system in partnership with the bus companies. London is a great example if this. While it would be hard to describe the system as perfect (could any system be perfect?), the functional relationship between the city and the companies does work with companies running a service determined by the authority that supports them through road design, promotion, revenue management, planning and reacting to feedback and changes in demand. Subsequently, public transport in London isn't seems as the dirty and unreliable reserve of the poor and the unable to drive, a stigma that is often attached elsewhere.

If you think that a local authority would never introduce such investment in the face of stern objection, I point you to London again where the Congestion Charge was introduced. Many of the detractors now conceed that the system has worked and succeeded in its aims.

... It's more like coming across one of your old favorite toys in the attic, only I'm not too big for it. 

Guys, you have no idea how happy this makes me! 

Lovely story. I love the relationships that people have with their bikes, a trusted friend, the provider of freedom, an intimate sharer of trials, tribulations, discoveries and adventures. I sometimes have difficulty deciding which bike to take out, working out which one will enjoy it most. A dangerous case of anthromorphism.
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BlakeJustBlake

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I'm just going to neatly place these pictures of my bikes here.








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bhtooefr

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Alright, looks like this is the cycling thread, even though this will be a massive necropost...

Quick interlude on Ohio cycling laws:
  • Passing in a double yellow has been explicitly legal since 2006, if it is safe to do so, and the vehicle you are passing is going less than 1/2 the speed limit.
  • Ohio requires that motor vehicles maintain a rate of speed that does not impede traffic - note that bicycles are not motor vehicles. That said, if traffic can't safely pass me, I'll pull off when it's safe to do so.
  • Ohio requires that cyclists stay as far right as practicable. This is widely interpreted as taking the lane any time the rideable (this means not riding in the marked shoulder or the door zone) lane is less than 14 feet wide - the minimum safe width for a cyclist and a vehicle to share a lane by AAHSTO standards. In certain situations, even 14 feet isn't enough
  • Ohio does not require that cyclists keep to the sidewalk, although it is allowed (except in municipalities that don't allow it). Personally, I avoid it, although I have done it, at walking speed, when the road wasn't practical.
  • Freeways are dedicated to motor vehicles with at least 5 bhp, and not farm vehicles. I may have once taken advantage of the fact that my Golf TDI has issues with fuel injection quantity, and sooted a roadie that got on the freeway, when there's an excellent trail that PARALLELS the freeway in question!

Regarding roads that are unsafe to cycle on due to conditions such as blind corners and hills... IMO, it's irresponsible to ride on such roads due to the extreme risk of personal danger, but if they're the only way to get where you want to go reasonably, then it's justifiable - and, in many of those areas, getting dedicated cycling infrastructure is about as likely as the government buying everyone a holopony.

Re: Velomobiles, most of the popular ones are HEAVY. Like 75 pounds. But, once you get them going, as long as you don't have to go up a hill, they can get going QUITE fast, due to their greatly reduced drag (which is why most velomobiles are Dutch), and they've got weather protection (even the open cockpit ones - there are ways to get it).

Myself, this is my cycle:


TerraTrike Path 8-speed, with a Sturmey-Archer X-RF8(W), no-name disc brakes on the front only (rear braking on a trike is a BAD, bad idea - it'll get you a nasty crash quickly), rack, fenders, Philips SafeRide 80 front light and the Philips LED rear light (StVZO compliant front lighting is the ONLY way to go for see-with lighting - mind you, be-seen lighting is a little different - and this is a damn good setup), and a Garmin Edge 205 (because I couldn't be bothered running cabling for a speed sensor, and wireless sucks especially on a 'bent, so I went for GPS so a sensor wasn't needed). I use Arkel RT-40 panniers (they're on backwards in that pic  :lol:), and not pictured are the Performance Bike el cheapo platform/SPD combo pedals (really, on a trike, you REALLY want some sort of foot attachment - you spend a lot of energy just keeping your feet on the pedals otherwise, and if your foot slips off, the trike will try to run you over, and that HURTS (luckily, the one time that happened to me, before going SPD, I was going slowly, so I didn't break my leg).

I'm slow, I usually average 12 mph (not including time stopped), but I'll blame the 40 psi tires for that. I'll switch to Schwalbe Trykers when these wear out.
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Carl-E

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I am extraordinarily envious.  If I didn't have to climb over several mountain ridges to get to work...
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bhtooefr

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Annoyingly, one of the hills on the bike trail around here, while it's short, you have to carry speed into it, or you end up "ratcheting" up the hill. (On a bike, you'd have to get off and walk, though. But, a bike would be lighter - my trike is about 40 pounds before accessories, probably 45-50 laden.)
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bhtooefr

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Mopeds here in Ohio are restricted to 20 mph on level ground under power, 1 bhp, must have pedals, and must be explicitly approved by the state of Ohio as a moped.
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bhtooefr

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Oh, that's another thing, cycle paths around here are strictly pedal power. So, you've gotta go on 35 mph roads with a moped.

You can get away with an electric-assist bicycle (which is 750 watts and no assist above 20 mph maximum), but Ohio doesn't recognize that class, so you could be ticketed for running an electric bicycle on the cycle paths.
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Akima

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Myself, this is my cycle:
I'm not a huge fan of recumbent trikes, but that is a very nice rig. Mudguards, rack, matching luggage, serious lighting system... Very cool!

I switched to the Garmin Edge 200 last year, partly because my old wireless bike-computer system was such a pain. The three coin-shaped batteries in the sensors and computer on my old system frequently jolted out of position, requiring me to reseat them, and then re-initialise the comp to get things going again. Having a foot slip off a pedal is bad news on bikes too, and if you want to ride hard on rutted urban streets, rather than coasting over rough patches because you're afraid your feet will bounce off the pedals, some sort of foot-retention is highly recommended.

I wouldn't call 12mph (19kph) all that slow as an everyday average for a "transportation cyclist". I ride on Schwalbe Marathon tyres that are rated for 50-100psi, so after I got them, I experimented with a range of pressures. On anything over the minimum, I found no noticeable effect on my daily average speed, and the high pressures made the ride much harsher on me and the bike, so I settled on 450kPa (about 65psi).

If you can't ride up your local hills, your gears are too high! Seriously, lots of bikes are sold with inappropriate gears. I see their poor riders mashing away, struggling up hills and risking injury to their knees, especially if their saddles are set too low (which they often are, but that is a rant for another day). Sydney is a hilly city, so I specified "granny gear" ratios for my bike, enabling me to spin my way up the steepest hills I encounter. The trade-off, of course, is that I "spin out" at about 42kph (26mph) in my highest gear, but since I am not strong enough to turn that gear except riding down a fairly steep hill, I can live with that. Getting excited about bicycle gearing is for the nerds that even other nerds think are nerds...
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bhtooefr

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Yeah, I need to switch to a smaller front chainring, although it's only the one hill that I really have trouble with, I can pretty much spin up every other hill I encounter now. I'll probably switch to a 36T front chainring, from 46T - that'll basically move my gear range up a gear, although the gaps in the gear range also move (current 1st becomes 2nd, current 2nd becomes 4th (with a new intermediate gear between the two), current 5th becomes 7th, current 6th disappears, current 7th becomes 8th).

Their entry level model comes with 32T, which given the target market for that model (it has a weight capacity of up to 400 lbs), and the rather poor aero of it (it's very tall), makes sense - you're not GOING fast.

Might also take the opportunity to try 160 or 165 mm cranks, see if they're a bit kinder to my knees. And, this'll be a good opportunity to switch to multi-speed chain - save about 2 pounds of weight (so much chain, and it's HEAVY chain right now), and I can then switch to the lower friction, much more durable TerraCycle idlers.

Advantage to a trike is, you can go to extremely short gearing, and it's actually useful, you won't fall over.
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If I had the space, the money (and I didn't live in such a crappy environment), I'd get a Rhoades car. Things are rather expensive though.

I do like my little Giant Revive. Looks like a recumbent, but it's actually a street bike with an upright chair.



Major difference between that photo and now is that I have a bike bag on that back platform. I used to have an add-on in-grip rear view mirror on the left, but my dad broke it in moving the bike up here to Central WI.

I used to take that thing all around Pewaukee when I lived down there. Nowadays I'm scared to take that thing out onto the streets here in Merrill, despite there being a lot of people who bike routinely.
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bhtooefr

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I hear the Rhoades Cars actually kinda suck. As in, absurdly heavy for what they are, and not that well built (so, they're extremely slow). There are quads that aren't that heavy, though. The main advantage over a three-wheeler is cornering stability, but they're still heavier.
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jwhouk

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I can believe it. They don't look like they were made with the intent of being used in real world applications.

Who else makes quad bikes, though?
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bhtooefr

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I know Utah Trikes does quad conversions and kits for some of the recumbent tadpole trikes, and Greenspeed sells a quad version of their Anura recumbent delta trike.
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2013, 12:45 by bhtooefr »
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bhtooefr

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Heh. While checking the laws regarding bicycle lanes in my city, I found something annoying, and interesting.

Newark, OH Code of Ordinances, Part Four, Title Ten, Chapter 475.06-07

So, bicycle registration is apparently a requirement. I know it's not enforced, but I'm tempted to see whether it's actually possible to get it done, given that it's $1. :D

I'd need to remove the boom on my trike, or they'll have to engrave another serial number on it, though, it looks like.
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Akima

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Yes, I've seen that before. It makes a valid point, but it is worrying that the makers equate cyclists with moonwalking bears with regard to things that a car-driver might expect to notice. A bicycle is a legal road vehicle (assuming it is properly equipped), precisely the sort of thing a driver should be noticing. A cyclist should be seen as one of the players, not an incongruous intrusion on the court.
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Akima

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Apology-fail from motorist who boasted on Twitter about knocking of cyclist off his bike.

"If I did cause any damage to him I would obviously apologise but I didn’t feel him even touch my car. If I knew that he was hurt I would never have driven off. If I could take back doing that tweet I would, you know my whole career is at risk now, and any damage caused to the cyclist."

I'm really cut up about your career, love, but I suggest you go into politics. You have a definite talent for packing a whole lot of insincerity and self-pitying bullshit into three sentences.
« Last Edit: 24 May 2013, 18:25 by Akima »
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jwhouk

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I was wondering if you'd seen that...  :laugh:
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It is, to me, rather indicative general Britishness that you can now buy this.



I won't say I'm not tempted.
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Cycling in rural areas is rather nice, save for the odd white-van-man cutting far too close when overtaking.

Since I've been working in London I've seen/heard countless arguments occur between taxi drivers and cyclists. Taxi drivers rush too much and dive between lanes, cyclists never seem to adhere to a red light. I actually saw someone (pedestrian) get hit by a bicycle outside my office and it was pretty horrendous - that's the trouble with a road with two lanes going one way, and a third bus/cycle lane going the opposite direction.
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ankhtahr

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Even though this apparently is more of a cycling thread, I think it fits best for this topic.

I'm interested in how drivers education is being done in different countries. I'm currently working on my German driving license, and it's rather expensive and difficult. I'm mostly busy with filling out questionnaires online, so I don't fail the theoretical exam. Also I'm waiting for the appointment to take my first practical driving lesson.

Here's an example for a German theoretical exam (Official English questions, multiple answers allowed. Also it is German driving laws of course (StVO [Straßenverkehrsordnung]))

(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)

These are some of the easier questions though. But there are hilarious questions/answers as well. Here's an example:


Driving at night to the next discotheque by car, a group of young men and women wants to keep a good mood during the journey. They thus sing exuberantly, laugh and turn up the volume on the car radio. How should the driver of the car react in such a situation?

1. The driver responsible for safety must distance himself from the group in such a case and ask his passengers not to divert his attention  :roll:
2. Further heat up the good mood of the group by driving risky manoeuvres    :mrgreen:
3. Join in to avoid being a spoilsport  :-\

This is an actual question on the official theoretical exams.

All this theoretical and practical training and testing costs quite a sum. For a driving license which allows me to drive vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes and additionally trailers I'll have to pay around 2600€.

So how's drivers education in different countries?
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Masterpiece

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As far as I know, a lot cheaper.

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Getting a drivers' license in the U.S. is much cheaper than in Germany (at least it was when I got mine, I assume it hasn't changed that much). The exact requirements vary widely by state. The requirements when I got my license were a theoretical exam to get a learners' permit (20 questions, fairly easy; I only got one question wrong), then a drivers' ed course, I had to keep a log of my driving, and to get my license I had to take a driving test on a closed course. In the drivers' ed course we had to do driving practice with the instructor. It mainly consisted of driving small rural roads in the middle of nowhere. I think the guy was afraid of taking me out on the interstate.  :roll:

I think there is still a copy of the Oklahoma drivers' education manual in the lab here from when a former grad student from Germany took the test. If you want more specific details I can dig it up.

As for the question I got wrong, it turns out in Maryland it is legal on a two-lane road to pass someone waiting to turn left by driving on the shoulder.
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