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Author Topic: Bickering about bicycles, now with occasional tips about motorised vehicles  (Read 242220 times)

Akima

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I'd give the end of your fender (mudguard) mounting bolts a feel to see if there are any sharp burrs, and file them off if there are. What tyres do you run, BTW?
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bhtooefr

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Schwalbe Trykers, they're a 40-406 tire meant specifically for recumbent tricycles.

Edit: Stuck one of the old stock 44-406 Cheng Shin tires on. We'll see how this affects the handling, I'm feeling too lazy to match the fronts.
« Last Edit: 20 Apr 2014, 18:29 by bhtooefr »
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The Seldom Killer

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I think most of the trike people I know are running Kojaks or other non-genre specific tires. Not sure what would, or should be different about trike specific tires though. Interestingly enough a lot of bike polo people in the UK are migrating to Kojaks as well as a tire of choice. Those or Big Apples if the frame will take it.

After a bit of trawling around with the Marathon Plus on the Fujin, I moved over to Kojaks as well. The difference is tangible, although I do worry about the side walls a bit. Mind you, I've been running all manner of skinny, folding, thin side walled tires on my audax bikes for years to no problem. The only time I've ever suffered a catastrophic fail was when a plastic fork met an Armadillo at speed.

In other Fujin related news, I changed from tiller to open cockpit bars. This may be the best bike related money I have ever spent.
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bhtooefr

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Yeah, lots of Kojaks on faster trikes, and Marathon series tires on slower trikes. Sometimes Duranos or Ultremos, too, on the really fast stuff.

The advantage of the Tryker is that it has all of its tread on a narrow strip, and ridiculously thin sidewalls. Long treadwear due to the concentration of rubber at the contact patch (because it's not cornering onto the sides of the tire, very little rubber needs to be off the contact patch), very low rolling resistance, and allegedly better handling (but my trike can't take advantage of that part, it'll lift a wheel before that matters).
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jwhouk

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I really do need to get the Revive out and running again - before the temps decide to take a dip back into our sub-arctic weather patterns.
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Akima

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I run Schwalbe Marathon HS420s in 40x406 on my bike. They're a bit heavy, but I like the puncture protection for those ride-to-work-on-Monday-after-weekend-revellers-have-broken-beer-bottles-all-over-the-cycle-path mornings. One of the definite advantages of recumbents becoming more popular has been a wider range of tyres for small-wheeled bikes. I'm probably going to switch to Primo Comet Kevlars on my next tyre change. They have a good rep for puncture resistance, and they're around 230g lighter per tyre.
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bhtooefr

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IIRC, the Trykers have similar puncture resistance as the Marathon Racers, for what it's worth.

I know someone who went for Marathon Pluses due to "weekend revellers have tossed broken beer bottles out the windows of their pickup trucks, and they never get cleaned off the shoulder, ever" riding conditions...
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Grognard

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so I rode my bike from the train station to work today.
ugh.
yes, it's a beater, and it's been sitting outside for 3 months... but fuck.
chain and crank are stiff as hell.
happily... the tires are still good.
but some asshole stole my cheapo helmet off the bike.
but either way...
I rode my bike today.
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GarandMarine

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So my total cost for an oil change and a timing belt change is just over $600.

They tried to get DOUBLE that out of me.

Fuck man...
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Grognard

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youch.

4 or 6 cylinder?
$600 for a 6 cyl. timing belt is about right.
thery'e usually $100 per cylinder.

but still. that sucks.
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bhtooefr

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Heh, $600 is dirt cheap for a timing belt job on my (4-cylinder, but diesel) car. (An engine mount has to be taken out of the way, and the timing belt path is more complex due to the fuel injection pump having to be timed.)
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GarandMarine

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6 cylinder. I miss my four bangers. I even had a "Fear the Four Banger" bumper sticker. I love those engines.
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

Akima

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This is an interesting clip. Google's self-driving car is at least as cyclist-aware as a human driver. Frankly it seems much better than most.
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LTK

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Why bikes make smart people say dumb things. An interesting examination of Americans' irrational biases against bikes and cyclists.
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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.

GarandMarine

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It's not irrational. Cyclists are second class citizens and should be relegated to their tiny gutter like "road". They can get motorcycles if they want some respect.

Sarcasm aside I really hate talking to aggressive cyclists who are trying to convert the flock. I ran into one in San Francisco this weekend and he was very upset that I don't cycle or take public transit. Namely because I don't have six odd hours spare in my day. Sadly we can't all be urban types and actually have to go places in a quick and timely manner. I know this is where several forum members jump in with plans for forced urbanization but for myself personally and a large number of other people young and old, to hell with that nonsense.
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

Masterpiece

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I don't even know what you just said.

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Barmymoo

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I've never been to Denmark but that doesn't seem to be true for England; a fair number of people in flat places cycle for transport and in Cambridge at least, lots of people cycle without paying attention and endanger pedestrians!
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

ankhtahr

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I should probably add the author's commentary as well:

Quote
When I moved to England I noticed a lot of differences from Denmark. When I moved back to Denmark I noticed even more. One being that "cyclist" means different things.

In Denmark a cyclist just means a person on a bike (and most Danes are cyclists), but in England it's mostly used about people who are really really REALLY into bikes.
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Barmymoo

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Hm actually that does make more sense - I wouldn't say I'm a cyclist, just that I have a bike and cycle to get places.
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

pwhodges

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I really hate talking to aggressive cyclists who are trying to convert the flock.

Well indeed, so do I; just as I hate talking to aggressive motorcyclists or aggressive car drivers.
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Akima

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Sarcasm aside I really hate talking to aggressive cyclists who are trying to convert the flock.
It's a funny thing about people who care passionately about something, are deeply concerned about legal threats to their right to continue their preferred activity, are irritated by misrepresentation of them in media, and have *ahem* forceful opinions about people who do not share their interests. We had a thread on one such subject...

I wouldn't say I'm a cyclist, just that I have a bike and cycle to get places.
"I'm not one of those feminists, it's just that believe in equality for women!"

This kind of "salami slicing" about cyclists, often based on whether or not we wear Lycra® for some reason, is irritating. On my commute to/from work, I wear a helmet, cycling clothes, cleated shoes etc. like the "English cyclist"*. On the other hand my bike is nothing like a racing bike, being small-wheeled and fully equipped with lights, reflectors, luggage rack, mudguards, panniers when I'm doing the shopping, and a large saddle-bag, rather like the "Danish cyclist" (though I don't ride distracted). I don't race, time-trial or participate in any cycle-sport. So, am I a cyclist, or do I just have a bike and cycle to get places?

*However I dressed, I would arrive all sweaty and disgusting after riding across hilly Sydney, especially in summer, so it's much better to wear clothes designed for riding, and then shower and change into "normal clothes" at work. Not everyone is as lucky as I am in my workplace, so the terrain and climate here are a definite barrier to cycle-commuting.
« Last Edit: 13 Jul 2014, 16:40 by Akima »
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GarandMarine

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Sarcasm aside I really hate talking to aggressive cyclists who are trying to convert the flock.
It's a funny thing about people who care passionately about something, are deeply concerned about legal threats to their right to continue their preferred activity, are irritated by misrepresentation of them in media, and have *ahem* forceful opinions about people who do not share their interests. We had a thread on one such subject...

Yes but I won't call you terrible names if you choose not to participate, just if you try and limit my ability to do so*. I'm all for bike lanes and for laws that protect cyclists, I am all for cycle commuting and would do it myself if I lived any where it was vaguely feasible. It does not however make me a bad person for not commuting via bike when my commute is long already and I don't have a spare six hours to dedicate to just getting from A to B.

*and I like to think I don't call names too often.
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

ev4n

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Why bikes make smart people say dumb things. An interesting examination of Americans' irrational biases against bikes and cyclists.

Excellent article.  I'm glad it was about the bikesnobnyc interaction.

Thanks for sharing.
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ev4n

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Sadly we can't all be urban types and actually have to go places in a quick and timely manner.

I'll admit, I bike commute a lot more in the summers now that I'm in a position where it does not cost me any time over mass transit/car commuting.

Also, I live in the country, and when I say I bike commute a lot, I drive 2/3 or more of the way to work, then bike through the urban component, along a riverside bike path.
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GarandMarine

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and if you have that option, that's wonderful for you. Please enjoy with my compliments.
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

Barmymoo

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I don't mean that I object to the word cyclist or have an image of what it means that doesn't apply to me, just that I don't say to people "I'm a cyclist" in the same way that I used to say "I'm a runner" - do people say "I'm a driver" or do they say "I drive to work"? For me it's just one of the many ways I get around, and something I quite enjoy doing but don't do competitively or purely for enjoyment. Like I wouldn't say "I'm an eater" even though I eat because I need to and I generally enjoy it.
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

LTK

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Yet you need a license to be a driver.
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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.

Carl-E

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I used to bike-commute to the local campus when I taught there.  4.5 miles each way, through a town that is distinctly bicycle un-friendly.  I managed to find a relatively flat course through town (we have SF nob-hill type streets around here), but one thing that always amazed me was the way drivers reacted when passing me. 

Now, I'm not skinny, and my bike's a 30 year old 12 speed tourer, but I don't really need a whole lane to myself either.  I appreciate the 3 - 5 feet that most drivers give me, veering around me a bit as I try to keep to the gutter without falling into the drain grates. 

But every once in a while, someone feels the need to give me 10 - 12 feet or more, veering completely into the oncoming lane.  And yes, someone got hit once and tried to blame me.  It's the same mentality as those who stop at an intersection with no stop sign, motioning the people with a stop sign on, like it was a 4-way stop.  There's one of those in front of our house, and the result is an occasional rear-ending.  Worse, someone got t-boned when they accepted the other driver's offer, but the car going the opposite way had no intention of stopping without a stop sign. 

Excessive politeness can be a hazard... usually only when mixed with stupidity, though. 
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cesium133

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It's the same mentality as those who stop at an intersection with no stop sign, motioning the people with a stop sign on, like it was a 4-way stop.  There's one of those in front of our house, and the result is an occasional rear-ending.  Worse, someone got t-boned when they accepted the other driver's offer, but the car going the opposite way had no intention of stopping without a stop sign. 

Excessive politeness can be a hazard... usually only when mixed with stupidity, though.
Here I've seen the opposite problem. 4-way stops are so common here that I have to be extra-careful at intersections that aren't 4-way stops, because people will assume that the fact that they have a stop sign means that I have a stop sign as well.
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ev4n

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To be fair, sometimes larger vehicles DO need to give a ton of room when they drive by a cyclist.  A dumptruck travelling at 50mph/80kph generates a strong enough gust to endanger the life of a cyclist if they pass too closely.
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Carl-E

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Yes, of course.  But I'm talking in town, cars, barely doing 30.  The occasional minivan or pickup truck, but nothing that needs too give me that much space - certainly not to the point of endangering others! 
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Barmymoo

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I think often they're making a point - "look how far I have to swerve to get past you, you selfish *****!". Anyone genuinely concerned about safety would either pass safely, or drive slowly til the road is wide enough to do so.
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

ev4n

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Agree, Carl, just making the point in case any didn't know.

Also, I frequently get caught behind slow-moving farm equipment, and yes, everyone gets annoyed, but nobody seems to infer that it's their god-given right to pass immediately, with no thought of slowing down or gauging oncoming traffic.  But replace the farm equipment with a bicycle, and people's thoughts and emotions are often very different.
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GarandMarine

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Gah. So car repairs. I have a savings account for this, but a $1200 hit is never fun to take.
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I built the walls that make my life a prison, I built them all and cannot be forgiven... ...Sold my soul to carry your vendetta, So let me go before you can regret it, You've made your choice and now it's come to this, But that's price you pay when you're a monster with no name.

The Seldom Killer

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Having bashed out a year on the fixed wheel with occasional use of the recumbent, I'm going back to having a geared bike (with some more use of the recumbent). Went out and did a test ride on a nice full carbon bike this evening. It was rather lovely. It's going to come in at around £1200 (£1k on the bike to work scheme) fully built but it could easily be sold for quite a bit more. It's hard to decide on a 20 minute test ride whether a bike is going to be suitable for a 1200k ride but I reckon this could be the one.
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ev4n

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What's the 1200km ride?

I currently have the following on my bucket list:
- Transcan, from current location to hometown (380km)
- Pacific Coast Highway, California
- John O'Graots to Lands End
- Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

EDIT Wait, PBP is 1200km, isn't it?  For some reason, I had it as 300km each way, but I bet it's double that.
« Last Edit: 30 Jul 2014, 13:06 by ev4n »
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pwhodges

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When in Cambodia, I was interested to see bikes with bamboo frames.  I was even more interested to see one parked at work today!
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The Seldom Killer

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Indeed it is the PBP. Went out in the 90 group last time (2011) bit I'm going to have a punt at the 84 hour group. Did Super Brevet Scandinavia last year which was pretty impressive and there's a couple of others on the list;

Mumbai-Indore-Mumbai
The Silk Road 1200 (political situation needs to stabalise in Uzbekistan before I have a go at that)
Grasslands 1400 in Mongolia

If I even manage one of those I'll be pretty chuffed.

I cycled across Canada in 2006 and Cape Breton was pretty awesome. Even better was the Petit Train du Nord in Quebec which I think is local to you.

I may never actually do Lands End to John O'Groats although I've done a lot of the roads that make it up. Give us a shout if you come over though, I'd be happy to give you come company on the Welsh Marches.
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LTK

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When in Cambodia, I was interested to see bikes with bamboo frames.  I was even more interested to see one parked at work today!
I saw one of those for sale online and it was about ten times as expensive as a similar bike made of metal. Guess it's down to the marketing as eco-friendly! and sustainable! and trendy as fuck! but not affordable, oh no.
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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.

bhtooefr

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There are DIY plans for building a bamboo bike, but basically it consists of making carbon fiber lugs around bamboo tubes, typically.

It's a labor-intensive way of building a frame, that requires expensive materials for bonding the tubes together, and is very picky about the quality of the bamboo (meaning a lot gets rejected, increasing the cost significantly). And, I wouldn't be surprised if the resource usage for a bamboo frame is actually higher than a good 4130 frame, which will last quite a bit longer, and have far more consistent quality and lower assembly cost.
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pwhodges

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No carbon fibre on the ones I've seen.  The joints seem to be made with lots of fibrous binding and loads of what looks suspiciously like epoxy resin.
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ev4n

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Indeed it is the PBP. Went out in the 90 group last time (2011) bit I'm going to have a punt at the 84 hour group. Did Super Brevet Scandinavia last year which was pretty impressive and there's a couple of others on the list;

Nice.  I'm not sure that PBP is right for me, at leas for now. I'm more of a casual cyclist, I've only once done over 100km, and I'm not much of a camper, but it's an intriguing challenge nonetheless.  GLHF for sure.

I cycled across Canada in 2006 and Cape Breton was pretty awesome. Even better was the Petit Train du Nord in Quebec which I think is local to you.

I wonder if I should take this offline, but I'd love to hear about it.  I'm guessing if you did Petit Train du Nord then you took the northern route across Ontario?  That would have been....remote....  (I lived up there for 3 years when I was a child, and then lived on the southern route for 14 years.)

And yeah, Petit Train du Nord is somewhat close.  It's one side of the triangle between Ottawa, Montreal, and Mont Tremblant.  The far side.  I've thought about going once or twice.  Someday.

I may never actually do Lands End to John O'Groats although I've done a lot of the roads that make it up. Give us a shout if you come over though, I'd be happy to give you come company on the Welsh Marches.

Hah you bet.  I have a few friends in the US who have interest in that and PCH as well.  I also have a ton of family, 99% of whom I've never met, in England, so that ride might be an interesting opportunity to meet some relatives (assuming I can figure out where they are and string them together).
« Last Edit: 31 Jul 2014, 06:46 by ev4n »
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Grognard

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going to take the Son&Heir's birthday gift to the garage tomorrow.
I think it will pass inspection, so I can get used to driving a stick again.

the gift is a beat to hell, worn to the nub, faded to a lovely pink, 2000 Ford Ranger pickup.
it's got more dents than my last 5 vehicles combined.  :D
total cost to resurrect it from the junk pile and make it legal (so far): $650
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hedgie

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It's going to come in at around £1200 (£1k on the bike to work scheme) fully built but it could easily be sold for quite a bit more.
Fuck, there's no way I'd ever pay that much for a bike if it didn't have a motor and at least 750cc.
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jwhouk

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(does the conversion)

Wait - about US$2,200 for a BICYCLE?

A high-end TREK bicycle comes in at less than that... though at $1,979, with tax added it probably nicks that total.

Yeesh. Sorry, I'm not buying a bike like that for THAT much.
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The Seldom Killer

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It's matter of you get what you pay for.

My previous geared bike was an aluminium frame with carbon forks and (subject to several component changes) lasted me 10 years through 8-10 thousand miles a year and multiple crashes, bumps, bounces and other rough handling. It cost me £350 and it finally succumbed to metal fatigue.

To buy the same bike now would cost about £800. The extra £400 is going to get me a far lighter, stronger frame, higher quality components and a set of hand built wheels which are always better than factory built. In the current market, what I'm buying should cost me at least another £300-£400 so is very much a bargain. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't buy the components and build this up from scratch for cheaper, a realistic option for more expensive bikes or bikes of lower quality.

It's worth bearing in mind that this isn't going to be a pub bike or a commuter or a bike for pottering around town or up quiet little country lanes on a Sunday afternoon. This is a bike for adventures and epic quests in far away places. Now if you were buying a motorbike straight off the showroom floor for adventures and epic quests, would you really only spend £1200 on it?
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hedgie

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I dunno, a friend of mine got his for about that much, and it was totally new, just the previous model year, so it was heavily discounted.  And it was a rather nice bike.  Not quite the sex on wheels that Ducatis are, but still damned nice.
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jwhouk

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If I'm going to spend that much on a bike, it's going to be something like a Rhoads Car.
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bhtooefr

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A high-end TREK bicycle comes in at less than that... though at $1,979, with tax added it probably nicks that total.

That's... not high-end, and Trek's got a bike over $10k.

$2000 is very much mid-range.

The trick is that bicycles, especially high-performance road bikes, have to have far more advanced engineering in their frames and some components, than a car, to be sufficiently light-weight yet strong. And, they have to do it without the economies of scale of car production, unless they're a single-speed rod brake roadster (at which point you can get a Flying Pigeon in China for $30, but you end up having to rebuild the thing yourself as soon as you buy it).

And, the Rhoades Cars are incredibly heavy junk, as I understand.

I'll note that I paid $1100 for my recumbent trike, and it's very much low-end, heavy, flexy, and with cheap components.
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