I'd forgotten about Bike to Work Day, but I wonder if that's why bikepath traffic was heavy (and with lots of slow people biking two or three abreast). I just figured it was the nice weather.
It was the power of righteous indignation about the Times and Blumenthal.
6: Shut up, she explained.
Um, I haven't been doing pushups. In ages. So, probably about five or so.
Or maybe the Earth wasn't sucking very hard today.
9: The Earth has been blowing (oil, volcanic ash) lately, not sucking. That must be it!
So, I'm in the Charlotte airport (free wi-fi!) and have 2 questions on the ethics of air travel:
1. My connecting flight landed an hour and 10 minutes late and so lots of people had very tight connections. The flight attendant asked those who didn't have connections to wait in their seats until the rest of us got off. Of the 138 passengers, how many passengers did so? (The Price Is Right rules apply: Closest without going over wins.)
2. If you were stuck in an airport, were ravenous, and had to wait for a flight already delayed at least 2 hours, could be pushed back again, and the only place to eat was a Fox Sports Bar, what should you do? (Advanced students only: Add 1-2 cranky children to the scenario.)
13.2: So I guess that connection wasn't so tight after all.
My connecting flight is also delayed, Mr. Smartypants.
13.1: Wait, your inbound flight was late is what you're saying, right? Not your connecting flight, as you stated?
Yes, my inbound flight was late. As it happens, my connecting flight is also delayed, but that's not relevant to the question.
I was confused by this:
My connecting flight landed an hour and 10 minutes late
Also, how would you know which of the people getting off had connections? This quiz is hard.
19.last: Also not relevant to the question asked. And I'll guess 5.
13.1: Four
13.2: Eat at the Fox Sports Bar if the kids will eat.
13.1: Seven
13.2: No, but you can make it seem okay if you have a couple of drinks first.
Very few people wait for the tight-connection people to get off, but the whole notion doesn't make that much sense, since half the people who need to rush to their connections are in window seats and scramble over people on the aisle seats who then get out into the aisle to make room and start to move off the plane which makes other people get into the aisle which . . . . .
The whole thing doesn't work. Although I'll usually stay on the plane when that request goes out because I am just such a good citizen.
As for the Fox Sports Airport Bar, unless you've avoided watching or renting a Fox or Fox Searchlight movie in the past 10 years, have avoided watching anything on the Fox television station or FX, and have avoided reading anything in the Wall Street Journal or London Times, you're probably fine. Actually, it's probably just some local concession to which Fox licenses a name and some trade dress.
20: I'm confused. If people are getting off, and some of them don't have connections but are ignoring the request, don't we need to know that they they didn't honor the request to confirm that they are assholes?
I mean, I can still hazard a guess (one!) to answer the question, but Kraab's question also seemed to be suggesting there were definitely people not honoring the request. I was wondering how she knew that.
19: Stay with me here, Stanley.
I was on a plane which landed late. As we were taxi'ing in, the flight attendant said lots of people have very tight connections. If you don't have a tight connection, please wait to get off and let others go first. Got it?
Eat the crankier child as a warning to the other one.
Since we have to guess, I'm guessing: zero.
22: Incorrect!
23.1: Incorrect!
23.2: Partial credit.
26.1: How about a higher/lower call?
32: You want a test that easy, go take heebie's class.
28 does not resolve my question in 27. Am I just being dense here?
27.1: Her question was, how many passengers did so? You don't know if that was 100% or some small percentage of passengers who did not have connections, but that is not what she asked.
From her answers, it was 3 or fewer.
29: As always, apo is thinking outside the box. It wasn't what I had in mind, but I will accept this answer.
And now my flight to Austin is boarding. Don't you just hate cliffhangers?
Give us the answer, or your flight is in a holding pattern over Buffalo for the next 8 hours.
You don't know if that was 100% or some small percentage of passengers who did not have connections, but that is not what she asked.
Right, but I want to be able to judge some people as assholes, and I don't get to do that if there's not definitive proof. [stomps foot]
But yeah, I can still guess and did (one).
35 was not a legitimate guess under the rules as set out by Sir Kraab.
17.
Congrats LB! I told you could do it! You are now mistress of bicycles.
m, way to go
Right, but I want to be able to judge some people as assholes
Well, so do I, but I was being charitable. I suspect that the answer is zero, because what's the likelihood of one, two or three people complying with the flight attendant's request when no one else will?
Oooh, more bragging: Sally's school has this weird running competition. She's in fifth grade, and is the third fastest girl in the school, running against kids up to eighth grade. A day of athletic triumph for the Breath women.
If I get off my ass and my wallet, I may be walking a bike at that hill soon. Can we pretend it was never very intimidating at all?
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Hello, unfogged, from Syracuse. I mention it because upstate towns strike me as somehow funny. Like a lizard with a hat on, as Lorrie Moore wrote of something else.
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Wow. Some facebook friend of mine called the NAACP a "black KKK". HIDE!
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49.1: It's really short, so walking up it isn't a significant hassle. And I'm really not much of an athlete, so my having found it intimidating doesn't mean much.
If I get off my ass and my wallet
Unless you want to twist your hips funny, it's hard to do one without the other.
50: Wow. How does that even come up -- they went to facebook specifically because that needed to be a status update? "Nimrod is thinking that the NAACP is..."
If this is the bicycling thread, then I just want to say: single-speed street bikes for commuting are more than just a stupid trend! Most fun I've had in a while has been on this guy:
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bikes/commute/2010--925
40.1: The description of that test makes it sound like Fitness Tetris. They should do it to balalaika music.
53: Apparently, some local news channel where he lives accidentally referred to the NAACP as the NCAA (also wow), and the KKK remark came out in the ensuing discussion.
twist your hips funny
The local term of art for these threads is "snap your hips".
52 I've always carried my wallet in a front pocket. I started to try to express this with some variant of "to dress right/left" but it began to feel like too much trouble.
57: Your friend is repeating an on-air discussion where somebody said that the NAACP is a black KKK? Or the discussion was a Facebook thread where your friend said this?
60: Sorry. That was unclear. The network misspoke, saying NCAA when they meant NAACP. Some other mutual friend posted on FB about the mistake. The comment came in the discussion of the FB post. Clear as mud?
61: Got it. Everything that you could be expected to make clear seems clear.
46: A day of athletic triumph for the Breath women.
Since the test was designed to measure VO2 max, not surprising that a Breath woman did well.
I have a FB friend, someone I only vaguely knew in high school, who unleashed this corker the other day:
Islam seeks to take over the world - by any means possible. Rick, Barry and Russ, if given the chance, any good member of al-Quada would be happy to behead you and post your video on the Internet. You may say that they are the outliers, but I say nay, they are mainstream. If they are the outliers, then why have Muslims the world over not cried out against their atrocities?
They force women to live lives that are degrading, they cut off the hands of those who break their "laws," they stone those who break their "laws," they decapitate those with whom they disagree. The only thing the Arab Muslim respects is violence. We are trying to win the peace over there and we are failing.
Our society and way of life are at risk. We coddle them and reach out to them and try not to offend them. What will cause us to see the light and realize that we ARE at war with Islam? Mass beheadings in the streets? Women forced to wear burkhas in the United States? What? I refuse to sit down and allow our way of life to be taken over.
Go ahead, stick your collective heads in the sand. One day, we will wake up and wonder what the f--- happened and it will be too late.
America was founded on Judeo-Christian values, NOT Muslim values. America was once great and we are on our way down, fast. We have lost our focus. We have turned our backs on Israel and coddled those who seek to destroy us. It will come back and bite us in our butts.
Then it was like a cork popped, and a big string of "We're at War with Islam" posts followed. I decided best not to engage, but I'm kinda morbidly fascinated watching it all come bubbling out.
In other bicycling news, a super-expensive foldie prototype goes missing. Predictably, the comments to the article are full of idiocy, but I'm guessing that if the thieves are caught, people around here will be baying for their blood.
Uh, you bay for something that hasn't been caught yet, Jesus.
Uh, their blood won't have been caught, neb, even if the perpetrators themselves will have.
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Newsflash: Fargo, ND is Exactly. Like. Everywhere. Else.
Lousy with hipsters, fancy restaurants and nail salons that serve cocktails. About the only thing anachronistic or old fashioned is that there are a couple of surviving internet cafes, of all the crazy things. But right now I could have my pick of about a dozen public wireless networks, so it's hardly the dark ages.
This trip is making me very melancholy.
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Everywhere Else has nail salons that serve cocktails? Huh. I guess I'm unaware of what goes on in nail salons.
Yeah, I could name many, many places that don't have any hipsters, fancy restaurants, or cocktail-serving nail salons.
I guess I was just expecting a little more local character, and not so much smoothed-over blandness. I know the economy has been doing comparatively well here, so I suppose that's part of it.
Fargo, ND is Exactly. Like. Everywhere. Else.
Wait where are you right now?
I'm probably two miles from the nearest hipster. I've never been in a nail salon.
nail salons that serve cocktails
Also surprising to me.
74: 3rd floor of the Radisson.
I guess I was just expecting a little more local character, and not so much smoothed-over blandness.
Isn't "smoothed-over blandness" pretty much the stereotypical local character of North Dakota? (I have of course never been there.)
Although I might be getting kicked out right now, as the bartenders are closing it down.
I'm probably two miles from the nearest hipster.
That's... not very far.
Teo doesn't want to take the wheat tours.
3rd floor of the Radisson.
So like a mile and a half from me.
the bartenders are closing it down
Wait, last call is at ten? There's your local character.
80: No, it isn't. I'm not sure why, but Pittsburgh seems to be drawing hipsters.
No, last call is at 2. Someone was sleeping in my room, so I came down to the banquet hall where we had supper and got on the internet.
CJB: What are you doing tomorrow night? We'll be seeing the play at The/atre B, then probably hitting the bars, if the similar event last year is any guide.
Teo doesn't want to take the wheat tours.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I'd love to visit ND. But then I'm a famously boring person.
but Pittsburgh seems to be drawing hipsters.
They're just living there ironically.
I'd estimate I'm fifty feet from the nearest hipster.
What are you doing tomorrow night?
Nothing too important. I put my E-mail address on this post if you want to send me an E-mail.
A dozen public wireless networks? I wish we had that here.
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I started to watch BubbaHotep but the giant bugs were way too creepy.
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I have no idea how far I am from the nearest hipster. I suspect it's not very far.
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Hey, New Yorkers: why don't we get drinks on, uh, June 2nd or so. Eh? Eh? Good times, right?
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I'm not really a New Yorker, but nevertheless.
I'm not a New Yorker either, but I might make it.
I live with hipsters, by pretty much any definition of the term. (We had a moonbounce recently. QED.) They're not all terrible people, you know.
But I have no idea how far away they are. They went dancing, and I stayed in to finish watching Bubba Ho-tep, which is relevant to 93.
Where are all the actual New Yorkers?
I'm not sure why, but Pittsburgh seems to be drawing hipsters.
Hipsters are like gay people, they have good taste in urban areas, especially inexpensive ones. Pittsburgh offers about the best quality/price ratio in urbanism in any city I've visited.
64: there are about 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, more than one in every five people on the planet. Those attitudes scare the shit out of me.
92: Consider yourself emailed.
99: I was more complaining about Pittsburgh than hipsters.
Bubba Ho-Tep disappointed me. It seemed like something where the idea is brilliant but the execution can't really live up to it.
106 gets it right. I guess I'm just not a real schlock movie fan.
105: You know who else complained about Pittsburgh? Hitler
Consider yourself emailed.
And received. I will get a hold of you tomorrow and see about setting something up.
Nothing wrong with your pedals today.
I am a New Yorker, and I'm in.
Okay, settle on a place and time, and I'm sure one of us will be only too happy to post a thing, if you guys like.
Hipsters are like gay people
All the hipsters are straight, all the people are gay, but some of us are brave.
Back to the questions in 13!
1. One, namely, me. (While we were taxi'ing, I called the airline to try to stand by on a later flight to Austin and found out that the flight I was already booked had been delayed, so I didn't have to rush.)
2. Dine and dash.
And without ever understanding the actual question -- well done!
The weird thing about 'muslim scare' is that most people who really go in for it don't really oppose most of waht fundamentalist muslims want, they just want to be the ones doing it.
like when conservatives start talking about foreign policy and suddenly 'liberal democracy' becomes a good thing, not an epithet.
oh that was me.
Whenever someone starts complaining about the Hipsters, said person is an insufferable hipster themself.
|| While we're talking cities, any advice on Oklahoma City? That's next weekend for us.
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Apart from age, is there a meaningful distinction between hipsters and slackers? Or are hipsters just the same demographic 15+ years on?
111, 113: woohoo! We will be in the Greenwich Village-ish kind of area. Are the cocktail bars around there (Death & Co., Pegu, that one with no name that serves rum drinks) too crowded and/or expensive and/or swanky and/or child-unfriendly to accomodate us? Those are pretty much the only bars I know in NY outside of the Blarney Rock by Madison Square Garden and, uh, ESPNZone, and I don't think we should go to either of those. Which is to say, suggestions?
or child-unfriendly
You have beketchupping plans?
I'll show up whereever. To be hideously dull but comfortable, you wouldn't be too far from our usual Fresh Salt. Other than that, I'm out of date on GV -- is the Blind Tiger still pleasant?
For swanky, I've always liked Temple Bar, but (a) I haven't been there in years and years, and (b) it is expensive.
I didn't really mean "swanky". I meant "has delicious cocktails". I could give a shit about swanky.
Fresh Salt isn't much on the spiffy cocktails, but I'm no use on figuring out where is. But I will show up whereever with bells on.
Other than that, I'm out of date on GV -- is the Blind Tiger still pleasant?
Up until now everything around there has been, well, pleasant. Recently certain things have become unpleasant. Now, it seems to me that the first thing we have to do is to separate out the things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant.
(While we were taxi'ing, I called the airline to try to stand by on a later flight to Austin and found out that the flight I was already booked had been delayed, so I didn't have to rush.)
See what you thought was snark in 15 was me trying to prise out a valuable clue. But any of these smartypants use that clue?
127: you know, not being New Yorkers Blume and I are susceptible to whatever suggestions you want to plant, location-wise. So if you want to go to Fresh Salt, there we'll be.
What time do you usually do the meeting of up? We were thinking earlier, but see above re: suggestibility.
Just go to Pegu Club, they'd probably love an influx of internet weirdos.
Death and Company sounds pretty thoroughly out of the question (you have to text them for a reservation? For tiny booths? And they're super crowded all the time?).
I feel like neb may be speaking less than fully earnestly.
Well, who knows. I've only been there once but I recall its being pretty big on the inside with seating that could easily be coöpted by internet weirdos. And they have delicious cocktails.
Huh! Actually that might be a good choice; it doesn't sound like it fills up until later on. Pegu Club, anybody?
As you say, Death & Co. is not meet-up material, really. Pegu Club likes internet weirdos just fine, I bet, and there are couches, etc., that a group could hang on. You might also try Little Branch (west and up from Pegu), if you want nice cocktails. It's the bigger less mysterious brother of the rightly admired Milk & Honey.
You could bring pre-made cocktails in flasks and hang out in a park.
134: This is exactly right. I went there circa 6pm with my mom, two brothers, and 3 friends, and there was no trouble seating us.
Two brothers of yours or just two people who were brothers of each other?
It's very important that this be settled.
Did you also have four kids and five pets?
I was going to mention Little Branch as it came up in conversation two nights ago and I'm determined to try it sometime soon. One has the idea it is not cheap, however.
Yelp reviews for Little Branch make mention of such concepts as "tiny, intimate" and "a line". That worries me a bit, but maybe (as ever) the Yelp reviewers are idiots.
A mom, two brothers and three friends walk into the Pegu Club.
Bartender says, "We don't do set ups here."
We could definitely get there 6-ish to hold down the fort, as it were, if that was what was required to make Pegu Club work. The idea of going there is exciting to me.
One has the idea it is not cheap, however.
Neither is PC. But a visit from Sifu and Blume is no time for impecuniousness!
I will be (and am) off island, but do exhort the PC-going cohort to have a French Pearl. Omnomnomnom.
(We had a moonbounce recently. QED.)
What does really advanced radio ham technology have to do with hipsters? Serious namespace collision moment, although if you're actually doing that, much respect.
I can't get over the fact there is someone who keeps approvingly quoting my blog on a fixed-gear cycling forum. I have become a cliche.
I can't believe that we STILL don't know the answer to the puzzle of Kraab's connecting flight.
Is there some kind of google map where we can examine this hill and admire your newly won strength? I mean, there are overlays for google maps which show how much elevation is gained along a route.
This should show the location, although I'm not sure how to find the elevation change.
A moonbounce is what you Brits call a "bouncy castle". Also, "bumper cars" are "dodgems". And "The wave" is "The Mexican wave".
Bloody hell: surely you don't cycle across that bridge, which seems to consist entirely of interstates?
Oh, no, although there is a bike path across it. I come up from the south under the bridge, on the path marked Greenway that does a switchback in the middle of the map -- the last bit of the switchback is the bad hill.
A moonbounce is what you Brits call a "bouncy castle".
We call them bouncy castles.
Boy are they everywhere, too. At the park, with the huge giant playscape and well-used river, there's generally ~3+ bouncy castles for birthday parties on any given Saturday. I always find it a kind of funny that you'd rent one and put it at a place that's already entirely designed for kids. (I get it, kids love em and have a blast.)
But heebie, don't you get it? Kids love em and have a blast!
what you want is the path profiler from heywhatsthat.com - hours of fun
Thanks, LB. I guessed. Yes, it does look a vicious little hill. Have you got an android phone? Than you can put Google tracks on it, and it will trace your bicycling exertions. shows all the hills, and a little graph of speed on them as well.
161: WTF?
I'm all for Pegu Club, but then I'm currently posing as a rapacious capitalist. We could do, say, 6-8 there and then move somewhere cheaper if cost is a concern.
120: Chicken-fried steak.
Alright! Fargo micro-meetup is on! Although I'm bringing any where from 6 to 2 dozen non-foggers, so it's not all that micro.
I am less melancholy about Fargo. I just expected more grottiness, you know?
On the other hand, the thing that I was at was more anarchistic than any anarchist conference I've ever been to, so that was filthy.
162.2: nice! The rest of you like that plan?
Back when I lived in Manhattan and used to routinely take bike trips across the river and up 9W, I remember a quite short but very steep hill from Riverside to Fort Washington just south of the Columbia medical complex
According to their ridiculous website, reservations are required for groups of more than eight. That may or may not be an issue, but we might want to get a fairly specific headcount to see.
I bet we can wing it. If we're over eight, we won't be much over eight. But I'm also willing to call them and discuss it.
I would like to come, but I don't know if I'll be able. It is plausible, but if I don't stay out late and am crushed by exhaustion, don't hold it against me.
Hey, you're talking to a bunch of geezers, here. Failing to stay out late and being crushed by exhaustion is what we do.
About Little Branch, no it wouldn't make a good meetup spot. But we should go sometime, Smearcase! The bartenders are wonderful and also rather easy on the eyes.
It is the happiest hour, before you fall asleep at 9 to uneasy dreams of all the little people you had to crush to get where you are, and/or all the paths not taken that would have led you to extraordinary prosperity.
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We decided on Chincoteague and drove out Friday--it was nice! Thanks, Mineshaftians!
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Google maps tells me there's a place near Chincoteague called Assawoman, which seems implausible.
Must you always let doubt overrule joy when life hands you something that seems too good to be true.
179: Known as Assawaman until 1966, apparently, when the Geographic Board of Names (?) decided on the change. One has to wonder what kind of, er, conversation was had about that.
Nice looking place, though.
181: Oh, well. We've still got Manassas.
We've still got Manassas.
I've been petitioning the Board of Names to change that to Manasses. You didn't know? Discussion proceeds apace.
Hm, there appear to be two places called Assawoman: an unincorporated community in Virginia near Chincoteague and a bay on the Maryland-Delaware border.
There's also this, which appears to be unrelated to either.
The next town over from Assawoman (VA) is Temperanceville.
"Nearest town to" might be more accurate than "next town over from" given what Assawoman seems to be like.
184: Ah, I suspected I might have been overhasty in my googling.
I continue to be weirded out by Caltrain. A group of 10ish people a bit younger than me got on a couple stops back and are now passing around bottles of vodka and urging each other to chug and making Monty Python references.
You can drink on the train. It's not weird, it's just unfortunate which people choose to do so.
Yeah, it doesn't seem so weird that drinking is allowed, just that people seem to have full-scale parties on the train.
Apparently that peninsula is sometimes called Delmarva, presumably for Deleware, Maryland, and Virginia. Which I did not twig to until the way out.
Ooh, did you go over this bridge? That thing gives me the bridge willies just like the one I posted about awhile back.
Have you guys definitively decided on June 2nd, a Wednesday of all things?
Poo.
194: We did. I'll leave it to TJ to more fully express his horror, but he was most definitely not a fan.
Ohgod, I don't do well on those things. It was awful. Less worse on the way back because Bonsaisue drove while I tried to placate the loudest of the passengers (with my eyes firmly closed).
195: it is the only day Blume and I are around, unfortunately.
Huh. I don't get bridge willies. It's all I can do not to keep looking out, staring; but no! watch the road, the bridge!
I take it it's a fear of heights thing -- which is odd, since I experience vertigo on cliffs and at edges of tall buildings. Just not on bridges. Maybe because of the vista?
196-7: We had a pretty good discussion of bridges and the fear of crossing them. (RTFA!)
Now the location is public, I think I'm going to have to plan a field trip to that spot next time I'm in NY. The notorious hill might even turn out to be unclimbable by a normal person such as myself. There are steps visible on Google Maps, which is suggestive of steepness.
Those aren't steps, if you're looking at what I think you are. They're stripes of cobblestones across the path, I think to signal downhill bikers to slow down.
193: Cans of Wiedemans (or Natty Bo?) used to have text about "Delmarva" on them and I stayed baffled about it for longer than one might guess, understanding the frequency with which I had such text within reach.
Hey, biking-dork people: my roommate just got a Swobo (this one, I think), and he finds to highest (hardest?) gear to be not nearly high enough. Like, you set off pedaling and you're already maxed out. He called to ask for tips, and they said to swap out the front gear wheel for something bigger, but I was curious: is this generally a complaint of internal-gear bikes? I've heard only high praise for such gearing systems, but I'm not really paying close attention to the issue.
The thing's otherwise super-duper cozy to ride: light, tight handling, superb braking.
The san francisco bay bridge doesn't give me the bridge willies even though it has already fallen apart in an earthquake. The bay bridge in maryland on the other hand does. Vacation bridges seem to be the scariest.
204: a lot of people who aren't used to riding bikes think you should be pedaling pretty slowly, so that might be the issue (if you look at e.g. bike racers, especially on a track, they sometimes pedal almost comically fast). On the other hand, sure, it only has three gears, they could be too low for him, especially if the front ring is small.
Given this comment on the linked site:
I did spin out at 16 mph or so on the fast end when I was finally riding on asphalt, down wind.
a lot of people who aren't used to riding bikes think you should be pedaling pretty slowly,
You know, while I still don't think of myself as much of a biker, I've put on a lot of miles in the last year, and I was figuring my technique would sort of improve naturally without my worrying about it too much. But it still feels a lot easier to me pedaling slowish (maybe 60 rpm?) in a higher gear than spinning along in a lower gear to go the same speed. Every so often I try shifting down and speeding my cadence up, and I hate it.
206: Hm. When he called, the tech-support (or whatever) guy said, "Yeah, we hear that complaint a lot from 'aggressive riders' and the bigger front ring is the fix." I was just surprised that, if they're hearing it a lot, maybe make a step-up model at a slight mark-up. Or maybe there is such a step-up and the roommate mis-qualified himself WRT their products.
208: it probably isn't a bike that a lot of aggressive riders gravitate to. Internally-geared hubs have a bit of a reputation for being dorky and commuter-y. I suspect Swobo's entry-level single-speed has a higher gear than the highest one on that bike.
207: eh, I mean, it isn't the biggest deal in the world. You're basically trading muscular effort for aerobic effort, which makes your overall energy consumption lower, but it does take some getting used to, especially if you're naturally pretty strong. It took me many years to really get comfortable with it.
209.2 cont'd: one of the reasons competitive racers train on fixed gears, historically, is that (since you need to have a middle-of-the-road gear to be able to accelerate/climb) they force you to keep your cadence up.
Internally-geared hubs have a bit of a reputation for being dorky and commuter-y
This answers a related question I had. I've heard only vaguely "yay! magic!" things about them, but, as I said, I don't follow these things too closely. Thanks, Tweety! Good thing you're not wasted and talking housing policy right now!
"trained on fixed gears", that should be. Also the assertions on 210 are not uncontroversial, and are regarded by some as primarily a justification on the part of bike nerds who want to ride a fixed gear but desire a better reason than "they're cool!"
Walk me through what the benefits are of keeping your cadence up? I'm comfortable enough with my commute now that I might as well find some way of fucking with myself (I've been doing intervals on the low-traffic uptown end of the commute a couple days a week for the last week or so), so I could just grit my teeth and not let myself use my top gear, if there's a point to it.
213: without getting too far over my head kinesiologically, repeating a muscular movement X times with Y resistance uses a lot more energy than repeating a muscular movement X*Z times with 0 (or close to 0) resistance. Same principle as, like, pullies.
Also, of course, if you're comfortable with a higher cadence your absolute top speed (on flats, with no wind) will be higher.
Oh, as long as it's the Ask Tweety Hour: what's your take on Sram? I had my bike by a local Community Bikes place, which is pretty cool: they have a ton of donated run-down bikes and help kids fix 'em up, and once fixed up, the kids can have the bikes. Anyway, we were in the area and over there helping out, and the guy who runs the show made a pretty harsh dig on my bike having Sram shifters, but he's sort of a harsh bikester (same dude who made the Huffy-toss comment I mentioned previously).
Just curious. I certainly didn't seek out Sram shifters; they came standard on the bike (and I noticed the Swobo has 'em, too).
SRAM's top of the line is supposed to be incredibly good and incredibly expensive and the people who favor it have a reputation for being sort of weirdos for some reason, but past that I know very little about their components. Was there more content to his dig than "dude, your shifters are lame"?
LB, I like the slower, heavier pace too. I'm obviously not trying to be a technically adept rider, so there's not much reason for me to go changing it. It fits with my brute-force life strategy.
218: One of the shifters had totally locked up after a couple years of use. I asked about it, and he mucked around with it before saying something like, "Well, it's nothing you can do anything about without opening up the whole thing, and then you're probably just gonna need a new one. Then again, this is why I avoid <sneering tone>Sram</sneering tone> entirely."
220: ah. I think they do have somewhat of a reputation for making components that are non-standard and hard-to-service.
I think SRAM has very good rep in the MTB world. They really seem to be trying to break into road bikes now though so we will see how that goes for them.
I have a SRAM shifter on my relatively high-end mountain bike. I probably wouldnt get one again.
I wish someone had told me that the National Handmade bike conference was going to be in Richmond in Feb 2010. I am bummed that I missed it.
How do you keep track of the reputation of different brands of bike components? I can barely remember if I like the Doritos in the blue bag or the orange bag.
222: at the high end I think it's going swell; a non-trivial number of pro teams use SRAM Red.
I can barely remember if I like the Doritos in the blue bag or the orange bag.
227: That's just too many flavors to learn. I'm switching to popcorn.
Really geeky bike engineering question; has anyone ever done a continuously-variable transmission for a bike? You could just have a twistgrip like a motorcycle and adjust your ratio to match the road. A derailleur isn't that far off the conical-hub beltdrive kind of CVT.
231: Looks like someone's patented one.
231: yep. Googlin, NuVinci seems to be the most prominent. Not sure but that they aren't kinda silly, though.
Ooh, I need bike advice. For the last couple of weeks, my rear brake has been getting stuck somehow---I can always brake, but I can't always stop braking. Sometimes it fixes itself when I put on and release the brake a couple more times; sometimes I have to pull off and fiddle with the cable; sometimes I just conclude that I've become a markedly slower rider overnight. Any guesses on what's wrong, or how I fix it?
Please bear in mind that the only thing I know about bikes is how to ride one.
235: could be a lot of things. My guess, for the sake of having a guess, is corrosion in the cable housing. Take it to a shop and they should make short work of it.
Thanks. It's stupid, but I'd been putting off taking it in because I didn't want to get stuck with no bike for days and days. Glad to know it's probably a quick fix.
Replacing brake cable is easy for side-pull brakes.
I did my morning commute in record time this morning (9.7 mi in 37 min with a gratuitous 1 -min loss for a stoplight-- usually I can only do 37 min if all lights are perfect). Coincidentally, replacement rear wheel due to popped spokes. I had formerly held bike equipment fans in contempt-- cheap and durable has been my way to go. But now, I don't know. The new-ish wheel is alloy instead of steel, so a bit lighter, though I can't imagine that the few ounces and moment-of-inertia effect have any significance compared to body mass.
Maybe rigidity? But tire properties and inflation level should dominate there, I'd think. In any case, deviation from rigidity would show up in spoke flexing under torque, I'd think. There's a book about the mechanics of bike wheels, but it's expensive. Maybe time for ILL.
The new-ish wheel is alloy instead of steel, so a bit lighter, though I can't imagine that the few ounces and moment-of-inertia effect have any significance compared to body mass.
You don't figure? I'm not going to do the math or anything, but that weight is out at the end of the spinning wheel, after all. Probably pretty significant multiplier.
But that said, it could be that the hub is more recently serviced, it could be a better hub, it could be that the wheel is built better. Could be a lot of things.
Also, if it's this book, that doesn't seem that expensive to me?
240: The multiplier approaches 2.
231: CVTs are pretty lossy compared to dérailleur gearing. Even internally geared hubs are lossier than derailleur gearing, though not by all that much, AFAIK.
I spent a few months working on a design for a semi-continuously variable bike transmission that avoided a lot of the problems CVTs have, but it became clear that there was no way to do it without either giving up efficiency or requiring way too many high precision moving parts to be even worth prototyping. We're talking about maybe 200 pieces, all with tens of micron tolerances, so it was not even close to being not even close. It turns out that paradigm changing breakthroughs in technology that's been under intensive development for 100+ years are difficult. Who knew?
243 is for kinetic energy so for steady rolling, no difference (the wheel rim/tire travels the same distance as the rest of the bike).
So not so big a multiplier. Still, I feel like pretty small changes in weight on a bike can make a big perceptual difference, if nothing else.
But okay, maybe it isn't the weight.
I repacked the hubs of both wheels at the same time.
Dunno, I'm reluctant to spend that much on a book I'll read once, I just found this which seems like a better size and price. I'll see if I still have questions after reading that.
Ball-bearing manufacture as currently done apparently originated in bike shops. It's a technology that attracts obsessives for some reason.
If, hypothetically, say, I did this, it would make it okay as long as I happened to be walking my bike at the time, right? Right, guys? I'm not an asshole, right?
I repacked the hubs of both wheels at the same time.
Wait, so this means you bought a new rim and spokes and rebuilt the rear wheel with the new rim yourself?
Or you bought a new (to you) wheel and repacked the hub immediately upon getting it?
Or you took it to a shop and had them build you a new wheel with a new rim and spokes, but using your existing hub?
Or some other possibility that isn't occuring to me?
it would make it okay as long as I happened to be walking my bike at the time, right? Right, guys? I'm not an asshole, right?
I think your fine. It made me laugh anyway.
I think your you're fine. It made me laugh anyway
I just went and fondled my bike briefly before typing this.
I made that mistake ironically, honest. No I didn't.
Neither wheel is new. I pulled the alloy wheel off my former red frame (trashed the frame and a tooth after some funloving soccer players left a log on the bike path at the bottom of a hill, good place to sit and drink), then bought a replacement blue bike secondhand.
Blue bike's wheel needed repacking (pull the axle, clean and grease the bearings). If I'm doing one wheel, may as well do both. The wheel from the blue bike was probably made in 1984, and the original freewheel-side spokes are not holding up too well. I ran out of replacement spokes yesterday, so swapped wheels.
I am curious about why it's the freewheel-side spokes that are going-- obviously a response to torque (pop on acceleration up steep hills or acceleration while turning fast), so tangential loading.
And this is the rear wheel? It could be that years of truing have fucked up the dish and now there's differential tension pulling it towards the non-freewheel side.
Doubt it. The cute divorcee who sold me her ex's bike had it sitting in the garage for who knows how long. The spongy crap on the handlebars hadn't been compressed, and he apparently stopped riding it after falling once and displacing the brake lever housing.
I'll read some analysis and see, but I think that freewheel-side spokes get more strain during acceleration always, and that metal used for spokes in 1984 Taiwan was not designed for the likes of my fearsome sinews.
Like, you set off pedaling and you're already maxed out. He called to ask for tips, and they said to swap out the front gear wheel for something bigger, but I was curious: is this generally a complaint of internal-gear bikes? I've heard only high praise for such gearing systems, but I'm not really paying close attention to the issue.
Bikes will tend to be specified to meet the needs of what the manufacturer thinks is a 'typical' rider, so yes, it might have an undesired set of ratios. Changing the chain ring is a good way to go - I did it to my stock Airnimal which came with one of the Shimano 8 speed hubs and am about to do the same to my 700c bike (which also has an 8 speed). I'm doing this because I'm childishly competitive and I hope that it will guarantee final victory against all comers, especially on downhills, where the people with huge ratios tend to think they have a chance. There's nothing intrinsically slow about a hub - it's a bit heavier, but on the plus side, there's much less cleaning to do, shifts are very quick, and you're much less likely to throw the chain unexpectedly at an awkward moment.
Alex - I would very much like a CVT hub; apparently there is a lighter weight NuVinci in the works; I have my eye on it.
I speak as one who delivered newspapers in the Yorkshire Dales. Like getting up 4 hours before sunrise? Following the tractor snowplough? Riding for 10-20 minutes between papers? Done that.
I do remember delivering the Guardian's "A liar and a cheat" and "He lied and lied and lied" issues.
The people who ordered the Daily Telegraph, the Yorkshire Post, and the Jewish Chronicle were the best tippers.
I'm Stanley's roommate! Oh noes, pseudo-nymity broken! Anyhoo, after talking to customer service at Swobo, and my local bike mechanic, I decided to change out my existing 19 tooth cassette for a 16 tooth. Apparently, subtracting one tooth to the rear cog is equal to adding 3 to the front chain ring. The factors in this being if I changed out the front 38T chain ring I could only go as high as 40T before it would hit the chain stay (woah there cycle jargon!). Also, buying a new rear cog is only 5 bucks or something where as the chain ring was looking to be somewhere between $30 and $50.
Besides the "conservative" gearing, as the Swobo rep called it, the bike is awesome. I've been looking for a long time to find an awesome derailleur-less bike without jumping on the fixed gear bandwagon (as a former NYC bike messenger, those guys are super annoying). I can't wait to kick the rain's ass on my new bike!
It's not so much pseudonym breakage if I say, yeah, post that; see what they say. But someone should give Otis a fruitbasket, maybe.
The neutral gear was 38x19? Goodness. Yeah, that's pretty low.
261: The gearing was so low that when I first rode it I though it was broken
and
That dog doth boldly go...
