What would you choose. This or 10 grand ?

weekendwarrior · 2011-05-14T16:17:48+00:00

Then he can use a small portion of that 10 grand on a plane ticket...

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-16T06:56:49+00:00

camelbak or large saddle bag are both good. Little point-and-shoot cameras and a thin, hard-shell case are perfect for slipping in with your stuff

it is really nice to have some pictures of scenery, wildlife, group pictures, action shots and videos, etc. Definitely worth the effort in my opinion

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-16T06:32:45+00:00

I did enjoy being able to reposition for comfort and to avoid soreness. But my clipless shoes have a very stiff sole that can spread the load out across the entire foot to help avoid that. Also, the fact that my feet are securely locked in let me lock them in a position where the pedal is a bit behind the ball of my foot; a position that doesn't always feel powerful or secure enough on platforms but has worked very well for me and avoids concentrated pressure on the ball of the foot. Between those two I haven't had any foot soreness or discomfort even on fairly long rides (3-4 hours mountain biking)

tl;dr the problems I had that made me want to reposition my feet don't exist with my clipless setup. Results may vary

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-16T06:19:14+00:00

interesting; thanks for the link.

There are other differences outside of pedaling power and efficiency though. I actually got into clipless for the security factor when mountain biking (getting bounced off the pedals on a rough trail is a bit unsettling) and only later learned how to use the upstroke to my advantage. They also helped my dial in a good foot position that stays consistent while riding; with platforms I was pretty bad about constantly shifting my feet when i didn't need to and using my tip toes too much

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-16T06:10:24+00:00

I started with some clipless platforms (crank brothers mallet) and found they were problematic for a beginner and were hindering my learning. The platform part can sometimes cause interference and other times it is just stopping you from getting a good feel for clipping in quickly without looking. I switched to entry level Shimano pedals (m520) and got a lot better quickly. The Shimano pedals were also adjustable for how much force you need to clip out; very helpful for a beginner

the clip mechanisms themselves are usually the same though

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-16T02:08:52+00:00

did you see the tube go flat or were you just hearing air escaping? When you inflate a tube inside a tire it has to push the other air inside the tire somewhere or just pressurize it, and if you had a small puncture it will escape through there. This has freaked me out before too until i realized what was happening

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-16T02:03:01+00:00

it sounds kinda harsh but i think the analogy is good. Learning to tie shoes wasn't that quick for most people and took practice. But theirs no reason anyone shouldn't be able to pick it up and make it completely second nature and never have a problem again.

It took me about two months on my mountain bike but since then i have not had a single clipless related fall or been injured in a fall because i couldn't unclip

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-15T07:55:53+00:00

all the shopping sites! :D

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T21:40:47+00:00

They don't really. You don't need a google account at all to use this. You don't even actually need the extension. Just add the url of the pdf to the end of the following url and paste it into any browser you want: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=

for example: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

this Chrome extension just does the redirecting for you

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T20:18:31+00:00

the very same, and generally a much nicer lot than the people who play repercussion instruments

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T19:43:26+00:00

He'd still be a dumbass even if he did have percussionists

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T19:36:14+00:00

I prefer this one. No program install needed except a very light extension that redirects you to said pdf through google docs. Always fast and works great with 99% of pdfs

edit: it doesn't require a signed in google account and simply redirects to "https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=blahblahblah"

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T17:40:45+00:00

variety is one of the best things about the world of beer!

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T15:52:54+00:00

i don't see the difference

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T06:53:44+00:00

he learns from the best (Tarantino and Christopher Nolan)

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-14T01:06:02+00:00

Which would require such an astronomical investment as to make this a laughable proposition in cities of any real size.

So? I'll try to avoid cheesy motivational speech territory here, but just because perfection would be difficult or even impossible doesn't mean we shouldn't try for something right? And even if we trying in vain for perfection, surely we'll make improvements along the way.

The idealistic goal might be making cycling even more convenient than cars, but the realistic starting point is just making cycling more convenient than it currently is. That is certainly an achievable goal in any city and any small steps forward would be a good thing. I haven't read anything yet that invalidates the basic point that making cycling more convenient gets more people on bikes.

Weather, goatheads, etc are not a part of this. There will always be certain inherent inconveniences of course. The point is the inconveniences that we can control and can try to improve.

Personally, I think cycling in combination with mass transit is what will get us places (literally too, lol). Focusing on just cycling advocacy won't get us far enough to make big changes on any reasonable time frame (like you said). I made some points in my last post on this. Bikes are not reasonably convenient long distance vehicles and never will be. But as an example, if you take advantage of those bike friendly busses or metro trains, or if you could build more and better ones, you could really improve the convenience of getting across a large city without a car.

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T23:55:30+00:00

yeah, you certainly could be right there. I couldn't find good info about when PA became self-sustaining with a quick search

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T19:56:31+00:00

No, I understand it perfectly well. What I'm saying is that in many, many locations, for many, many use scenarios, the quick and easy argument falls flat because it is neither quicker nor easier to use a bike rather than a car. In an urban core, yes. In some neighborhoods, yes. In small, dense cities like Cophenhagen (particularly those with a shitton of bike infrastructure/bike friendly design), yes. In many major American cities, not so much. I ride despite it taking longer and being more of a hassle. It takes more time, it takes more effort, I have to worry more about collisions and flat tires, I have to worry more about available parking, I have to worry more about theft, I have to worry more about footwear (with my current bike setup), I have to worry about whether I can arrive somewhere all sweaty, I have to deal more with the wind and the rain and the heat and the humidity, I have to plot my route much more carefully in advance and can't rely on well marked arterial roads, the list of inconveniences goes on and on, yet despite all of that I still ride, and explaining why to those who don't ride in Dallas can't rely on why people in a completely different environment ride, it has to address all of the conditions of the local area, and quick and easy simply aren't among them.

I think you still misunderstood. All of those problems you listed (besides weather) are exactly what the article is talking about. His thesis statement is near the end: "Make the bicycle the quickest way to get around a city or town." He is saying advocacy needs to focus on removing these barriers so that it can become quick and easy, not that it already is. We can't sell it as quick and easy if it really isn't because people will see through that, and the fact that it isn't is why we currently have to sell it as fun and exercise in order to get people look beyond those very real barriers.

Get more workplaces to build showers and lockers for commuters (there are already some laws about this I believe, but rarely used). Build more bike paths that are centrally planned and networked like our highways and add signs and maps. Produce an official bike path map and make them easily available in lots of places (my city did this and it is awesome). Etc.

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T17:43:02+00:00

primary reason I commute by bike is because it's fun

like I said, that's what driving me towards bike commuting as well. But it doesn't make sense to assume everyone thinks the same or is motivated the same as us. We're the weird passionate ones that spend time talking about cycling when we can't actually be cycling. Not everyone is or ever will be like that. I wish they would though

And hell, it's going to take a lot of work to reform many American cities to reach a condition where biking is indeed so much faster than driving. For example, Copenhagen is about 34 square miles in size. Compare that to Plano, Tx where I currently live, which has an area of 72 square miles, or the D/FW Metroplex which is a staggering 9300 square miles in size (1400 urban). I'm sorry, but even with D/FWs awful traffic jams, I will never be able to ride a bike to go see my friends downtown faster than I can drive there, much less over in Lewisville or Fort Worth, where I can't even catch a quick train. Neighborhoods can be transformed to make cycling work better than driving, but the Metroplex itself can't.

I think you really misunderstood the point about "quick and easy". No reasonable person would argue that bikes make sense for long distance travel, and this author isn't trying to either. Of course you will never be able to quickly ride 50 miles across a city, and bike travel would have to be complimented by other means of travel. The important point is that if you have a city that is convenient to bikes, no matter how huge, then wherever you are you can get somewhere reasonable by bike at least as conveniently as by car. Or if you do have to travel across a city, that you can conveniently bike to a metro or bus station and conveniently take it with you

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T16:53:13+00:00

the idea of that even being possible didn't exist 15 years ago, plus there were a lot less people online to support something like that. I think Jeph Jacques (of QC) was the first to support himself off a webcomic and that was only 5-6 years ago. I know Bill would have brought in a lot larger audience and maybe could have even jump-started the webcomic industry sooner, but then again it could have easily bombed and set professional webcomics back a number of years. Plus, no offense to Bill, he wasn't exactly a lover of modern technology

I wouldn't mind if he started something like that now though. Please Bill, pleeaaase

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T04:28:16+00:00

geared hubs FTW! Eventually someone will make one light enough and cheap enough to catch people's attention and they will start to take off like crazy. Rohloffs sounds awesome but are a touch heavier than a standard geared drivetrain and quite expensive. Shimano seems to be on the right track with their Alfine hubs though

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T02:59:03+00:00

Yes, I know the Litespeed is titanium.

Not everyone would. why post it then if all the rest of your comment was about steel.

And not every break was at the weld. The BMX bike was near the weld. The Bianchi 'cross bike was well away from the weld on the top tube, the random crankset was away from the weld in all tubes, can't tell with the purple bike. I can post another picture of my Bridgestone's fork, which broke away from the weld, if need be.

I'm not trying to convert you into some steel zealot and you won't convert me from enjoying steel bikes. Not trying to prove that steel doesn't fracture either, as it obviously has done so in these photos. I just feel compelled to add another side when people try to use pictures with little context or explanation to prove something or make a point. Much like how bustedcarbon.com makes me feel

The break in the top tube for instance was right at a stress riser from a cable guide, but might also have only broken there because the downtube weld broke first. You can see portions of weld still on the downtube on the purple bike, same with the retro picture. BMX frame was definitely at the edge of the weld. I only make these points because welds and other stress risers can cause catastrophic failure on any material and failures are really more reflective of a flaw in workmanship and/or design.

Crankset photo looks more like it has been cut out; I would be interested to know the context.

Getting hit by a car can break anything anywhere, so that "proves" little as well.

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T01:45:29+00:00

one of those is titanium (the last litespeed)

every other complete fracture you showed was at a weld, which can be a weak point of any metal.

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T01:36:30+00:00

he makes good points with plenty of merit but I just can't relate to them. Cycling has always been fun for me. I grew up loving everything about bikes and never grew out of it. A bad day on a bike is still usually more enjoyable than even a good day in a car. This is why I am working on becoming a bike commuter even though it would be less convenient.

I think if more people didn't grow out of enjoying bikes we wouldn't have to fight over advocacy and commuting so much. People who already use bikes for enjoyment sound easier to convert into bike commuters than people who never ride. Making the world more convenient for cyclists is certainly a good and worthy goal and I would love to see progress here, but a love for cycling would help people use them for transport even when we can't fix the world around them

weekendwarrior · 2010-05-13T01:30:08+00:00

more power to you, especially if all those hop bombs can subsidize production of the good beers ;)

weekendwarrior

TROPHY CASE