a tale of 2 ads

[lowkey]

Two ads caught my attention, one of which actually involves a bike:

It's a dark night on winding mountain road. A cyclist in full spandex gear
is plying the switchbacks when his light gives out. An kar comes up behind
and cyclist-pete motions him to pass. The kar does not. Instead the kar
driver follows pete, 'assisting' him by lighting the road ahead.

The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head lights
that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.

My thought is that given the choice between a dark mountain road and a kar
'helping' me in that fashion - tailgating me to light the way - I'd take my
chances with the pitch black mountain road.

The other ad was for Dodge Ra, Mega-Cab [or some such other superlative]
featuring Paul Bunyan and his ox extolling the huge size and power of the
truck.

I wonder how that is selling at today's gas prices.....

 

[C Wright]

On 10/17/05 9:15 AM, in article [email protected], "lowkey"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
> Two ads caught my attention, one of which actually involves a bike:
>
> It's a dark night on winding mountain road. A cyclist in full spandex gear
> is plying the switchbacks when his light gives out. An kar comes up behind
> and cyclist-pete motions him to pass. The kar does not. Instead the kar
> driver follows pete, 'assisting' him by lighting the road ahead.
>
> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head lights
> that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.
>
> My thought is that given the choice between a dark mountain road and a kar
> 'helping' me in that fashion - tailgating me to light the way - I'd take my
> chances with the pitch black mountain road.
>
> The other ad was for Dodge Ra, Mega-Cab [or some such other superlative]
> featuring Paul Bunyan and his ox extolling the huge size and power of the
> truck.
>
> I wonder how that is selling at today's gas prices.....
>
>
>
>
>
Regarding the mountain road ad, I have seen it and my first thought was that
the person in the car appeared to be some sort of stalker! Obviously the
person who thought up the ad and the people who paid for the ad never ride
bicycles.

 

[mark]

"lowkey" wrote ...
>
> Two ads caught my attention, one of which actually involves a bike:
>
> It's a dark night on winding mountain road. A cyclist in full spandex gear
> is plying the switchbacks when his light gives out. An kar comes up behind
> and cyclist-pete motions him to pass. The kar does not. Instead the kar
> driver follows pete, 'assisting' him by lighting the road ahead.
>
> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head lights
> that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.

I remember headlights that turned with the steering wheel/front wheels on
Citroens back in the '60s and early '70s. Interesting that the concept has
been rediscovered.
>
> My thought is that given the choice between a dark mountain road and a kar
> 'helping' me in that fashion - tailgating me to light the way - I'd take
> my chances with the pitch black mountain road.

In 1973 I cycled across Norway from Oslo to Stavanger on what was then the
main road across the country, a two lane black top. I had to negotiate a
series of tunnels that were lit by a series of incandescent lamps spaced far
enough apart to leave a small dark area between the lamps. I had a French
Wonder light (2 C-cells, straps onto your arm) to light my way, which was
not doing the trick. I would pedal as fast as I could when a car came up
behind me, using it's lights to see the road by, and slow to a crawl after
the car passed me. The tunnel walls were bare rock and dripping water, so it
was like cycling through a cave with no lights. I recall putting my front
wheel into what I think was a small ditch in complete darkness at one point
while I was between cars. I would have been quite happy to have someone
tailgate me and light the way.
--
mark

 

[andy gee]

"lowkey" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
> Two ads caught my attention, one of which actually involves a bike:
>
> It's a dark night on winding mountain road. A cyclist in full spandex
> gear
> is plying the switchbacks when his light gives out. An kar comes up
> behind and cyclist-pete motions him to pass. The kar does not. Instead
> the kar driver follows pete, 'assisting' him by lighting the road
> ahead.
>
> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head
> lights
> that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.


Didn't the Tucker have follow-steering headlights 50 years ago?

I've been in a situation like that; total darkness and a broken
headlight. I was wishing for more traffic so I could see. We didn't
the car offer the guy a lift?


>
>
> The other ad was for Dodge Ra, Mega-Cab [or some such other
> superlative]
> featuring Paul Bunyan and his ox extolling the huge size and power of
> the truck.
>
> I wonder how that is selling at today's gas prices.....
>

This week in the northeast, they might be doing well. Only the SUVs
were able to negotiate the massive flooding around here at more than 5
mph. Having an SUV would have saved me 4 minutes on a rare car trip I
took Friday night.

--ag

 

[David L. Johnson]

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 16:01:40 +0000, mark wrote:

>> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head lights
>> that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.
>
> I remember headlights that turned with the steering wheel/front wheels on
> Citroens back in the '60s and early '70s. Interesting that the concept has
> been rediscovered.

I think Tuckers had them originally, late 40s. It was only the center of
3 headlights that turned.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "What am I on? I'm on my bike, six hours a day, busting my ass.
_`\(,_ | What are you on?" --Lance Armstrong
(_)/ (_) |

 

[bryanska]

The Tucker was ahead of its time with numerous safety features: seat
belts, pop-out safety windshields, 50/50 weight distribution, doors cut
into the roof, etc. The steerable headlights is the latest of them to
be adopted.

 

[Roger Zoul]

lowkey <[email protected]> wrote:
:> Two ads caught my attention, one of which actually involves a bike:
:>
:> It's a dark night on winding mountain road. A cyclist in full
:> spandex gear is plying the switchbacks when his light gives out. An
:> kar comes up behind and cyclist-pete motions him to pass. The kar
:> does not. Instead the kar driver follows pete, 'assisting' him by
:> lighting the road ahead.
:>
:> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head
:> lights that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.
:>
:> My thought is that given the choice between a dark mountain road and
:> a kar 'helping' me in that fashion - tailgating me to light the way
:> - I'd take my chances with the pitch black mountain road.

Why? I'd accept the help. I saw the ad...the rider was happy.

 

[mark]

"David L. Johnson" wrote ...
> On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 16:01:40 +0000, mark wrote:
>
>>> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head
>>> lights
>>> that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.
>>
>> I remember headlights that turned with the steering wheel/front wheels on
>> Citroens back in the '60s and early '70s. Interesting that the concept
>> has
>> been rediscovered.
>
> I think Tuckers had them originally, late 40s. It was only the center of
> 3 headlights that turned.
>
Left & right headlights on the Citroens turned, I think it was just the low
beams. I recall seeing Citroens parked with the wheels turned into the curb
and 2 of the 4 headlights turned with the wheels.

My knowledge of Tuckers is limited to what I heard about the movie, which I
never got around to seeing. Sounds like a pretty cool car, quite a few years
ahead of it's time.
--
mark

 

[[email protected]]

Locally, a few weeks back the radio ads said if you leased the latest
VW Passat, or was it Jetta, you'd get a $100 coupon for Trek stuff. I'd
be a little leery of leasing a car so unreliable they figured you'd
also need a bicycle....

Robert Leone [email protected]

 

[Roger Zoul]

[email protected] wrote:
:> Locally, a few weeks back the radio ads said if you leased the latest
:> VW Passat, or was it Jetta, you'd get a $100 coupon for Trek stuff.
:> I'd be a little leery of leasing a car so unreliable they figured
:> you'd also need a bicycle....

Or maybe they figured that their owners are health conscious, and therefore
would want a bike. Or, perhaps the are encouraging their owners to be more
concerned about health. Plenty of bike owners also own cars.

 

[Mike Beauchamp]

From my experience cycling, people in cars love helping out bicyclists. They
don't mind being stuck behind a cyclist on a narrow road, infact they often
volunteer to do it. It's not like they're in a hurry or anything...

Mike

"lowkey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Two ads caught my attention, one of which actually involves a bike:
>
> It's a dark night on winding mountain road. A cyclist in full spandex gear
> is plying the switchbacks when his light gives out. An kar comes up behind
> and cyclist-pete motions him to pass. The kar does not. Instead the kar
> driver follows pete, 'assisting' him by lighting the road ahead.
>
> The hook is that this kar has some sort of variable direction head lights
> that you can point - a vw passat IIRC.
>
> My thought is that given the choice between a dark mountain road and a kar
> 'helping' me in that fashion - tailgating me to light the way - I'd take
> my chances with the pitch black mountain road.
>
> The other ad was for Dodge Ra, Mega-Cab [or some such other superlative]
> featuring Paul Bunyan and his ox extolling the huge size and power of the
> truck.
>
> I wonder how that is selling at today's gas prices.....
>
>
>
>
>

 

[lowkey]

"Roger Zoul" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> lowkey <[email protected]> wrote:

> :> My thought is that given the choice between a dark mountain road and
> :> a kar 'helping' me in that fashion - tailgating me to light the way
> :> - I'd take my chances with the pitch black mountain road.
>
> Why? I'd accept the help.

I would be more concerned about the kar on my tail. They are an
unpredictable lot. Example Kar drivers who think a toot on the horn is a
friendly greeting and not a warning device.

> I saw the ad...the rider was happy.

I wasn't the rider.

 

[Bob]

lowkey wrote:

> I would be more concerned about the kar on my tail. They are an
> unpredictable lot. Example Kar drivers who think a toot on the horn is a
> friendly greeting and not a warning device.
>
> > I saw the ad...the rider was happy.
>
> I wasn't the rider.

Yes, you weren't the rider. I know I've been glad for the extra
lighting other traffic have provided at times. YMMV.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

P.S.- You score high on the subject of "predictability". I can't recall
a single post of yours in which you've managed to spell the word "car"
correctly. I've often wondered if people that substitute a "k" for the
hard "c" to express their disapproval of the object of the misspelling
have ever given any thought about the entymology of such spelling...
klan, klansman, klavern, etcetera. The intentional misspelling speaks
more of the writer than the subject.

 

[Chris Zacho The Wheelman]

I like the idea of the car helping out the cyclist, if that is in fact
what he's(?) doing, and not just tailgaiting.

There have been a number of times I have been grateful while riding on
particularly dark roads, even with my NightSun, when an oncoming car
(from behind) will enable his/her high beams. Probably to better
identify what I am, but it has the side benefit of lighting up the
street much better than my relatively weak 10-35 watts can do.

- -

"May you have the winds at your back,
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

[David L. Johnson]

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:20:41 -0700, Bob wrote:

> P.S.- You score high on the subject of "predictability". I can't recall
> a single post of yours in which you've managed to spell the word "car"
> correctly. I've often wondered if people that substitute a "k" for the
> hard "c" to express their disapproval of the object of the misspelling
> have ever given any thought about the entymology of such spelling...
> klan, klansman, klavern, etcetera. The intentional misspelling speaks
> more of the writer than the subject.

Hmm. Of course, the Klan originally did that as part of their
secret-club style. I think the pejorative use of a k replacing a c does
not, though, allude to the Klan, but to Germans. I remember, in the 60s,
graffiti about "Bank-o-f*ck-Amerikkka" which was intended to be anti-bank
(I was at Berkeley in the 60s, what can I say) as well as anti-American.
It was rather common to see Amerika on graffiti, which I assumed was
intended to suggest that the US had become a fascist state.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve
_`\(,_ | death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to
(_)/ (_) | them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.
-- J. R. R. Tolkein

 

[maxo]

tbh, I like the ad.

It shows a fairly responsible cyclist with a full lighting system--but
it unfortunately has a bad battery.

The driver is astute enough about cycling to realize that riding home
lightless is very dangerous, so he helps his fellow traficant home.

I can't be bothered to be jaded with this one--it shows a cyclist and a
driver sharing the road and helping each other out.

Beats the pant off of all of those SUV with mtb on top ads, or my least
favorite, the one with the fancy-ass SUV avoiding the riderless mtb
falling from a cliff.

 

[lowkey]

"Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> lowkey wrote:
>
>> I would be more concerned about the kar on my tail. They are an
>> unpredictable lot. Example Kar drivers who think a toot on the horn is a
>> friendly greeting and not a warning device.
>>
>> > I saw the ad...the rider was happy.
>>
>> I wasn't the rider.
>
> Yes, you weren't the rider. I know I've been glad for the extra
> lighting other traffic have provided at times. YMMV.

Which was my point - giving my kilometerage


> P.S.- You score high on the subject of "predictability". I can't recall
> a single post of yours in which you've managed to spell the word "car"
> correctly.

http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.b...53?lnk=st&q=car&rnum=5&hl=en#60c2f647928c4f53

Not even that long ago. The only thing I am consistent about is
inconsistancy.

> I've often wondered if people that substitute a "k" for the
> hard "c" to express their disapproval of the object of the misspelling
> have ever given any thought about the entymology of such spelling...
> klan, klansman, klavern, etcetera. The intentional misspelling speaks
> more of the writer than the subject.

Of course it does. I show [I hope humorous] contempt through intentional
misspelling.

But also one of my pet peeves is how I would were deity for a day how I
would alter the English language to suit my idea of proper: I would
eliminate 'c' 'q' and 'x' as superfluous. Though I might recycle a couple
of them for 'sh' and 'ch'. But that is another topic.

Did I mention I'm also somewhat of a non-conformist?

--
'People who wish to form anarchist clubs
are clearly unfamiliar with the concept of either.'

 

[Bob]

David L. Johnson wrote:

> Hmm. Of course, the Klan originally did that as part of their
> secret-club style. I think the pejorative use of a k replacing a c does
> not, though, allude to the Klan, but to Germans. I remember, in the 60s,
> graffiti about "Bank-o-f*ck-Amerikkka" which was intended to be anti-bank
> (I was at Berkeley in the 60s, what can I say) as well as anti-American.
> It was rather common to see Amerika on graffiti, which I assumed was
> intended to suggest that the US had become a fascist state.

I wasn't speaking of the *intent* but the *origin* of the practice.
Since the Klan predates the rise of fascism in the '30s by quite a few
years I'd say the origin belongs in Tennessee not Berkley. Either way,
it's a cheap device.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

 

[Bob]

lowkey wrote:
> But also one of my pet peeves is how I would were deity for a day how I
> would alter the English language to suit my idea of proper: I would
> eliminate 'c' 'q' and 'x' as superfluous. Though I might recycle a couple
> of them for 'sh' and 'ch'. But that is another topic.
>
> Did I mention I'm also somewhat of a non-conformist?

Hmmm. While there is nothing remotely original about that particular
type of misspelling I guess if you eliminate "x" you eliminate "sex" as
being in your word, superfluous. I guess you really are a
non-conformist. <g>

Regards,
Bob Hunt

 

[Zoot Katz]

17 Oct 2005 22:33:21 -0700,
<[email protected]>, "Bob"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>lowkey wrote:
>> But also one of my pet peeves is how I would were deity for a day how I
>> would alter the English language to suit my idea of proper: I would
>> eliminate 'c' 'q' and 'x' as superfluous. Though I might recycle a couple
>> of them for 'sh' and 'ch'. But that is another topic.
>>
>> Did I mention I'm also somewhat of a non-conformist?
>
>Hmmm. While there is nothing remotely original about that particular
>type of misspelling I guess if you eliminate "x" you eliminate "sex" as
>being in your word, superfluous. I guess you really are a
>non-conformist. <g>

But that doesn't mean you couldn't enjoy some unconventional seks.
--
zk