Improved technology?



Tom Keats <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] (Tom Keats) wrote:
>>
>> I hear freehub axles are less prone to bending or
>> breaking. If that's so, I guess I could use an updated
>> wheelset, myself.

> Guess what happened to me today.

> Yup.

This is the same phenomenon that occurs when you get a
brand new pump. You are almost guaranteed to get a flat
the next day.

> Fortunately I was able to scrounge a spare axle out of the
> heap of parts. I'm swapping-in the cones from the busted
> axle right now. I didn't even lose any bearing balls.

:) It's good to have a spare parts box/closet/room.

> There's another current thread titled "A humbling ride".
> Leading a crippled bike home for 30 blocks is sure an
> humbling walk. 'Specially when lots of other riders are
> blithely breezing by.

I dashed down to the Seattle Bike expo on my grocery bike (
a fairly unattractive old french road bike (nice lugs
though) ) this weekend. Of course I was in such a rush to
dash out I didn't have any patches/ tire levers/tubes.
Guaranteed flat tire, delivered.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g A
well-used door needs no oil on its hinges. A swift-flowing
steam does not grow stagnant. Neither sound nor thoughts can
travel through a vacuum. Software rots if not used.

These are great mysteries. -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of
Programming"
 
Tom Keats <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] (Tom Keats) wrote:
>>
>> I hear freehub axles are less prone to bending or
>> breaking. If that's so, I guess I could use an updated
>> wheelset, myself.

> Guess what happened to me today.

> Yup.

This is the same phenomenon that occurs when you get a
brand new pump. You are almost guaranteed to get a flat
the next day.

> Fortunately I was able to scrounge a spare axle out of the
> heap of parts. I'm swapping-in the cones from the busted
> axle right now. I didn't even lose any bearing balls.

:) It's good to have a spare parts box/closet/room.

> There's another current thread titled "A humbling ride".
> Leading a crippled bike home for 30 blocks is sure an
> humbling walk. 'Specially when lots of other riders are
> blithely breezing by.

I dashed down to the Seattle Bike expo on my grocery bike (
a fairly unattractive old french road bike (nice lugs
though) ) this weekend. Of course I was in such a rush to
dash out I didn't have any patches/ tire levers/tubes.
Guaranteed flat tire, delivered.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g A
well-used door needs no oil on its hinges. A swift-flowing
steam does not grow stagnant. Neither sound nor thoughts can
travel through a vacuum. Software rots if not used.

These are great mysteries. -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of
Programming"
 
Tue, 09 Mar 2004 16:46:04 GMT,
<[email protected]>, Dane Jackson
<[email protected]> wrote:

>This is the same phenomenon that occurs when you get a
>brand new pump. You are almost guaranteed to get a flat the
>next day.

I bought a pump and got a puncture within 20 meters of the
shop. I bought a "Quick Stick" tire lever and was awakened
that night by a 'pop-hiss'. It's freaky.
--
zk
 
From: [email protected] (Tom=A0Kunich)

>More gears, easier and more accurate shifting. Slightly
>better brakes. This is a hell of a lot better than the
>older stuff, but it really isn't a large change.

More gears? Reallly? 15 years ago I had 18 speeds (15
distinct ratios, three repeats on the granny) 12 of them
were evenly spaced between a one hundred inch high gear
and a 30 inch low. And the three grannies below that
stretched even further down to a wall crawling twenty inch
basement gear.

Most of today's "30" speeds don't have a range anywhere near
that! Yeah, they have more combinations, but most are what
we used to call "flat spots" and repeat gears (read:
redundant rotating weight).

So where's the improvement? ;-3)

"May you have the wind 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
 
"Chris Zacho "The Wheelman"" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
From: [email protected] (Tom Kunich)
>>More gears, easier and more accurate shifting. Slightly
>>better brakes. This is a hell of a lot better than the
>>older stuff, but it really isn't a large change.
>
>So where's the improvement? ;-3)

When you're climbing a steep hill and you downshift it
goes into gear instead of jumping and throwing the chain
off. When you're in a racing pack you never have to take
you hands off of the bars, pull your elbows in and
chance a bump that will knock you off of your bike. When
you are approaching a downhill slow turn at high speed
the brakes work by squeezing them lightly instead of
sitting up and pulling for all you're worth just to get
it to slow a little.

Olde equipment worked OK. The new stuff works WAY better.
If you don't think so take out one of those old Peugeot UO-
8's and see.
 

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