Land Rider W/Auto Shift!

In article <[email hidden]>,

TomP said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across an
infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the "Land
Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears (all 14) for
you! What will they think of next?

The mercial is on now (8:45am pst) on cnbc. Tune in for a
laugh...

That's more interesting than you think. I don't get CNBC;
is it shifting a front derailleur, or are they using a
modified Rohloff?

The Autobike that I have had a chance to examine up close
was a 7-speed: no front derailment, and their interesting
moving swashplate for shifting the rear (there's also a
Shimano derailleur back there, presumably to keep things in
line and tensioned).

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TomP

Quoted message said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across
an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the
"Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears (all
14) for you!

Quoted message said:

The Autobike that I have had a chance to examine up close
was a 7-speed: no front derailment, and their interesting
moving swashplate for shifting the rear (there's also a
Shimano derailleur back there, presumably to keep things
in line and tensioned).

I rescued one of these from the trash. It was a remarkably
Rube Goldberg-ish mechanism. Sliding *weights* on the rear
wheel spokes caused a linkage to push the chain into
smaller sprockets as the rpm increased. The
chainwheel/crank assembly has a freewheel, the rear wheel
doesn't. The drivetrain weighed a ton. The only thing I was
able to salvage off the bike was the frame/fork. Although
it was gas pipe material, the angles were nice and it had
braze-ons, and the 26" wheel design made it an OK commuter
for my wife. I'm sure none of the parts on that bike were
Shimano, certainly not the derailer-ish thing tensioning
the chain, the parts quality was several levels below even
the lowest Shimano.

Peter Cole said:

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:rcousine-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TomP

Quoted message said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across
an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the
"Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears (all
14) for you!

Quoted message said:

The Autobike that I have had a chance to examine up close
was a 7-speed: no front derailment, and their interesting
moving swashplate for shifting the rear (there's also a
Shimano derailleur back there, presumably to keep things
in line and tensioned).

I rescued one of these from the trash. It was a remarkably
Rube Goldberg-ish mechanism. Sliding *weights* on the rear
wheel spokes caused a linkage to push the chain into
smaller sprockets as the rpm increased. The
chainwheel/crank assembly has a freewheel, the rear wheel
doesn't. The drivetrain weighed a ton. The only thing I
was able to salvage off the bike was the frame/fork.
Although it was gas pipe material, the angles were nice
and it had braze-ons, and the 26" wheel design made it an
OK commuter for my wife. I'm sure none of the parts on
that bike were Shimano, certainly not the derailer-ish
thing tensioning the chain, the parts quality was several
levels below even the lowest Shimano.

I was given an AutoBike as a gift. The worst thing other
then the general poor quality was that the auto shift
mechanism was designed for very low cadence. As I recall, it
would shift up at around 50 rpm and down at around 40 rpm.
As a result, I could never get into the proper gear but
wound up hammering in too high of a gear or poking along way
too slow. I did maybe five miles on it before I gave up. As
a gift I had to keep it at least for a while. So after
spending two years with it hanging from the rafters in my
garage the only other time I rode it was to the charity
thrift shop when I gave it away. As I recall, the components
were all no-name stamped sheet metal stuff worst then the
lowest end discount store bikes.

Lorenzo L. Love home.thegrid.net~llloveOpen ↗

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact
that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife
beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive
there's something wrong with him." Art Buchwald

Suspiciously, they did not provide any "detailed"
operational information, of how "it" shifted the bike. But
there were many testimonials from everyday people, on how
great the riding position and the auto shifting was. Not to
knock the "stars" of the infomercial, but it looked, to me,
like Land Rider went out to a park and enlisted people on
the spot for the commercial.

Any-who, I figured it was worth posting for a laugh.

Ryan Cousineau said:

In article <[email hidden]>, TomP

Quoted message said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across
an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the
"Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears (all
14) for you! What will they think of next?

The mercial is on now (8:45am pst) on cnbc. Tune in for
a laugh...

That's more interesting than you think. I don't get CNBC;
is it shifting a front derailleur, or are they using a
modified Rohloff?

The Autobike that I have had a chance to examine up close
was a 7-speed: no front derailment, and their interesting
moving swashplate for shifting the rear (there's also a
Shimano derailleur back there, presumably to keep things
in line and tensioned).

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

--
Tp,

-------- __o
----- -\<. -------- __o
--- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<.
-------------------- ( )/ ( )
-----------------------------------------

No Lawsuit Ever Fixed A Moron...

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across an
infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the "Land
Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears (all 14) for
you! What will they think of next?

A few months ago, I complained to the company, because the
infomercial shows a rider pedalling in the "door zone".
While the rider in the informercial was able to avoid injury
when the driver opened a car door, real riders might not be
so lucky. I asked them to remove this bit, since it might
encourage riders to ride in the door zone.

Was that bit still in there?

-- Paul

I don't think so. Mostly I saw people riding in park and
quiet residential settings. I was more interested in seeing
how they accomplished the auto shifting. To that end, all I
caught a glimpse of was something twirling away at the
"stamped steel" rear derailleur pivot. Kind of reminded me
of bladed chariot wheels in Ben Hur.

Paul A. Steckler said:

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across
an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the
"Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears (all
14) for you! What will they think of next?

A few months ago, I complained to the company, because the
infomercial shows a rider pedalling in the "door zone".
While the rider in the informercial was able to avoid
injury when the driver opened a car door, real riders
might not be so lucky. I asked them to remove this bit,
since it might encourage riders to ride in the door zone.

Was that bit still in there?

-- Paul

--
Tp,

-------- __o
----- -\<. -------- __o
--- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<.
-------------------- ( )/ ( )
-----------------------------------------

No Lawsuit Ever Fixed A Moron...

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't think so. Mostly I saw people riding in park and
quiet residential settings. I was more interested in
seeing how they accomplished the auto shifting. To that
end, all I caught a glimpse of was something twirling away
at the "stamped steel" rear derailleur pivot. Kind of
reminded me of bladed chariot wheels in Ben Hur.

Paul A. Steckler said:

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

While channel surfing, the this morning, I came across
an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike called the
"Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts the gears
(all 14) for you! What will they think of next?

A few months ago, I complained to the company, because
the infomercial shows a rider pedalling in the "door
zone". While the rider in the informercial was able to
avoid injury when the driver opened a car door, real
riders might not be so lucky. I asked them to remove
this bit, since it might encourage riders to ride in the
door zone.

Was that bit still in there?

-- Paul

I've seen that ad lately. I've seen it before. What strikes
me as funny is how they say it'll get women out riding
because they won't find them as intimidating as road bikes.
Duhhhh.... since we're such utter morons we can't even walk
and chew gum at the same time. Mind you, if you're
intimidated by a bike, maybe you shouldn't drive?

The funny thing is that many people actually buy into the
whole image of bikes being 'intimidating', and I've seen
them buy these huge, heavy bikes that are pieces of [censored],
weigh a ton, and aren't even properly measured for them. The
reason is that they find gears to be too complicated, but
without ever even trying. However,riding these huge pieces
of heavy [censored] aren't any less of a hassle, because they're
the wrong size, difficult to maneuver, can barely get up a
driveway and are useless for going more than 5k distance.

The Land Rider Bike, as is the case with many "New,
Exciting, Improved, Innovative, etc..." products advertised,
IS, designed only to sell. Period. What becomes of it after
the sale, no one cares. I've often said that if you wrapped
a piece of dog [censored] in foil, gave it a snappy name. Some one
would buy it!

Marlene Blanshay said:

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't think so. Mostly I saw people riding in park and
quiet residential settings. I was more interested in
seeing how they accomplished the auto shifting. To that
end, all I caught a glimpse of was something twirling
away at the "stamped steel" rear derailleur pivot. Kind
of reminded me of bladed chariot wheels in Ben Hur.

Paul A. Steckler said:

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
> While channel surfing, the this morning, I came
> across an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike
> called the "Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts
> the gears (all 14) for you! What will they think of
> next?

A few months ago, I complained to the company, because
the infomercial shows a rider pedalling in the "door
zone". While the rider in the informercial was able to
avoid injury when the driver opened a car door, real
riders might not be so lucky. I asked them to remove
this bit, since it might encourage riders to ride in
the door zone.

Was that bit still in there?

-- Paul

I've seen that ad lately. I've seen it before. What
strikes me as funny is how they say it'll get women out
riding because they won't find them as intimidating as
road bikes. Duhhhh.... since we're such utter morons we
can't even walk and chew gum at the same time. Mind
you, if you're intimidated by a bike, maybe you
shouldn't drive?

The funny thing is that many people actually buy into the
whole image of bikes being 'intimidating', and I've seen
them buy these huge, heavy bikes that are pieces of [censored],
weigh a ton, and aren't even properly measured for them.
The reason is that they find gears to be too complicated,
but without ever even trying. However,riding these huge
pieces of heavy [censored] aren't any less of a hassle, because
they're the wrong size, difficult to maneuver, can barely
get up a driveway and are useless for going more than 5k
distance.

--
Tp,

-------- __o
----- -\<. -------- __o
--- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<.
-------------------- ( )/ ( )
-----------------------------------------

No Lawsuit Ever Fixed A Moron...

This thing has been around for decades. Maybe it wrks, at
least for the first few rides, then the mechanism (which you
know the kind of service people who actually pay good money
for these things will not give it) will gunk up and cease
functioning.

- -

"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 geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

I love the way the commercial describes the auto shift
derailleur as being so much easier to use than "confusing"
conventional derailleurs. Then they go on to talk about the
special High/Low feature that gives you seven "high" gears
for the flats and seven "low" gears for the hills. How do
they accomplish this amazing feat? With a conventional
front derailleur that shifts between two chainrings, of
course. And never mind that some of what they call "high"
gears are going to be lower than some of the low gears and
some of the low gears are going to be higher than some of
the high gears.

"Rob Lipsey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I love the way the commercial describes the auto shift
derailleur as being so much easier to use than "confusing"
conventional derailleurs. Then they go on to talk about
the special High/Low feature that gives you seven "high"
gears for the flats and seven "low" gears for the hills.
How do they accomplish this amazing feat? With a
conventional front derailleur that shifts between two
chainrings, of course. And never mind that some of what
they call "high" gears are going to be lower than some of
the low gears and some of the low gears are going to be
higher than some of the high gears.

The funniest thing of all is that for the money you pay for
that piece of [censored], you could probably buy a decent mountain
bike and take five minutes learning how to use it.

Marlene Blanshay said:

"Rob Lipsey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I love the way the commercial describes the auto shift
derailleur as being so much easier to use than "confusing"
conventional derailleurs. Then they go on to talk about
the special High/Low feature that gives you seven "high"
gears for the flats and seven "low" gears for the hills.
How do they accomplish this amazing feat? With a
conventional front derailleur that shifts between two
chainrings, of course. And never mind that some of what
they call "high" gears are going to be lower than some of
the low gears and some of the low gears are going to be
higher than some of the high gears.

The funniest thing of all is that for the money you pay for
that piece of [censored], you could probably buy a decent
mountain bike and take five minutes learning how to use it.

And more important, are you up and running again? Bernie on
the sunny warm west coast

"Bernie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Marlene Blanshay said:

"Rob Lipsey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I love the way the commercial describes the auto shift
derailleur as being so much easier to use than
"confusing" conventional derailleurs. Then they go on to
talk about the special High/Low feature that gives you
seven "high" gears for the flats and seven "low" gears
for the hills. How do they accomplish this amazing feat?
With a conventional front derailleur that shifts between
two chainrings, of course. And never mind that some of
what they call "high" gears are going to be lower than
some of the low gears and some of the low gears are
going to be higher than some of the high gears.

The funniest thing of all is that for the money you
pay for that piece of [censored], you could probably buy a
decent mountain bike and take five minutes learning
how to use it.

And more important, are you up and running again? Bernie
on the sunny warm west coast

Thanks for asking! I'm at the gym and on the trainer. I'm
almost at the six-weeks when I'm supposed to be able to get
back to 'normal'. I'll still have to take it easy on the
bike and I won't be where I was at this time last year,
that's for sure.

Fortunately, the weather hasn't been particularly great, so
I haven't missed much. It'sbeen quite chilly for most of
april. Today it's mild,but raining. I don' t think cyclists
have been very happy around here.

Marlene Blanshay said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And more important, are you up and running again? Bernie
on the sunny warm west coast

Thanks for asking! I'm at the gym and on the trainer. I'm
almost at the six-weeks when I'm supposed to be able to get
back to 'normal'. I'll still have to take it easy on the
bike and I won't be where I was at this time last year,
that's for sure.

Fortunately, the weather hasn't been particularly great, so
I haven't missed much. It'sbeen quite chilly for most of
april. Today it's mild,but raining. I don' t think cyclists
have been very happy around here.

Crappy spring weather just means it has no where to go but
into better weather! ;-) Bernie

TomP said:

The Land Rider Bike, as is the case with many "New,
Exciting, Improved, Innovative, etc..." products
advertised, IS, designed only to sell. Period. What
becomes of it after the sale, no one cares. I've often
said that if you wrapped a piece of dog [censored] in foil,
gave it a snappy name. Some one would buy it!

I seem to recall a dadaist artist tinning his own [censored] and
selling it as merde d'artiste.

it was in a glass case at Tate Modern. I laughed so hard at
the whole joke of it, I heard myself echo.

-Luigi

Quoted message said:

Marlene Blanshay said:

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't think so. Mostly I saw people riding in park
and quiet residential settings. I was more interested
in seeing how they accomplished the auto shifting. To
that end, all I caught a glimpse of was something
twirling away at the "stamped steel" rear derailleur
pivot. Kind of reminded me of bladed chariot wheels in
Ben Hur.

"Paul A. Steckler" wrote:

> "TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
> "]news:[email hidden]...
> > While channel surfing, the this morning, I came
> > across an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike
> > called the "Land Rider", and best of all, it shifts
> > the gears (all 14) for you! What will they think of
> > next?
>
> A few months ago, I complained to the company,
> because the infomercial shows a rider pedalling in
> the "door zone". While the rider in the informercial
> was able to avoid injury when the driver opened a car
> door, real riders might not be so lucky. I asked them
> to remove this bit, since it might encourage riders
> to ride in the door zone.
>
> Was that bit still in there?
>
> -- Paul

I've seen that ad lately. I've seen it before. What
strikes me as funny is how they say it'll get women out
riding because they won't find them as intimidating as
road bikes. Duhhhh.... since we're such utter morons we
can't even walk and chew gum at the same time. Mind
you, if you're intimidated by a bike, maybe you
shouldn't drive?

The funny thing is that many people actually buy into the
whole image of bikes being 'intimidating', and I've seen
them buy these huge, heavy bikes that are pieces of [censored],
weigh a ton, and aren't even properly measured for them.
The reason is that they find gears to be too complicated,
but without ever even trying. However,riding these huge
pieces of heavy [censored] aren't any less of a hassle, because
they're the wrong size, difficult to maneuver, can barely
get up a driveway and are useless for going more than 5k
distance.

Well Luigi, there you go!

Luigi de Guzman said:

TomP said:

The Land Rider Bike, as is the case with many "New,
Exciting, Improved, Innovative, etc..." products
advertised, IS, designed only to sell. Period. What
becomes of it after the sale, no one cares. I've
often said that if you wrapped a piece of dog [censored] in
foil, gave it a snappy name. Some one would buy it!

I seem to recall a dadaist artist tinning his own [censored] and
selling it as merde d'artiste.

it was in a glass case at Tate Modern. I laughed so hard
at the whole joke of it, I heard myself echo.

-Luigi

Quoted message said:

Marlene Blanshay said:

"TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
> I don't think so. Mostly I saw people riding in park
> and quiet residential settings. I was more interested
> in seeing how they accomplished the auto shifting. To
> that end, all I caught a glimpse of was something
> twirling away at the "stamped steel" rear derailleur
> pivot. Kind of reminded me of bladed chariot wheels
> in Ben Hur.
>
> "Paul A. Steckler" wrote:
>
> > "TomP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
> > "]news:[email hidden]...
> > > While channel surfing, the this morning, I came
> > > across an infomercial about an Exciting New Bike
> > > called the "Land Rider", and best of all, it
> > > shifts the gears (all 14) for you! What will they
> > > think of next?
> >
> > A few months ago, I complained to the company,
> > because the infomercial shows a rider pedalling in
> > the "door zone". While the rider in the
> > informercial was able to avoid injury when the
> > driver opened a car door, real riders might not be
> > so lucky. I asked them to remove this bit, since it
> > might encourage riders to ride in the door zone.
> >
> > Was that bit still in there?
> >
> > -- Paul
>

I've seen that ad lately. I've seen it before. What
strikes me as funny is how they say it'll get women out
riding because they won't find them as intimidating as
road bikes. Duhhhh.... since we're such utter morons we
can't even walk and chew gum at the same time. Mind
you, if you're intimidated by a bike, maybe you
shouldn't drive?

The funny thing is that many people actually buy into
the whole image of bikes being 'intimidating', and I've
seen them buy these huge, heavy bikes that are pieces
of [censored], weigh a ton, and aren't even properly measured
for them. The reason is that they find gears to be too
complicated, but without ever even trying.
However,riding these huge pieces of heavy [censored] aren't
any less of a hassle, because they're the wrong size,
difficult to maneuver, can barely get up a driveway and
are useless for going more than 5k distance.

--
Tp,

-------- __o
----- -\<. -------- __o
--- ( )/ ( ) ---- -\<.
-------------------- ( )/ ( )
-----------------------------------------

No Lawsuit Ever Fixed A Moron...

Marlene Blanshay said:

Thanks for asking! I'm at the gym and on the trainer. I'm
almost at the six-weeks when I'm supposed to be able to
get back to 'normal'. I'll still have to take it easy on
the bike and I won't be where I was at this time last
year, that's for sure.

Little feels better than getting back on after an
enforced hiatus. And it is a little discouraging to find
yourself slower / hurting / tired. But I'm sure you'll
still enjoy it. 🙂

Quoted message said:

Fortunately, the weather hasn't been particularly great,
so I haven't missed much. It'sbeen quite chilly for most
of april. Today it's mild,but raining. I don' t think
cyclists have been very happy around here.

Ahem. I'll carefully not mention what nice weather we've
been having on the weekends. I'm sure it will soothe you to
hear that most of the weekday's here in the Pacific NorthWet
have been so-so. Drizzle, rain, wet, cold, cloudy. Oh, it's
terrible. 😉

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a
horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner. --
Aristophanes

"Dane Jackson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Marlene Blanshay said:

Thanks for asking! I'm at the gym and on the trainer.
I'm almost at the six-weeks when I'm supposed to be able
to get back to 'normal'. I'll

still

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

have to take it easy on the bike and I won't be where I
was at this time last year, that's for sure.

Little feels better than getting back on after an
enforced hiatus. And it is a little discouraging to find
yourself slower / hurting / tired. But I'm sure you'll
still enjoy it. 🙂

Quoted message said:

Fortunately, the weather hasn't been particularly great,
so I haven't

missed

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

much. It'sbeen quite chilly for most of april. Today
it's mild,but

raining.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I don' t think cyclists have been very happy
around here.

Ahem. I'll carefully not mention what nice weather we've
been having on the weekends. I'm sure it will soothe you
to hear that most of the weekday's here in the Pacific
NorthWet have been so-so. Drizzle, rain, wet, cold,
cloudy. Oh, it's terrible. 😉

Hahah... it's actually very warm here today, 21C (about
70f) but with gale-force winds. Last night we actually
had thunder and lightning, very unusual for this time of
year, and more expected today. I'll be on the trainer
later and, should the weather cooperate I'll be on my
first ride this weekend. The weather has not been great
for the most part, but it doesn't usually improve until
the end of april anyways.