Now is yoda I speaking..

Quoted message said:

Announcing the arrival of a light sabre holder - in child size.

http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/quint/quint.html

Video too, with big clomping boots! (but no kitchen, or falling off). Ho
wlong did it take to make?

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

Announcing the arrival of a light sabre holder - in child size.

http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/quint/quint.html

Video too, with big clomping boots! (but no kitchen, or falling off). Ho
wlong did it take to make?

All in, about 10 hours. Spent an evening building the basics (chop
frames, stitch together.)
Spent an evening putting in the seat and getting three slightly
different ss chains together.
Spent a couple of hours fitting the seat and recabling it.

There are a lot of bits that could be tidied up - rough edges rounded
off etc.

I'll take it to the park tomorrow and see how well it goes..

...d

In article <[email hidden]>

David Martin said:

Announcing the arrival of a light sabre holder - in child size.

http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/quint/quint.html

The name is what people call it. They take one look and say "It's
quint"..

I'm [censored] at judging frame geometry from photographs, but it looks to me
that you might have negative trail. Also I suspect the top gear isn't
particularly high :-) Good fun though.

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>

David Martin said:

Announcing the arrival of a light sabre holder - in child size.

http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/quint/quint.html

The name is what people call it. They take one look and say "It's
quint"..

I'm [censored] at judging frame geometry from photographs, but it looks to me
that you might have negative trail. Also I suspect the top gear isn't
particularly high :-) Good fun though.

The trail isn't negative (at least I don't think so). The pics are
misleading as the bike is canted at quite an angle. It rides OK[1] once
you get going though.

...d

[1] for the length of my garage. Ful testing later today.

...d

David Martin said:

Announcing the arrival of a light sabre holder - in child size.

Quoted message said:

http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/quint/quint.html

Quoted message said:

The name is what people call it. They take one look and say "It's
quint"..

Hey! Get off that child's 'bent and hand it over to the children! 🙂

Is she going to get a cushion?

Roos

Roos Eisma said:

David Martin said:

Announcing the arrival of a light sabre holder - in child size.

Quoted message said:

http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/~dmamartin/quint/quint.html

Quoted message said:

The name is what people call it. They take one look and say "It's
quint"..

Hey! Get off that child's 'bent and hand it over to the children! 🙂

like this -
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1417394802518454981
(yes I was running along behind)

Quoted message said:

Is she going to get a cushion?

she has asked for one

...d

In article <[email hidden]>

David Martin said:

Roos Eisma wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Hey! Get off that child's 'bent and hand it over to the children! 🙂

like this -
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1417394802518454981
(yes I was running along behind)

Excellent :-)

David Martin said:

like this -
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1417394802518454981
(yes I was running along behind)

"This is fun!"

That's exactly what you want to hear. It made me smile :-)

--
Danny Colyer <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Bristol to Bath by unicycle: <http://www.bristoltobathonaunicycle.co.uk>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

David Martin said:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1417394802518454981

Now you'll have to let her cycle to school once they've installed the
new racks.

Veena emailed me on Friday. I should have the TfL branded leaflets
tomorrow or Tuesday. I'll snail a few to you with a copy of my
cycling article, so expect them by the end of the week.

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>

David Martin said:

Roos Eisma wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Hey! Get off that child's 'bent and hand it over to the children! 🙂

like this -
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1417394802518454981
(yes I was running along behind)

Excellent :-)

Shame about the riding on the pavement though :-)

--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Phil Cook said:

Rob Morley said:

In article <[email hidden]>

David Martin said:

Roos Eisma wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

>
> Hey! Get off that child's 'bent and hand it over to the children! 🙂

like this -
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1417394802518454981
(yes I was running along behind)

Excellent :-)

Shame about the riding on the pavement though :-)

She is 9, her brother ahead is 4. It was the first time she'd ridden a
bike like that, and the trail is minimal so it is a bit wobbly.
Obviously a sensible thing to do is to ride carefully along the
pavement.

Normally she would ride on the road on her normal bike.

...d

David Martin said:

She is 9, her brother ahead is 4.

And she now is the coollest kid in town!

Roos

Rob Morley said:

I'm [censored] at judging frame geometry from photographs, but it looks to me
that you might have negative trail.

There's an article in the recent VeloVision suggesting that negative
trail FWD 'bents might be a good way forwards.

Also, check out the Streetglider, IIRC one of the late George
Longstaff's projects (http://www.ihpva.org/com/Streetglider/sg1.jpg).
Never seen one for real, but they seemed to get good word of mouth AFAICT.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

There's an article in the recent VeloVision suggesting that negative
trail FWD 'bents might be a good way forwards.

For those of us not (yet) in the know, please could someone explain
what "trail" is, and what makes it positive or negative?

Thanks.

PhilD

--
<><

PhilD said:

Peter Clinch said:

There's an article in the recent VeloVision suggesting that negative
trail FWD 'bents might be a good way forwards.

For those of us not (yet) in the know, please could someone explain
what "trail" is, and what makes it positive or negative?

Take an imaginary line down the head tube of the bike. That hits the
ground at a certain point. The tyre will also contact the ground at a
certain point. The trail is the difference between the two. If you turn
the front wheel from straight ahead it will either go up, down, or not
change the height of the front. If it raises the front end then the
preferred position for the wheel will be straight ahead, it will be a
very easy bike to ride no hands. If it lowers the front end it will be
very responsive, but hard or impossible to ride hands off.

Most bikes have positive trail. I think the trail on the mini-bent is
almost zero, possibly slightly negative (explaining why it is a wee bit
tricky to ride[1]).

...d

[1] Well, that amongst several other reasons. The whole thing is squint
- the rear wheel tracks about 2" to the left of the front wheel, and is
at a slight angle. I'll be performing some restorative engineering (not
with a big hammer - a cut and shut instead) to straighten it up,
improve the chainline, reweld the boom and probably increase the trail
a wee bit to marginally positive.

PhilD said:

For those of us not (yet) in the know, please could someone explain
what "trail" is, and what makes it positive or negative?

Sheldon to the rescue...

"Trail is the distance from the contact point of the front wheel with
the riding surface to the intersection of the steering axis (head tube)
with the surface. The trail is a function of the head angle, the fork
rake, and the tire diameter. Trail has a major effect on the handling of
a bicycle. More trail increases the bicycle's tendency to steer straight
ahead. A bicycle with a largish trail dimension will be very stable, and
easy to ride "no hands". A bicycle with a smaller trail dimension will
be more manuverable and responsive"

Bigger wheels generally give more trail as long as the head angle is
positive (it almost always is). Negative trail will have a line down
the forks hit the ground behind the front tyre's contact patch.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In article <[email hidden]>

Peter Clinch said:

Rob Morley said:

I'm [censored] at judging frame geometry from photographs, but it looks to me
that you might have negative trail.

There's an article in the recent VeloVision suggesting that negative
trail FWD 'bents might be a good way forwards.

It makes some sense on a FWD machine.

Quoted message said:

Also, check out the Streetglider, IIRC one of the late George
Longstaff's projects (http://www.ihpva.org/com/Streetglider/sg1.jpg).
Never seen one for real, but they seemed to get good word of mouth AFAICT.

That appears to have have positive trail.

Rob Morley wrote:
[Streetglider with reversed forks]

Quoted message said:

That appears to have have positive trail.

Yes, it does... (Monday morning, not enough coffee, brain lobe
responsible for thinking about negative trail operating... negatively
well! ;-))

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

David Martin said:

Phil Cook wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shame about the riding on the pavement though :-)

She is 9, her brother ahead is 4. It was the first time she'd ridden a
bike like that, and the trail is minimal so it is a bit wobbly.
Obviously a sensible thing to do is to ride carefully along the
pavement.

Normally she would ride on the road on her normal bike.

Here's another in case you missed it :-)

and another :-)

and one on its own

:-)
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"