Trikki Beltran's bad concussion and his helmet

On 28 Jul 2005 19:40:57 GMT, Robert Lorenzini
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:21:26 -0400, The Wogster wrote:
gwhite wrote:
Weed has been illegal for a long time. The anti-weed (including

Depends on where you are, in the United States which tends to be anal
retentive over weed, that is true. In some other countries (like

It was legal longer in the US than it has been illegal. Out founding
fathers grew and used it.

Cite? Most sources say Hashish didn't really leave its homelands much
until 1850-1900.


Jasper

I submit that on or about Sun, 31 Jul 2005 17:07:15 GMT, the person
known to the court as SMS made a statement
in Your Honour's bundle) to
the following effect:

Whatever, I always self maintained bikes, to self maintain a car, is
much more complex, and modern ones need some pretty high tech, and high
priced tools.

Not for basic tasks like oil changes, filter changes, coolant changes,
brake pad changes, plug changes etc.

Some cars require special tools to change plugs and filters, others
have issues like a plug which can't be reached without moving some
other part, in one extreme case changing the plus is an engine-out
job. Sometimes you need the right computer to reset the service
recorder. And without the manual you won't necessarily know the
recommended service intervals (some recommend a transmission fluid
changed every five years, for example, but that doesn't apply to all
cars).

Despite all the computerization modern engines are often less complex
for many tasks, no more fiddling with adjusting points or replacing
distributor caps, no more setting the timing with a timing light, fewer
belts, etc.

No, that's wrong. They are *much* more complicated but much more
reliable as well. My old Mini was dead easy to fix, you just needed
the right size hammer; there are many jobs which I would not touch on
my current car. My previous car had issues with the distributor, it
was an absolute beast to get to as well. No points, instead it had a
fully electronic ignition system. Two components (points and coil)
were replaced by three (camshaft sensor, ECU and coil). Points cost
under a pound a time and lasted a couple of years, ECUs cost around a
hundred pounds and if they fail you have no guarantee whether it's the
ECU itself or one of the many sensors (air mass being a common source
of problems). It's often impossible to diagnose without the right
kit. One car was intermittently problematic for months, in the end I
completely stripped and cleaned the air mass unit and throttle body,
sealed a pinhole leak in the throttle body, and only then was it
/consistently/ problematic, so that the underlying fault could be
diagnosed and fixed. Even then it apparently took ninety hours of
diagnostic to find the problem (they only charged the book time, two
hours). The new car is substantially more complex again.

Something like a timing belt, where there is the possibility of
destroying the engine if you get it wrong, is something I'd leave to a
mechanic.

LOL! That is actually often one of the easiest jobs! Seriously,
compared with diagnosing a slow-running fault or an overheating
problem, timing belts are a doddle! Again, it depends very much on
the model of car, but the last one I changed took about an hour (on a
Volvo 940).

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Or not. I had one car where the parking brake operated the front
disks using a mechanical (rather than hydraulic) mechanism. Which is
why I always RTFM before I touch my brakes.

If Thunderbird allowed me to set followups, this would certainly be a
good time to point them at rec.auto.repair

-eric

Jasper Janssen wrote:
On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 07:39:12 -0400, The Wogster
wrote:

Jasper Janssen wrote:


I never said I *couldn't* maintain them, I just don't.

That's sad......


Yeah, yeah. Spend your crocodile tears elsewhere. Anyway, it's a bit of a
misrepresentation, really. I did maintain those bikes, I just didn't do
very much preventative maintenance. It's not really necessary, either, for
a 3speed roadster. When you have the chaincase off to change a tire or
spoke anyway, it might be nice to grease the chain a bit. Headset and BB
bearings don't really go out of adjustment. I did and do service the main
wheel bearings when I have the wheel out for something else anyway. Other
than that and adjusting the brakes if they feel like crap, and adjusting
the gearhub spindle when it starts to spin in 2, there's not all that much
you *can* do in preventative maintenance. I have never even touched a BB
on one of these bikes and I've never had a problem with it. LBSes when
presented with an older bike whose BB has worn out a bit, giving play,
tend to go for the "just buy a new one love!" option rather than repairing
them, for that matter.

BBs should be good for pretty much the life of the bike, mind you a BB
can be replaced, but if doing so, I would replace the whole mechanism,
bearings, cones and axle, because they probably all would need replacing
soon afterwards. It depends mostly on the bike though, a bike that you
can replace for $50, isn't one you would spend $200 on repairing. A
bike that cost you $1,000 you would. A little play, I wouldn't worry
about, and excessive amount, and I would schedule a repair in the "off"
season, with the LBS......


But the point is, even when everything has been *perfectly* adjusted just
last Sunday, the drum brakes suck ass and it's perfectly possible for the
gearhub to go out of adjustment enough to give a sudden skip in 2. And the
various kinds of cheap steel used for cranks and pedal axles mean that --
at least with my weight -- failures aren't in the realm of never, either.
Although admittedly those cranks and pedals last 3-4 decades for the vast
majority of people.


Drum brakes, ALL suck, the FRONT brake actually does most of the
stopping in a skidless stop. As for a gearhub going suddenly out of
adjustment, it's probably because you didn't check it often enough,
making sure the "dots" line up on a weekly basis is a good idea...
Cables stretch, which is the biggest problem with indexed shifting, on
deraileur bikes, wasn't a problem on friction shifters, just need to
tighten up the levers once in a while.

Axles should be Chromaloy not plain steel, cranks are most often
aluminum these days, except for the one piece ones, if they are Chrome
covered die-cast steel, then they will break very easily, but that is
because die-cast steel is usually crap.


These aren't good bikes to start with. Also, the techniques for
maintaining these 3-speed, drum brake, full chaincase 'english roadster'
style bikes are pretty m,uch completely different from derailleur bikes.
Put in my dues on a Tourney-equipped derailleur bike, too, though. After
running that one into the ground I now know how to maintain those as well.

Actually with internally geared hubs, it's actually easier, since the
mechanism is all nicely hidden away, and runs typically in an oil bath,
it's easier to keep clean, just check the cable adjustment once a week,
and add a few drops of fresh oil, and they can go quite a while without
needing any major work. I would drain and refill the oil once a year
though.....


I have never yet encountered a gear hub that runs in an actual oil *bath*.
Admittedly I've only ever had Sturmey Archers, but still. Sturmeys run
with a film of oil transported throughout the hub. Well, or they run
completely dry for 20 years just fine, for that matter. The problem with a
gear hub bike is that something as simple as changing the rear tire, let
alone changing a drive-side spoke, is a Major Freaking Pain.

The only one of these I ever owned (a Supercycle of all things), simply
needed a few drops of machine oil, once every couple of weeks, into the
oil hole, and a cable adjustment, about as often. Problem, the stupid
bike was a gas pipe that weighed about 40lbs, traded it on a Sekine 10
speed, Ferrari red, around 1976, which I rode until 1984 when I bought a
car, then moved where I didn't have space for it anymore, and got rid of
it around 1985..... Have my eye on a black one, same model, at the
moment......


But that's why I said "pretty much completely different". You have to
worry about entirely different things than with a derailer bike and
everything you *do* have to do is massively complicated by the rear rack,
panniers, chaincase (and truly if you've not worked on at least half a
dozen different Dutch chaincases -- all of which will have a different
method of fastening them shut as well as positioning them, all bad, all
incompatible, you don't know just how difficult they make life), lighting
wires, and fender stays.


Chaincases? Last time, I had one, (the Supercycle) pulled it off and
threw it away, they add a lot of weight to a bike, the Sekine had a
Chrome ring on the outside of the chainring, that and cleaning the chain
and chainring worked just as well.....

W

"Jasper Janssen" wrote in message
...
On 28 Jul 2005 19:40:57 GMT, Robert Lorenzini
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:21:26 -0400, The Wogster
wrote:
gwhite wrote:
Weed has been illegal for a long time. The anti-weed (including

Depends on where you are, in the United States which tends to be anal
retentive over weed, that is true. In some other countries (like

It was legal longer in the US than it has been illegal. Out founding
fathers grew and used it.

Cite? Most sources say Hashish didn't really leave its homelands much
until 1850-1900.

The Hemp plant (about a half dozen varieties of which are the source of
marijuana and hashish) were planted ALL over the world by the sea going
powers. But they were planing the hemp varieties which were most useful for
making rope. To get high by smoking this stuff would require you to burn
something the size of a bale of hay. And you can't get hashish from it.

The Wogster wrote:
Jasper Janssen wrote:

snip



Drum brakes, ALL suck, the FRONT brake actually does most of the
stopping in a skidless stop. As for a gearhub going suddenly out of
adjustment, it's probably because you didn't check it often enough,
making sure the "dots" line up on a weekly basis is a good idea...
Cables stretch, which is the biggest problem with indexed shifting, on
deraileur bikes, wasn't a problem on friction shifters, just need to
tighten up the levers once in a while.

Puh-lease! Cables do not stretch on a bicycle any more than do chains!


Robin Hubert

I submit that on or about Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:52:39 -0400, the person
known to the court as The Wogster made a
statement in Your
Honour's bundle) to the following effect:

BBs should be good for pretty much the life of the bike

Should they? I got through three on my old commuter bike, one
cup-and-cone and two cartridge types. I went from cup-and-cone to
cartridge because a bearing cracked up and damaged the races on the
old BB (which I had repacked several times).

Drum brakes, ALL suck

Do they? Mike Burrows uses them on his freight bikes and they are
*very* common in the Netherlands.

Axles should be Chromaloy not plain steel, cranks are most often
aluminum these days, except for the one piece ones, if they are Chrome
covered die-cast steel, then they will break very easily, but that is
because die-cast steel is usually crap.

Die cast (aka **** metal or cheese) is indeed crap, but most of the
chromed cranks I've seen are forged, and pretty much unbreakable. I
don't think I've ever seen a diecast crank.

Chaincases? Last time, I had one, (the Supercycle) pulled it off and
threw it away, they add a lot of weight to a bike, the Sekine had a
Chrome ring on the outside of the chainring, that and cleaning the chain
and chainring worked just as well.....

Chaincases are very popular among utility cyclists in places like the
Netherlands and Cambridge (UK) because they allow you to use the bike
wearing normal clothes, and because they protect the chain in bad
weather. Chris Juden, CTC's Technical Officer, is a great fan of
fully-enclosed chaincases, hub gears and indeed hub brakes. For a
low-maintenance commuter bike these all make good sense.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

I submit that on or about Mon, 01 Aug 2005 00:26:24 GMT, the person
known to the court as Robin Hubert made a
statement . net in
Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:

Puh-lease! Cables do not stretch on a bicycle any more than do chains!

Up to a point. Just as wear in chain bushings is indistinguishable to
the naked eye from the chain stretching, so the effects of bedding in
and compression of the outer which result in having to adjust the
cables, are indistinguishable from the cable stretching.

After a new derailleur cable has bedded in it generally doesn't need
much adjustment, true. But that is not much, not none. Something is
going on which *looks* like cable stretch even if it is not.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
I submit that on or about Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:52:39 -0400, the person
known to the court as The Wogster made a
statement in Your
Honour's bundle) to the following effect:


BBs should be good for pretty much the life of the bike


Should they? I got through three on my old commuter bike, one
cup-and-cone and two cartridge types. I went from cup-and-cone to
cartridge because a bearing cracked up and damaged the races on the
old BB (which I had repacked several times).


How many miles on it? Furthest I have gone on a single bike is
30,000km, and the BB was still pretty good.....

Drum brakes, ALL suck


Do they? Mike Burrows uses them on his freight bikes and they are
*very* common in the Netherlands.


I assumed he meant coaster brakes, which do suck, as they only affect
the back wheel, and most of the braking forces are on the front wheel,
if it's set up right.


Axles should be Chromaloy not plain steel, cranks are most often
aluminum these days, except for the one piece ones, if they are Chrome
covered die-cast steel, then they will break very easily, but that is
because die-cast steel is usually crap.


Die cast (aka **** metal or cheese) is indeed crap, but most of the
chromed cranks I've seen are forged, and pretty much unbreakable. I
don't think I've ever seen a diecast crank.


I would assume the only place you might see a diecast crank, are a
Walmart or K-Mart and even those are more then likely forged..... I
have seen die cast steel used in places it shouldn't be though.....


Chaincases? Last time, I had one, (the Supercycle) pulled it off and
threw it away, they add a lot of weight to a bike, the Sekine had a
Chrome ring on the outside of the chainring, that and cleaning the chain
and chainring worked just as well.....


Chaincases are very popular among utility cyclists in places like the
Netherlands and Cambridge (UK) because they allow you to use the bike
wearing normal clothes, and because they protect the chain in bad
weather. Chris Juden, CTC's Technical Officer, is a great fan of
fully-enclosed chaincases, hub gears and indeed hub brakes. For a
low-maintenance commuter bike these all make good sense.


Like I said, only time I had one, I took it off, and justified it, by
reducing a 40lb bike to a 36lb bike....

W

Tom Kunich says...

I've done a little research on that one as a matter of fact. Dan Tonelli who
is an ultra distance rider (sort of) has a little over 300,000 miles at the
age of about 45. He expects to make it to 500,000 miles before he dies.
Million Mile Freddy is the only known rider with over a million recorded
miles.

That is an amazing accomplishment. But I'm glad it wasn't me.

I've talked to some European riders who average 10,000 km a year. In a
lifetime that's about 50 x 10,000 = 500,000 km or 300,000 miles. These guys
are HARD CORE.

You got that right.

I'm a pretty active rider since I'm no longer married. I've been riding
since about 1988 about 6,000 miles per year. I'm presently 60. Most of the
guys I ride with started riding again in their 50's.

So you've got a real good shot at 200K, maybe even 250 or 300K if you keep
rolling at a 6K/year pace. That's a ton of miles. I got my first odometer when
I was 12 and began recording mileage then. Not sure where the old log book is
but I think that first year was around 350 miles. Didn't really start getting
in decent mileage until about 16 years old. Biggest year was just under 9K and
that explains why I never made much of a racer - everyone told me you had to do
20K a year to succeed - I didn't believe it than and don't believe it now. But
I did tick my first 100K before 40 and am hoping to get to 250K. Nice round
number.

So my GUESS is that the overwhelming majority of recreational riders puts in
something less than 100,000 miles in a lifetime.

I'd guess the majority are under 50K. Many live in places where the season is
not all that long. Back when I sold bicycles, I'd hear many people talking like
10 miles was a long ride. Takes a long time to get to 50K when you go 10 or
less per ride and your season is short.