Sheldon Brown, 1944-2008

On Feb 7, 5:18*am, wrote:
Like everyone else, I have found Sheldon's website very helpful over
the years. *Who wouldn't have? *He's got just about everything you
could ever ask about bicycles, and more, on there.

While I don't wish to derogate in the slightest from everything that
Sheldon did for the cycling community during his lifetime, and while
of course I recognize that one should not criticize the departed, may
I be permitted to say that I would have enjoyed him and his site a lot
more if he hadn't tried to push his personal philosophies and his left-
wing politics so hard. *I don't see the need to inject politics into
cycling. *I found it gratuitous, presumptuous, and typical of the
radical left, which will never admit that reasonable people can
disagree about politics.

1) If you didn't like the politics, you should have gone somewhere
else for your free help.

2) The "politics" are part of the personality. When was the last time
you saw a generous "conservative"-- not including donations that are
photo-op tax writeoffs?

3) Sheldon Brown, "radical left"? Bull****

4) Since when are the Followers of Limbaugh "reasonable"????

5) Go soak your head. Really. --D-y

On Feb 4, 1:43 pm, Robert Chung wrote:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/

RIP.

What they said.



How many times did I look for information and wind up at his site,
only to find much more.

On Feb 6, 9:27 pm, Jay Beattie wrote:
By the way, it is good to see some of the old
timers dropping by and giving their condolences. I wonder if Hickey
has heard the news.

When I first got involved in this group twelve or thirteen years ago,
Sheldon was among a small core of contributors who made it both
informative and civil. It was a nice foil to RBR -- with very little
name calling apart from the once a year anti-helmet thread by
JPoulos. But even the helmet threads were full of real content --
like medical journal cites and detailed discussions of the
epidemiology. It was not all sweetness and light back then, but
nothing like the sometimes psychotic, personal jihads we see these
day. Sheldon never took part in that. -- Jay Beattie.

Amen, and amen.

My first post to RBT was on my 38th birthday. I'm very close to 50
now. I learned a lot about how to communicate with people over the
Internet from Sheldon. He led by example, of course, rather than by
instruction or correction.

What I read in this thread explains why I stopped participating in RBT
some 8 years ago. The example it provides is the opposite of what
Sheldon provided.

I didn't agree with a lot of Sheldon's non-bicycle views, but that
didn't matter. He expressed them eloquently and with great civility,
and that forced me to consider my own views carefully before
continuing to disagree with him. My disagreements with him led to
learning and respect, rather than bitterness and entrenchment.

I once was chatting with Sheldon at Harris when I visited on a
business trip to Boston, and I congratulated him on a recent technical
argument in which he had engaged Jobst sufficiently to extract an
acknowledgment. At that time, I still (foolishly) looked on arguments
with Jobst as a sport for the courageous few, and awarded points to
those (few) who did so successfully. Sheldon corrected me by saying,
"It was a disappointment for me. I pride myself on my ability to
explain things clearly, and I knew I had missed that mark when Jobst
didn't understand what I had said." (The subject of that debate was
the then-new parallelogram design of the Shimano mountain-bike brakes
from so long ago that I don't even remember the product name any more.
The long endurance of that exchange in my memory indicates the
importance I give it.)

When I read Jobst's response to Tom, I read not an attack on Tom but
the typical curmudgeonly compliment of Sheldon, to wit: If you are
surprised by the breadth of the reaction to the loss of Sheldon, then
maybe you didn't know him as well as you thought you did. Jobst talked
that way a dozen years ago. Expecting him to change is very, well, un-
Sheldonlike. The bitterness that followed in this thread was even
moreso.

Rick "also wondering if Mark Hickey has gotten the news" Denney

"Rick Denney" wrote in message
...

When I read Jobst's response to Tom, I read not an attack on Tom but
the typical curmudgeonly compliment of Sheldon, to wit: If you are
surprised by the breadth of the reaction to the loss of Sheldon, then
maybe you didn't know him as well as you thought you did. Jobst talked
that way a dozen years ago. Expecting him to change is very, well, un-
Sheldonlike. The bitterness that followed in this thread was even
moreso.

I'm not put off by Jobst. For one thing, that's really the way he is and not
a put on persona that only shows on the web. In person he'll take off on
those same flights of fancy he sometimes gets regarding what other people
are thinking.

Sheldon was a really nice guy. Jobst is a professional who wants to be
professional. Can't blame him for that though sometimes you'd like to give
him a swift kick whether he's right or not.

In article
,
landotter wrote:

On Feb 6, 11:35 pm, "Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote:
"landotter" wrote in message

...



On Feb 6, 9:31 pm, "Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote:
"jim beam" wrote in message

news:58ydnRBT__Ok6zfanZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d@speakeasy. net...

Espressopithecus (Java Man) wrote:
In article ,
says...

It takes a pretty self-obsessed misanthrope to hijack a tribute thread
to
Sheldon Brown!

"misanthrope: a person who hates or distrusts humankind."

that may be your world, but it's not mine. as the bearer of false
witness
yourself, perhaps you don't understand why such a one might experience
the
dislike of others?

Although you might both have valid points why don't you start a separate
thread to argue it?

This is in memory of Sheldon please.

It is, and we're about four glasses of wine into the buffet at the
wake! Hey, that last deviled egg, I saw it first!

throws 4spd freewheel at Tom like a velo-ninja!

catches 4spd freewheel and sells it on Ebay for a small fortune

You *******!! To honor Sheldon, the throwing of a freewheel must
progress to a pie fight worthy of the last scene in Blazing Saddles!

"What call would a woman with that strength in her have
to die of influenza? What become of her new straw hat
that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it; and
what I say is, them as pinched it done her in."

--
Michael Press

In article ,
Dan Burkhart
wrote:

Wrote:
Like everyone else, I have found Sheldon's website very helpful
over the years. Who wouldn't have? He's got just about everything
you could ever ask about bicycles, and more, on there.

While I don't wish to derogate in the slightest from everything
that Sheldon did for the cycling community during his lifetime, and
while of course I recognize that one should not criticize the
departed, may I be permitted to say that I would have enjoyed him
and his site a lot more if he hadn't tried to push his personal
philosophies and his left- wing politics so hard. I don't see the
need to inject politics into cycling. I found it gratuitous,
presumptuous, and typical of the radical left, which will never
admit that reasonable people can disagree about politics.

My Opia! What about the radical right, suffering the same or worse
shortsightedness?

Now, wait just a minute. I'm sure my philosophy stands much closer to
yours than to Sheldon's, but I appreciated the way in which Sheldon
showed us who he was. He simply stated his beliefs, on his own
site,he did not tell you that you must share his beliefs.He did not
engage in name calling and feuding on these forums. and for that, he
will always have my respect. My philosophical differences with
Sheldon in no way detract from the high esteem in which he will
always be held in my mind. Dan

And you didn't have to read Sheldon's politically oriented pages to get
to the bicycle content.

In article ,
John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:

Some wrote about someone else "Face it, Tom, you're a self-absorbed
prick "

Tom's behaviour started to make more "sense" to me when I began
considering him mentally ill.

Hmm, no Christmas card for John (heh)...

--
tanx,
Howard

Whatever happened to
Leon Trotsky?
He got an icepick
That made his ears burn.
But I've already got a pitchfork...

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

In article ,
wrote:

Like everyone else, I have found Sheldon's website very helpful over
the years. Who wouldn't have? He's got just about everything you
could ever ask about bicycles, and more, on there.

While I don't wish to derogate in the slightest from everything that
Sheldon did for the cycling community during his lifetime, and while
of course I recognize that one should not criticize the departed, may
I be permitted to say that I would have enjoyed him and his site a lot
more if he hadn't tried to push his personal philosophies and his left-
wing politics so hard. I don't see the need to inject politics into
cycling. I found it gratuitous, presumptuous, and typical of the
radical left, which will never admit that reasonable people can
disagree about politics.

This posts reveals a lot about you.

--
tanx,
Howard

Whatever happened to
Leon Trotsky?
He got an icepick
That made his ears burn.
But I've already got a pitchfork...

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

wrote:
Like everyone else, I have found Sheldon's website very helpful over
the years. Who wouldn't have? He's got just about everything you
could ever ask about bicycles, and more, on there.

While I don't wish to derogate in the slightest from everything that
Sheldon did for the cycling community during his lifetime, and while
of course I recognize that one should not criticize the departed, may
I be permitted to say that I would have enjoyed him and his site a lot
more if he hadn't tried to push his personal philosophies and his left-
wing politics so hard. I don't see the need to inject politics into
cycling. I found it gratuitous, presumptuous, and typical of the
radical left, which will never admit that reasonable people can
disagree about politics.

Sheldon Brown left-wing? Only in the warped world of far right-wing
chattering heads. Sheldon's politics were very middle of the road.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

In article ,
Donald Munro wrote:

fred.garvin wrote:
Tell us about your bike collection again, won't you please???

Howard Kveck wrote:
He's got more bikes than Hemingway.

He's probably got more marlin too.

He certainly has more bull.

--
tanx,
Howard

Whatever happened to
Leon Trotsky?
He got an icepick
That made his ears burn.
But I've already got a pitchfork...

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?