New Year pedolutionists

On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 08:53:50 GMT, Euan wrote:

Then exercise some god-dammed common courtesy and wait.

I do wait. And wait, and wait, sometimes. And I never complain
to them about it. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:18:18 +1100, Random Data wrote:

The fastest I've ever gone on a bike was 85 km/h on a mountain bike. I've
regularly passed roadies in Centennial Park and on the road on a mountain
bike, and I've been quicker down the hill from Waterfall on Sydney to the
Gong because I've got better brakes.

Maybe you could come over and show our locals how it's done.

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Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:18:18 +1100, Random Data wrote:

The fastest I've ever gone on a bike was 85 km/h on a mountain bike.
I've
regularly passed roadies in Centennial Park and on the road on a
mountain
bike, and I've been quicker down the hill from Waterfall on Sydney to
the
Gong because I've got better brakes.

on gravel road downhills on my road/tourer I've often been faster than
the MTBs,
probably because I haven't dared to brake.


--
aeek

"Resound" writes:

"Tamyka Bell" wrote in message
...
DaveB wrote:

LotteBum wrote:
wear a jersey as well), doing up his toe straps (who the f*ck uses them
these days!?!)

Hmmm, well I use them on the commuter and the SS. On the commuter
because I don't trust my ability to unclip quick enough in CBD traffic,
ad on the SS because I want to ride to the shops in whatever I'm wearing.

DaveB

If your toe straps are loose enough that they're quicker to get out of
than clipless pedals, they might as well not be there

Tam

I've only recently gone clipless and I had straps that I could get
in and out of quikly and easily. They were still snug enough that I
could haul up on them and if I tried riding something with flat
pedals my feet skidded all over the place. They were definitely
doing something for me.

Maybe Tam is a clip system troll... ;-)

As a toe strap wearer, I can certainly confirm what you say. It seems
to be a myth made up by people in love with expensive "clipless"
systems (you know, the ones with the clips) that toe straps are
useless unless they are tight. They are not useless, and I wouldn't do
serious riding without them. Just for starters, without them, feet
have a habit of flying off the pedals at the most inopportune times --
even an unexpected bump in the road could do it (and has). With
just-tight-enough straps, my feet have never come off the pedals
unless I wanted them to, yet I can get my feet off the pedals almost
as easily as if the straps were not there. Furthermore, it is
eminently possible to pull up on straps that are not quite tight, thus
gaining a good portion of the efficiency of clips.

It should also be obvious that *tight* toe straps are *dangerous*
unless, perhaps, you are riding a fixed wheel on a velodrome (in which
case, these days, you'd almost certainly be using clips instead of
straps so you don't embarrass yourself by falling over while loosening
straps... ;-) ).

Cheers,

David


--

David Trudgett
http://www.zeta.org.au/~wpower/

Although people often bemoan political apathy as if it were a grave
social ill, it seems to me that this is just as it should be. Why
should essentially powerless people want to engage in a humiliating
farce designed to demonstrate the legitimacy of those who wield the
power?

-- Dmitry Orlov

On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:20:28 +1100, aeek wrote:

on gravel road downhills on my road/tourer I've often been faster than the
MTBs, probably because I haven't dared to brake.

Also because you're a faster cyclist than the MTBers, and there's probably
the fact you remember overtaking an MTB on dirt. The right bike certainly
makes a difference to speed, but the rider is still providing the power -
Brad McGee on a Kmart special would beat me on anything without 125cc of
assistance.

--
Dave Hughes |
"SCSI is *not* magic. There are fundamental technical reasons why it is
necessary to sacrifice a young goat to your SCSI chain now and then."
- Daniel M. Drucker

On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:27:53 +1100, David Trudgett wrote:

As a toe strap wearer, I can certainly confirm what you say. It seems
to be a myth made up by people in love with expensive "clipless"
systems (you know, the ones with the clips) that toe straps are
useless unless they are tight. They are not useless, and I wouldn't do
serious riding without them. Just for starters, without them, feet
have a habit of flying off the pedals at the most inopportune times --
even an unexpected bump in the road could do it (and has). With
just-tight-enough straps, my feet have never come off the pedals
unless I wanted them to, yet I can get my feet off the pedals almost
as easily as if the straps were not there. Furthermore, it is
eminently possible to pull up on straps that are not quite tight, thus
gaining a good portion of the efficiency of clips.

Serious strap systems include specially shaped shoe soles and pedals
that can't slip apart horizontally, don't they? Do you use something like
that, or just a standard flat pedal with street shoes? I'd be surprised
if the latter could be set up to slip apart easily (without the need to
loosen the strap) yet stay in securely, even when you're pulling up on
the pedal.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Peter Signorini wrote:
"Michael Warner" wrote in message
...
On 6 Jan 2006 02:12:02 GMT, Zebee Johnstone wrote:

percentage wise, they are negligibly wider than roadbikes as far as
your average car is concerned.

What is the relevance of the width of a car? The point is that I have
to give them a significantly wider berth than road bikes.

My off-road MTB has bars that are 64 cms wide, as opposed to the average
road bar at around 40 cms (they should be abbout the width of your
shoulders) so there's 24 cms difference. But wait, it's only the right side
of the bar that matters when passing, so it's 12 cms wider that you are
forced to ride.

So because of a 12 cm passing difficulty you're proposing to relegate all
MTB riders to a lesser road system.?

There is actually a significant difference between passing room
requirements, as road bars are far less likely to clash and tangle than
MTB bars - MTB bars usually stick out beyond a rider's elbows, and
roady bars (typical wide 42 cm center to center, so effectively 46cm or
so) are usually narrower than rider elbows. Elbows are ok to bump,
bars not so.

That's not really relevant to a "right to the road" debate, no matter
what side you take, and riding that close to an unprepared rider is not
wise anyway - be they on a roady or a flat bar bike. The main reason
why you can ride closer to road bikes is that many road bike riders are
used to riding in close proximity to other bikes and are less likely to
be spooked by the experience. MTB riders don't tend to ride in densely
packed bunches as much as roadies. 'course, it's not a good idea to
assume that because a rider is on a roady, that they won't be spooked
and swerve etc, but it's a safer* bet than if they're on a MTB or
hybrid.

* I'm not advocating gambling. Unless I have a very good idea that a
rider I'm passing is competant, I give everyone a wide berth.

Michael Warner wrote:
On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 22:27:53 +1100, David Trudgett wrote:

As a toe strap wearer, I can certainly confirm what you say. It seems
to be a myth made up by people in love with expensive "clipless"
systems (you know, the ones with the clips) that toe straps are
useless unless they are tight. They are not useless, and I wouldn't do
serious riding without them. Just for starters, without them, feet
have a habit of flying off the pedals at the most inopportune times --
even an unexpected bump in the road could do it (and has). With
just-tight-enough straps, my feet have never come off the pedals
unless I wanted them to, yet I can get my feet off the pedals almost
as easily as if the straps were not there. Furthermore, it is
eminently possible to pull up on straps that are not quite tight, thus
gaining a good portion of the efficiency of clips.

Serious strap systems include specially shaped shoe soles and pedals
that can't slip apart horizontally, don't they? Do you use something like
that, or just a standard flat pedal with street shoes? I'd be surprised
if the latter could be set up to slip apart easily (without the need to
loosen the strap) yet stay in securely, even when you're pulling up on
the pedal.

Myth. Except when sprinting, you don't pull up. Or if you do, you're
wasting energy.
Toe loops & cleats work to keep your foot on the pedal at high cadences
and improve the efficiency of your pedaling by allowing you to push and
scrape over the top and at the bottom of your pedal stroke.

see :

http://www.topbike.com.au/pdfs/colso...ly_aug2002.pdf

On 6 Jan 2006 05:46:09 -0800, Bleve wrote:

Myth. Except when sprinting, you don't pull up. Or if you do, you're
wasting energy.

True, although I've read that you should pull up enough to counteract
the dead weight of each non-pedalling leg. I have no idea how you
could learn to do this without the help of pressure sensors in your
pedals, though :-)

I expect he does reach down and loosen the strap, in fact.



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Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Peter Signorini Wrote:

My off-road MTB has bars that are 64 cms wide, as opposed to the
average


Mine are 67cm.. nyer nyer! ;-)

I have a dream! Where little mtbs will be able to join hands with
little road bikes and ride together as sisters and brothers..

hippy


--
hippy