Bicycle Mags

On Tue, 11 Apr 2017 17:14:19 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

Back in the mid-80s I heard of a guy who gave talks on gearing at
national bike rallies. He said he was part of the "Low Gear
Fellowship." He advocated super low gears for anyone who might be
able to use them.

There is a local guy who tours a lot (preferring mountainous territory)
and his *top* gear is about 65". I think he's got about a 36 x 22 up
front or something like that.

On Tue, 11 Apr 2017 16:30:23 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

A reasonably informative thumbnail history he
https://janheine.wordpress.com/2011/...uminum-cranks/

Glaringly absent any mention of TA Cyclotouriste.

Odd, given that he published a really well done historical piece on TA
cranks in his magazine a few years back. One of the best things he's
published.

On Tue, 11 Apr 2017 09:42:13 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:

On Monday, April 10, 2017 at 12:06:02 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/10/2017 10:55 AM, wrote:
A couple of years ago when I was first recovering from my concussion I subscribed to some bicycle magazines.

Wow was that ever a mistake.

These things are so bad I cannot believe them.

First they insult your intelligence with their "this is the best bike I've ever ridden" on every single bicycle test. Then the pictures of bicycles are designed solely to be artistic and not informative.

And the issue I got on Saturday was the worse one yet.

NOW bicycles are a sports vehicle - the are simply cool. You don't ride for the exercise or the feeling but to be cool. $400 shoes that look like they could give bunions to anyone are bought not because there's anything good about them but because they're cool.

The second coolest thing after riding a bicycle is golfing. GOLFING??? That's for people that think that they're consorting with the upper class. That was never cool to begin with.

So I am swearing off bicycle magazines. I've found a couple of specialty mags that didn't insult your intelligence but I'm not all that interested in long distance touring through Pakistan and how to avoid road mines.

One would think that there would be a magazine about the amateur racing scene but none I've ever seen. Isn't there enough road, off-road, track and CX racing to keep a magazine in business?

I haven't seen a magazine that keeps you up on the pro racing scene. Maybe if you read French.

So the mags that are the most common are a waste of paper comprised of nothing more than advertisements in various garbs. But then the Millennial Generation doesn't appear to be educated enough to write anyway.


I agree with the general deterioration of bike magazines. I first got
into this back in about 1973, when I bought a copy of _Bicycling!_ from
an obscure newsstand. Note the exclamation point in the title. That
was before Rodale Press took it over and made it into a fashion magazine.

Granted, I was starting from near-total ignorance, so I was learning a
lot. But I (and my one cycling friend in the tiny town) read it from
cover to cover. The tech stuff, the fitness stuff, the tales of
touring, the drool-worthy bikes that I couldn't afford all seemed
fascinating. And for a while there were a couple other magazines that
vied for my biking attention.

But Rodale did take over, and things slid downhill. I still remember
one of Rodale's first editions had an article on how to make your own
toe clips from coat hangers. (???) But they overcompensated permanently
into the realm of "The best tights for sexy-looking legs!" or "the
derailleur you gotta have this year!" or other such garbage aimed at
fashion-conscious "fast recreational riders."

Oh, and the magazine of the League of American Wheelmen - um, make that
Bicyclists - went from quirky touring stories and oddball tech info to
"You can't be safe without bike lanes!! How many miles of bike lanes
does YOUR town have?"

For a brief while, I had hopes for Bicycle Times. It seemed more
focused on everyday riding, not the ever-competitive fashion world. But
the writers seem far less expert than the people posting here. And
instead of $200 racing tights, they seem to promote $200 skinny jeans
that have reflectors in the cuffs. Just the thing for riding your fixie
to the coffee shop.

I really enjoyed _Bicycle Quarterly_ for a long time. Editor and
almost-only writer Jan Heine has come up with some interesting ideas,
but I think he's starting to run dry.

And even Yehuda Moon is now on hiatus, although the entire series is on
the web. Sad times indeed! Thank God for Usenet.

--
- Frank Krygowski

I remember Bicycling articles in the 1980s saying that 15 gears were NOT needed on a touring bike and also articles about improving the bicycle but the item in the article had THREE wheels and thuse was a tricycle not a bicycle.


Well certainly 15 gears is overkill.... in some circumstances. I ride
in Bangkok using at the most three gears, but of course Bangkok is
built on an alluvial plain and is essentially flat :-):-)


Then there were all the articles telling use we had to buy this or that and those items were expensive. Buycycling magazine indeed!

Cheers

On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 1:50:31 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/11/2017 3:01 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 3:55:01 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 12:49:59 PM UTC-7, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 3:26:43 PM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/11/2017 2:06 PM, Doug Landau wrote:

I remember Bicycling articles in the 1980s saying that 15 gears were NOT needed on a touring bike and also articles about improving the bicycle but the item in the article had THREE wheels and thuse was a tricycle not a bicycle.

LOL given the way they chose the small rings in those days, having the triple didn't help much anyway
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/6060212592.html


Not an extreme case though. That's a 110mm Sugino forged
crank with a 34 (or 36? can't see) inner, the original from
which today's modern compacts are derived.

At the time I'm referring to (early to mid 1980s)cranksets with 28-38-48 teeth were common. You could even pull the 28 and replace it with a 26 or even a 24.

But low gears on the freewheel was often a 25 or in extreme cases a 27..

Deore in 1983 had a 34 cog on the freewheel. Pre-index could be used with road shifters.

Wide range rear changers go back much farther:
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.as...0-cbe625d24739

A piece way ahead of its time was the 1972 Shimano Crane:
http://www.acefest.com/moviestore/19...736220538.html

Those were good derailleurs, and I liked the SunTour Cyclone I got in '75. In '80, I bought a Campy Rally for my super-swanky all Campy touring bike with custom cranks (a drilled NR for a triple). It was the worst derailleur ever. It was three times the price of the SunTour and shifted half as well.
BUT, I had an all Campy custom-made touring bike . . . . that got stolen seven years later. Wah. Someone is probably enjoying it to this day in Juarez. I haven't seen it around here.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 1:27:29 PM UTC-7, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

Before Deore XT there was a Deore ROAD TOURING groupset. In my previous post I mentioned the Deore freewheel with 34 teeth on it. Even in 1983 the Shimano New 600 long cage rear derailler RD-6207 GS could handle 34 teeth. And the 600 was a road groupset.

Becausethe shifters were usually friction (or index with a friction mode) you could use a MTB derailler with road shifters.

Here is a picture of a 1983 Deore rear derailleur.

http://www.velobase.com/ViewGroup.as...d-bd51434aaaee

This would not shift a 34 cog except it you had an "old fashion" touring frame with a REALLY long mount. If you look above that derailleur you can see that mount sticking way down.

On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 1:50:31 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/11/2017 3:01 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 3:55:01 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 12:49:59 PM UTC-7, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 3:26:43 PM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/11/2017 2:06 PM, Doug Landau wrote:

I remember Bicycling articles in the 1980s saying that 15 gears were NOT needed on a touring bike and also articles about improving the bicycle but the item in the article had THREE wheels and thuse was a tricycle not a bicycle.

LOL given the way they chose the small rings in those days, having the triple didn't help much anyway
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/6060212592.html


Not an extreme case though. That's a 110mm Sugino forged
crank with a 34 (or 36? can't see) inner, the original from
which today's modern compacts are derived.

At the time I'm referring to (early to mid 1980s)cranksets with 28-38-48 teeth were common. You could even pull the 28 and replace it with a 26 or even a 24.

But low gears on the freewheel was often a 25 or in extreme cases a 27..

Deore in 1983 had a 34 cog on the freewheel. Pre-index could be used with road shifters.

Wide range rear changers go back much farther:
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.as...0-cbe625d24739

A piece way ahead of its time was the 1972 Shimano Crane:
http://www.acefest.com/moviestore/19...736220538.html


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

My memory of that Huret is that it would jump down unless you had down tube shifters with the friction set so high that you couldn't possibly use bar end shifters. And you had to develop the habit of always checking the shifter because it was always walking down.

And that Shimano Crane had that add-on rear derailleur bar like the Deore. If memory serves they have exactly the opposite problem of the Huret and would shift with almost no pressure. They were famous for breaking off the mount which is why no one used them. If you remember the long mount could rotate and if the idle pulley touched the freewheel the entire thing would lock up and usually bend the pulley arms. From the condition of that one it appears to have never been used.

I still remember those early touring bikes with a 34 or 35 little ring and a 25 freewheel. I put in enough miles on them going down to the Great Western Bicycle Rally. I still have my camping gear. But I sure as hell can't remember how I carried it. I had low riders on the front, a bike bag above it and saddle bags and the tent and sleeping bag on top of the rack. The problem was that it was so tall in the back that you couldn't swing a leg over it so you had to step over the top tube.

On 4/11/2017 8:45 PM, wrote:
On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 1:27:29 PM UTC-7, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

Before Deore XT there was a Deore ROAD TOURING groupset. In my previous post I mentioned the Deore freewheel with 34 teeth on it. Even in 1983 the Shimano New 600 long cage rear derailler RD-6207 GS could handle 34 teeth. And the 600 was a road groupset.

Becausethe shifters were usually friction (or index with a friction mode) you could use a MTB derailler with road shifters.

Here is a picture of a 1983 Deore rear derailleur.

http://www.velobase.com/ViewGroup.as...d-bd51434aaaee

This would not shift a 34 cog except it you had an "old fashion" touring frame with a REALLY long mount. If you look above that derailleur you can see that mount sticking way down.


Shimano produced them after 1972 in SS (short) and GS (long)
versions.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971