[peterw_diy]

@n18 210801 wrote:

It seems the sign is redundant, telling cyclist the law that they already know

Are you saying that in Alexandria (or all of Virginia?) a cyclist can bike through a red light if the pedestrian walk signal is on? If so, please cite a reference! I knew that to be true in DC but I didn’t think it was the case in Virginia.

Thanks.

[peterw_diy]

“A picture would help as I don’t see these signs often”

This is at the corner of Cameron and West:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]25327[/ATTACH]

[peterw_diy]

@Judd 210431 wrote:

Big thanks to Peter for loaning his Torx set to me. I successfully* replaced the battery and back of my Garmin Edge 1000.

*One of the wires that sends power to the speaker became detached from the battery while attaching it to the motherboard. My Garmin no longer chirps at me which is mostly not a problem except for the rare occasions that I’m using navigation.

So… you wanna borrow my soldering iron next?

[I’m glad to hear it was relatively successful.]

[peterw_diy]

@mstone 210430 wrote:

Unless someone programs in an ego, or tendency to start thinking about things other than driving, or a fear that driving defensively will make their reproductive organs smaller, autonomous vehicles have many advantages. Simply not speeding through residential neighborhoods would cut the death rate, even if they hit the same number of people.

Unless folks offset the reduced lethality per mile by travelling more auto miles. Autonomous cars promise to remove the tedium of driving. Heading to the far side of the District at rush hour? Who cares if it takes two hours? Watch a movie, read a book, make some phone calls, nap, whatever you want. Let the climate control shield you from the unpleasant weather that your energy consumption is worsening, and rationalize your consumption by arguing that the car’s algorithm is a safe driver than you are.

[peterw_diy]

My IT perspective: sounds like bullshit that I’d expect from a PR person misrepresenting what you get with some modern-ish software development techniques like test-driven development and machine learning.

You do your best to build a computer system that handles whatever input comes its way. And to test your work, you throw Test Cases at it, and make sure you get the Desired Results. You adjust your system until you get the Desired Results. And then you pray that the systen can also cope with new inputs after it Goes Into Production.

If you’re building an autonomous car, you collect data about past crashes and use that as some of your Test Cases. You make sure your simulation of those past tragedies results in your simulated auto avoiding the same simulated awful outcome. Real driver killed a Crazy Ivan? Use the simulator to try to ensure your auto executes an acceptable course of action in a simulated copy of that scenario.

But in real life, you’re gonna get a different Crazy Ivan, in a different situation. Maybe this new one is wearing grey and harder to see. Maybe his speed is less conssitent. Maybe there are two Ivans. Or three. Or it’s an irregular intersection. Or there’s significantly different weather. The fact that your simulation (which is likely incomplete — are you really accounting for all factors? Debris on roadway? Asphalt condition? Impefect wheel balancing? Glare off oncoming windshields?) avoided the one well-documented Ivan from seven years ago doesn’t mean you’re gonna not crash into next week’s Ivan. Especially if you pulled a Volkswagen emissions hack and tailored your system to the data about those past incidents.

[peterw_diy]

I have a T6 tamper-resistant bit (part of a set like this) I’d be happy to loan you, along with a bit driver handle if you need that. I’m in Alexandria south of Del Ray, PM me for my address.

[peterw_diy]

@chris_s 208904 wrote:

I do this also. Banjo Bro panniers hook right onto the sides of the inside of the cart. I use the Scan-it gun & pack my panniers exactly how I want, then pay, walk out, hook ’em on the bike and ride off confident that I haven’t bought more than I can carry.

Best part of this is that the Banjo Brothers bags use closed triangles for the lower “hook” and therefore unlike old-school panniers with “S” lower hooks don’t get caught on the cart. Only problem with the triangles is using them on racks that don’t have lower hooks of their own, like front lowrider racks. I bought a box of vinyl-coated 3/8″ “P” clamps (since LBSes only seem to stock the larger ones that fit seat stays) and attached the Banjo Brothers silver dropout hooks to my lowriders with them so I can run the bags up front, too.

If anybody wants/needs P clamps this size, let me know as I have more than I’ll ever need and would be glad to give away extras gratis.

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[peterw_diy]

Thanks for posting.

I think I might be more excited about the notion of riding two abreast than the long awaited Idaho Stop. Sure would be nice for errands with kids if we didn’t have to go single file!

[peterw_diy]

Here’s my pizza setup, which I think would work. I cut a coroplast yard sign to large pizza box size (those are medium pies in the bags in the photo) and cut four slits so that I can attach it to my rack with some nylon straps and buckles I had lying around. Pizza boxes go on top, usually inside foil insulation bags as you see here, and are held in place by a cheap motorcycle cargo net like what LhasaCM suggested. I moved two of the six hooks on the net so that it hooks on each of the four sides.

[peterw_diy]

@ImaCynic 201848 wrote:

The minimal tools you will need for wheel building is good bench truing stand, a wheel dish tool, and spoke wrenches.

Minimal tool is some kind of spoke wrench. A bike frame, especially one with rim brakes, is adequate for truing and dishing. Heck, for truing I have often found a frame to be more reliable than variable width truing stands.

[peterw_diy]

@CaseyKane50 201831 wrote:

That was reported to the city yesterday.
…
When I rode through this morning around 10, it had been cleaned up.

Has there been any talk about building some protection there? IMO the City has done better the last couple years about keeping this troublesome section clear, but it seems to be an idea place for either a wall to reduce sediment flow over the trail or replacing that segment with a bridge under the RR bridge.

[peterw_diy]

@ginacico 200342 wrote:

If you ride long descents, heat from friction becomes the real danger (rims heat up and the tire explodes). Around here that shouldn’t be a problem.

If it’s a 1971 Schwinn Paramount, surely it has an Arai drag brake controlled by a friction shift lever, no?

If not, you could contact the nice folks at Tandems East…

[peterw_diy]

@drevil 200340 wrote:

CANTILEVER PADS? What is this, the 70s?

I usually just get salmon flavored Kool Stops for my V-brake and canti brakes. Remember that there are threaded and straight post styles, so make sure to get the appropriate one. I prefer the thin-line ones because they have more clearance (height-wise) on the rim: https://www.jensonusa.com/Brake-Pads?brand=Kool-Stop

+1 on salmon Kool Stops. For years I have bought only these for all my rim brake setups, including not just my commuter’s cantis but also the V brakes on the longtail that keep me and my passengers safe when barrelling down the few hills we ride. They work great,** are generally quiet, and seem not too harsh on the rims.***

** significantly less great when coated in ice, thank you, BAFS.

*** The kids suffer with whatever pads their bikes ship with, as they don’t put in that many miles. But for my personal bikes I replace the rim brake pads immediately, and toss the factory pads in my gear box or give ’em to the co-op. (In addition to V and canti, you can get inserts for road brake calipers.)

[peterw_diy]

Good news, bad news.

Good news: we should be OK for next season.

Bad news: the world’s second most most valuable company just bought the weather data source for BAFS and announced it’ll shut down the API.

https://blog.darksky.net/dark-sky-has-a-new-home/

Quote:

“Today we have some important and exciting news to share: Dark Sky has joined Apple.
…
“API

“Our API service for existing customers is not changing today, but we will no longer accept new signups. The API will continue to function through the end of 2021.”

[peterw_diy]

@mstone 198977 wrote:

well, if you’re dropping a bike somewhere that you’re the only person likely to use it you’ve gone from “bikeshare” to “personal bike”.

I haven’t seen this mentioned elsewhere on the forum, but I have heard that Lyft/Motivate have proposed to the regional jurisdiction owners that the “dockless” model
– not allow dockless parking more than 0.25 mile from a traditional CaBi station
– charge the user an extra fee for parking dockless

I’ve heard that Alexandria (staff? Council? I don’t recall which) have asked for a larger dockless radius (0.5 mi?), in hopes that a larger radius might help effectively increase the geographic reach and demographic equity of the system.

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