[Vicegrip]

@rcannon100 178448 wrote:

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The fun bunch! Good seeing good folks.

Not so good not seeing the BTWD T shirts…..

[Vicegrip]

@SolarBikeCar 178372 wrote:

I wish I could post about a topic without others trying to hijack it into a conversation about me. At least this reply illustrates how different observers can have different viewpoints on what happened which is relevant to the topic.

First my tricycle has only one rear wheel so I suspect you meant that I dip one of my front wheels into the path. I do this when the oncoming traffic is walking or weaving on my side of the yellow line and I want to give them several feet of clearance. Of course if my wheel is in the bridle path I can’t be taking my half out of the middle of the road so your allegation is inconsistent. I do move to the left when passing walkers especially if they have a pet even if they are walking off the path so maybe you mistaken that as riding down the middle. When my lane is clear I try to ride so the left tire track is 1 foot to the right of the yellow line.

But enough about me. If one’s arm is 2 feet and another foot for wrist and fingers then passing cycles have to be pretty close for one to clothesline another with enough force to swipe them off the bike. Or, the contact is just a touch because otherwise the wrist and fingers would be broken if one hit a helmet at 30mph with a stiff hand.

The reason I responded to your post at all was your striking dismissal of contact between riders.
Secondary as point about relevance is only that you, as a habit, drive your electric car dead center of the trail as a norm and only move over when you see oncoming traffic. You dip a wheel into the bridal path as you move out of the other lane to give way to oncoming traffic.

It is not about you. You have shown quite well in past posts here, your blog and on the trail activities how you consider yourself.

[Vicegrip]

I tried one for a short ride so this opinion is based on that only. I was curious to see how it rode and felt. I found it to be heavy and took more effort to go the same distance a bike could. It is a good bit less maneuverable than a bike but not unsafe or ponderous. Somewhere between a standard diamond frame bike and a tandem bike. I did not bomb down any big hills to test the high speed handling. You ride standing bolt upright and it has a VERY large wind signature. There was a normal slight breeze the day I tried one and the return lap was into the wind. The extra effort was considerably more than the same headwind on a bike. If you ride enough you learn that the wind and the amount of aero drag you have makes a big difference in the effort going from here to there. They also take up a good size footprint when parked or stored away. My take away was only get one if for some physical reason you could not ride a bike.

[Vicegrip]

@SolarBikeCar 178364 wrote:

Can you explain your reasoning? If I pass someone who is biking aggressively in my lane and there is a small amount of contact I would focus on maintaining direction and control. Looking back isn’t on my todo list for at least a few seconds if at all especially if the traffic is heavy. So why would you expect the east bounder to even know there was an accident, let alone that it was serious? Turning around and heading back toward the westbound cyclist could be perceived as escalating an otherwise mild altercation especially if the east bound cyclist sees any mishap as the fault of the west bounder’s bad riding.

“small amount of contact”?
Why am I not surprised. ANY contact is reason to stop and communicate with the other rider. There is no “small” In this case a quick look back would have shown a rider down.

BTW. I have ridden behind you plenty of times and you drive your electric car in the middle of both lanes. You have the habit of dipping one of the rear wheels into the bridal lane to let oncoming traffic proceed in their own lane. You take your 1/2 in the middle as the norm.

[Vicegrip]

Well, were you OK?

[Vicegrip]

I don’t see any cuttin’ or grindin’ on your well thought out plans. :confused:

Why do I keep thinking that our kids are going to grow up, move out and never look at a bike again….

And Yes, Darby looks like a fun dog for a big fun dog family.

[Vicegrip]

Oh, I have already done early recon on the roof.:eek: Drains and scuppers full of tree trash. Dear Daughter and a rake to the rescue for that issue.

A quick no tools look…. RTU #2 has pulled main fuses (bad but not unexpected) and RTU #1 looking as promising as expect as a 1995 vintage RTU to be. On the good side both units are 2 compressor systems and I hope to salvage at least 2 of the 4. Even if the control systems are shot if any of the compressor loops are good and I can get the air handlers up the rest can be rewired with a simple analog setup. What do you want guess the air filters look like? I bet we can knit a dog from each filter.

Stella says. “Nice thread hijack! Back to bikes please.[ATTACH=CONFIG]17860[/ATTACH]”

[Vicegrip]

He does. But…. He does not work on Ti bikes. Ti is a love / hate metal for me. I love to work with it on some things but not bikes as I need to be able to sleep at night. It is not hard to weld with the right equipment and methods. Without it is unpossible. Ti likes to crack through threads and in other places without easily identifiable reason at the home shop level. Ti is more prone to grain issues and you simply can’t “see” the grain and draw of the tubing or castings. Ti has a bit of “I am pretty” mean alloyed into it. It will crack just because. “Oh, I am you fave frame and you waited for 14 months to get me? You just check out my BB in 13 months….”

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 177956 wrote:

Every now and then an idea that seems clever at the time turns out to be really dumb. This is an example.

The idea of using 359-ETRTO tires made sense as an in-between step for the 20″ bike. HOWEVER, I should have done a little measuring and a little more research on tire availability. The largest affordable tires were the Comets and they are still only like 32mm. This has the bike riding *way* too low — the crankarms/pedals would be very close to the ground just riding in a straight line, not to mention turning …

I rather doubt anyone out there is thinking right now “if only I had some disc-brake, 130QR, 359 wheels”, so I’ll figure out something else to do with the parts. Too bad about the gold spokes …. ! Lesson learned: when you’re going rogue, you might want to consider compatibility with all of the frame’s dimensions.

Metal frames are not cast in stone. They can be modified. Dropout to yoke distance can be changed, rear dropouts can almost magically move a bit away from the BB and more. Seat tubes can become shorter and lift BBs up too. I know a guy….

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 177956 wrote:

Every now and then an idea that seems clever at the time turns out to be really dumb. This is an example.

The idea of using 359-ETRTO tires made sense as an in-between step for the 20″ bike. HOWEVER, I should have done a little measuring and a little more research on tire availability. The largest affordable tires were the Comets and they are still only like 32mm. This has the bike riding *way* too low — the crankarms/pedals would be very close to the ground just riding in a straight line, not to mention turning …

I rather doubt anyone out there is thinking right now “if only I had some disc-brake, 130QR, 359 wheels”, so I’ll figure out something else to do with the parts. Too bad about the gold spokes …. ! Lesson learned: when you’re going rogue, you might want to consider compatibility with all of the frame’s dimensions.

Metal frames are not cast in stone. They can be modified. Dropout to yoke distance can be changed, rear dropouts can almost magically move a bit away from the BB and more. Seat tubes can become shorter and lift BBs up too. I know a guy….

[Vicegrip]

Pull the pin first and you only need to be close.

[Vicegrip]

@ian74 177759 wrote:

I used to do this too, but now I just throw CO2 cannisters at cyclists parked on the sides of the trail as I rocket past them.

Toss N2O canisters and make a smile!

[Vicegrip]

Sunny afternoon, hammock, calm breeze, dappled light, good book and a pup. Life is good for the Dear Daughter and the pup. (who opened her eyes just as I took the shot.) Stella put her front feet in the hammock and spent 30 seconds quietly trying to work out how to get the rest of herself in. Dear Daughter hauled her up and in and went back to her book. Stella got her sea legs while checking the place out then plopped on her back and went to sleep. [ATTACH=CONFIG]17834[/ATTACH]

[Vicegrip]

Snuggle time. To put the 11 week old “Puppy” into perspective the guy in the background is a Big 85 pound Boxer.

Based on my experience in getting a puppy I say everyone needs to ask Bob “R U OK?

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[Vicegrip]

Simple fix. Move the cassette to the middle of the hub. Lots of room there…..

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