Dr Ferrari's Camper Van (off-topic discussion)

G rock

just placed an order for sunglasses...kiss the sunshine goodbye everyone

triggermortis

Just found my Rose bikes catalogue destroyed all over the garden. Must have been left outside by the postman and next doors Jack Russell pup - which is half the size and weight of this book - has massacred it.

buffalo

Idioteque wrote: »

Cycling in towards Dun Laoghaire and traffic is fairly heavy. Guy in his late 40's or so on his old garden shed mountain bike is a bit all over the place on the road but happy as larry on this sunny day.
A car comes along side him and he over reacts and pulls up onto the adjacent footpath and shouts "Yeah, DRIVING in just to get your SALAD"....

I was in stitches

I had a very eloquent gentleman on Dorset Street (srsly, no sarcasm) ask me if I was in the Tour de France while I was trackstanding at a red light. He then proceeded to tell me that track standing was bad for the chain, but I was very acrobatic. Then he took off. Such a lovely start to the day!

RobFowl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aizzH_JMU3c

buffalo

There was a name being called over the PA in Skerries yesterday, and I knew I recognised it, but couldn't quite place why the name was significant. Took me a while to realise it was you RobFowl! Hope all was well in the end!

RobFowl

buffalo wrote: »

Hope all was well in the end!

It was, potentially nasty and a stupid accident but all ok

buffalo

RobFowl wrote: »

It was, potentially nasty and a stupid accident but all ok

Was that the incident with the champagne cork? Or does your hippopotamus oath forbid you from talking about it?

Also, I just remembered my €2.50 e/w bet on Hesjedal to win the Giro. \o/

RobFowl

buffalo wrote: »

Was that the incident with the champagne cork? Or does your hippopotamus oath forbid you from talking about it?

Also, I just remembered my €2.50 e/w bet on Hesjedal to win the Giro. \o/

Twas but all ok

Beasty

RobFowl wrote: »

Twas but all ok

The Men of Ras will have their little pranks.

Did you have to get it surgically removed Rob?

tomasrojo

Gone with the Wind really was a monster hit. Still the biggest-grossing movie in US history, adjusting for inflation.
http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

Surprised to see Heaven Can Wait made the top 200, though it's a good movie. No sign of Taffin though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXcgt6l_LcA

tomasrojo

Maybe if this had been available to audiences at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzlJmr9oqCU

Plastik

My LBS. It rocks. Needed a new big ring fairly urgently, popped in this evening and they changed it there and then, no problem.

Cycleplus in Greystones, two big thumbs up!

awec

Does anyone else here have a windows phone and use mapmyride?

Why does it suck so much compared to the iphone version?

ednwireland

lets make our bikes as aero as possible then

manafana

the electronic shifting has been forced onto some of the team it seems, dont see the point for pro teams, they dont need it, their bikes are maintained daily, and relying on battery wouldnt be my cup of tea if i was a team leader.

Mycroft H

Any one see a broken down green renault at the hell fire club today?

RobFowl

manafana wrote: »

the electronic shifting has been forced onto some of the team it seems, dont see the point for pro teams, they dont need it, their bikes are maintained daily, and relying on battery wouldnt be my cup of tea if i was a team leader.

Agree I really don't get the point of electronic shifting, it's not as it if hard to change gears as it is !!!!

manafana

RobFowl wrote: »

Agree I really don't get the point of electronic shifting, it's not as it if hard to change gears as it is !!!!

iv spoken to two shop owners about electronic shifting, his point for not pushing it was two fold. Didn't think it was worth increased cost, and its been sold as easier to maintain for people who know jack all about bikes, so people be less likely visit the bike shop and buy few bits too.

The battery packs look very out place, and id rather rely on cable, electronic braking anyone?

seamus

manafana wrote: »

The battery packs look very out place, and id rather rely on cable, electronic braking anyone?

It's been done. Reported that the electronic brakes were guaranteed to only fail to respond three times in every trillion pulls of the lever.

You could have a single set for your entire life, and pass them onto your children and their grandchildren and they'd never miss a beat. Theoretically.

manafana

seamus wrote: »

It's been done. Reported that the electronic brakes were guaranteed to only fail to respond once in every million pulls of the lever.

You could have a single set for your entire life and they'd never miss a beat. Theoretically.

what happens when the battery goes thou?

DirkVoodoo

manafana wrote: »

what happens when the battery goes thou?

What happens if a brake cable snaps?
What happens if your tyre blows out?
What happens if that funny looking sheep giving you the evil eye decides to bolt out in front of your bike before you reach the bottom of the descent?

seamus

manafana wrote: »

what happens when the battery goes thou?

As Dirk points out, all systems have single points of failure and a cable isn't necessarily more reliable than a battery. Unfortunately modern consumer electronics have made us quite wary of this stuff.

The one major benefit that such a braking system could have over traditional systems is the implementation of a dead man's switch which automatically applies the brakes (say at 50%) if there's a failure in any part of the system.

It could also operate as an anti theft device which locked the brakes when you remove a key.

AIR-AUSSIE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJXKCoxMLnU

Not that I know all that much about this type of stuff but the points made (although perhaps too enthusiastically) in this video seem valid. Especially around the 1:30 mark.

I'm sure eventually the batteries will be built into the frames themselves with removable sections for access to replace it etc.

If they can keep lowering the price of this equipment and I continue to enjoy cycling I would certainly be looking to get it on my next bike. If its true that it doesn't need adjustment ever unless you change a the wheel etc. that would be very handy.

seamus

The next logical move is to go for smaller batteries and incorporate a small induction coil into the bottom bracket which takes a small amount of power from the cranks to trickle charge the smaller battery. You don't change gears that often, so the tiny amount of energy taken from the pedal rotation may offset the reduction in weight of a smaller battery.
The battery on its own may only have a couple of hours on a full charge, but will be continually recharged by the moving cranks.

cdaly_

Sure you could probably do it with a crank coil and a capacitor thus eliminating issues of battery life etc.

seamus

How would you change gear on/after a long descent?

Holyboy

Apparently as it trickles down to the comfort range in the future it will be run off the dynamo hub, not exactly an option for road bikes though!

Jawgap

seamus wrote: »

......
The one major benefit that such a braking system could have over traditional systems is the implementation of a dead man's switch which automatically applies the brakes (say at 50%) if there's a failure in any part of the system.

........

So if a component fails your stuck with a bike with serious brake rub - you just know that's not going to happen when you're anywhere near civilisation:)

What about wireless systems - I see there's been some hacks of the Di2 set up to make it wireless. Some hacks have also involved internally locating the battery and better cable routing.

cdaly_

seamus wrote: »

How would you change gear on/after a long descent?

Click the lever and pedal like bejaysus. Sure that's the reverse of what I usually do...






The capacitor should hold enough charge for a change or two without pedalling and would recharge in short order.

seamus

Jawgap wrote: »

So if a component fails your stuck with a bike with serious brake rub - you just know that's not going to happen when you're anywhere near civilisation:)

Only if your brakes fail
But once it has stopped you, you have the option of releasing the brake (as you would do to release the wheel) and relying on the other one to take you home. I would rather that the bike automatically applied the brakes no matter where I was rather than finding out approaching the next bend @ 60km/h that I've got no front brake