Derf
-
Posts
1,646 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Blogs
Gallery
Downloads
Store
Events
Profiles
Forums
Posts posted by Derf
-
-
1. Will these go on sale at Thanksgiving (Prior usually has a Turkey Day sale around that time)? If so, I'll wait until then to order.
Don't forget, Prior is Canadian and Canadian Thanksgiving is about a month earlier than American Thanksgiving (unless they do it during the American one).
-
Well, before the 29er, I had the terminal rear brake technique, but then I jumped into discs and obviously the brakes are so powerful the rear only skids.
So I've gotten very good downhill on the front brakes, I even recovered from a front wheel skid (and pooped myself in the process!)
I hadn't used the rear brakes much at all, so I decided to do a run exclusively on them to get a feel for skids and handling.
Any clue why they don't use discs on road bikes?
Is it because the spokes can't take the leverage? Weight? Or are caliper brakes better when they're clean?
In a normal braking situation (on and off road), the front brakes does 70% of the work. I can't confirm this number, but I know it's something like that. I too had some front wheel skid, and yes, it can be scary.
As for road bikes, I think it is a weight issue as disk brakes are heavier than regular brakes. You see them on some touring bikes and some hybrids now too. The UCI banned the use of disk brakes in Cyclocross. I'm in the process of shopping for a new commuting bike (performance hybrid) and I'm thinking about getting one with disk brakes, but I don't know if it is worth the extra weight and money for city riding.
-
I have a real problem with all the people who can't drive a truck but drive SUVs as well, but, puhleeze, a Toyota FJ-40 is a big toy.
My Expedition (check the spelling) is currently towing our 25 foot long camper thru southern CO and, soon, SE Utah.
Granted, it is not my daily driver...
$10/gallon gas will ultimately mean nothing unless a meaningful alternative to the internal combustion engine is developed. I remember the protests when gas hit $3 transiently before going back to to $2. And this is nothing compared to 30 years ago.
Americans are going to drive. If you are not living in an area of dense population and, in that scenario, public transportation is exceedingly expensive to a community, you are going to drive. The American job market is moving south and west and there's little public transportation in these areas for the aforementioned reason. And, please, save your Prius crap. The batteries they use make up for whatever gas savings you think you are gaining now-check back with us in 4 years when you need to replace the batteries. Oops, you'll probably be buying a new one-f*ck the environment, right?
People driving trucks is indeed a problem. Most don't understand the principles of inertia and center of gravity and lots don't realize that what they drive is big and that the blindspots are proportionnaly bigger.
The goal of driving a Prius is not saving money, it's to pollute less while driving a car. With the price of Nickel, the batteries are recycled. The problem is not the internal combustion engine, electric cars won't solve the problems, hydrogen even less likely; the problem is the dependence to the car (and the car oriented development).
Here's some easy reading for you... ENERGY OUTLOOK.Canadian exports to the US are linked to production through NAFTA. NAFTA requires that Canada export a large percentage of its natural gas production to the US. I believe we will soon (within a few years?) become an importing country with regard to NG. Strange. We'll have to continue to export and yet we'll have to import to meet our own domestic requirements.
The way this is going, we're likely to end up with those NG terminals here in Québec. There are 2 projects: Cacouna and Rabaska. And there are lots of people opposed to them. I didn't think they were related to the oil sands.
I read a book a while back that is particularly relevant to this discussion - "A Short History of Progress" by Ronald Wright. I wish I could find it and reread it but I must've loaned it out.I remember this - Wright says that the idea that technology and progress is the answer to all of the the world's ills is a recent one - a Victorian one. Progess, at first, seems to make life easier but it eventually reaches a stage where it threatens us. He calls it the "progress trap.".
Wright argues that technology will not save us. A complete, fundamental change in the way we live is the only answer.
An interesting read. It makes you think twice about "advancements" like alternative fuels which, if successful, will simply perpetuate our lifestyle of over-consumption.
As always, your comments are among the most insightful that I read on Bomber.
I saw it last weekend, very interesting, worth watching it.
-
Because there is a pressing need for public transportation doesn't mean it will happen. There seems to be a pressing need for affordable medicare in the U.S. and I don't see anything being done about it.
Exactly. Lobbies. The insurance lobby is too powerful to let the government give away free healthcare like other countries do. The car and oil lobbies are too powerful to let the cities be developed around public transit, unless they can be part of it (i.e. make money off it).
Do you think, in the U.S., with the underlying resistance to new taxes, that Joe Middle America is going to be okay with allocating his tax dollars towards transit? No, public transit is for them other folk. Do you think he's going to easily give up his truck which he equates with personal freedom? Ain't gonna happen.Individualism. Not much can be done about it. Most people (I think) understand the benefits of taxes and social measures, but lots don't believe in it because if they are well and succeed, other poeple just need to do the same when, in reality, it is not always possible.
Instead, we'll see increased pressure to reduce gasoline taxes and an increased effort to "stabilize" the supply of oil. Already, Bush wants to end the ban on off-shore drilling. Who knows, maybe the next Prez will find evidence of Scuds in Alberta and launch an effort to liberate Albertans from the clutches of the evil socialists in Ottawa.Isn't there an agreement between the 2 countries that forces Canada to supply a big part of it's production for the US? So this has already happened, but on paper.
-
I bike to work 2 or 3 days a week (4 days/week), even if my new job is 20 km from home. I changed my driving habit, my gas consumption went fom 9-10 L/100km to ~7 L/100km, I drive around 7000-8000 km per year and fill my car once every 3 weeks. I don't care much about gas price.
-
When it comes down to Quebec history, I'm sure wikipedia is the textbook of choice in classrooms nowadays... must by why kids are so confused ! ;)
Quickest reference when reading forums, too lazy to find an accurate one.
-
I saw it a couple of years ago, great movie! I loved it so much, I bought the DVD (single disc edition).
My personal favorite is The End of Suburbia. A shortened version (52 minutes) is available on YouTube here:
-
I would say go cycling, but cycling in the rain sucks.
-
Obligatory Wikipedia reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_me_souviens
Even there, it's not clear.
-
- Ride more often. I only went riding once last season. This year I only work 4 days a week (one day left for snowboarding) and I work next to a small ski hill that is open on evenings (go riding directly after work).
- Install springs on my Catek's heel bail.
- If I ride enough, get an all mountain board.
- Ride more often. I only went riding once last season. This year I only work 4 days a week (one day left for snowboarding) and I work next to a small ski hill that is open on evenings (go riding directly after work).
-
utahcarver, PSR could probably be added to that list of voluntary departure.
-
Congrats!
-
I wasn't sure about calling it a recorder since English is not my main language (I speak French). In French, we call it a "flûte à bec", so that's why I called it a flute. I really hated playing it in my obligatory music course in high school. My father felt bad when he spoke to the teatcher and told her he was a professional musician.
About an aluminium recorder, I don't know. I know the material changes the sound of instruments, especially stringed instruments since these instruments rely on the resonance of the body to make a sound, but I don't know how it would affect a wind instrument.
My father was given recently an old trumpet by someone. Before playing keyboards, he played the trumpet in his high school marching band. He says he needs to fix or clean the pistons so it sounds good again.
-
I played some electric bass also. I learned by myself with my high school music book (for the flute, wikipedia calls it a recorder) and some bass tablature. I was not good, but I enjoyed it. My musical theory is absent.
My father, on the other hand, was a professional musician for over twenty years until 1980 (he played piano, synth, organ, keyboards). He started playing music again when he retired five years ago. He knows a lot regarding music theory and arrangements. It's hard for him to find some music he likes because he feels everything he hears is the same and has been done before (at least in popular music). He's not into classical music, more into jazz.
-
I never rode one, but another vote goes for the Kona Jake or Jake the Snake.
-
I don't visit often these days, maybe once every one or two weeks (compared to once or twice a day a while ago), since I (almost) didn't snowboard this winter (lost some interest). I came here today and read this thread. Wow. Just wow. What can I say. This is the internet.
I've never had issues with D-Sub, either by forum or email. His sense of humor can be hard to get, but I leaned how to (I think...). I don't know what got exchanged outside of the forum, but Fin and the others must have had a reason.
As for his postcount, he said it a million times, his work (or at least what he did for income) involved being in front of the computer all day, and he posted pretty much everything he thought about, unlike me where I often write something and don't post because I consider it's not worth posting and won't bring anything constructive.
He will be missed, but there are plenty of loudmouth here anyways, old and new, so flame on. Just respect the absent.
When discussions get heated (bans, guns, stuff like that), I post after reading all posts in the thread, then the thread dies off. Either it's the effect I have or it's the moment when I choose to post. Anyway, it should mean this thread wiull die soon.
-
Nice! Looks like a lot of fun too! I have a good hill where I live, there's even an annual street luge/long board/other gravity sports race each year.
-
I hope for your co-workers that there's a shower at work.
I change at work and I don't sweat that much. I don't pedal at my maximum pace as I want to have some energy left to work.;)
-
The video quality of the trailer is really awesome, the best I've seen, great work!
-
Why so many gasoline burning activities? I thought we were all eco friendly? Harness the wind or get into another gravity powered sport.
I started biking to work for my new job: 20 km from home instead of 13 km for the old one. I work 4 days/week and bike for 2 days of those. For the other 2 days, I take my car but I'm trying to get the lowest consumption I can get with some (safe) hypermiling techniques. Driving at 90 km/h instead of 100 km/h can save me around 25% in gas consumption.
-
Habs are out as of tonight, I won't watch much hockey in the next weeks.
-
Hand made in the province of Québec!
-
I think so. I spotted it while in Honolulu and hopped on it for the photo. Note the cast on the right hand. The week before I had experienced a UPD (UnPlanned Dismount) from one of my unicycles and broke the hand. Had to have three pins inserted.
Ouch, I wish you a fast and good recovery.
-
Those police goons will never cease to amaze me! I you got a ticket for speeding in a car, I would say "good for you, you deserve it". But speeding on a bicycle? That is just plain stupid on their part. If you didn't have an odometer, how would you know? You could easily contest it. If you have one, you could say it was not calibrated.
I'm a bicycle militant, and some things I read just make me angry. Policemen always pick on the weakest: pedestrians and cyclist. it's not the cyclists that are dangerous on the streets and they don't cause the death of thousands of people each year.
Looking for a new commuting bicycle
in The Lodge
Posted
Hi all,
I know there are a couple of cyclists here. I've been riding a mountain bike outfited with road tires for more than 10 years for commuting. I rode an old Trek until 2004 when I got a Giant to replace it. I feel I made a wrong decision in getting a mountain bike again, so now I am getting something more adapted to commuting.
I decided to go with a performance hybrid bicycle and I'm not sure with which one to go. My budget is around 800-900$CDN. I was thinking about disk brakes, but I'm not sure if it's worth the price and weight for city/road riding. I ride about 3000+ km per year and my daily commute is 40 km (2x 20 km).
The most interesting bikes I have found up to now are the Trek Soho 1.0 and 3.0 and the Jamis Coda Sport. The Jamis is very interesting because it is one of the few bikes with a steel frame (and I like steel frames).
Any suggestions or recommendations?
Thanks!