HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jrdodd@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: A friend went down
Date: 22 Dec 92 11:45:25 +1300
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Hi,  with all this talk I've just posted a plea for more careful driving
in rec.autos.driving.  It's carefully worded and not intended to cause any
flamewar or anything,  so hopefully it might do some good.  Then again,
from reading some of the other posts in the group it's not made up of your 
typical driving idiots.  worth a try.

Jonathan.

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: mcobb@scott.skidmore.edu (mary cobb)
Subject: New brakes and shifters
Organization: Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 15:08:34 GMT

I am looking for recommendations on new brakes and shifters.  Calling them
shifters gives me away as a novice in bicycling, but there's nothing wrong
with that.  =)  Anyway, I currently have Chang-Star brakes and Shimano
'shifters'.  I have used them every morning for about 3 years on my paper
route, and they're getting a bit old.  (I've replaced parts on them here
and there a few times: cables, etc.).  I would appreciate advice on brands
or types of things to look for for brakes and "shifters".  Thanks!
 
Eric
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech,aus.bicycles
From: pardo@cs.washington.edu (David Keppel)
Subject: Re: Automatic transmissions for bikes
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 92 07:06:34 GMT

>rkd@pt.com (Ray Downes) writes:
>>[Many casual riders rarely shift well, using just 3-4 gears.]

In article <tommy.725663704@hoodlum> tommy@boole.att.com writes:
>[Solvable!  Linkage on a dept. store bike shifted front & rear.]

If we're only worried about the casual riders, it's even easier than
that, but generally doesn't work for *marketing* reasons rather than
technical reasons.

Use just a rear derailleur.

11-13-16-19-23-28-34 gives more than a 3:1 range (30" to 100") with
modest steps between gears, reshuffle cogs to suit your favorite gaps.
Compared to a stock gearing setup it weighs less, has fewer things to
break, costs less, shifts passably under load, is never confusing
(move the lever that way for harder gears, this way for easier gears),
doesn't have "illegal" gear combinations, can be built using existing
freewheels and freehubs ... and people won't sell it.

I've been pushing this kind of gearing for over a decade and bike shop
owners, managers, and floor people alike say "It wouldn't sell."  If
they aren't willing to sell it, it won't sell.

		;-D oN  ( Mark It Place )  Pardo
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech,aus.bicycles
From: rkd@pt.com (Ray Downes)
Subject: Re: Automatic transmissions for bikes
Organization: Performance Technologies, Incorporated
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 13:13:45 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.070634.15469@beaver.cs.washington.edu> pardo@cs.washington.edu (David Keppel) writes:
>>rkd@pt.com (Ray Downes) writes:
>>>[Many casual riders rarely shift well, using just 3-4 gears.]
>
>In article <tommy.725663704@hoodlum> tommy@boole.att.com writes:
>>[Solvable!  Linkage on a dept. store bike shifted front & rear.]
>
>If we're only worried about the casual riders, it's even easier than
>that, but generally doesn't work for *marketing* reasons rather than
>technical reasons.
>
>Use just a rear derailleur.
>
>11-13-16-19-23-28-34 gives more than a 3:1 range (30" to 100") with
>modest steps between gears, reshuffle cogs to suit your favorite gaps.

Until recently this is the way I had my road bike set up, 12-28 7 speed
freehub to a single 44 chainring (on an ancient NR crank), hung on a
long chainstay Trek. Used it for 11 years ... Why did I switch to a
triple a week ago? I found (after buying a MTB) that I missed the fine
increments AND wanted more range.
-- 
Ray Downes, Performance Technologies Incorporated		rkd@pt.com
315 Science Parkway, Rochester, New York 14620		  
Voice - (716) 256-0200, FAX (716) 256-0791
Xref: sparky rec.bicycles.misc:1808 rec.bicycles.tech:2872
From: whit@carson.u.washington.edu (John Whitmore)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc,rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Automatic transmissions for bikes
Date: 31 Dec 1992 03:08:20 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: carson.u.washington.edu

In article <1992Dec29.224506.21239@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca> marc@gauss.math.mcgill.c\
a (Marc Sokolowski) writes:
>In article <1992Dec28.193402.25148@hpcvusn.cv.hp.com> harry@cv.hp.com (Harry P\
hinney) writes:

>>The transmission will have to be prescient.  It must know how long a
>>hill is, whether it is about to steepen, whether you intend to start
>>sprinting, how hard you wish to ride, your current state of fatigue,
>>etc.
>>
>       Not quite true. Future can be sometimes deducted from the past.
>Sensors can monitor the load on the pedals and the response of the terrain,
>and immediate action taken for optimal transfer.

        I have an automatic shifter.  It is a 'Bike-O-Matic'
gizmo, and works by simple tension sensing (i.e. no electrical
parts, purely mechanical).  It actually worked pretty
well (when clean, anyhow), but I removed it from the
old commuter bike some months ago.

        It didn't downshift as fast as one brakes when
reaching an intersection, SO the departure from an intersection
would normally be at highest gear, only downshifting after
two or three strokes (and then, of course, it would
shift UP whenever I decided to rest my legs... because
there wasn't enough chain tension, right?).

        The behavior of an acceptable auto transmission would
have to include downshifting even when the pedals are not turning,
which is not consistent with standard gearing.

        One also requires means for the user to change the
load he is working at (people are not machines, and should
not be treated as such).  When the plain old derailleurs
and chains are clean and well-adjusted, they do this just
fine.

        On a commuter bike, the autoshift was a nuisance; on
a hilly road trip, it would have been less obnoxious, and
I would have got quite a fine aerobic workout ('cuz if
you get lazy, it shifts up on ya).  It DID shift at the
correct times, and didn't give me any significant mechanical
trouble.  I liked it, except for the stop-and-start problem.

        John Whitmore


Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: ezag637@chpc.utexas.edu (Steve Manifold)
Subject: Re: Drafting etiquette?
Organization: The University of Texas System CHPC
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 92 14:38:24 GMT

In article <4531@sicsun.epfl.ch>, fraser@icphp1.epfl.ch writes:
> 
>  While people are on the subject of drafting etiquette-
> 	As a European who cycled a fair bit during two months in Boston, I
> should like to make the following remarks:
> 	(i) when passing serious-looking cyclists coming in the other
> direction, I always greeted them somehow, a nod of the head, (polite)
> gesture of the hand, wave etc, or shouted "Hi". I was singularly ignored
> in 95% of the cases. In Europe it's the 5% that don't acknowledge. Is there
> no "camaraderie" in the US (or just Boston)? All these cyclists saw me,
> they were out training/ridind but not head-down hell-for-leather.

Having lived in various parts of the US as well as Europe and Japan, I have
noticed that friendliness to strangers varies quite a bit from region to re-
gion.  Here in Texas I've noticed a higher frequency of greetings among
cyclists than in other places.  I wonder if the weather has something to do
with it.  The unfriendliest people (at least outwardly) I've met were in
cold, rainy climates.

-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
Steve Manifold                                              University of Texas 
ezag637@hermes.chpc.utexas.edu                           College of Engineering
tasc637@crovax.cem.utexas.edu                       Center for Electromechanics
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: H.ZIERKE@BI-LINK.owl.de (Hans-Joachim Zierke)
Organization: Hans-Joachim Zierke - Private Site in Berlin
Subject: Re: Need to read : Are you an idiot?
Date: Fri, 01 Jan 93 13:00:00 +0100
X-Mailer: CrossPoint v2.1 R/211
X-Gateway: ZCONNECT UI bi-link.owl.de [RFC/Connect IIIb DOS v0.46]


Hello John Coward!


In Germany, the first "bicycle streets" were established in a few towns. 
These streets were open to cars in the past, now cardrivers may use
it as long as they behave, drive slowly and do not disturb the cyclists.

Watch out for that idiots!




Ciao
Hajo

--
Hans-Joachim Zierke  ##  Tel.: +49-30 / 394 8445  ##  Fax: +49-30 / 394 8447
                         h.zierke@bi-link.owl.de
From: jrdodd@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: Need to read : Are you an idiot?
Date: 31 Dec 92 10:03:06 +1300
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand


Hey,  I happen to *LIKE* insane rush-hour cycling!  Why go out in the wap-waps
for some death-defying action when you can practice your sprints, 
track-stands,  braking and that cyclists' sixth-sense in 5pm traffic?

Methinks John's complaints were written on his lap-top whilst in a traffic jam
and hence suffering the normal motorist's problems of claustrophobia,  pent-up
aggression and complete lack of control.

Jonathan,
Hamilton.

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: gsurbeck@eng.umd.edu (Gregory D. Surbeck)
Subject: Re: Audible greetings (was)Re: Drafting etiquette?
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 92 01:13:01 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park

I think, to an extent, people's friendliness is determined by what
type of group you fall into.  A group of pedestrians, in my experience
both running and cycling, as well as a single female are less likely
to acknowledge other people.  In cycling, people's speeds vary so much
that I have little more time than to wave, but in running, I find that
other single male runners tend to be friendlier (especially when your
pace closely matches theirs) than anyone else.  Race does not seem to
matter.
	I think amount of friendliness varies inversely with speed.
The faster (arguably the "more serious") someone is, the less friendly
he is.  One time I was on my mountain bike and two roadies whipped
past me.  I accelerated to their speed (I could get to it, but
couldn't sustain it as long as they could probably) and said hi, the
person gave me a really ugly glare.  So I passed the person.  Then I
had to pull off the road with my riding partner.
	What about roadies?  Does anyone think roadies are more or
less friendly than mtn bikers.  This question comes in response to a
recent editorial in a (I think _Bicycling_) magazine.
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: wilde@cs.colorado.edu (Nick Wilde)
Subject: Re: Is there hope (for car drivers) ?
Followup-To: rec.bicycles.misc
Organization: Just enough to get by...
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 18:41:47 GMT

In article <1992Dec24.104145.5849@osf.org>, david@postman.gr.osf.org (David
George) wrote:
> 
> In article <47900002@hpopd.pwd.hp.com>, apm@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Andrew Merritt) writes:
> 
> |> What makes you think the car drivers are not also breathing in the fumes?
> 
> Well for one thing the tendancy for cars now to be fitted with filtered
> air intakes.  This practise has even 'filtered' down to the Opel (GM) Astra
> and features in their advertising.  So now the drivers are even more
> insulated from the pollution they alone cause !
> 
> David.

I've always thought this is a major problem with automobiles - they're
too darn good at isolating the driver from the effects he/she has
on the world. 

I mean, as an automobile driver, you sit in a little glass enclosed
world - with soothing music at your fingertips, dehumidified/humidified,
cooled/heated air at your command, looking through tinted windows at
the scenery going by. It's really hard for a driver to think that
"little old me is really causing any noise/air pollution, etc..
After all I'm just one car." 

Its not until you get close to an automobile working at operating
speeds that you realize what dirty/noisy/dangerous beasts they
really are - a situation unfortunately few drivers get exposed to, 
as they get in the car in their driveway, roll up the windows, and
don't open the door/windows again until they're safely at rest in
a parking lot somewhere.

I think at drivers license renewal time everyone should be required
to spend an hour or two in an observation booth situated in the
middle of busy intersection somewhere - so you they can learn the very
real effects each and every automobile has on the world around it.

Either that, or auto manufacturer's should be required to stop isolating
the driver so much - maybe pump a little Carbon Monoxide into the
heating system, have a mike that picks up road noise and pipes it
back through the stereo :)

-Nick

------------------------------------------------------------------
      Nick Wilde         |  "The truth is rarely pure and
 wilde@cs.colorado.edu   |          never simple"  - Oscar Wilde
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: art30358@nusunix1.nus.sg (NG HWAI AUN)
Subject: HELP:  Hubset for cassette cogs
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 11:31:39 GMT


     I'm building a new set of wheels for my mountain bike and i ran
into a small problem.  Originally, I wanted a Ringle Bubba hubset with
Shimano Dura-Ace free wheels (I heard that fitting a Dura-Ace free-wheel
can be done for a Nuke Proof hubset, so I thought I might be possible
for the free wheel to be fitted onto a Ringle hubset).  However,
according to my mechanic, he says that it is not possible and since the
Ringle hubs can only use free wheels, I should perhaps consider Sachs
Aris free wheels instead.  Is he correct?  I seem to remember that it
should be possible at least according to a magazine I read.  I am on the
verge of abandoning this idea unless someone can enlighten me about this
problem.  
     I have an alternative though.  That is to use Shimano XTR or XT
hubs instead, and have  cassette cogs.  However according to the
magazines, the XTR would be much heavier than the Ringle/Dura-Ace
combination and I am reluctant to accept such a weight penalty.  Is
there any other alternative hubset that can accept XTR cassette cogs?
     Trouble is, I am caught in a quandry.  On one hand, the Ringle hubs
are much much lighter than XTR.  On the other, the Sach free wheel would
negate any weight lost by the lighter hubs.  Does any one have any
suggestions?  In the mean time, I'm checking out my area for a Nuke
Proof dealer (just in case, but I am reluctant to part with the extra
$$$ that Nuke Proof demands).
     Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: gsurbeck@eng.umd.edu (Gregory D. Surbeck)
Subject: Re: Drafting etiquette?
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 92 01:32:42 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park

	The best cyclists I have ever been with are experience
mountain bikers on recreational rides.  More than once, I have been
discouraged by trailing everyone else.  If I ever made a comment
suggesting that I leave, the experienced ones replied that if I didn't
keep going, I wouldn't get better.  People have hung back with me to
figure out what I could do better.  On this one very steep hill (which
I think I might actually try Sunday :-), I would take the alternate
route down.  I expected jeers and laughter, but got the opposite.
Someone was surprised that I actually considered that hill.  Made me
feel a lot better.
	Does anyone have any suggestions to encourage someone?  The
above story happened months ago, and I have improved, but I have a
friend in much the same situation.  She gets angry at herself that she
walks her bike so much. She has owned it for 1-1/2 years, but never
had the opportunity to go off-road with it until September
(transferred colleges).  Every time I ride with her, she *noticeably*
improves, tracking better lines, navigating obstacles better, etc.,
but it's not fast enough for her.  Any words of encouragement that
have helped other people?  Thanx in advance
	BTW, my question about roadies was meant to be fairly
humorous, so I apologize in advance for anyone who misunderstood. :O)

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: davep@amc.com (Dave Petro)
Subject: Re: Need to read : Are you an idiot?
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 16:41:10 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.105216.4788@admin1.memst.edu> jasmith@admin1.memst.edu (John) writes:
>            The facts are that a car's weigh over a ton and a bike weigh
>       less than 25 pounds.  So, my question is who are these idiots that
>       get out on busy streets and ride in the street?  I see these people
>       out around rush hour on the most travel roads in Memphis.  The traffic 
>       is almost bumper to bumper, and you have some idiot on his bike in the 
>       right hand lane slowing traffic up.  All I want to know is who are you
>       people?  What is going on in your head?  Your asking for trouble doing
>       stupid stuff like that.  I see these people and some times I'd like to
>       open my passenger door and knock them down or just run them off the
>       road. 
>	<ego-babble deleted>
>	It's not safe, because there is more chance for an accident and there is a bigger
>       chance somebody is going to run you off the road.

Question: I've always wanted to ask types like you this. If I were in my car
traveling along at bike speed, in the same scene you painted, would you tap my
bumper or run me off the road? Probably not. You would just swear, and wait for
a time to do a legal pass. I believe the law says you have to give a cyclist
the same treatment. Do not let over a ton of steel place you in jail someday 
(Boy would I love to press the charges and sue you for that TREK to boot). 
Legal passes of cyclist are even easier than legal passes of slow moving
autos. JUST DO IT!

Clue: Some people actually commute to work by bike. That means they are 
exercising not only their body but their right to use the road at rush hour.

May you never meet a like-minded driver while on one of your rides....
But then again maybe if you did....


Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: rob@bnr.ca (Robert Perkins)
Subject: Re: dogs & rocks
Organization: Bell Northern Research
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 14:39:55 GMT

I'm sure rocks work great, and you can throw them
while riding, but personally I've found a "wrist-rocket" slingshot
with steel ball-bearings to be the best antidote to Georgia hounds
(when I lived in Georgia).  For those of you who don't know what
a "wrist-rocket" is, it is a slingshot that uses surgical tubing
for elastic.  

Rob

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Perkins :::: rperkins@bnr.ca ::::: 
The opinions I opine are purely mine...Bell Northern Research
disowns my thoughts, feelings, opinions, etc. as expressed here.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: bschwart@ferris.cray.com (Robert J. Schwartz)
Subject: Re: Cross Country Skiing newsgroups?
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 21 Dec 92 11:36:03 CST

From the periodic mailing list posting in news.lists:

nordic-skiing
    Contact: nordic-ski-request@graphics.cornell.edu (Mitch Collinsworth)

    Purpose: Discussion of nordic skiing sports.  This includes
    cross-country, biathlon, ski-orienteering, ski jumping, nordic
    combined, telemark and back-country.


Bob Schwartz
bschwart@cray.com
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: ezag637@chpc.utexas.edu (Steve Manifold)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: Do Kevlar tires work?
Summary: exploding tires
Date: 22 Dec 92 15:22:59 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas System CHPC

In article <casseres-211292131121@missmolly.apple.com>, casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes:
> In article <1992Dec15.150535.12805@waikato.ac.nz>, jrdodd@waikato.ac.nz
> wrote:
> > 
> > It is true though that bike tyres that are pumped up hard then left in the hot
> > sun for a while will explode.  On sunny afternoons after races I've often heard
> > the odd explosion as someone decides to tell the world how they didn't deflate
> > their tyres a bit after racing.
> 
> I guess I forgot to mention in my previous post that in my desert riding I
> often leave the bike out in the hot noonday sun for an hour or more while I
> have lunch.  The tires do not explode.  They don't even fart.  Neither do
> anyone else's.  I am sure that tires have been known to explode, and
> occasionally while sitting in the hot sun, but I do not believe the hot sun
> is the cause.
> 
> > While riding though,  I don't think it's a problem.  And I've known of trackies
> > getting their tyres 50psi over the prescribed limit when doing track work.
> 
> But the tire probably gets even hotter while riding, so how does the theory
> work?

I too have seen (and heard!) a tire explode after a ride while resting at a
rest stop.  It seemed strange to me at the time that the tire chose to explode
then and not while out on the asphalt, which gets very hot in Texas in the 
summer time.  I think the answer may be that while riding there is a signifi-
cant amount of convective cooling that removes heat from the tires.  When at 
rest, however, the tire is able to soak up solar heating without the cooling
benefit of riding.  Furthermore, since the wheel is not turning, heating becomes
very localized.  Perhaps the heat serves to weaken an already damaged portion ofthe tire, resulting in the explosion, rather than merely producing increased
pressure, which it seems a tire should be able to handle.

Steve Manifold
-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
Steve Manifold                                              University of Texas 
ezag637@hermes.chpc.utexas.edu                           College of Engineering
tasc637@crovax.cem.utexas.edu                       Center for Electromechanics
From: david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George)
Subject: Is there hope (for car drivers) ?
Organization: OSF RI Grenoble
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 11:51:39 GMT

I did a strange thing yesterday.  I drove a car into the centre of town.
(Grenoble, France pop 150,000).  I felt I had to as I wanted to deliver
some stuff not easily tranportable by bike.  The journey covered a distance
of 14 km (about 9 miles) and the 'driving' time was 1 hour 30 minutes.  I'm
told this is typical for the 6pm - 7pm post rush hour period.  Sat in the
car I thought, I could cycle this distance in 40 minutes easily and people do
this everyday of their working lives !!!

Now the big problem with cycling around here is pollution, 60% of it caused
by motorcars.  Catalysors and Lead Free petrol are not that common either.
Anyone making the jump from car driving to cycling is immediately faced with
breathing huge quantities of toxic air.  Now I'm planning on moving as I'm seem
to have developed a whole range of pollution related illnesses, so what hope
is there ?

David.

Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
From: praetzel@maxwell.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Praetzel)
Subject: Was :Re: A friend went down
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 13:04:21 GMT

In article <1gsrokINNde3@sumax.seattleu.edu> aehall@calvin.seattleu.edu (root-bound) writes:
>a wallet in your under-the-saddle pack.  What if they never look in your pack??
>What if they leave your bike at the scene??? (ACK!  MY MERCKX!!)

My one friend had his bike stolen after an accident.  The driver who hit him
was kind enough (think about that) to take him to the hospital but the bike
was left behind.  Of course it was gone by the time he got back.
  I don't like to leave my wallet in the pack.  There is too much to loose in
it.  My old student photo ID is great for identification.  One of these years I
will have to get some phone numbers to put on it.
  Yes someone will look in your pack.  At the very least to see how much cash
is in there.
- Eric