Author Topic: moan of the day  (Read 17973 times)

bobs

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #15 on: June 06, 2018, 06:51:53 pm »
Andre,

Thanks for your input, certainly food for thought.
I would be very disappointed  if I only got 1000 miles from a Set of suspension forks.
I thought it was to power of the battery not the size which was important .
As far as carrying capacity is concerned I'm looking to cut down what I take on tour. I gone from 2 front and 2 rears and bar bag to 2 rears which are half empty and a bar bag.
My main concern not being able to fly with an electric bike.

Bob
« Last Edit: June 06, 2018, 07:03:38 pm by bobs »

Andre Jute

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #16 on: June 07, 2018, 01:06:51 am »
I thought it was to power of the battery not the size which was important .

Quite. A 14.5Ah battery, ceteris paribus, will have more coulombs and carry you further and offer a longer lifetime than one of 8.5Ah. Thus my remark that the battery on the R+M is visibly small. Once you know that all these lipo battery assemblies use cells of the same size, and that the Amp-hour rating is increased simply by adding more cells in parallel groups to make 36V (that R+M bike runs on 36V, doesn't it, not 24V, horrid thought), it is legitimate to eyeball a battery and judge its usefulness and longevity by its size. Of course, the dealer will tell you that the smaller battery is fitted to save weight; if he does, ask him politely why then he doesn't offer you half a dozen Bosch 36V drill batteries and a simple wiring rig (crocodile clips will do) so that you can carry only as many of the Bosch batteries as the length of the journey requires and leave the rest of the dead weight at home.

As far as carrying capacity is concerned I'm looking to cut down what I take on tour. 

That R+M bike's peculiar structure makes me wonder whether it will survive as a touring bike, even if you stay well within its load limits, never mind Danneau-style Spartan expeditions. The weight of the bike, to which Dan drew attention, may indicate that the tubes were made thicker than normal to allow for the novel frame's lower stiffness when compared to a proper diamond frame, or it may be simple incompetence. (I had a Peugeot once, the most expensive bike they made, on which the tubes were so incompetently specified that bike had zero compliance and wrecked my back.) The fact that I could find only expensively written, meaningless, marketing gush about it, rather than a spec sheet with hard details like battery capacity or torsional resistance of the frame (a perfectly reasonable request for any bike that isn't a proven diamond shape), in addition makes me wonder whether it was even designed as a tourer outside the unstressed limits of Sunday afternoon cafe tours and Dutch vakansiefietse (holiday bikes for the Dutch managerial classes -- basically flatland commuters too expensive for the station run dollied up to look like luxurious tourers but usually followed by a sag wagon: these are not likely to survive outside Holland or Northern Germany; the front suspension fork on my very beautiful but in the end unsatisfactory Gazelle Toulouse vakansiefiets chucked in the towel under a thousand miles, and I hardly ever go off the tarmac, though it is true my tarmac is a bit, shall we say, rough). Nothing wrong with cafe tours or holidays on the Dutch flatlands, of course, -- hell, I'm a confirmed credit card tourer because my painting gear, which must always be instantly to hand, crowds out even a clean shirt -- but you, Bob, may have grander touring aspirations.

If you decide to buy the R+M, Bob, you should ascertain that the suspension fork has a standard 1-1/8in threadless headset steerer tube. If the steerer is threaded, regardless of diameter, or any of the odd "low profile" stupidities, the fork is a special, custom-order item, and ties you to the manufacturer of the bike, and then only for as long as he keeps spares, after which you junk the bike because you can't get spares. I mention this in particular because Dutch and German bike-makers, even those much bigger than R+M, have an irresponsible affection for 1in threaded suspension forks which they order direct from Taiwanese factories; check whether anybody you shop with still sells one of those at retail...

Lest anyone gets the idea that I have a special down on R+M, not so. I just have quite a bit of experience of special German, Dutch and generally Benelux bikes, and have fallen into their traps already  -- and discovered that only Trek Benelux was interested in helping me reengineer the bike to meet their promises, and Trek isn't really a European firm but an American one with good old American customer-is-king attitudes. My Utopia is full of in-house custom-designed bits, but Utopia did something incredible smart: they let the manufacturers they chose make the parts royalty-free for sale to anyone, so that today these otherwise potentially unobtainable parts are actually common; one example is the Sapim "Strong" spoke, which a sensible spoke maker would never have designed so ugly, but which my bike's maker with its Bauhaus logic merely designed functionally; it comes with special Rohloff-angled heads too (Utopia was the first manufacturer to specify Rohloff hubs); the Big Apple tyre was developed specifically to act as the sole suspension element of my bike. Where Utopia gets too special for my taste, as in the fragile Country chaincase, before I ordered the bike I knew precisely where I could find a one-to-one replacement, in the case of the Country the sturdy Hebie Chainglider; I literally had a written list of replacement parts and dealers, down to the smallest component. And that on a bike with which, as a result of knowing precisely what I bought and what I would do with it, I have been very happy for ten years... You don't have to be that careful with a Thorn bike, because every component is conservatively chosen as a known good-value, reliably long-lasting part available off any discounter's shelf, and guaranteed to be available for a good long while.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2018, 11:39:55 pm by Andre Jute »

Pavel

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #17 on: June 15, 2018, 05:10:38 pm »
It is destined to be only a short while before power assisted bikes will require registration and tags.  And I guess that makes sense as it is a motorized vehicle.  The more people get on board that faster that day will come.

Me?  I'd rather stop farting around in the middle and just go to an off road Motorcycle.  It's actually a larger workout than many would ever expect and there is the same freedom and ability to go slow, carry a lot of gear and get the heck away from the frenzy of life a while.  It just doesn't seem so epic to cross the continent as on one's own power thought.

But the prices are near obscene.  Many sports and hobbies have become fetiches in my opinion as they become "lifestyle" escapes for masses of disconnected humans. Aside from the difficulty of finding enough coin under the sofa cushions, I hate the feeling of being a sucker.  I've been getting that feeling more and more over the last few years.

But - burning tents? NO don't do it. Never destroy a religions iconography.  You will be lost, alone in the desert with no way back other than the dreaded credit-card. 

Andre Jute

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #18 on: June 15, 2018, 11:42:09 pm »
Many sports and hobbies have become fetiches in my opinion as they become "lifestyle" escapes for masses of disconnected humans.

Never a truer word.

jags

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #19 on: June 16, 2018, 02:47:29 pm »
we are all been taken to the cleaners with the crazy prices on bikes especially Ebikes . :'(

PH

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #20 on: June 16, 2018, 05:05:12 pm »
we are all been taken to the cleaners with the crazy prices on bikes especially Ebikes . :'(
Speak for yourself  ;)
My bikes have provided excellent value for money. 

jags

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #21 on: June 16, 2018, 07:03:41 pm »
you only think that.
you could buy a really class reliable bike for the price of a rohloff .
get  good cheap bike the pilot will do the rest.

bobs

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #22 on: June 16, 2018, 08:09:25 pm »
Like bikes some pilots are better than others . That's why an electric bike is a good idea .🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

PH

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #23 on: June 16, 2018, 08:20:53 pm »
you only think that.
you could buy a really class reliable bike for the price of a rohloff .
get  good cheap bike the pilot will do the rest.
Well I've ridden it around 75,000 miles so I think I've got a better idea of the value it's given me than you have.
Big initial expense, then really cheap running costs, worth every penny.

jags

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #24 on: June 16, 2018, 09:14:17 pm »
sounds like triggers brush to me.great miles for sure but sora would do the same miles no problem if you look after it am i right or am i right. ;)

PH

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #25 on: June 16, 2018, 09:47:45 pm »
sounds like triggers brush to me.great miles for sure but sora would do the same miles no problem if you look after it am i right or am i right. ;)
No you're wrong, very wrong.  Do the maths, work out how much you've spent in the last (Say) 10,000 miles and I'll bet I've spent less ;)
Work out how much you've spent on your bikes, how much they'd sell for, and that difference is the cost.  Mile for mile your Dolan will have been a much more expensive bike than my Rohloff, go on tell me I'm wrong.
I know how much I was spending on keeping a bike fit for work, that's why I bought the rohloff, it paid for itself a long time ago and since then has been saving me money ;D
« Last Edit: June 16, 2018, 09:49:40 pm by PH »

bobs

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #26 on: June 16, 2018, 09:56:42 pm »
Sorry Anto your wrong.

Danneaux

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #27 on: June 16, 2018, 10:56:43 pm »
'Cept for my late father's 1938 coaster-brake bike I inherited, the oldest in my own stable are two dating from 1970. Still ridden regularly by me. They don't owe me much anymore.  ;)

Still, I can't really put a price on my bicycles. I love them all equally but differently and each gives me great pleasure to ride, so all have been great value to me over the time I've owned them.

Best,

Dan.

jags

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #28 on: June 16, 2018, 11:46:44 pm »
Yip your wrong way wrong.take my raleigh with campag record probably twenty  thousant on that my look had  probably 14on it both were still in top class worki.g order I have a fair few miles on my audax still perfect none of those bikes cost as much as a rohlof bike. The dolan only comes out when the sun shines but it will never let me down  none of mybikes ever let me down simply because i look after them.what about all the guys that toured the anet on off the peg bikes even if they did replace  parts it comes no where near  t he price of a rohloff.your been brainwashed into thing your saving yourself money.

jags

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Re: moan of the day
« Reply #29 on: June 17, 2018, 12:13:44 am »
Btw PH im not ha ing a go at you or any other rohloff owners but man you got to admit there way over priced same goes for bikes in general .guy i n our group rides an 8000 carbon bike give me a break they seen him coming.