Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: Andre Jute on November 19, 2014, 11:25:52 pm
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I'm not a geek. I just like gadgets. WARNING: This is from my favorite carriage-free bike-component pusher. And no, the cheap buggers don't give me a kickback.
http://www.chainreactionhub.com/latest-news/1733-7-of-the-best-cycling-gadgets-to-satisfy-your-inner-geek
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ah yes i'm a geek love all this stuff all very expensive tho. ::)
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I like/love gadgets too, but am pretty selective about what I actually buy, so I end up with good kit I keep and use a long time before replacing. Something has to be significantly better before I move on. LED bike lighting and newer dynamo hubs fall into that category, for sure. 10- and 11+ speed derailleur drivetrains? Notsomuch. I'm still happily running 5-speed freewheels on several of my bikes, friction-shifted, of course.
Tangential to this thread...
I've noticed a disturbing recent trend in newer battery bike lighting: The embedded rechargeable battery. This all appears fine and good at first glance, but can be a real downer for the rider who does nighttime brevets and such. Once the battery goes flat, you can't simply swap in a new pair of AA cells and go on as before. No, you're suddenly in the dark or tied to a mains charger for the next 2.5 hours till the thing is full again unless you take a second charged light to use after the first one dies.Then, once the battery ages and cannot hold a charge so long anymore, you also can't replace the battery. A light perfectly good otherwise goes out to the landfill. Manufacturers love this, as it means lower design costs (no battery door, soldered battery tabs, sleeker styling), and a way to market a fraudulently "green" product. Far better to use rechargeable LSD (low self-discharge) Eneloops and have the freedom of mid-ride battery swaps and a longer product service life.
A user-replaceable battery was a major determinant in my choice of smartphone. Same thing for lighting.
With the newest gadgets, sometimes all is not as it first appears, and a gimlet eye pays dividends in avoiding a wasted purchase.
All the best,
Dan. (...who loves "looking" just the same!)
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Yeah, particularly in lamps I'm automatically in my skeptic mode. I've just been burned too many times.
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in lamps I'm automatically in my skeptic mode
No worries, Andre -- I'm sceptical about lamps too: I find it helps keep enlightenment at arm's length :-)
A little while back, I was talking with a friend who needed a new set of handlebars for his old bike. I knew that my LBS had a set of Velo Orange rando bars which I'd just swapped for the right-sized ones, so I suggested he have a look at the VO site to see if they'd suit for him. He did so, and was a wee bit enchanted: "Never knew such places existed, John," he said. "Bling for bikes!"
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Is this turning into a lamp post?
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;)
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How about dan-gly things on the end of handlebars that have imbedded led lights that change coloUr the faster you go.
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Is this turning into a lamp post?
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D class.
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How about dan-gly things on the end of handlebars that have imbedded led lights that change coloUr the faster you go.
:D I have nothing to do with those! ;D
However, a similar product has moved from Kickstarter project (discussed on this Forum previously, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kennygibbs/helios-bars-transform-any-bike-into-a-smart-bike ) to sale: http://www.ridehelios.com/
All the best,
Dan. (...who remembers a marketing study of some years ago that revealed men would invariably select a poorer-sounding stereo if it was equipped with many flashing lights. Women in the study were unaffected, choosing the model with the best sound)
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Wasn't it Edward VII who said, "We are all geeks now"?
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No. Alexande the geat.
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men would invariably select a poorer-sounding stereo if it was equipped with many flashing lights. Women in the study were unaffected, choosing the model with the best sound
Dan, our amp/receiver here at home is a Sherwood, which my wife has owned since the early '70's, some years before we met each other. It works just fine forty years on, and as you might expect has no flashing lights at all. Not sure what my opinion would've been if I had been confronted by such a device in an audio shop -- I always thought that Sher-wood was a manufacturer of hockey sticks, located in the Eastern Townships of Québec.
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Dan, our amp/receiver here at home is a Sherwood, which my wife has owned since the early '70's, some years before we met each other. It works just fine forty years on, and as you might expect has no flashing lights at all.
Mrs Saxby sounds like A Good Woman.
I used to design and build my own high-tension tube amps.
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/JUTE%20ON%20AMPS.htm
It was easy to observe many cases of people who spent tens of thousand on amps and speakers and even cables, who had fewer than a dozen disks, all demonstration items rather than music for enjoyment, and who could say nothing cogent about music. All of them were men.
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Mrs Saxby sounds like A Good Woman.
Thanks for your kind words, Andre -- I'll relay those to Marcia who, bless her, puts up with my 2-wheeler obsessions. :-)
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Everyone I know knows knows me as a geek, and I admit it. I love gadgets, and I'm constantly troubleshooting and fixing devices for friends, or instructing them how to use the bling the've just purchased.
So from my innermost, guttural geekiness I say, "Me WANT Airdog!!! Yummm..."
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Ref those wonderful Helios bars fitted to a bike that appears to be sooooooo cooooool it doesn't even need brakes ?
Or am I missing something again ?
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Ref those wonderful Helios bars fitted to a bike that appears to be sooooooo cooooool it doesn't even need brakes ?
Or am I missing something again ?
Sharp eyes, e-man, but there is method to their madness,and -- yes! -- it does involve cooooool appearances! You'll note there seems to be no way to adjust 'bar angle on the Helios, and there appears to be only one stem reach available, so it isn't all about ergonomics. The only choices relate to color and bullhorn/pursuit or drop-handlebar styles.
They do note ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kennygibbs/helios-bars-transform-any-bike-into-a-smart-bike ) any standard brakes can be fitted, but they are shown without, I think to highlight the clean, integrated design.
To further focus on the Helios' clean lines, the bicycle in their Kickstarter demo bike is a fixed-gear bicycle...in the most traditional sense. There are no caliper or disc brakes. Stopping on such bikes is accomplished (slowly) by resisting the pedals as they come 'round, or (more quickly) by locking one's legs and "skip-stopping" the bike by skidding the rear tire. Schwalbe (among others) even market special tires with a thicker rubber tread cap intended for this sort of thing.
The less hardcore Fixed riders use at least a front brake to augment the locked-leg version at the rear.
The wannabes use caliper brakes and a single-speed freewheel. Feh. Poseurs. :P ;) :D ;D
The idea (partly) behind the Helios smart'bars is one can have all these gadgets integrated in the design, yet still have the "clean" look Fixies are known for.
At least currently here in the 'States, Fixies and Faux-Fixies (single-speed freewheels) are the hot ticket among the uni crowd. I think they appeal because (a) they require little maintenance and (b) they are the more mature development of the BMX bike, which many uni students have outgrown, both physically and socially and allow one to make good speed and distance on pavement. (a) + (b) = (C)ool (or Hot, depending on vernacular and age, but the result is "popular" and "socially trending").
I've ridden True Fixed in the past and enjoyed it greatly as an early-season training aid. It does wonders to promote a smooth spin (souplesse) and works muscles you dinnaknowyahad. I'm eyeing the 1972 Windsor Professional in the garage rafters and pondering whether it is the basis for my next Fixed Gear.
Best,
Dan. (...who thinks looks ofttimes go further than function in causing many to reach for their wallets)