Strictly for bicycle geeks

[Andre Jute]

Strictly for bicycle geeks:
http://hub.chainreactioncycles.com/latest-news/8-best-cycling-gadgets-2017/

My bike is too well developed to need any of this stuff, but...

...oh, the temptation

[jags]

oh to have a pocket full of money.


anto.

[John Saxby]

Mmmmmm...  Maybe the trick light.

Part of the problem is the "Gadget" category (though I'd be less than honest if I didn't allow that it might be "my problem"):  The word has an undertone of of the thing being slightly superfluous, even if clever.

I willingly admit to being a gearhead, but there has to be a good argument for effectiveness and value; "gadgets"?  Not so much.

[Andre Jute]

"Gadgets? Not so much." -- John Saxby

Yeah, that's me too. Everything on my bike must offer a necessary function that can be performed better by nothing else that I know of. I sent up that piece in the hope that posters with different lifestyles would tell me what those gimmicks are good for. In the eye of the beholder!

The one thing I would still like is theft/motion alarmthat works reliably, as my bike often stands alone, protected only by the n'lock (for the newer members, this is a stem that uncouples the steerer tube from the handlebars with a removable key -- it's described and photographed somewhere on this forum), locked to nothing. A couple of years ago Dan posted a cheap Chinese alarm that I used for long enough to decide that a good one would be useful. But that one was cheap and frankly nasty, and between two of them didn't last too long; I like my tools to be rock solid and permanent. A useful function would be for the motion sensor to call my iPhone if there is something to report.

[John Saxby]

Andre, a few years ago, my Mac support guy, Pat, sent me the "BikeSpike" info attached as a PDF below. (Pat is from Strasbourg, came to Canada ages back, and I've known him for probably 30 years. He also rides BMW boxer twins, as I used to, and now and then sends me info on 2-wheeled matters.) The "Bike Spike" info appeared in a BMW club journal, picked up from a Kickstarter notice for a bike safety alarm/tracer. Pat suggested that I might be interested in this, as my next bicycle (the Thorn Raven) would be expensive.

I haven't bought this device, partly because it would require that I buy a smartphone as well--there's an inexorable e-logic at work there, which makes me feel that I'm forever Feeding The Machine.  Still, if one already had a smartphone, you'd be just taking advantage of its ripple effects, I guess.

[Andre Jute]

Thanks, John. That is a fascinating product, and I especially like hiding it in a water bottle holder. But the idea of paying $229 a year every year for the link is off-putting. It's over the top.

BTW, the link now goes to some kind of Cattlemen's Association in Wyoming. (Didn't Michael Cimino make a lyrically-shot movie about their murderous reaction to sheep farmers?)

Also, I think it very likely indeed there's something suitable out there, or coming soon, that is less plutocratically priced. After all, stick-on buttons for finding your gear with your phone now cost ten bucks each.

[John Saxby]

Thanks, Andre. I pay less than a third of the cost of the link, for my Raven-specific insurance within our house insurance. (And although it's part of "home" insurance, it's valid the world over.)

Tangent alert, nothing to do with cycling: Michael Cimino, RIP. "Heaven's Gate"--class struggle on the high plains, skewering the Hollywood mythology of the West. One of the best westerns I ever saw, but you had to see the uncut version. 

[Andre Jute]

Tangent alert, nothing to do with cycling: Michael Cimino, RIP. "Heaven's Gate"--class struggle on the high plains, skewering the Hollywood mythology of the West. One of the best westerns I ever saw, but you had to see the uncut version.

That barn dance scene is absolute magic, especially to someone like me who grew up in the country. Ah, the weddings and dances...

[Danneaux]

Thanks, Andre. I pay less than a third of the cost of the link, for my Raven-specific insurance within our house insurance. (And although it's part of "home" insurance, it's valid the world over.)

John, my insurance agent also assured me my bicycles are fully recovered "for replacement cost" through my homeowner's insurance also, even if stolen while in use (out on the road). Mind you, she gulped mightily when I presented her with a list of their individual and collective values....

Best,

Dan.

[John Saxby]

she gulped mightily when I presented her with a list of their individual and collective values....

I can imagine she would!  I had only one bike to be added to the "specified" list, even though it was listed at a slightly higher replacement value than my other two-wheeler of Teutonic descent, Hans, my mid-'80's airhead.

[Andre Jute]

she gulped mightily when I presented her with a list of their individual and collective values....

I can imagine she would!  I had only one bike to be added to the "specified" list, even though it was listed at a slightly higher replacement value than my other two-wheeler of Teutonic descent, Hans, my mid-'80's airhead.

Proper bicycles, as distinct from bicycle-shaped objects available at supermarkets, are now obscenely expensive if you consider they were once a workingman's transport -- and sport.

[Danneaux]

Proper bicycles, as distinct from bicycle-shaped objects available at supermarkets, are now obscenely expensive if you consider they were once a workingman's transport -- and sport.

True, and with another downside when it comes to insurance-compensated replacement: There are no direct replacements for most of my bikes in today's market -- surely not as they are currently equipped. Frame designs and geometry are now different in all but full-on customs and they're irreplaceable as they stand. It would be really hard these days to get a fully handmade lugged frame with full chrome-over-copper plating with hand-applied coachlining and 5-stage paint in anything less than a bespoke bike.

There's sentiment and a generous shared history of Adventuring with each bicycle that is priceless to me.

Best,

Dan.

[Andre Jute]

There's sentiment and a generous shared history of Adventuring with each bicycle that is priceless to me.

Good luck with getting the insurance company to agree to a price on that!

[rualexander]

Proper bicycles, as distinct from bicycle-shaped objects available at supermarkets, are now obscenely expensive if you consider they were once a workingman's transport -- and sport.

No, they are probably cheaper now than they were historically.
1930 average salary in UK was c. £200 p.a., cost of a reasonably good bike was c.£7, so 0.035xsalary.
2017 average salary in UK is £26,500p.a., cost of a reasonably good bike £700, so 0.026xsalary.
The vintage bike would be handmade of course, but the modern bike would be more technically advanced.

[Andre Jute]

Proper bicycles, as distinct from bicycle-shaped objects available at supermarkets, are now obscenely expensive if you consider they were once a workingman's transport -- and sport.

No, they are probably cheaper now than they were historically.
1930 average salary in UK was c. £200 p.a., cost of a reasonably good bike was c.£7, so 0.035xsalary.
2017 average salary in UK is £26,500p.a., cost of a reasonably good bike £700, so 0.026xsalary.
The vintage bike would be handmade of course, but the modern bike would be more technically advanced.

A state of the art bike, as implied in your last sentence, for £7 or 3.5% of average annual income £200 sounds good. (I haven't checked any of your numbers; I'm just taking them at face value.)

Bu today a semi-handmade state of the art bike (Rohloff or Pinion box, BUMM lamps, SON hub dynamo, hydraulic brakes, steel frame with lugs, preferably hand-applied pin striping by a living icon of bicycle craft), doesn't cost £700, it costs over £3000. That's 11% of average annual income (still taking your figures), about three times more expensive than a nice steel vintage bike with lugs and the best derailleurs in its time.

Here's a three grand bike that may suit -- yeah, I know, it's slightly secondhand and it doesn't have the hub dynamo and the hydraulic brakes or the lugs, but it is a Thorn that will last forever and it is otherwise comprehensively equipped, including quite a few items that were expected on vintage bikes but that today are considered luxuries, so that the proud new owner needs to buy only a front lamp, pedals and a lock to be the envy of his mates at the factory gate.