On 2018-02-23 10:01, Tim McNamara wrote:
On Mon, 19 Feb 2018 08:29:16 -0800, Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-02-18 14:21, Tim McNamara wrote:
Since stopping racing, though, I've converted everything back to DT
shifters. I use a handlebar bag on two of my bikes and the extra cables
interfere with that. Since I'm not racing, the minor inconvenience of
reaching down to shift is a moot point for me. Plus- maybe this is a
function of my generation- I prefer the looks of DT shifters due to the
reduced cables sticking out the front. Once we have wireless shifters
that are reliable, ...
Then one sunny day it don't shift no more and the display bluntly
scrolls "An irrecoverable error has occurred. Please can 1-800 ..."
:-)
LOL! Funny because it's true. "Hang on, dudes, I have to reboot my
bike."
Almost. IIRC a guy had to bring his bike back to the shop because new
software had to be loaded to cure some suboptimal shifting behavior. In
the good old days pliers, wrenches and 15 minutes in the garage
sufficed, as it does on all my current bikes.
I just had another experience with "modern" hardware. After we got home
on Monday night a high-falutin pressure assist toilet was constantly
running. Can't wait to get the next water bill. So I checked it. Instead
of replacing a $2 flapper in about two minutes now you get to replace a
$40 cartridge that is in itself not serviceable, as in glued together.
The cartridge, of course, refuses to come out as best as it can. Do they
use marine grease in the assembly process? Of course not. That would
make service too easy. Takes raw force, always worrying something will
go ka-crunch and blood runs from your knuckles. To diagnose the problem
you also have to take off a pressure reducer, clean a sieve, open and
clean an air vent. Long story short, $40 and an hour later it works
again. For a while ... Oh, and then a few years ago we got a recall
notice saying these things can explode and that a rework kit had to be
installed on all of them. After which the flush was ... underwhelming
and now you need two 1.6 gallon flushes versus one 3 gallon flush on the
old toilet. Progress. Indeed.
... then I'd probably think about brifters again (this
doesn't necessarily mean bluetooth or something like that; I think it
would be easily possible to connect an electrical circuit through the
frame to control the derailleurs. Possibly using something like the
Rene Herse circuit for powering headlights from a rear
triangle-mounted generator, which used a brush inside the headtube as
the connector from the frame to the fork).
What is that triangle-mounted generator and can one still buy those?
In web links all I could see was a rear-mounted bottle dynamo.
http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/ReneHerseBicycle.html
that'd be it. In the olden days when I was a sprat, the tubes from the
seattube back were called "the rear triangle." From the seattube
forward was the "front triangle." The seattube managed to be a side of
both triangles. I haven't kept up on what the young 'uns of today call
it.
In my reference, generators mounted on the seatstay or chainstays would
be "rear triangle" mounted. Because the frame is the ground (earth on
the east side of the Atlantic), a single wire ran through the frame
tubes. It connected to a carbon brush in the head tube, which me
contact with an insulated ring on the steerer tube. A wire from that
traveled through the front rack to the headlight.
And ground went via the bearings like it does in most European dynamos
set-ups? That was always a sick concept. I don't think in automotive
anyone would let a blooper like that pass a design review. Yet that was
and maybe still is standard fare on most dynamo-equiped bicycles.
Something similar could be done through the handlebars to the frame and
then to the derailleurs. Some years back Mavic used the rotation of the
jockey wheels to drive actuation of the rear derailleur, the shifter
button on the handlebars acting as a release. I don't recall offhand
what they did with the front derailleur. It was not 100% reliable.
There was a famous moment of Bjarne Riis hurling his malfunctioning
Mavic-equipped TT bike in frustration at the TdF and that was the end of
that product. Chris Boardman made it work pretty well, though.
Of course nowadays having a single chainring up front and a huge-range
cassette is common, so only one derailleur would be necessary (Ritchey
tried to market that 25 years ago as the 1x9 system and it didn't catch
on; Bianchi marketed 700C mountain bike wheels and that dodn't catch on
either. Everything old is new again).
I have a MTB cassette on my road bike. Once reaching a certain age that
is really nice when you live in hilly terrain. Unfortunately no granny
gear up front so on routes with steep hills I just take the MTB.
Pavement wears the rear tires fast but I can get good Thai tires for
around $20.
I have looked for roller dynamos to mount in the triangle but they
seem to have vanished from the marketplace. The only ones I saw were
expensive used or NOS versions, often from unknown sources.
I have a Sanyo BB generator on one of my bikes- very smook, low
resistance, quiet. I did have to overhaul it once with instructions
from Andrew, probably will have to do that again in another 30 years.
For known sources, contact Mr. Muzi. He's listed a Union BB generator
on his site for years.
Otherwise eBay. The Sanyos pop up there from time to time, often
NIB/NOS.
The battery I have on the road bike has sufficient capacity for my
longest rides but a roller dynamo would allow me to mount a much
smaller one.
Yep. And a convenient backup in case the battery is flat. Any 6v 3W
generator will power a nice Schmidt or B&M LED 100 lux headlight plus a
taillight. Great range of choices available these days for any set of
preferences.
For now I'll leave it all on Li-Ion only. They pack so much energy that
it lasts well through my usual trips which are rarely longer than 5h
riding time. Some day I might experiment with solar. I saw that on a
serious MTB, a couple that was preparing for a multi-week longhaul trip.
--
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com/