On Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 3:18:27 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 30 Apr 2019 13:59:04 -0400, Radey Shouman
wrote:

John B. writes:

On Mon, 29 Apr 2019 23:03:07 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 4/29/2019 7:35 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-29 16:02, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 29 Apr 2019 07:16:27 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2019-04-28 15:07, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 28 Apr 2019 07:46:33 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2019-04-27 15:55, John B. wrote:
On Sat, 27 Apr 2019 07:59:25 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2019-04-26 16:12, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 07:27:05 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2019-04-25 16:32, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:16:28 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2019-04-25 14:03, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 3:22:36 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-25 11:00, Roger Merriman wrote:
Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-12 07:27, db wrote:
My son is set on getting a belt drive for the bike he is
building. What is good about them? You have to have the
exact
length for your bike, and if it breaks, it is very
expensive
to replace.

So, why?


Dad gave him too much money :-)

Now, a shaft drive, that would be great.


Imagine it would be much heavier and complicated, they
have been
tried and used on MTB but don’t seem to have been cracked, I
think generally the extra weight/cost though a E-MTB would
mitigate that?


Motorcycle manufacturers have figured it out, most of all BMW.
That company should also build MTB, they know how it's
done. Weight
doesn't always matter, especially not for many MTB riders.
We just
want less wear and most importanly not have to clean and
lube the
chain every 50 miles.

It often takes the bicycle industry decades longer to figure
something out. Such as decent heavy-duty rack space on FS
MTB and
central-battery powered lighting where, no surprise, I had
to build
it all myself. Beats me why one still cannot buy this:

http://www.analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Muddy5.JPG

It's lasted many thousand hard miles now which included heavy
loads. Yeah, that bike is heavy but it never breaks down
anymore.


Given a choice I’d love a belt drive bike for the commute
as I
clock up fairly respectable distances per day which does chew
though the drive chain.


I'd be careful ...

https://www.thelocal.se/20180524/ike...-lead-to-falls




--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Weight of an MTB doesn't matter? What a crock full of El
Toro Poo
Poo! Maybe weight doesn't matter in your world but it sure
does to a
LOT of other MTB users. I keep telling you Joerg; your best
bet to
get the durability that you say YOU need is to buy a small
gasoline
powered dirt motorcycle and convert it to pedal power. After
all,
weight doesn't matter to you.


Within reason, of course. There are people who rather ride a
bicycle
that weighs 10lbs more than customary but in contrast to
others they
generally arrive at their destinations on time, due to a lack of
breakdowns. I happen to be one of those.

The only times during the last years (!) that I didn't arrive
on time
were when I assisted others during repairs. Because they
didn't have
thorn-resistant tubes et cetera.

But Joerg, I ride a conventional steel frame bicycle and I
haven't had
a breakdown, or even something that came loose so I couldn't
ride,Â* in
20 years or more. In fact, in thinking back I can't even
remember a
time that my bike broke and I couldn't ride it.


No flats in 20 years?

I didn't say anything about flat tires but I don't judge a flat
tire
to be a "breakdown" or "came loose"

A flat tire without any tools _is_ a breakdown. He get to hoof it
out of
the wilderness for then next 10-20 miles.

But in all the years I've been riding a bicycle I have NEVER had a
flat tire that I couldn't fix in a matter of minutes. Way back in the
old "sew-up" tire days you didn't even need any tools.Â* Fix it with
your bare hands.


Now try that with a Gatorskin or a Vee Rubber 700c 25mm. Yeah, it
can be
done but you won't be able to feel some of your fingertips for a
while.

I bought a pair of Gatorskin tires, oh probably 10 years ago, and
contrary to their advertised proof against flats promptly had two
flats in less than 5 Km of riding. I haven't used a gatorskin since.


I never use them anymore either. I found them a bit undersized, a bear
to get on. The running surface is sturdy and no flats there. Also, one
of them made it to a record 2500mi while no others ever exceeded 2000mi
by much on the rear. However, all other Gatorskins I had failed
prematurely in their sidewalls and that's what makes them unacceptable
to me.


As for Vee tires, I have the feeling that they are a very cheap Thai
made tire or at least I saw some for sale in a store called "Super
Cheap" for something like 3 dollars each, so I don't use those either.


Just because something is cheap does not mean it is a bad product.

No, but it does mean that it is cheap and cheap can be produced by
using less than quality materials.

I've been told that the cheap tires in Thailand allÂ* made from a
rubber mix that contains a lot of carbon black, which makes them
harder and they wear less and thus are very well regarded by those who
can't afford to buy tires frequently. Unfortunately hard tires also
"grip the road" less well and have minimal traction.


I do not need Tour de France level cornering performance and found them
to be quite adequate for riding. Especially the MTB tires because there
durability and sturdiness counts a lot more than sqeezing the last tenth
of an mph out of a ride.

On both the road bike and the MTB I want beefy sidewalls and so far
tires made in Thailand gave me that, plus a decent number of miles in
terms of wear.

I really don't understand this fetish with how many miles a bicycle
tire lasts. After all, compared to something like auto tires or egg
beaters they are pretty cheap.


How would you like it if you had to switch out the tires on your car
every 2500mi?

Besides, it ain't cheap:

1. SUV, four tires, $70 each so $280 total, 1st set lasted 70000mi and
still had half the tread. I only replaced them because they were around
15 years old.

2. Gatorskin, $45, lasted 2500mi at which point the tread surface was at
bare minimum.

3. Vittoria Zafiro, $13, 2000mi.

Want more? I trust you can do the math.

What percentage of your annual income do you spend on tires?

What percentage would you spend if you used those oh-so-expensive
Gatorskins?

I have them on our tandem. I can still afford lunch. You're doing
something wrong.

I understand that minimum salary in California is $10/hour, at least
my wife's elder sister's tribe that visited last month tell me so. The
son, high school education, works part time "unloading trucks at the
Dollar store" and says he usually gets 40 or 50 dollars a day.

I believe Joerg is an independent contractor. There's no minimum he has
to pay himself, he could work all day and end up money behind.

But one might assume that if, as a self employed fellow, he is making
less than minimum wages it is time to either raise his rates or go to
work unloading trucks at the Dollar Shop.
--
cheers,

John B.

Joerg makes a little more than minimum wage. Quite a little more. He probably makes more in one month than you made in any single year in your life.