In article ,
Dane Buson writes:
Tom Keats wrote:
In article ,
Claire writes:
Over yonder: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bik/637385956.html

At one point I thought /my/ bike was cursed.

Before I even opened the craigslist page I knew that was ad for
Henry's bike.

I hope it isn't cursed. I wouldn't wish a cursed
vehicle on anybody. Well, maybe I'd sorta wish the
James Dean Spider on whomever's trodding-down Sudan.

Until it and me got head-on'd by a car.

Maybe just the parts I had to replace were cursed.

But I'll tell ya what -- that frame is as solid as
a brick sh!740u23, and that's the truth.

I wish I could say the same, my latest broken frame is sitting at
Recycled Cycles waiting for them to go through all the motions with the
Surly warranty department.

There's somewhat to be said for the hi-tens end
of the chro-moly spectrum.

Well, there ya go. I'm not particularly partial
to double or triple-butted frame tubing, and I
opine straight-gauge tubes are less failure-prone.
It makes for a heavier bike, but what is gained
by putting weaker and more flexy spots in a frame?
That's just my personal opinion, and I respect other
people's opinions.

Of course, when rear triangle stays separate from
the main triangle, that's just poor construction.
I don't know at the time of this writing if that's
what happened to you.

Black spokes would look good with my rhinestone-eyed
black skull valve caps. I need more skull/death's-head
themed stuff for my bike.

In the frippery department, I've been contemplating what I would need to
make my own headbadges. Probably not as swanky as this:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6128877

Y'know what? There's no such thing as tarnish-resistant
sterling silver, at least if it's not coated with laquer
or something. Their profferings are indeed pretty,though.

But I might be able to turn out something interesting.

Back in the '70s Bike Boom, we Canadians got these imported
Japanese Sekines, the finer editions of which had escrutcheons
sporting a brilliant-cut rhinestone. With it, and in the
right angle of the sun, you could reflectively direct an
annoying solar beam into the rv mirror of the car ahead
of you that hesitates too much when they can get across
the darn intersection. That was before the advent of
laser pointers. My beloved 27"-wheeled mixte has one
of those headbadges.

The Craigslist seller should just get himself a bike
that he could ride and enjoy. Well, I guess he should
just enjoy whatever his reasonable volition suggests.

He bought a Long Haul Trucker earlier this year, and AFAIK hasn't
crashed it yet.

Anyways, nothing is ~cursed~. We just tend to put our
own baggage on stuff. You know that; why am I telling you?

Exactly, the same sort of reason we shouldn't anthropomorphize machines
and computers. They really don't like that.

I never, *ever* swear at computers. It just distracts them
from their background tasks, and makes things worse. Having
done a bunch of inventory counting, I also know when to not
bother people. As Archie Bunker said: "Patience is a virgin."

If those black spokes were octagonal ...

As long as they aren't forged out of Octiron or give off Octarine
colored emissions we're probably okay though.

I think I'd prefer my spokes to be somewhat but not overly
work-hardened by drawing, rather than forging. If coloured,
I'd think heat-blueing would do the trick. Colourations can
be effected with cyanides, but that's a little scary to do
at home.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca