Why are bikes so expensive?

On Friday, November 7, 2014 9:11:18 AM UTC-8, wrote:
http://goo.gl/E7cSNc

Jay, have you ridden the Mattole Road ?

No, it's too far south to ride for recreation, and on my tours through Northern California, I stuck to HWY 1 and 101. The Lost Coast is beautiful . . . but lost.

I've probably been on Mattole road in a car as a kid, though. My family lived in Fort Brag and moved to Arcata where I was born -- and over the years, we drove a lot of the gnarly winding roads along the north coast. My father has many colorful stories of us kids getting car sick and vomiting in the back seat -- or in the way-back of the station wagon. When I see him at Thanksgiving, I'll see if he recalls us vomiting on Mattole Road.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Friday, November 7, 2014 3:18:27 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, November 7, 2014 9:11:18 AM UTC-8, wrote:
http://goo.gl/E7cSNc

Jay, have you ridden the Mattole Road ?

No, it's too far south to ride for recreation, and on my tours through Northern California, I stuck to HWY 1 and 101. The Lost Coast is beautiful . . . but lost.

I've probably been on Mattole road in a car as a kid, though. My family lived in Fort Brag and moved to Arcata where I was born -- and over the years, we drove a lot of the gnarly winding roads along the north coast. My father has many colorful stories of us kids getting car sick and vomiting in the back seat -- or in the way-back of the station wagon. When I see him at Thanksgiving, I'll see if he recalls us vomiting on Mattole Road.

-- Jay Beattie.

cocococococococ

ahg

wonderful place N.Ca. ...I was welcomed in several times and several times warned THEY wanted to steal my equipent. Whoput the minus type worm I here ?

Back then 1 and 101 were less trafficked , less dangerous ?

I suggested the Mattole to a Euro ina blog...here ? and was met with considerable apprehension.

I drove Reding to Garberville down the backway....a feeling of Tibet...once from the ridge down from uh Alturas where I camped between Nevada and monsoon Ca. Would seem a long distance bike race area, crossing the Coast range and ierra/cascades E-W.

On Friday, November 7, 2014 2:43:37 PM UTC-5, Andre Jute wrote:
On Friday, November 7, 2014 4:30:13 AM UTC, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, November 6, 2014 11:53:20 AM UTC-8, Andre Jute wrote:
On Sunday, November 2, 2014 4:12:47 AM UTC, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Sat, 1 Nov 2014 10:51:56 -0700 (PDT), jbeattie
wrote:

On Saturday, November 1, 2014 9:49:52 AM UTC-7, Phil W Lee wrote:
AMuzi considered Sat, 01 Nov 2014 07:44:25 -0500
the perfect time to write:

On 10/31/2014 10:06 PM, Phil W Lee wrote:
sms considered Thu, 30 Oct 2014 06:10:21
-0700 the perfect time to write:

On 10/29/2014 9:44 AM, jbeattie wrote:

There are way more bikes these days that would work as a one-bike solution.

Those are great bikes from Kona, but a club rider doing fast club rides
is not going to want such a heavy bike.

Things were better "back in my day" because everyone was on a cromoly
frame so you were always starting from roughly similar frame weights.
You could have two sets of wheels and you could remove extra bits likes
racks and fenders when you didn't need them.

Don't you mean manganese steel?
Or more specifically, 1.5% manganese, 0.25% Molybdenum, 0.35% carbon,
and 97.9% Iron?


You, sir have a great memory for Reynolds 531. But the
preponderance of Super Vitus, Columbus, Ishiwata and Tange
products made "CrMo' into a generic term for high quality
steels.

My tourer is Reynolds 531st, is nearly 30 years old, and is as good
now as when it was first built.
Genuinely a wonder material, and having no fatigue limit, it lasts
indefinitely if not stressed beyond it's yield strength and protected
from corrosion.
Reynolds 531 reigned supreme in the TdF for decades.

I believe it's the only steel alloy tubing that's ever been used both
in a bicycle and a supersonic vehicle - and may yet be the first to be
used in a 1,000mph one as well.
Available again now, in small quantities and to suitably qualified
framebuilders only.

Suitably qualified? 531 was pretty forgiving (compared to modern steels). It should be made available to the ham-handed beginner with a MAP torch and a suitable bank account. BTW, plenty 531 frames failed. I broke a few, along with SP and SuperVitus -- and 4130. Everything breaks.

CF has a higher fatigue resistance, and so does wood. http://www.renovobikes.com/wood-seriously/ Wood is the answer. http://www.renovobikes..com/display/...=1394560721439

Wood is the only structural material that has been used for bikes and for trees. It was successfully used by Jesus. It doesn't rust, and it reigned supreme in the TdF back when that race actually meant something. I still use wood rims on my commuter bike. http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73...6b96ced304.jpg

-- Jay Beattie.

And rots quickly, absorbs water like a sponge, varies in weight almost
from day to day, looses its elasticity rapidly, warps readily, varies
tremendously in hardness, strength and weight, ignites easily and
burns relatively rapidly.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Wood is very forgiving though. I designed my City of Germiston out of Herreshoff's 1892 book, and built her of moulded wood, and made passage around Cape Horn three times, and across the Southern Ocean more often (danger! danger! don't fall in the water or eight minutes later you'll be dead, we were told by race officials), the survivor of innumerable nasty storms on the Indian Ocean, several times demasted and remasted, and still battling along in the China Sea carrying cargo or pirates or something in scarred old age.

You try that with plastic, or steel light enough for a 68ft racing yacht, or aliminium (awful material; corrodes almost visibly wherever sea water touches it), which respectively would have lasted 0, maybe 5, and 0 years because the sort of damage that City of Germiston repeatedly took is either not repairable or will do lasting, accelerating damage in all materials known to me except wood.

I believe in wood. It saved my life almost as often and much more certainly than my bicycle helmet.

Consider a wood helmet and get the benefit of both. BTW, I've ridden over Cape Horn many times. http://tinyurl.com/pvrncx4 Take the lane! http://tinyurl.com/ml3s385

-- Jay Beattie.

Heh-heh!

Here's a pre-pulped wood helmet. I don't have one, but as a leading authority on reprographics (the technicalities of preparing material for printing on paper) I've considered buying one.

Andre Jute
Out on the cutting edge, even if only paper cuts


DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

there's a helmet in here for you...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-fighting.html

a ,,,not a, an another feeling of great loss going thru this...last time was 40 years ago when bones and shells were common field litter. Now housed so the TdF can pass by.

On Saturday, November 8, 2014 5:23:09 AM UTC, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/7/2014 11:52 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 11/7/2014 10:47 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/6/2014 11:30 PM, jbeattie wrote:
BTW, I've ridden over Cape Horn many times.
http://tinyurl.com/pvrncx4

Take the lane!
http://tinyurl.com/ml3s385

Looks like the alternative there would be to ride with your
right handlebar scraping the stone wall and hope that
neither you nor the truck driver would twitch.

Yeah, I'd definitely take the lane.


As the logging truck descends at just about his braking limit...

But riding at the edge would be no safer. The only other alternative is
to not ride there.

Good call, for once, Krygowski. But I ride for pleasure, and you ride for some political conviction, so neither of us need stress ourselves on known-dangerous roads, however we define danger. I feel for the cyclist whose only commuting route to work is over that road.

Andre Jute

On Friday, November 7, 2014 9:23:09 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/7/2014 11:52 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 11/7/2014 10:47 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/6/2014 11:30 PM, jbeattie wrote:
BTW, I've ridden over Cape Horn many times.
http://tinyurl.com/pvrncx4

Take the lane!
http://tinyurl.com/ml3s385

Looks like the alternative there would be to ride with your
right handlebar scraping the stone wall and hope that
neither you nor the truck driver would twitch.

Yeah, I'd definitely take the lane.


As the logging truck descends at just about his braking limit...

But riding at the edge would be no safer. The only other alternative is
to not ride there.

There are few options in the west-bound lane (that truck is going west), and it's up hill. There is no shoulder. I take the lane going east because riding near the edge is sketchy with the low parapet, and I'm descending.

The odd thing about Highway 14 is that it has a great shoulder going east, but no (or crappy) shoulder going west. I go west on the Oregon side after crossing Bridge of the Gods. http://tinyurl.com/qbshmtl It always gives me a touch of acrophobia looking down through the deck to the Columbia. http://tinyurl.com/kt243u2

Cape Horn is spectacular this time of year. http://tinyurl.com/mg58adg The only problem (which will be acute in about two weeks) is the leaf sludge on the Oregon side between the falls and Crown Point. The leaf sludge is already many places on my commute. I was having trouble last week keeping my wheels planted. I'm switching tires today, although I'll keep the 25s on my fast rain bike.

-- Jay Beattie.

On 11/8/2014 11:00 AM, jbeattie wrote:

I go west on the Oregon side after crossing Bridge of the Gods. http://tinyurl.com/qbshmtl
It always gives me a touch of acrophobia looking down through the deck
to the Columbia.
http://tinyurl.com/kt243u2

One of the club rides I've led features a high metal grate bridge deck
over the Ohio River.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80651083@N00/219583002/

I love riding it, especially looking down on the trees once we get to
the Ohio side. It feels like I'm flying my bicycle. But one of my
friends is acrophobic enough that he's walked the bridge instead of
riding it.

Cape Horn is spectacular this time of year. http://tinyurl.com/mg58adg
The only problem (which will be acute in about two weeks) is the leaf
sludge
on the Oregon side between the falls and Crown Point. The leaf sludge is
already many places on my commute. I was having trouble last week keeping
my wheels planted. I'm switching tires today, although I'll keep the 25s
on my fast rain bike.

Driving through our neighborhood last night, one sharp corner on a
narrow street was deep with wet conifer needles. Our car slid a little
negotiating the corner. It's a corner I bicycle very frequently. And
this time of year, wet fallen leaves are like ice. Just one more thing
to be aware of.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Saturday, November 8, 2014 11:00:25 AM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, November 7, 2014 9:23:09 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/7/2014 11:52 AM, AMuzi wrote:
On 11/7/2014 10:47 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 11/6/2014 11:30 PM, jbeattie wrote:
BTW, I've ridden over Cape Horn many times.
http://tinyurl.com/pvrncx4

Take the lane!
http://tinyurl.com/ml3s385

Looks like the alternative there would be to ride with your
right handlebar scraping the stone wall and hope that
neither you nor the truck driver would twitch.

Yeah, I'd definitely take the lane.


As the logging truck descends at just about his braking limit...

But riding at the edge would be no safer. The only other alternative is
to not ride there.

There are few options in the west-bound lane (that truck is going west), and it's up hill. There is no shoulder. I take the lane going east because riding near the edge is sketchy with the low parapet, and I'm descending.

The odd thing about Highway 14 is that it has a great shoulder going east, but no (or crappy) shoulder going west. I go west on the Oregon side after crossing Bridge of the Gods. http://tinyurl.com/qbshmtl It always gives me a touch of acrophobia looking down through the deck to the Columbia. http://tinyurl.com/kt243u2

Cape Horn is spectacular this time of year. http://tinyurl.com/mg58adg The only problem (which will be acute in about two weeks) is the leaf sludge on the Oregon side between the falls and Crown Point. The leaf sludge is already many places on my commute. I was having trouble last week keeping my wheels planted. I'm switching tires today, although I'll keep the 25s on my fast rain bike.

-- Jay Beattie.

+++++++++++++++++++

Washington's side is a great relief from the I-? OR side....quiet...peaceful...watch out for drunks passing thru each town then for crazy cyclists down at the east end hanging around an intersection leading of to XXX Park along a creek n antique bridgework.

Get together with Boing Types in MGB's n roll down the road.

why are bikes expensive ? bikes now have the Krygowski Mandated Traffic Sensor System

KSS

Here's a photo group KSS people finding traffic sensors

http://goo.gl/vUMLba