Shimano Dura ace electronic shifting system

On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:09:41 -0600, wrote:

On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:54:53 GMT, Ryan Cousineau
wrote:

In article ,
John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:

On Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:13:16 -0600, wrote:

"Until they fixed the storm drains in the City Park, I dunked my
bottom bracket and derailleur a few times every summer after heavy
rains."

Dear Dopey man.

Who cares about you? It's a racing group. Not for you.

JT: Dude... what the heck? Did you eat Angry-Os for breakfast? Did Fogel
run over your dog?

And if anyone did care, they might wonder what your experience from
1928 matters. Dang, I didn't even realize they had derailleurs back
then.

Okay, seriously, several people here have pointed out that their racing
bikes (or, by your own white line, their training-for-racing bikes) have
been in deep water.

You can admit that you forgot about cyclocross, or that lots of racers
do pretty epic mixed-terrain riding on road bikes, or you can just
continue to be a dumbass about this.

I myself have dunked several of my training-for-racing bikes in hub-deep
water on several of my training-for-racing rides.

What do I expect Dura-Ace componentry to stand up to?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcousine/2337335732/

Okay, not hub-deep water, but please note that the reason you can read
the rder type in that photo is because I wiped some mud off before
taking the picture.

Now, with all those provisos, I expect that Shimano has done some pretty
aggressive environmental testing, and while I would expect any
drivetrain of mine to accept a brief immersion, I wouldn't assume that
Di2 won't pass that standard.

Full disclosu I'm cheap. The chances I'll buy an electroshifted
drivetrain this decade are low.

Not crazy enough to buy a Zap group,

Dear Ryan,

The following playlet arrived without a return address.

I doubt that it's a lost Shakespeare play, despite some superficial
weather resemblances to Lear's frolic in the storm and to Macbeth's
first interview with the three witches.

Preliminary scholarship shows that most of the named character's
dialogue is lifted directly from recent RBT threads that were not
available to Shakespeare.

The turning point of the drama (peripeteia), which dooms our tragic
hero, occurs when he rashly follows the little girl into the puddle,
having earlier resisted the temptation to pursue the young hooligans
on WalMart bicycles into the same watery trap.

***

[The edge of a flooded road during a thunderstorm in Pueblo County.]

[Four visiting racers are returning from a training ride.]

Racer #1: Yikes! How deep is that puddle?

Racer #2: The paper said possible afternoon and evening thunderstorms.

Racer #3: The paper says that every day here in Colorado.

Racer #1: But it was clear and sunny when we left!

Racer #2: The weather site always warns about possible flash-floods.

Racer #3: That looks like about a foot of possible flash-flood.

John: You're idiots! Just ride through it!

Racer #1: John, that puddle must be a block long.

Racer #2: Looks more like two blocks to me.

Racer #3: How deep do you think it is in the middle?

John: It can't be as deep as our bottom brackets.

Racer #1: Why not, John? Hell, it looks like a pond, not a puddle.

John: Have you ever seen water up to the derailleur in a road race? Or
up to the bottom bracket while training for a road race?

Racer #2: Uh, is this your first visit to Colorado, John?

John: When I don't know the answers, I rely on my experience. Have you
ever seen water that high in a road race or while training for a road
race?

Racer #3: So this is your first visit, huh, John?

John: Quit rambling! Water is never that deep where--

[SPLASH! A wall of water interrupts John]

Racer #1: Ha, ha! That pickup truck sure splashed you, John!

Racer #2: Look! The truck's stuck in that puddle now.

Racer #3: So it's deep enough to stop a truck?

John: Just shut up! Trucks aren't racers! No bottom brackets!

Racer #1: John, if the water's not that deep, why don't you go first?

John: I've never seen axle-deep water on a road race! Stop rambl--

[Splash! Kids on bikes splash and interrupt John]

John: You $#*&! kids!

Racer #1: Hey, John, those kids on bikes sure splashed you!

Racer #2: Boy, that water's deep!

Racer #3: Yeah, it's up over the top of that kid's chain!

John: Just shut up! Those are WalMart bikes, not racers!

Kid On WalMart Bike: Hey, sissy, scared to get your pretty bike wet?

Racer #1: John, is that kid mooning you?

John: No, he's not!

Racer #2: His friends are flipping us off.

John: No, they're not!

Racer #3: That water's up to their knees!

John: No, it isn't!

Racer #1: They're not such bad kids--they're pushing the truck.

Racer #2: Hey, they're getting a ride in the back of the truck!

Racer #3: Damn, we could have gotten a ride, too!

John: No, we couldn't! Besides, the water isn't up to our axles!

Racer #1: Look, it's raining harder--how do we get back to town?

Racer #2: John, do we turn around? Or will you go through that puddle?

Racer #3: Puddle? Looks like a pond to me.

John: The pond--I mean, the puddle can't be up to our axles because--

[CRASH! BOOM! Thunder interrupts John]

Racer #1: John, the lightning's getting worse.

Racer #2: Yeah, I really wanna get out of this.

Racer #3: What's it gonna be, John?

Racer #1: Do we ride through that water?

Racer #2: Or turn around and look for another way back to town?

John: Just shut up! The water isn't--

[Splash-GIGGLE-splash A little girl on a bicycle splashes John]

Little Girl: Sorry, mister! Isn't this fun? Whee!

Racer #1: John, she's pushing her bike through the puddle.

Racer #2: Let's turn back. I don't want to ruin all my bearings.

John: No! Water is never that deep on a road where racers train!

Racer #3: John, the water's up over her hubs!

John: "Follow me!"

[Splash-splash-splash John rides into the pond--er, puddle]

Little Girl: Hey, mister, don't go over there--

John: Just shut up! Quit rambling about--

[SPLASH! COUGH! GLUG! GLUG! John sinks]

Little Girl: --there's a ditch over there--

[SPLASH! COUGH! GLUG! GLUG! John surfaces]

Little Girl: --and it's really deep--

[SPLASH! COUGH! GLUG! GLUG! John has lost his bike]

Little Girl: --so you want to stay over here on the road!

John: Just [COUGH!] shut up!

Little Girl: Isn't this fun? Whee! Bye!

Racer #1: John, you should've listened to her.

John: It was entirely her fault, not mine! She kept dodging the issue!

Racer #1: Let's just walk and carry our bikes through it.

Racer #2: Should we take off our shoes and socks?

Racer #3: What for? We're already soaked.

Racer #2: Good point.

Racer #3: Stay away from where John lost his bike.

[Splash-splash-splash]

Racer #1: What kind of dumb place lets the roads fill up with water?

[Splash-splash-splash The three racers plod through the water]

Racer #2: Damn, it really is knee-deep!

[A noise grows louder as the trio approaches John]

Racer #3: Is that just a lot more rain coming, or a hail storm?

John: I've never seen hail on a road where racers--

[WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! A modest hail storm passes through]

Racer #1: Damn it, that stuff hurts!

Racer #2: It's only the size of peas.

Racer #3: Cool! See how the hail floats?

John: I've never seen hail on a road where racers--

Racer #1: John, let's go!

Racer #2: Can't you find your bike over there in the ditch?

Racer #3: We'd help, but it's waist deep over there.

John: It's not waist deep here!

Racer #1: Fine, you're just kneeling in muddy water--

Racer #2: --full of hail stones--

Racer #3: --looking for your bike.

John: I'm not kneeling!

Racer #1: Then you're up to your waist in a ditch, like the kid said.

Racer #2: Hey, is that a tornado?

Racer #1: "I don't think we're in Kansas any more, Toto!"

Racer #3: Ha, ha, you're both so funny.

John: They're not funny!

Racer#3: C'mon, let's find John's bike and get out of this water.

[A distant roar can now be heard over the heavy rain]

Racer #1: No, really, look--is that a tornado?

Racer #2: It's sure as hell a five-hundred-foot-tall funnel cloud!

Racer #3: C'mon John, find your bike and let's get out of here!

John: Have you idiots ever seen a tornado where road racers--

[A siren interrupts John]

Sheriff's Deputy: You fellows, quit playing in the water! Leave those
bikes! Get in the car! Now! That's a tornado!

***

A note attached to the manuscript suggests that much of the action and
dialogue is taken directly from Raphael Holinshed's "Chronicles of
Pueblo, Fremont, and Denver Counties," an historic (though hitherto
unknown) account of bicycling in modern Colorado.

Little is known of Holinshed's life, except that he died long before
the invention of the bicycle and wrote a charming history of the
United Kingdom that Shakespeare found useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael...nd_and_Ireland

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Questioned by police, Mr. Ontiveros [Gerolsteiner-WalMart] stated that
he had not splashed any racers out on a training ride, at least not
deliberately, and that they deserved to be mooned anyway ("hahaha")
for stopping at the edge of the puddle when it was "lots deeper"
during the thunderstorm:
http://i37.tinypic.com/t7ldky.jpg

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/20...4603099617.txt

Mr. Ontiveros, who favors a 28-spoke front wheel for his training
rides, expressed interest in electronic shifting and volunteered to
perform field testing. Shimano engineers are considering the test
route proposed by Mr. Ontiveros, which ends with a jump off the bank
into Runyon Lake.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article ,
wrote:

Questioned by police, Mr. Ontiveros [Gerolsteiner-WalMart] stated that
he had not splashed any racers out on a training ride, at least not
deliberately, and that they deserved to be mooned anyway ("hahaha")
for stopping at the edge of the puddle when it was "lots deeper"
during the thunderstorm:
http://i37.tinypic.com/t7ldky.jpg

http://www.chieftain.com/articles/20...83e99a74603099
617.txt

Mr. Ontiveros, who favors a 28-spoke front wheel for his training
rides, expressed interest in electronic shifting and volunteered to
perform field testing. Shimano engineers are considering the test
route proposed by Mr. Ontiveros, which ends with a jump off the bank
into Runyon Lake.

My prediction is that after Mr. Ontiveros' test ride into the lake with
electroshifters, gear selection will be just as good as it was before he
went in.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."