So Long Tubulars?

On 15/07/2019 8:57 a.m., AMuzi wrote:
On 7/14/2019 8:41 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 19:44:42 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 7/14/2019 6:46 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 4:33:02 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/14/2019 5:42 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, July 14, 2019 at 9:47:23 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/14/2019 3:22 AM, wrote:
On Friday, July 12, 2019 at 5:24:57 PM UTC-5, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/12/2019 4:07 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, July 12, 2019 at 1:35:11 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Friday, July 12, 2019 at 1:13:57 PM UTC-7,
wrote:
On Thursday, July 11, 2019 at 8:52:26 PM UTC-5, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/11/2019 8:26 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jul 2019 19:39:03 -0500, AMuzi
wrote:

On 7/11/2019 5:44 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jul 2019 00:01:27 -0700 (PDT),
"
wrote:

On Wednesday, July 10, 2019 at 5:59:53 PM UTC-5, John
B. Slocomb wrote:

so here is a quote that Brandt
made back in the glory days:

.*** Oh, you mean this guy:

********** Thomas H Munich, Born: Oct 1944
********** 3539 Monterey Blvd
********** San Alejandro CA94578
********** 510) 351-3807

********** http://tinyurl.com/8rwo2

********** I thought we had gotten over him, now that
we have other
contributors**** who are equally rude and obnoxious,
always carping
while offering no useful information. A few names come
to mind.

********** Jobs Brandt

, DEC 26, 2005


Kind of unrelated to the content of this thread.* But
looking at this Jobst quote, the guy he is complaining
about is only 61 when written.* I am pretty sure ALL of
the dirty old *******s I ride with are at least that
old.* I'm the youngster, and I'm not that young
anymore.* Sadly.* Its very depressing that everyone is
so F---ing old now.

Yes, he was born in 1944 and is this year 75 years old
and as a
general statement males seem to become more garrulous
with age, and
Brandt* describes the chap as being rude, obnoxious and
always
carping, which appear to be an apt description today. :-)
--

Cheers,

John B.


"equally rude and obnoxious, always carping"

Huh I was thinking Joe Biden who will turn 77 this year.

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.* born November 20, 1942, ex V.P

I read that:

"Whatever else one thinks of Joe Biden, the speech he
delivered in New
York on Thursday showed him to be the only Democratic
candidate with
his own vision on foreign policy and a full understanding
of just how
badly President Donald Trump's vision is damaging U.S.
interests and
values around the world."
_________________________

***** From here it is easy to see the results of the
Trump "foreign policy"
in other countries and one thing that is happening is that
more and
more exports, and likely imports, from at least Thailand
and Cambodia
are going to China now as opposed to the U.S. And China is
funneling
money into both countries both in the form of low cost
loans and by
opening manufacturing businesses which, of course,
contributes to the
local economy both in the form of taxes and by employing
more locals.

Even Australia, the news yesterday recently, is
considering developing
nuclear weapons as the U.S. foreign policy seems to be
very "wobbly"
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/17...uclear-weapons




I see in today's paper that for 2019 US imports from China
are down 13% while imports from ROK are up 13%, from ROC up
23%, from Vietnam up 37% and so on.

Only one of the aforementioned countries has four
supercarrier keels down with a goal of challenging USN.

--
Andrew Muzi
****** www.yellowjersey.org/
****** Open every day since 1 April, 1971

My website search has a slightly different number.

"The Associated Press reported Friday that Chinese imports
from the U.S. were down 31.4 percent from the same time last
year, U.S. imports from China dropped by a far lower rate
â€â€* down just 7.8 percent
over last year."

So it seems Trump has made the trade war much worse with his
actions.* We are hurting China by buying 7.8% less of their
goods.* Yeah Trump.* But hurting USA companies even more by
selling 31.4% less to China.* I'm sure for 3-4 time bankrupt
Trump that means he is winning.* Cut off China's pinky
finger.* Cut off the USA hand.* Winning!!!

Another economist steps forward with his educated ideas. We
are buying less from China because Americans are buying more
from America. This probably is something you cannot fathom.
Moreover, since we are keeping more money in America we have
less need to sell to foreign countries.

That doesn't even make sense. We're not buying significantly
more American products because most of the products from China
apart from steel are no longer manufactured here, like most
things at Walmart. We're now buying that stuff from ROC,
Vietnam, Toadsuckistan -- or the same Chinese stuff is being
rerouted through those countries. Just as much money is
leaving the country, but its going different places.* And more
money is leaving American pockets to pay the tariffs.
http://money.com/money/5646202/costc...ina-trade-war/
Also, tell the farmers about "not needing" to sell to foreign
countries. Your tax dollars are now bailing them out.* More
farm welfare to promote over-production.

BTW, you don't have any idea of how quickly a US-based company
can shift production to another country. Your MAGA hat and
Donald Trump tie are now made in Viet Nam instead of China. I
ride regularly with two executives who have domestic companies
with manufacturing in China.* For one, it took only a few
months to shift the whole operation to Viet Nam.

China should be spanked for its anti-competitive conduct and
misappropriation of US IP, but don't think the dopey tariff
war is the way to do it.* Tariffs are just how Trump is
filling budget holes with the massive reduction in the
corporate rate and other give-aways to the rich and famous.
Once again, ordinary Joe pays.

-- Jay Beattie.







China HAS made a commitment to partake seriously in trade
treaty negotiations.

It's plain that you don't understand anything about anything
like all of the other idiot millennials.


+1 nicely done.

That said, what do you suggest after several successive
POTUSes and Congresses have ignored the problems? As with
the open-border mess, he's left with only a hammer which
doesn't make the problem into a nail; he just likes pounding.

I don't have an answer either, but to the extent that Xi
doesn't like tariffs and the domestic China economy has
weakened, I'll reflect on it before screaming.


Andy, how much of your business is Chinese?* I don't mean
selling to Chinese customers or employing Chinese bike
mechanics.* But of all the products you sell, how much is made
in China?* I think almost all Shimano products are Chinese
made.* FSA and most of the other brands are Chinese.* I think
Campagnolo makes their stuff in China too.* Except for a few
boutique high dollar frames, China.* Tires and tubes are China.
I think Korea, Thailand, Vietnam get some of the business too.
The parts portion of the bike industry is Chinese.* Love it,
hate it.* But that is reality today.* Your service sales are
USA.* Guessing you are not employing too many illegal immigrants
who snuck down from Canada.* And that kind of illustrates a big
trend in USA business over the past number of decades.* USA
exports to the rest of the world is services.* Not manufactured
products.* We are selling minds and ideas and services and
people.* Not factory stuff.* The cheap dumb backward countries
are m
ak
in
g
the stuff.* I've seen articles on the trade imbalance.* When you
add in services the USA sells to the rest of the world, the trade
imbalance drops a lot.* Its not much of an imbalance at all.* But
that does not make as good a headline and isn't as easy to grasp
for the uneducated masses.* "THEY sell more stuff to us than THEY
buy from us.* Bad bad bad."


Less than you imagine.

None of our own products are made in China now.* For only
$11,000 I replaced a $3000 chinese injection mold tool with
one made 25 miles from here four years ago. That ended our
final China vendor[1].

Vredestein tubes are probably made in Netherlands (packaging
is unclear). Michelin are Serbia and Thailand. Campagnolo is
Italy & Romania with wheels from Taiwan ROC. Shimano from
Japan & Malaysia. I spend a very small amount of time
consciously choosing Taiwan ROC product over PRC wherever I
can, such as Sun Race and Kenda product.

Waterford/Gunnar and SOMA are non-Chinese but Bianchi sadly
has some in the mix now.* Which is very noticeable at build
between PRC and ROC bikes BTW.

Could a guy make a few extra $$ selling PRC product over
Velocity USA & SOMA rims? Sure. And I don't judge them. For
me, it's not worthwhile.

[1] It's not all patriotism. Over 15 or so years I was
unable to find one honest man doing business in The Middle
Kingdom. Not the only factor but an expensive one.



I got an email that I had received some of those rear derailleur
jockey wheels from China. Damned if I could find them. I had
received several packages that day but not those parts.

When I contacted the vendor in China essentially what he said was
"We sent it to the address given and USPS said they delivered it."
I was about to get mad and file a complaint. But then I thought -
there was so little money involved and those people in the PRC
have so little I'm not going to complain. A couple of days later I
saw a small plastic envelope sticking between the sofa cushions
and it was my order. It must have been between two of the large
packages and fallen into the crack.

The moral is, don't be too fast to judge.


"We need another run of that product"
****"You need to cut a new tool"
"But we own a tool, you made it a year ago"
****"Uh, we lost it. You need a new one"

I bought a Bob Jackson for my oldest step-daughter from Stone's
Cyclery in Alameda in the late 90's. She took it across the US and
also ran the Jr. Nationals one year.

It's been sitting out in a shed for the last 20 years or so and the
headset was seized solid. I took TriFlow and a hammer to it to free
it up enough to take in to Robinson's Wheelworks in town here. Robby
started out as apprentice to Dennis Stone. I bought a replacement
headset and took it with the BJ into Robby's to have it replaced.

Without even looking he knew that the headset was 27.2 (?) and that
the normal headset base is 26.8 (? those sure sound like seat posts
to me but what the heck). Robby STILL has the tools made in 1070's
to face BJ's down to the standard size. All of his tools look like
they are brand new. All of the cutting edges you have to be careful
with or they will cut you.

Would you rather buy a tool good for 2 years and then needs
replacement or one that is like new after 50 years? I can't even get
decent metric hex wrenches anymore. I still have some old Snap-on
ratchet ends that look like new. All of the stuff I buy now rounds
off to the point that I don't like using them on bicycles.


I am no stranger to purchase, care, sharpening, TiN coatings
and storage of expensive machine cutters:

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfr...st/NITRIDE.JPG

Question: Did you have those "plated" (for want of a better word) and
is so what is the cost? And is the cost* based on square inches to be
covered?

I am assuming* that you would deliver the tool reasonably clean and
they would do some sort of "super cleaning" prior to "plating".

A 500,000-cycle plastic injection mold tool is really
expensive. Never ever had one 'lost' in Japan or USA. The
client's tool is normally stored between runs as part of the
normal business.
--
cheers,

John B.


They go from the sharpening service directly to the vapor deposition
house. It's titanium nitride of few microns or so about $30 per piece.
Beyond that for a higher fee you can buy other even harder coatings now.

typical example:
http://www.praxairsurfacetechnologie...por-deposition



It's more case hardening than plating. Google "Nitriding White Layer"