WalMart Spoking!

Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I plan to take my spoke gauge next time and will naturally
try to answer any questions concerning the details of the
wheels.

Carl Fogel

wrote:
Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I plan to take my spoke gauge next time and will naturally
try to answer any questions concerning the details of the
wheels.

Your insatiable thirst for knowledge brings you to the poles of the cycling
business.

The "new" Schwinn Stingrays are based on the fad popularity of shows such as
American Chopper and the like. Like with the Razor scooter, children will
realize the error in their transportation/recreation choices, and by that
time, they will have graduated to adult bicycles.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

wrote:
Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I plan to take my spoke gauge next time and will naturally
try to answer any questions concerning the details of the
wheels.

Carl Fogel

but carl, did you notice the drive side radial spoking on some of their
other models? that seems to be the fad with the cheapo cruisers.

wrote:
Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I plan to take my spoke gauge next time and will naturally
try to answer any questions concerning the details of the
wheels.

Any similarity between those bicycle-shaped objects and my
choice in transportation is purely coincidental and
unrelated. I bet Tom Sherman would agree!

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

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 22:01:37 -0700, may have
said:

Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

You speak, I trust, of the latest of the chopper-"inspired" units that
seem to have filtered in over the past couple of weeks. At least one
isn't a Schwinn, and has a front fork that looks like it could easily
weigh more than an entire decent mtb. From what I could tell, their
utility and likelihood of sale is at least as high as their larger
bretheren, many of which are already relegated to the line of
we-got-too-many units hooked together by a dainty cable in front of
the store. One would almost think they were *hoping* that these bikes
would get lifted. Even the wire cutters in their cheap electrical
terminal kits could probably cut them loose.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

The non-Schwinns at least had a not-as-impractical rear tire width,
but they featured a frame design that might have been engineered by
the marketing division; the frame aped the old double-loop layout of
classic motorcycles, using a single loop of the same shape.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

Gosh, just what everyone needs, *yet another* oddball tire size.

Were the spokes welded in place in the same way that they are on some
of the other kiddie-bike wheels?

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

Ditto.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

Mowers that light are just as serious as these bikes; the color would
have been no detriment. I suspect these were recycled from a
discontinued line of strollers instead.

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

At Wal-Mart, stress relief is something that the cashiers and other
employees consider to be needed *after* work, not during it.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I would expect the front spokes to fail first when the wheel is
crushed beneath the tire of the parent's SUV.



--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 05:12:08 GMT, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
may have said:

The "new" Schwinn Stingrays are based on the fad popularity of shows such as
American Chopper and the like. Like with the Razor scooter, children will
realize the error in their transportation/recreation choices, and by that
time, they will have graduated to adult bicycles.

May of them appear to have figured it out before the bikes ever got to
the rack at Mall-Wart.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

A Muzi wrote:

wrote:

Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I plan to take my spoke gauge next time and will naturally
try to answer any questions concerning the details of the
wheels.


Any similarity between those bicycle-shaped objects and my choice in
transportation is purely coincidental and unrelated. I bet Tom Sherman
would agree!

Well, if I could not convince someone to get a recumbent, a Kettler from
Yellow Jersey would make a practical commuter.

I have never been one to sacrifice function for style; even my "fast and
fun" bike has clearances for reasonably wide tires, a rear rack, and
eyelets for a rear fender.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth

avalon avalon avalon
but on the chopper-three chopper kids brung their rides out into my
zoooooommmm pathn thru the burbs and boonies-all having considerable
difficulty motivating the beastly pipe-aukward aukward-surley word of
membrane will kill it.

fogel left the outhouse for the wal!! the spoke pattern is a fad?

avalon avalon, i can see your aluminum gleaming...
ima ruminating on the prancing dragon appalachin mkyself

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 22:01:37 -0700,
wrote:

Whilst WalMarting tonight, I chanced to notice a rack of
bicycles dangling by their front wheels near the front door.

Hoping that this marked the expected arrival of a convention
of rec.bicycles.tech posters, I scurried over to admire the
latest in low-cost technology.

Alas, these bikes seem to be aimed at the offspring of
rec.bicycles.tech, not the more mature members.

They were apparently single-speed Schwinns for both boys and
girls of tender years. I was too fascinated by the wheels to
notice the price, but I assume that it reflects the
attention to detail exemplified by the colored dice used as
valve caps.

For the front wheel, Schwinn has settled on an 18-inch rim
and 1.95" tire, with radial spoking and 36 straight-gauge
black spokes that looked a bit thinner than normal spokes to
me.

For the rear wheel, Schwinn uses 28 equally slender spokes
in a cross-2 pattern on a 16-inch rim with a 3.00" tire.

(The training wheels employed solid purple plastic disks,
possibly for reduced wind drag, possibly to use up a supply
of wheels whose color was too embarrassing to be used on
lawn mowers.)

I considered inquiring if the two different spoke patterns
had been stress-relieved, but the nearest clerk looked busy
with a long line at the express checkout lane.

Assuming a reasonably obese child commuting from
kindergarten until a senior in high school, which spokes
should we expect to fail first, front or rear? And why?

I plan to take my spoke gauge next time and will naturally
try to answer any questions concerning the details of the
wheels.

Carl Fogel

Drat, I was wrong!

The black spokes that I thought looked thin are husky
straight 2.0 mm, about 140 mm, head-out on the radial 18"
front rim and about 130 mm on the rear.

The rear is slightly dished, but there's a healthy 20 mm
between the right and left side rim holes.

I forgot again to notice the name, but the price is a
stylish $99, rather more expensive than a Fury Roadmaster.
Possibly tooling up for two oddly spoked rims was costly.

Carl Fogel

no slip and fall there.