Belt drive

On Fri, 03 May 2019 13:13:58 +0700, John B. wrote:

On Thu, 2 May 2019 18:49:03 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:


There's a family just out of town who were threatened with expropriation
to make way for a bypass road. The father said he came to Canada from a
communist country because he thought they'd be free and free from such
things. To say he's vastly disappointed would be a colossal
understatement.

Whilst we lived in Toronto Canada our house was expropriated to make way
for a laneway in a new development. Neat that you can buy something that
you work a great many years to pay for and have a government simply take
it away. Sure they pay you something for it but not nearly enough to buy
similar elsewhere.

Cheers

We had a similar case when they built a town airport, Some trees in a
field at the end of the runway. But in that case they paid the owner the
value of the trees as sawn lumber.

Which illustrates the case that "the owner' is not paid enough as they
were only paid for one aspect of the trees(lumber), ignoring the fact
multiple crops of trees could be grown and the amenity that trees give to
a place.

On Fri, 3 May 2019 07:09:12 -0000 (UTC), news18
wrote:

On Fri, 03 May 2019 13:13:58 +0700, John B. wrote:

On Thu, 2 May 2019 18:49:03 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote:


There's a family just out of town who were threatened with expropriation
to make way for a bypass road. The father said he came to Canada from a
communist country because he thought they'd be free and free from such
things. To say he's vastly disappointed would be a colossal
understatement.

Whilst we lived in Toronto Canada our house was expropriated to make way
for a laneway in a new development. Neat that you can buy something that
you work a great many years to pay for and have a government simply take
it away. Sure they pay you something for it but not nearly enough to buy
similar elsewhere.

Cheers

We had a similar case when they built a town airport, Some trees in a
field at the end of the runway. But in that case they paid the owner the
value of the trees as sawn lumber.

Which illustrates the case that "the owner' is not paid enough as they
were only paid for one aspect of the trees(lumber), ignoring the fact
multiple crops of trees could be grown and the amenity that trees give to
a place.

Not really, the trees were elms - not a valuable wood at the time and
were along the edge of a plot of land, perhaps a hay field or a
pasture. Certainly they were fairly old trees but you'd have to live a
long time to grow multiple crop as it takes decades (note the "s") to
mature :-)

At the time the owner was upset as he thought he could hold the air
field for ransom, so to speak, and the rest of the town thought he got
just what he deserved and maybe a little more :-)
--
cheers,

John B.

Joy Beeson writes:

On Wed, 01 May 2019 07:28:51 +0700, John B.
wrote:

Hmmm... I've always thought "full speed" was the speed you reached
when that big, bad, dog, came rushing out of the drive with dinner on
his mind.

My experiences have been that one can reach some astonishingly high
speeds in that event :-)

I was once attacked by an entire pack of neglected dogs. It didn't
take much effort to outrun them -- they chose to attack at the top of
two miles of steep downhill.

I was once chased for several blocks by a pregnant dachshund. Later
that day I did regret having slowed down.

On 5/2/2019 11:56 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Wed, 01 May 2019 07:28:51 +0700, John B.
wrote:

Hmmm... I've always thought "full speed" was the speed you reached
when that big, bad, dog, came rushing out of the drive with dinner on
his mind.

My experiences have been that one can reach some astonishingly high
speeds in that event :-)

I was once attacked by an entire pack of neglected dogs. It didn't
take much effort to outrun them -- they chose to attack at the top of
two miles of steep downhill.

We started cycling as adults when we lived in a little redneck town in a
southern state. There were lots of pretty back roads, but there were
also hundreds of loose dogs. It wasn't unusual to be chased once per mile.

One of our fondest memories was riding by a trailer park and having a
pack of about 8 dogs come out after us. (My wife swears it was 20.)

Anyway, I can do a pretty fair imitation of a big dog's loud, fierce
bark. As the lead dog got right alongside of me, I leaned over and
barked at him very loudly.

He was startled enough that he slammed on his brakes, so to speak. The
next couple dogs plowed into him, and the whole pack stopped as the
first few began snarling and fighting. We rode happily on.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-26 16:24, Roger Merriman wrote:
Joerg wrote:
On 2019-04-25 15:48, Roger Merriman wrote:
Joerg wrote:

[...]



It often takes the bicycle industry decades longer to figure something
out. Such as decent heavy-duty rack space on FS MTB and central-battery
powered lighting where, no surprise, I had to build it all myself. Beats
me why one still cannot buy this:

http://www.analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Muddy5.JPG

Probably because if your using the bike differently to others, my commute
bike though a hardtail is closer to that set up with panniers and a barbag
as I found the weight on the rear effected the handling though with the
weight spread even fully Laden the bike can be some fun in the woods if one
wants.

But for the Nice MTB I don’t need to take so much gear and as a leisure
rather than transport it’s a much nicer ride unladen.


Even during fun rides I carry a full tool kit, a big lock, some spare
parts and most of all water. The water alone can be north of a gallon in
summer because many MTB trails have no opportunity to refill (safely).

If you need a lock then surely there is somewhere to fill up water, I do
have routes that I can’t refill bottles but equally they don’t require
locks for that reason.

How often or likely is a full tool kit needed? Personally I do take some
Allen keys but can’t remember the last time they where needed.


You could have asked the guy whose shifter cable snapped and the limit
screws had Allen heads so were not adjustable via Swiss Army knife.
That's a wee problem far from any roads in hilly turf. Or the rider I
towed after the drive gear was throughly pretzeled. Yes, on the road
bike and sometimes on the MTB I carry a tow rope. Or li'l Henry who
crashed his scooter out in the boonies, was bleeding and his grabndma
didn't have anything in terms of first aid supplies. Or the kids who
hiked a trail in the scorching sun and had absolutely no water left.

Heck, I even "overpacked" on long hikes and got some people out of the
wilderness by supplying and helping them. Including one who had laid
himself down in the bushes off the trail and only mumbled to please let
him die. He also made it back, thanks to my "excessive" baggage.

If I head out into the hills properly you don’t see folks apart from the
SAS training maybe. Though I do get the odd surprised naked/topless walkers
up on the Ridge way, never sure who is more surprised the middle aged man
who’s sweated his way up one of the steep ramps of that old road or the
generally young ish woman topless/naked, but generally I never see anyone
off road and this is the Britain which is a busy place.

For a fun ride lock generally isn’t needed, ...


It was yesterday. Parking a bike outside the building in an industrial
district with some hobos milling about isn't an option. Might be gone
when you come back out and an hour later it's all parted out. Another
guy didn't have a lock and he sure was glad mine fit around both bikes.

https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/23....jpg?width=705

I see that kind of chop shop or remnants thereof during many rides.

On my off road routes it’s very rare that I’d think about a lock, even
living in SE England at cafes stops etc are not generally a worry I can sit
with bike etc.


... and even riding 20 miles 7k up
at above 30’C two water bottles was fine, 8 bottles is just over kill to
put it mildly.


My rides are usually much longer than 20 miles. On some routes there is
no potable water anywhere and temps in the summer are more around 40C.
Lack of hydration can be toughed out for a day but it makes the ride
less fun and is not healthy. It can end in a "dehdration-bonk" and I had
two of those. Talk to a medical professional about that topic,
preferably one that deals with hiker rescues.

I bought the MTB mostly because it allows me to ride out into nature far
away from what man calls civilization.

That was was 20 miles up, as I’ve been to Tenerife a few times where you
can go from Sea to summit, one of the few places you can do that, clearly
unless your picked up. It’s at least 40 miles more normally 60 ish miles.


It's lasted many thousand hard miles now which included heavy loads.
Yeah, that bike is heavy but it never breaks down anymore.

To be honest I haven’t found anything breaks with high mileage even on
rough surfaces, bar bolts the old hardtail was about 10 years old when I
pressed it into commuting service, and fitted panniers and what not, but
found that various bolts/attachments over the bike took it in turn to fail
over a few months.


I like to be able to take rocky trails and a HT would just not work for
me there, partially on account of some lower back issues. IMO any
bicycle should be able to carry a load in order to provide a practical
mode of transportation. For example, one client and a software engineer
are located along a rough singletrack. A trail where a HT bike isn't fun.

By the time you have that much weight, which is probably well over what the
suspension is rated for plus the thick tyres, inner tubes the ride is
likely to be fairly poor. I’ve swapped out some Marathon plus Touring for
some big apples and much better ride, particularly when heavily laden.


It rides like a truck but comfy. Build up a little more leg muscle and
it's fine. I want my vehicles to be rated for practical use and that
does include occasionally carrying substantial cargo.

I found that spreading the load made the handling much better, using just
rear panniers the with reasonably loads the front would feel lighter, a bar
bag has settled this, and the bike can be flung along the river side
decking etc with gusto.

I use tires made in Asia, mostly in Thailand, which have beefy
sidewalls, are the only once that held up so far and are remarkably low
cost. With the usual higher-priced name brand stuff I had too many
sidewall failures.

[...]

I know that road tyres can fail, though personally I’ve heard of or
experienced MTB tyres generally, the cheaper tyres generally ride awfully
etc, personally a lot of my MTB is steep wet/rocky rooty so grip, and
durability are high on my list though rolling resistant and wear rate are
not.

Roger Merriman

On Friday, May 3, 2019 at 5:49:45 PM UTC-4, Roger Merriman wrote:
Snipped...]

I know that road tyres can fail, though personally I’ve heard of or
experienced MTB tyres generally, the cheaper tyres generally ride awfully
etc, personally a lot of my MTB is steep wet/rocky rooty so grip, and
durability are high on my list though rolling resistant and wear rate are
not.

Roger Merriman

I feel for you Roger.

I have a few trails that I ride a lot. When it's dry those trails are a delight but when they're wet the roots and moss covered stones or rocks make riding a bicycle a real challenge. What makes it more of a challenge is that many of the roots are fairly large and are at angles to the direction of intended travel and that can make keeping the front wheel aligned and the bike upright a very fun exercise.

Cheers

On Fri, 03 May 2019 13:25:21 -0400, Radey Shouman
wrote:

I was once chased for several blocks by a pregnant dachshund. Later
that day I did regret having slowed down.

I was once chased by a siamese kitten hopping sideways. I nearly fell
off my bike.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 04/05/2019 02.51, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Fri, 03 May 2019 13:25:21 -0400, Radey Shouman
wrote:

I was once chased for several blocks by a pregnant dachshund. Later
that day I did regret having slowed down.

I was once chased by a siamese kitten hopping sideways. I nearly fell
off my bike.

The worst are Squirrels, the Special Forces of the Woodland Alliance.
The attack without warning from any cover afforded and are totally
merciless. Look out for Corvids, the LRRPs of the Woodland Alliance, if
you spot one, it's a sure sign of more enemy activity to come.

On 2019-05-02 17:16, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 02 May 2019 15:46:08 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2019-05-02 15:19, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 02 May 2019 07:35:44 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2019-05-01 16:04, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 01 May 2019 07:46:35 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2019-04-30 17:28, John B. wrote:
rOn Tue, 30 Apr 2019 16:14:17 -0700, Joerg

[...]


I don't bomb downhill on the MTB anymore. Too old for that and seen too
many cases of the aftermath when it went wrong.

I do often get to 20mph on regular MTB trail sections and since we have
rocks embedded in the ground that's hard on the bike. Hence a FS MTB and
a home-built rack system because the commercial stuff ain't good.

However, we were talking about road bike tires here and there I always
go full close tilt unless I am distracted. For example by aerobatics up
in the sky on Friday. That was worth seeing.

Full means a speed that I can hold for an hour or two, not a speed where
my tongue hangs on the handlebar after 10mins. IOW the speed tat gives
me the best time from A to Z, not just from A to B.

Hmmm... I've always thought "full speed" was the speed you reached
when that big, bad, dog, came rushing out of the drive with dinner on
his mind.

My experiences have been that one can reach some astonishingly high
speeds in that event :-)


Depends on how you are with dogs. The last (really big) one which looked
similar to an Anatolian Shepherd eventually stopped growling at me,
sniffed my hand and then licked it.

My MTB buddy had an event of the other kind. Instead of a dog a redneck
came running out of a shed, all angry, hollering obscenities, rifle in
hand. That warranted a very speedy departure.

Seriously? Or perhaps a better question was "what was your buddy doing
to cause some farmer to come roaring out of a shed with a gun"?
"hollering obscenities"?


He was merely following singletrack. We had a similar case here on the
El Dorado trail (MTB, hike and horse singletrack) where a landowner was
of the opinion that the 100 year old right-of-way does not apply near
his ranch. He kept the rifle on the rack though but rolled tree stumps
into the path with stern no-trespass warnings tacked on. When I reported
that I was told "Yeah, this guy is a bit belligerent, be careful when
you encounter him".

But, you are living in California where not that long go a guy used a
saw to attack bicyclists who he didn't want to access a trail.

But perhaps more to the point is there actually a legal right of way
over that prosperity?


There is. More than 100 years old.

I agree that in Great Briton there is a law that provided right of way
over routes that have been used for a millennium. But is there such a
law in California? I did a quick search and I can find no such law.

There are various types of easements, rights to cross a property, but
they are quire specific and can, for instance, allow foot traffic but
disallow bicycle traffic. Or in the example used, only applicable when
it rains.


AFAIR it is the "Michigan-California right-of-way" and follows federal law.


... The fact that people have been crossing a
property may, or may not denote a right to continue to cross that
property. I know that in New Hampshire the fact that there is a road
or path across privately owned land exists does not denote a right to
use that road or path. There was a rather famous case in the town I
grew up in where the owner of a piece of land closed a road leading to
the Town's water reservoir over an argument with the Roads department.
No problem, public domain, benefit of the majority, etc. But when it
got down to a trial it was discovered that there is no "right", in New
Hampshire, to cross private property. In each case an "easement" must
exist to allow a "right" to exist to cross said property.


This easement is in place almost since Wyatt Earp roamed the lands. It
is a railroad right of way which extends well beyond that singletrack.
This is why the farm and ranch fences are 50 yards or so from the
tracks. This rancher thought he could claw that all back by force and
without legal right. He seems to have sobered up about it, or maybe just
got old and frail.

But a railroad "right of way" is, in simple terms land that the
railroad company has been given or has purchased, and, as you say, may
be much wider than that needed for the tracks. If the "right of way"
is no longer used you need to determine what was the final disposition
of the property. Does someone own it? Did it revert to the State and
if so what has the state done with it?

Simply saying "Oh! That was a railroad right of way and I can ride my
bicycle on it" may well not be correct :-)


It is a transportation corridor right of way and has been legally run
through the wringer ad nauseam. Property owners have regularly tried to
torpedo it since the last freight train rolled through in 1986. It
includes where the track bed is plus a certain number of feet left and
right. The latter is where the MTB/hiking/horse trail runs.

In meetings legal experts said it can be lost by abandonment if the
right-of-way is no longer used. Else it stays.

Aside from regular trail use by people like me there has also been an
increase in rail use activity so abandonment is no longer a risk.

http://museum.edcgov.us/el-dorado-western-railroad

The Shingle Springs Depot now has a bike shop in there. Specializing on
MTB, of course.

The whole thing is also a matter of just getting along. I regularly chat
with property owners, even brought an escaped goat back that seemed to
be on the way towards San Francisco.

[...]

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2019-05-02 17:35, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/2/2019 5:46 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2019-05-02 15:19, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 02 May 2019 07:35:44 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2019-05-01 16:04, John B. wrote:

[...]


I used to go "prospecting" up in the mountains along the
Yuba Rivers,
not that far from you, and I never had anyone come
roaring out of a
shed after me. Of course I didn't go tromping through
anyone's cash
crop, leave gates open, or any of the other foolishness
that others
might do. And, if I did meet someone I used to stop,
introduce myself,
tell them what I was doing "in this God Forsaken place"
and even chat
a bit before I moved on.

Out here folks are more social. I was stopped by a guy
when I realized
that I was indeed trespassing. The private property sign
had fallen off
and no fence. After a brief chat he became friendly and
even shared some
history about the old steam engine parts strewn across
his property from
the gold rush days. Later I understoof why he was
initially gruff. He
had a lot of squatters messing up his property in the
past and the
clean-ups cost him serious money.

A great many people get upset about people just assuming a
"right" to
go on their property and in nearly all cases it is because
of the
actions of those people, not because the land owner is a
miserable
scrooge.


Yes, a certain kind of people. It's not just squatters, also
druggies and careless people who leave a lot of trash behind
or worst case a fire.


Wyatt Earp. from Iowa, lived in Kansas, Arizona mostly and most notably,
briefly in SF then Alaska, Nevada and finally SoCal where he died.


Nobody knows for sure where he's really been.


Nowhere near Cameron Park.


But the Cartwrights rode their horses through here :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/