"City Bike" Hot New Category at Bicycle Industry Show

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 10:43:58 -0500, A Muzi
wrote:

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
are no lights supplied until you get all the way up to their top-of-the-line
model, the World Adventure-http://www.schwinnbike.com/products/bikes_detail.php?id=954.

Chalo wrote:
They put vertical dropouts and a chain tensioner on a bike that comes
*from the factory* with a gearhub?!?!! Are they on crack? (I mean,
this is Pacific Cycle we're talking about, so it's probably a
combination of betel nut and counterfeit Valium, but still... WTF?)

Or just PCP and toluene? Sky Yaeger isn't at Bianchi any longer.
Bianchi also has an internal gear bike with the wrong ends and a
tensioner for 2008. Whatever for? Why, 'urban bike' with disc brake of
course.
O tempora, O mores.
It's a case of "run what you brung" and they haven't built a frame
with horizontal dropouts for quite some time - at least not the type
of frame they are using for the "townies"
Simpler to test the waters with a gearhub by installing a tensioner
(gutted deraileur) than re-engineering the frames.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Andrew Muzi mused:

Chalo wrote:
They put vertical dropouts and a chain tensioner on a bike that comes
*from the factory* with a gearhub?!?!! Are they on crack? (I mean,
this is Pacific Cycle we're talking about, so it's probably a
combination of betel nut and counterfeit Valium, but still... WTF?)

Or just PCP and toluene?...

Local knowledge?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
A Real Cyclist [TM] keeps at least one bicycle in the bedroom.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In article ,
Don Wiss wrote:

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, (Tom Keats) wrote:

Thank you, I will. At least, the mechanised/motorized ones
that slide out like a CD player tray. I also like to make
fun of electric toothbrushes, electric backscratchers,
electric card shufflers, etc.

Actually electric toothbrushes can be useful as they generally will do a
better job then you can do by hand. One thing that is useless, like the
other two you list, is electric can openers.

I suspect electric can openers have their merits in industrial settings
of some sort, and I suspect that there's a surprisingly large minority
of people who don't have the manual dexterity to open a can by hand.

The combination of arthritis and typical grip-strength degeneration in
old age must be especially potent here.

Can't speak to electric backscratchers, but electric card shufflers are
generally way faster than humans. even some casinos use them; I've seen
table games dealt with alternating decks, where the pre-shuffled second
deck pops out of a hole in the table:

http://www.proshuffler.com/products.html

That's being sold as a consumer version, but the physical interface is
essentially what I saw mounted into the table. If there was a LED
display, it was not on the table, but I suspect it was in a
dealer-visible area.

More importantly, electric shufflers are fast. I'm not saying we should
always strive to maximize throughput in our leisure activities, but
surely shuffling the cards is one of the more tedious elements of most
poker nights.

I recall that the first time I played solitaire on a computer, I noted
that the computer-speed shuffling and dealing essentially meant the game
was better than playing with real cards. That said, I won't argue with
such aesthetes who like the feel of real cards in their actual hands.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

Don Wiss wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, (Tom Keats) wrote:

Thank you, I will. At least, the mechanised/motorized ones
that slide out like a CD player tray. I also like to make
fun of electric toothbrushes, electric backscratchers,
electric card shufflers, etc.

Actually electric toothbrushes can be useful as they generally will do a
better job then you can do by hand. One thing that is useless, like the
other two you list, is electric can openers. And then maybe electric
knives, though I've never used one.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

Electric knives are useful when cutting up things like turkeys or large
roasts. Also good for cutting homemade bread without destroying the loaf.

In article ,
Ryan Cousineau writes:
In article ,
Don Wiss wrote:

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, (Tom Keats) wrote:

Thank you, I will. At least, the mechanised/motorized ones
that slide out like a CD player tray. I also like to make
fun of electric toothbrushes, electric backscratchers,
electric card shufflers, etc.

Actually electric toothbrushes can be useful as they generally will do a
better job then you can do by hand.

That's a crock o' you-know-what, and you know it.



More importantly, electric shufflers are fast. I'm not saying we should
always strive to maximize throughput
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I work in a logistics centre. Maximizing throughput is largely what
retaining my job is all about. Throughput & turnover.

How nice it is, to get home, kick off the workboots, and forget
about throughput and turnover, and just be a human bean. Albeit
tired, worn-out, and having sore feet and various other maladies
like a plantar callus right behind the little piggie who didn't
have roast beef, around which we must surround with Dr Scholl's
sticky O-rings.

Maybe sometimes we should minimize throughput & turnover.
We're not machines. Especially not minimum-wage machines.

Humanity requires an human touch.

As you know, bicycles respond to the human touch quite well,
as do canoes & kayaks.

Remember dial telephones? Those responded to one's touch, too.
At least, they appeared to. (Actually I remember party lines.)


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

In article ,
SMS writes:
Don Wiss wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, (Tom Keats) wrote:

Thank you, I will. At least, the mechanised/motorized ones
that slide out like a CD player tray. I also like to make
fun of electric toothbrushes, electric backscratchers,
electric card shufflers, etc.

Actually electric toothbrushes can be useful as they generally will do a
better job then you can do by hand. One thing that is useless, like the
other two you list, is electric can openers. And then maybe electric
knives, though I've never used one.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

Electric knives are useful when cutting up things like turkeys or large
roasts. Also good for cutting homemade bread without destroying the loaf.

It seems you don't know how to sharpen a kitchen carving knife,
nor the cooling stage at which to carve or cut cooked stuff.
It's an ancient, time-honoured skill which predates electric
gadgetry.



--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Don Wiss wrote:

To change the subject. In Europe (at least in The Netherlands) tail lights
can't blink. Is this technically also true in the US?

Each state makes their own rules, but most adhere to the uniform vehicle
code for stuff like this. It's not perfectly clear whether flashing red
lights are permitted on bicycles, or if bicycles are treated like motor
vehicles. Some states have explicitly permitted bicycles to have a
flashing red light in the rear (i.e. Ohio), see
"http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.56".

The original flashing lights, the Belt Beacon and Ed Kearny's "barricade
light" were yellow because yellow flashers are in a gray area of "slow
moving vehicle."

Of course none of this is enforced. If you put a flashing blue light on
your bicycle then I think you might have a chance of getting stopped by
the police.

In article ,
"Tom \"Johnny Sunset\" Sherman" writes:
Andrew Muzi mused:

Chalo wrote:
They put vertical dropouts and a chain tensioner on a bike that comes
*from the factory* with a gearhub?!?!! Are they on crack? (I mean,
this is Pacific Cycle we're talking about, so it's probably a
combination of betel nut and counterfeit Valium, but still... WTF?)

Or just PCP and toluene?...

Local knowledge?

Around here, and especially at this time of year,
"local knowledge" is about the best places in which
to harvest mushrooms.

And no, I'm not even gonna drop any hints.
Mushroom-pickin' places are sacrosanct,
'n that's that.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

SMS wrote:
Don Wiss wrote:

To change the subject. In Europe (at least in The Netherlands) tail
lights
can't blink. Is this technically also true in the US?

Each state makes their own rules, but most adhere to the uniform vehicle
code for stuff like this. It's not perfectly clear whether flashing red
lights are permitted on bicycles, or if bicycles are treated like motor
vehicles. Some states have explicitly permitted bicycles to have a
flashing red light in the rear (i.e. Ohio), see
"http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.56".

The original flashing lights, the Belt Beacon and Ed Kearny's "barricade
light" were yellow because yellow flashers are in a gray area of "slow
moving vehicle."

Of course none of this is enforced. If you put a flashing blue light on
your bicycle then I think you might have a chance of getting stopped by
the police.


I've had police go past me while I've had a flashing blue light and
they've never stopped. Traffic was always slower and gave me a lot more
space with the blue light. I recommend it.

Dorfus

Tom Keats wrote:
In article ,
Ryan Cousineau writes:
In article ,
Don Wiss wrote:

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, (Tom Keats) wrote:

Thank you, I will. At least, the mechanised/motorized ones
that slide out like a CD player tray. I also like to make
fun of electric toothbrushes, electric backscratchers,
electric card shufflers, etc.
Actually electric toothbrushes can be useful as they generally will do a
better job then you can do by hand.

That's a crock o' you-know-what, and you know it.


More importantly, electric shufflers are fast. I'm not saying we should
always strive to maximize throughput
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I work in a logistics centre. Maximizing throughput is largely what
retaining my job is all about. Throughput & turnover.

How nice it is, to get home, kick off the workboots, and forget
about throughput and turnover, and just be a human bean. Albeit
tired, worn-out, and having sore feet and various other maladies
like a plantar callus right behind the little piggie who didn't
have roast beef, around which we must surround with Dr Scholl's
sticky O-rings.

Maybe sometimes we should minimize throughput & turnover.
We're not machines. Especially not minimum-wage machines.

You Canuck Communist!

Humanity requires an human touch.

As you know, bicycles respond to the human touch quite well,
as do canoes & kayaks.

No Segway in the Keats household?

Remember dial telephones? Those responded to one's touch, too.
At least, they appeared to. (Actually I remember party lines.)

I like modern mobile phones better, since they allow you to confirm the
number and correct mistakes (without having to redial the whole number)
before placing the call.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
A Real Cyclist [TM] keeps at least one bicycle in the bedroom.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com