AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:

On 3/14/2017 2:21 AM, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 13 Mar 2017 23:59:44 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:



Over on rec.bicycles.tech there's a long thread that consists of the
same two posts being badmintoned back and forth, each side so intent
on defeating the enemy that no communication can take place. Such

As I posted there, "My lights are better then your lights" which
pretty well sums up all the points that have been discussed to date
:-)

ISTM that Joy just moved to r.b.misc to say "My Ed Kearney lights are
better."

sigh If only r.b.tech would devote more time to details of sewing
projects and applications of plastic grocery bags.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Tue, 14 Mar 2017 10:58:09 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 3/14/2017 2:21 AM, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 13 Mar 2017 23:59:44 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:



Over on rec.bicycles.tech there's a long thread that consists of the
same two posts being badmintoned back and forth, each side so intent
on defeating the enemy that no communication can take place. Such

As I posted there, "My lights are better then your lights" which
pretty well sums up all the points that have been discussed to date
:-)

ISTM that Joy just moved to r.b.misc to say "My Ed Kearney lights are
better."

sigh If only r.b.tech would devote more time to details of sewing
projects and applications of plastic grocery bags.

They are already so crowded with the "My lights are better than yours"
arguments that there isn't much room for knitting and garbage bags
(although it might be noted that my plastic bags are better than
anyone's).

But there is hope! The toe overlap discussion is gaining ground :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Tue, 14 Mar 2017 10:58:09 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

"My Ed Kearney lights are
better."

Now that you mention it, when I bought it, my Ed Kearney lighting
system *was* the best available bicycle light.

Of course, it was also the only available bicycle light.

I currently use a 98,000-lux light.

(I think. The documentation is confusing and hard to read.)

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

On 3/15/2017 4:15 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Tue, 14 Mar 2017 10:58:09 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

"My Ed Kearney lights are
better."

Now that you mention it, when I bought it, my Ed Kearney lighting
system *was* the best available bicycle light.

Of course, it was also the only available bicycle light.

I currently use a 98,000-lux light.

(I think. The documentation is confusing and hard to read.)

There's a quick test for that figure. Does the asphalt melt in front of
you as you ride?

If not, your lux output is much lower. ;-)

That's assuming you're using the American dot "." for the decimal
point, and not the European comma "," instead. I wonder if that could
be the source of the confusion?

(Recently, I posted a brief gripe on r.b.tech about lack of
standardization. I missed this most egregious example!)


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Wed, 15 Mar 2017 16:15:57 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Mar 2017 10:58:09 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

"My Ed Kearney lights are
better."

Now that you mention it, when I bought it, my Ed Kearney lighting
system *was* the best available bicycle light.

Of course, it was also the only available bicycle light.

I currently use a 98,000-lux light.

(I think. The documentation is confusing and hard to read.)

The ultimate test for a bicycle light (or any other light) is can you
see using it :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 15 Mar 2017 18:22:17 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

There's a quick test for that figure. Does the asphalt melt in front of
you as you ride?

Well, once I *did* leave tracks in some asphalt it had been shining on
for a few hours.

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

The driver's manual says that you don't need to signal your turns
unless your actions might affect other people, but making it a habit
to signal whenever you have no reason to refrain from signaling saves
CPU cycles that can be better spent elsewhere. If you notice that
there is someone who might be affected by your actions, you can move
straight to deciding how his actions are going to affect yours -- you
don't have to initiate the signaling subroutine because it's already
running.

Besides, if there's someone around and you haven't noticed, it's
better if at least one of you has a clue.

--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On 3/18/2017 11:42 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

The driver's manual says that you don't need to signal your turns
unless your actions might affect other people, but making it a habit
to signal whenever you have no reason to refrain from signaling saves
CPU cycles that can be better spent elsewhere. If you notice that
there is someone who might be affected by your actions, you can move
straight to deciding how his actions are going to affect yours -- you
don't have to initiate the signaling subroutine because it's already
running.

Besides, if there's someone around and you haven't noticed, it's
better if at least one of you has a clue.

Related video, and well done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTFHCyNVBTk


--
- Frank Krygowski

Joy Beeson wrote:

The driver's manual says that you don't need to signal your turns
unless your actions might affect other people, but making it a habit
to signal whenever you have no reason to refrain from signaling saves
CPU cycles that can be better spent elsewhere. If you notice that
there is someone who might be affected by your actions, you can move
straight to deciding how his actions are going to affect yours -- you
don't have to initiate the signaling subroutine because it's already
running.

Besides, if there's someone around and you haven't noticed, it's
better if at least one of you has a clue.


Actually, going a step further -- beyond signaling direction, it's good
to get in the habit of signaling for road hazards.

I normally ride alone, and on the occasions that I'm riding in a group,
I always have to take extra effort to remember to signal for stuff that
I may be navigating around. However, I realized that this can also be a
way of alerting motorists of reasons that I may be not as near to the
side of the road as they think that I should be.

I've noted in the past that in the question about how far to the right
you should ride, the general guideline of "as far to the right as
practical" is OK, but there is a difference between the understandings
of "practical" between a cyclist and a motorist. For a motorist that
isn't a cyclist, most tend not to recognize the numbers of things that
accumulate beside the road that a motorist (with the weight, size, speed
and 4 wheels of a closed-cabin car) don't even notice, but are much more
of an issue to a the lighter weight, smaller size, slower speed, and 2
wheels of a bicycle.

If broken glass has been pushed to the side of the road by car traffic,
a motorist may not even notice, but that's a significant threat to a
cyclist, especially a bicycle with high pressure tires. Therefore, if
I'm swerving left to avoid the glass, I definitely want to signal,
although I'm more likely to be pointing at the hazard that I'm trying to
avoid (as if a cyclist was behind me), rather than signaling a momentary
move to the left.

Smith

On Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 3:53:26 PM UTC-4, NFN Smith wrote:
Snip
I definitely want to signal,
although I'm more likely to be pointing at the hazard that I'm trying to
avoid (as if a cyclist was behind me), rather than signaling a momentary
move to the left.

My tendency is to signal the move, as any cyclist following will likely pick up
on it, and the motorist will understand more clearly what is about to happen.
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO