Getting into and out of streamliner recumbents

On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 10:02:45 AM UTC-7, Doug Landau wrote:
On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 3:07:26 PM UTC-7, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 5:45:19 PM UTC-4, Doug Landau wrote:
On Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 5:43:29 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Snipped
Also, having big airplane-style canopy windows means you boil in sunny/warm weather.

... and that is that this is an understatement; you are going to cook in all weather conditions. Put competitive cyclists on stationary bikes in the gym and they fall apart, I read. Until you put a fan in front of them. The cooling from airflow is an integral part of the system. This certainly lines up with my own experience and clothing preferences.

Again the reply was misinterpreted. Whn I said "like an airplane canopy" I was refering the canopy on a WW2 fighter was pushed rearward to enter or exit the aircraft and then pulled forward to seal it. I was NOT refering to a completely enclosed recumbent bicycle design. The rear or front of the recumbent fairing would be on a rails or other guides an would be moved to allow ingress or egress of the rider and then closed once the bicycle was in motion. Very lightweight rails/slots could easily be incorporated into the design of the recumbent shell.

Then again you could have a hinged shell that opened up by pivoting forward then got pulled back down by the rider once the rider was on the recumbent.

Huh?!? I am not saying anything about canopies. I'm saying the whole concept of an streamlined, enclosed bike is fundamentaly flawed to begin with and won't work and not for any of the reasons being discussed. Problems with getting in and out, stability in crosswinds, and rigidity will all fall by the wayside as the rider gets drenched in sweat and sapped of strength. The very act of streamlining takes away cooling airflow, which has crippling effects on the rider, and restoring airflow with vents is accomplished by undoing the streamlining.

Doug, ALL recumbents have a problem with climbing. A streamliner in no different. All you have to do is have a canopy that rolls back. Streamlining on a climb isn't needed anyway. The only problem would be the gearing problems. You have to gear so high for speed on the flats and downhill that it's difficult to get a low enough gear for significant climbing. Especially for a two wheel streamliner where climbing speeds are under 3 mph.

On 2017-04-21 17:40, John B Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 21 Apr 2017 09:35:12 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-04-20 20:21, John B Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 20 Apr 2017 08:12:29 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-04-19 19:52, John B Slocomb wrote:

[...]

Or maybe you are going to tell us that you operate out of your hip
pocket and pay cash for all your business transactions? You must
either be exceedingly rich or exceedingly small time.


Neither. I made a calculated decision about 30 years ago and that turned
out to be a good decision. Yes, it was tough back then. However, my
business was steady and didn't come and go like cheapskate sales outlet

"Business" is a very flexible word but essentially means (more or less
) the activity of providing goods and services in return for pay.

Thus, you are in the business of providing a service in return for
payment. A store is in the business of providing material objects in
return for payment.


A good bike shop has service as a significant percentage of their
revenue. My LBS sells bikes _and_ services them, as well as bikes not
bought there.

I wonder about the percentage of income generated by (1) sale of
material, and(2) sale of services. I'm not in the retail business but
it does seem to me that normal markup must be in the neighborhood of
30%.

When I was in the consulting business we had to charge nearly double
the consultant's salary just to break even - salary, living costs,
transportation costs, allowance for annual vacation, insurance,
medical, etc.


Yep, I am a consultant and there is the occasional client who does not
understand this initially. A big part is the overhead (office, lab, test
equipment, and so on).



It would appear to me hat if one paid a bike mechanic $10/hour that
one's billing to equate to profit on parts would have to be in the
neighborhood of $26/hour.

I have idea whether one can get sufficient work at $26/hour, or part
there of, to generate a profit, but in my youth I worked weekends in a
service station greasing cars and changing oil. I know that we billed
the price of the oil in the can for an oil change so to the station my
wages were simply an additional expense.


The labor rate is usually much higher than that.

http://www.backalleybikerepair.com/w...et_Feb2012.pdf

Quote "Shop rates are based on a $60 per hour rate".


The difference is that the Serviceman needs only the equipment
necessary to accomplish the task he is hired to do. The kid next door
and his snow shovel in one discussion. The Storekeeper on the other
hand has to purchase and store everything that he plans to sell.


Not true. Just like I need a lot of parts stock in my lab a bicycle
service shop cannot tell every customer "Well, that'll be a couple of
weeks because I've got to order almost all the parts".

What's not true? That a shop selling parts doesn't need to keep aid
parts in the warehouse? You are being over simplistic, or you don't
understand what is going on. Fixing a bicycle entails two basic
things. The service (labour) involved and the supply of parts. So the
bicycle fixing business entails both service and supply of material.


That is what I mean. A good business, whether service man, bike shop or
whatever will have most parts that might potentially be needed on hand.
This creates a cost but a necessary one.


Thus the Serviceman with his limited inventory of equipment that
usually remain useful for a long periods of time is not normally
concerned with inventory although I remember electronics shops turning
down jobs because it would require buying test instruments that they
did not normally use.


That goes for the lawn care guy but not for a serious repair shop. It's
hard to earn a living in the field of non-inventory simple service folks
because everybody and their brother does it.

Ah, you have grasped the concept. Now then, how does one maintain the
inventory of spares without it costing you money.


It will cost money. You've got to invest that. Else it might be better
to seek regular employment somewhere. Some people here think that
keeping slow-selling stuff on hand is futile and that view of a
service-oriented business is usually flat wrong.


The Storekeeper, on the other hand, can only receive payment for
material that he has previously purchased and stored in his warehouse,
and that material is costing him money either in interest payment if
he borrowed the money to purchase the goods or in lost interest if he
had to take the money out of the bank to pay for it.

As for service. Well, you undoubtedly own some sort of volt meter. Are
you prepared, to drive to Oakland to determine whether the batteries
in someone's flashlight should be changed? And charge a fee
commensurate with the service? Probably not, so you are not prepared
to provide every service.

As the stocking of inventory actually does cost the Storekeeper money
management of inventory becomes a (sometimes) critical factor in his
ability to remain in business. This is important enough the innovative
Japanese companies developed the "zero inventory" systems where
warehouse inventory is limited to only a few days usage.

In short, your scheme of a storekeeper that has every nut, bolt and
washer, for every bicycle every sold in the U.S. is impossible just as
it is impossible that you will drive to Oakland to check the batteries
in someone's flashlight.


The best proof that this is not impossible is this sto

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/north...-store-norcal/

It is about as old as the State of California. They've got just about
everything conceivable in there. Whenever I have a project where even
one part looks like it might be tough to procure I immediately shun the
local stores and head out there, then buy everything I need there.
Luckily it can be reached by bike. About 35mi round trip but you need a
sturdy MTB to get to Placerville. Once when I needed hinges from a
manufacturer that went belly-up in the 70's I was sure nobody would have
any. At Placerville Hardware one of the clerks said "Let me check the
attic". Sure enough she came back with several dusty small boxes. I
could not believe it. "How many do you want?".

The fact that a shop does or does not maintain an inventory has
nothing to do with the fact that it costs money to maintain an
inventory.


Sure it costs money. Without investing that money the store one just be
run-of-the-mills, not a store I'd prefer.


I knew a previous owner, Frank Fausel, until he passed away at 102-1/2.
Great guy and he knew how to really run a business. He taught his son
who ran it later, who in turn taught his grandson who runs it now. Oh,
and if have a desire to step back into 1850 and do some gold panning,
yep, they still got the stuff you need for that. In fall they also sell
delicious pears and apples from their family farm.

Online it's similar. When I need to replenish specialty parts there are
three large online dealers which carry almost any electronics part,
including lots of "slow movers". Plus two other places for mechanical
engineering. I do not have time to find out who has what and cobble
together 4-5 orders. Therefore, I just place the complete order at one
of those "We've got it all" places and be done with it. All other
engineers I know do the same. You might not believe it but these
distributors are all profitable since decades. The Placerville Hardware
Store since centuries.


So what? There are a great many businesses which stock parts and sell
parts which has nothing to do with the cost of stocking parts.


For all smaller ones stocking parts means inventory costs. Only large
ones can have distributor stock rooms where they only get billed for
stuff after they pulled it from that room. And that only works if they
have a commensurate production volume, else the distrobutor pulls out.


Amazon, on the other hand does not stock parts ...


Say what? Where have you been living for the last decades?

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-...-match-of-50-4


... nor does Alibaba ...


ROFL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmS7h96B9II


... and
I'd guess that both of them has lower costs and higher profits then
your 3rd generation shop keeper.


Hey, hop over the fence into the 21st century :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2017-04-22 12:21, wrote:
On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 9:42:55 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-21 07:39, wrote:

[...]


I'm an embedded system designer and programmer. They have a LOT
of people that claim to be such but hardly anyone that actually
knows what they are doing. But they make up for it by using 10
times the power to do the same work I would. That is why there
are so many people around today that appear to be successful.


Embedded is tough as well because to be truly successful one has to
be a good generalist. Similar to us analog guys. For one job I had
to learn and really understand hwo turbofan jet engines work.
Somehow we didn't have that at the university ...

I'm not sure with my screwed up memory but I think that I designed
the digital switching mechanism for the belt pack and several other
things for Clearcom. Charlie could design analog circuits with the
correct feedback etc. in his head an simply draw it down for a
technician to build and test. I would have to pull out the calculator
and work everything out from gains to feedback. And even then Charlie
could just glance at it and give me advice. That guy is close to 80
and going stronger than ever.


Hopefully he allows himself enough downtime for other activities. I have
slowed down on purpose and my dream would be if clients only give me the
tough stuff. Designs where others threw in the towel. Much of my work is
now like that and this has provided me with more free time. I use that
for fun activities such as MTB and road bike riding or beer brewing.

Sometimes I ride out there on the MTB until way in the boonies. No
traffic sounds whatsoever except maybe the occasional aircraft, birds
chirping, horses whinnying in the distance, zero bars on the cell phone.
Then I sit down on a rock, pull the pad out of a pannier and start
designing the tough stuff. My outdoor office.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2017-04-22 12:23, wrote:
On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 9:42:55 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-21 07:39, wrote:
On Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 8:12:26 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-19 19:52, John B Slocomb wrote:

[...]


Or maybe you are going to tell us that you operate out of
your hip pocket and pay cash for all your business
transactions? You must either be exceedingly rich or
exceedingly small time.


Neither. I made a calculated decision about 30 years ago and
that turned out to be a good decision. Yes, it was tough back
then. However, my business was steady and didn't come and go
like cheapskate sales outlets.

Joerg - analog designers are rare. I know exactly one of them
after 50 years in the business. Charley Butten. He won an Emmy in
2014 I believe for his work on sound systems that wouldn't return
echoes on outdoor venues for the wild bands of the 70's and
80's.


The good old days ...

http://www.clearcom.com/news/clear-c...two-tech-emmys




So if you're a good analog designer it's no wonder that you've had
steady employment.


Yep, can't complain. However, now I'd like to slow down and have
more time to ride before some ailment creeps up that won't allow me
to ride. I don't want to be one of those guys who migrates from a
60h week straight to a walker.

Many analog gurus have either passed on or are in assisted living
homes now.


I'm an embedded system designer and programmer. They have a LOT
of people that claim to be such but hardly anyone that actually
knows what they are doing. But they make up for it by using 10
times the power to do the same work I would. That is why there
are so many people around today that appear to be successful.


Embedded is tough as well because to be truly successful one has to
be a good generalist. Similar to us analog guys. For one job I had
to learn and really understand hwo turbofan jet engines work.
Somehow we didn't have that at the university ...

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

As an analog guy you should have been able to calculate the
temperature in the chamber and the exhaust temperature. I would do
that soas to instrument it and send digital information to and from.


This project wasn't about temperature, more about better fuel economy.
However, not at liberty to say.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 12:40:10 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-22 12:21, wrote:
On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 9:42:55 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-21 07:39, wrote:

[...]


I'm an embedded system designer and programmer. They have a LOT
of people that claim to be such but hardly anyone that actually
knows what they are doing. But they make up for it by using 10
times the power to do the same work I would. That is why there
are so many people around today that appear to be successful.


Embedded is tough as well because to be truly successful one has to
be a good generalist. Similar to us analog guys. For one job I had
to learn and really understand hwo turbofan jet engines work.
Somehow we didn't have that at the university ...

I'm not sure with my screwed up memory but I think that I designed
the digital switching mechanism for the belt pack and several other
things for Clearcom. Charlie could design analog circuits with the
correct feedback etc. in his head an simply draw it down for a
technician to build and test. I would have to pull out the calculator
and work everything out from gains to feedback. And even then Charlie
could just glance at it and give me advice. That guy is close to 80
and going stronger than ever.


Hopefully he allows himself enough downtime for other activities. I have
slowed down on purpose and my dream would be if clients only give me the
tough stuff. Designs where others threw in the towel. Much of my work is
now like that and this has provided me with more free time. I use that
for fun activities such as MTB and road bike riding or beer brewing.

Sometimes I ride out there on the MTB until way in the boonies. No
traffic sounds whatsoever except maybe the occasional aircraft, birds
chirping, horses whinnying in the distance, zero bars on the cell phone.
Then I sit down on a rock, pull the pad out of a pannier and start
designing the tough stuff. My outdoor office.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Charlie's idea of "downtime" is to get a consulting gig on another project.

On Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 12:41:29 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-22 12:23, wrote:
On Friday, April 21, 2017 at 9:42:55 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-21 07:39, wrote:
On Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 8:12:26 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-19 19:52, John B Slocomb wrote:

[...]


Or maybe you are going to tell us that you operate out of
your hip pocket and pay cash for all your business
transactions? You must either be exceedingly rich or
exceedingly small time.


Neither. I made a calculated decision about 30 years ago and
that turned out to be a good decision. Yes, it was tough back
then. However, my business was steady and didn't come and go
like cheapskate sales outlets.

Joerg - analog designers are rare. I know exactly one of them
after 50 years in the business. Charley Butten. He won an Emmy in
2014 I believe for his work on sound systems that wouldn't return
echoes on outdoor venues for the wild bands of the 70's and
80's.


The good old days ...

http://www.clearcom.com/news/clear-c...two-tech-emmys




So if you're a good analog designer it's no wonder that you've had
steady employment.


Yep, can't complain. However, now I'd like to slow down and have
more time to ride before some ailment creeps up that won't allow me
to ride. I don't want to be one of those guys who migrates from a
60h week straight to a walker.

Many analog gurus have either passed on or are in assisted living
homes now.


I'm an embedded system designer and programmer. They have a LOT
of people that claim to be such but hardly anyone that actually
knows what they are doing. But they make up for it by using 10
times the power to do the same work I would. That is why there
are so many people around today that appear to be successful.


Embedded is tough as well because to be truly successful one has to
be a good generalist. Similar to us analog guys. For one job I had
to learn and really understand hwo turbofan jet engines work.
Somehow we didn't have that at the university ...

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

As an analog guy you should have been able to calculate the
temperature in the chamber and the exhaust temperature. I would do
that soas to instrument it and send digital information to and from.


This project wasn't about temperature, more about better fuel economy.
However, not at liberty to say.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Exhaust temperature - Combustion temperature = fuel efficiency.

On Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 12:11:13 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-21 16:47, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/21/2017 12:35 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-20 20:21, John B Slocomb wrote:

In short, your scheme of a storekeeper that has every nut, bolt and
washer, for every bicycle every sold in the U.S. is impossible just as
it is impossible that you will drive to Oakland to check the batteries
in someone's flashlight.


The best proof that this is not impossible is this sto

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/north...-store-norcal/


It is about as old as the State of California. They've got just about
everything conceivable in there.

The fact that they write a special interest story about that place
indicates it's very, very unusual, Joerg. So is Kraynick's Bicycle Shop
that I mentioned earlier, which is also unusual enough to generate
similar stories.


I have seen several places like that but they are often more
specialized. One in plumbing supplies, others in automotive.


Those enterprises work for owners who love running them so much that
they dedicate their life to them, and who don't require as much income
as most people. They will always be unusual, for reasons most people
cab easily understand.


The family derives their income from that store. For three generations
now so they must be doing something right, as did the prior owners. The
farm is too small to live off.

I suspect they're selling a lot of tourist stuff like gold pans -- and household novelties like cherry-pitters and iron skillets. It's great they have a wide selection of hard to find hardware, but I bet the real money is coming from other sources. Note that having "hard to find" items is often the result of buying inventory that never moved. It's great if you're a customer hunting for NOS, but not so great for the owner's cash flow.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 3:29:52 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
Snipped
That is what I mean. A good business, whether service man, bike shop or
whatever will have most parts that might potentially be needed on hand.
This creates a cost but a necessary one.

The operative word there is POTENTIALLY. A small shop can NOT affor to keep every item that might be needed some time by one or two customers. Small bicycle shops have more problems with overhead and or buying stuff from retailers than what bigger shops or chainsdo. I know a number of shops near here that have to put together an order of at least $500.00 before they can get anything. that's notthe shops' fault it's the distributors. It all boils down to knowing your customer vbase and stocking what they need whilst avoiding stocking a lot of stuff that doesn't sell quickly. A small shop with too much slow moving inventory can find itself out of business very quickly.

Cheers

On Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 7:13:23 PM UTC-4, jbeattie wrote:
Snipped
I suspect they're selling a lot of tourist stuff like gold pans -- and household novelties like cherry-pitters and iron skillets. It's great they have a wide selection of hard to find hardware, but I bet the real money is coming from other sources. Note that having "hard to find" items is often the result of buying inventory that never moved. It's great if you're a customer hunting for NOS, but not so great for the owner's cash flow.

-- Jay Beattie.

Like the little bicycle shop I found out in the country a few years ago. I went in just to see what they had. I ended up buying a fair bit of stuff that day. i got some NOS Uniglide cassettes, Duar Ace AX brake pads, cleats for the Dura Ace AX pedals, rubber gum hoods for Shimano 600 EX brake levers (non-aero) and other things to numerous to list here. The thing is this stuff was sold to me at fire sale prices because it simply hadn't moved in many many years. After all look how long it's been since a Uniglide cassette was made.

Btw, this small shop is no more. it changed to a motor repar shop.

Cheers

On Sat, 22 Apr 2017 12:11:24 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-04-21 16:47, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/21/2017 12:35 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-04-20 20:21, John B Slocomb wrote:

In short, your scheme of a storekeeper that has every nut, bolt and
washer, for every bicycle every sold in the U.S. is impossible just as
it is impossible that you will drive to Oakland to check the batteries
in someone's flashlight.


The best proof that this is not impossible is this sto

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/north...-store-norcal/


It is about as old as the State of California. They've got just about
everything conceivable in there.

The fact that they write a special interest story about that place
indicates it's very, very unusual, Joerg. So is Kraynick's Bicycle Shop
that I mentioned earlier, which is also unusual enough to generate
similar stories.


I have seen several places like that but they are often more
specialized. One in plumbing supplies, others in automotive.


Those enterprises work for owners who love running them so much that
they dedicate their life to them, and who don't require as much income
as most people. They will always be unusual, for reasons most people
cab easily understand.


The family derives their income from that store. For three generations
now so they must be doing something right, as did the prior owners. The
farm is too small to live off.

Certainly. But then the kid comes back from collage with his MBA and
takes over the store and the next thing you know it is a billion
dollar business.

Although Sam Walton had only a bachelor's degree in economics and
started his store after coming home the Army it is a very similar
story.