Cheap bright tail light

On 9/17/2014 8:05 AM, Joerg wrote:

snip

Also, every wild boar will emit body head
but wild boars tend not to carry LED lighting.

Maybe where you live.

snip

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/17/2014 10:46 AM, Joerg wrote:


I only chucked it hard once. Not so much the bike (that jsut traveled
into a bush without a pilot) but myself. Yes, I was too fast for that
stretch but that Manzanita branch could not be seen. Plus it was a pure
sports ride and spills are part of the course there. I never took a
spill or came even close during my commutes on trails and bush roads.

Originally, your trails were so rough that anything not made of metal
could not stand the shock; you described several crashes; you worried
that cooling fins could cut you in your endos, etc.


That's how it is.


Now the trails are so smooth that your off-road speed equals your
on-road speed, you can travel easily and gaze at the pristine scenery.

Have riding conditions suddenly improved?


No. It's simple:

There are gnarly trail sections, challenging downhill parts, and smoth
stretches. A typical example was yesterday. I wanted to ride in regular
light clothes and not get too dirty for a meeting. So I picked a bush
road and slowed down a bit at the nasty and dusty sections. For the way
home I picked a trail and stepped on it. A quick hop into the shower
fixes any grime that might have accumulated.

Meantime my riding skills are up to par for the trails around here.
Meaning I can easily do 15mph and if I really want to I can up that to
20mph. But at 20mph you have to ride very concentrated, it's almost like
driving 110mph on a winding German autobahn (which I did a couple weeks
ago). I usually don't ride faster on roads, at least no for long, and
there I always have to concentrate on car drivers who might screw up.

One thing that does happen on many trails but not on roads are rock
hits. Not sure how that happens but aside from hitting my legs and such
I've had some that ricocheted from somewhere and, for example, scraped
the handlebar top. A friend had one take out a chunk of the bottom
bracket mount area. Others had speedometers smashed because those only
come in plastic. Happens.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

sms wrote:
On 9/16/2014 9:28 AM, Joerg wrote:

All I wan't is that bicycle technology catches up to the quality level
of SUVs, trucks and dirt bikes. That is not too much to ask and it is
technically feasible. BTW, this doesn't only go for lighting. In the
first 500 miles that I owned the new MTB the following happened:

a. Busted a main pivot bearing (handled under warranty)

b. Broke the saddle (warranty exchange)

c. Busted the freehub (just got a new rear wheel under warranty)

d. Wore down one set of brake pads. Cost $15 plus tax. A set for my SUV
costs $17 and has so far lasted over 75,000 miles.

e. The rear tire is used up, $50. So I am trying a lower cost one
because the bike seems to cost more per miles than my car.

f. Broke light sets (so far always got my money refunded but it's
annoying).

g. Tapered steerer bearings coming loose all the time. Can be readjusted
with ease but why is this not required on similar sized bearings on my
SUV?

On a motor vehicle the manufacturer is on the hook for the labor for
warranty repairs. On a bicycle the dealer eats the labor costs. The
replacement parts that failed under warranty are expensive when you buy
them at retail but have an insignificant cost to the manufacturer.


I think bicycle dealers should step up and demand that labor will be
covered at a reasonable rate.


They are not going to spend money on improved quality parts when few
riders are as hard on their bicycles as you are.


Well, then they have to send in the warranty parts. With cars you
normally don't have to worry about it. Buy an SUV with a good reputation
and it'll survive hard usage just fine. Mine did, 17 years and counting.


Fabricating frames and components out of lighter, stronger materials
costs more. Why do you think most lower end bicycles are always aluminum
rather than titanium or chromeoly steel? It's not the weight, it's the
cost.


That's part of the problem, the craze to push the weight ever lower. But
it does not cost much more than usual to fabricate a light out of metal.
When I was a kid they were all metal with a plastic or safety-glass lens
and they were almost indestructible. Then they moved to this dreaded
plastic shell construction and things became much less reliable.

Titanium bikes don't have to be expensive:

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/..._x9_30-xiv.htm

A friend has one from them and I rode it a few times. Supposedly they'll
soon come out with 29" titanijm full suspension bikes (or maybe have
already?).

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

sms wrote:
On 9/17/2014 8:05 AM, Joerg wrote:

snip

Also, every wild boar will emit body head
but wild boars tend not to carry LED lighting.

Maybe where you live.


Also where my relatives live. We had wild boar cured ham and roasted
wild boar back last week. Very delicious. They just upped the numbers
for hunters because they said the boar population starts to get out of hand.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Phil W Lee wrote:
Joerg considered Wed, 17 Sep 2014
07:46:34 -0700 the perfect time to write:

Phil W Lee wrote:

[...]


Particularly when you write about people learning to properly handle
mountain bikes in the same thread as you write about your own tendency
to keep chucking yours at the scenery!

I only chucked it hard once. Not so much the bike (that jsut traveled
into a bush without a pilot) but myself. Yes, I was too fast for that
stretch but that Manzanita branch could not be seen. Plus it was a pure
sports ride and spills are part of the course there. I never took a
spill or came even close during my commutes on trails and bush roads.

Yet you keep ruling out perfectly good equipment because it won't
survive the first crash.


Again, it is mainly about regular usage stress. Rock hits, vibration,
hitting brush, and so on. The gear on my SUV has survived all that for
17 years. That's the kind of performance I'd like on a bike. Why is this
asking too much?


I'm guessing that you wouldn't drive a modern car, because it has
crumple zones designed to decelerate you more gradually in a crash
instead of suddenly - but of course at the expense of the parts that
crumple. And of course, airbags, which are single use.


I drive a modern car and it can repeatedly stomach all of the above and
more. Therefore, its design is superior to that of the typical bike.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 9/17/2014 1:47 PM, Phil W Lee wrote:
Joerg wrote:

... Then there was the guy who was hit from behind and suffered a ruptured
spleen. Then there was the guy who was hit from behind and lost a
kidney. Then there was ... (all experienced cyclists with lots of miles
under their belts).

Seems to me that you have such a complete breakdown of law and order
that nothing short of a complete replacement of the entire "justice"
system will solve it.
Form a local group to take back justice.

If it really is as bad as you say.

But I somehow doubt it, as I haven't seen many reports in the news of
any part of the US becoming anything like as bad as you describe.

I always wonder about such "then there was the guy..." stories. Some
people who post to forums like this seem to have large collections of
horror stories. Many, like Jeorg's, are unspecific. (Something he saw?
Something a friend of his saw? Something he read about somewhere?
Something in his county? Or in his state? Or on a different continent?)

I'm one of the more active members of a good-sized cycling club, and as
safety chairman, I probably hear about every mishap. I don't think
we've had a car-bike crash with a club member since 2005, which resulted
in a bruised elbow and no fall. There have been several more ordinary
falls, of course, but IIRC, none of them resulted in even a broken bone.

I recall two non-club-member fatalities in the last 3 years in our
riding area. One was a nighttime hit-from-behind. He had a headlight,
but no taillight nor rear reflectors. (Some motorist called the Highway
Patrol to complain about his invisibility, but he was hit before the
cops could get to him.) The other was a guy noted for "training" by
riding a rail-trail at high speed and not stopping for the road-crossing
stop signs. He ran a stop sign directly in front of a car.

Not that bad things never happen. But they are certainly not common.
Again, something like ten million miles are ridden in the U.S. between
bike fatalities.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 11:01:08 +1000, James wrote:

It's almost as if when cyclists stop being too chicken to ride on the
roads, the roads magically become safer.


If only we had a magic pill to stop people from being too chicken to
ride on the roads.

I think I have the answer!

http://www.naughtybits.us/wp-content...7/growacet.jpg

--
davethedave

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/17/2014 1:47 PM, Phil W Lee wrote:
Joerg wrote:

... Then there was the guy who was hit from behind and suffered a
ruptured
spleen. Then there was the guy who was hit from behind and lost a
kidney. Then there was ... (all experienced cyclists with lots of miles
under their belts).

Seems to me that you have such a complete breakdown of law and order
that nothing short of a complete replacement of the entire "justice"
system will solve it.
Form a local group to take back justice.

If it really is as bad as you say.

But I somehow doubt it, as I haven't seen many reports in the news of
any part of the US becoming anything like as bad as you describe.

I always wonder about such "then there was the guy..." stories. Some
people who post to forums like this seem to have large collections of
horror stories. Many, like Jeorg's, are unspecific. (Something he saw?
Something a friend of his saw? Something he read about somewhere?
Something in his county? Or in his state? Or on a different continent?)


Those were people I knew personally. As I had mentioned earlier it was
in the city of Aachen, Germany.

[...]

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Wed, 17 Sep 2014 09:23:28 -0700, sms
wrote:

On 9/16/2014 9:28 AM, Joerg wrote:

All I wan't is that bicycle technology catches up to the quality level
of SUVs, trucks and dirt bikes. That is not too much to ask and it is
technically feasible. BTW, this doesn't only go for lighting. In the
first 500 miles that I owned the new MTB the following happened:

a. Busted a main pivot bearing (handled under warranty)

b. Broke the saddle (warranty exchange)

c. Busted the freehub (just got a new rear wheel under warranty)

d. Wore down one set of brake pads. Cost $15 plus tax. A set for my SUV
costs $17 and has so far lasted over 75,000 miles.

e. The rear tire is used up, $50. So I am trying a lower cost one
because the bike seems to cost more per miles than my car.

f. Broke light sets (so far always got my money refunded but it's annoying).

g. Tapered steerer bearings coming loose all the time. Can be readjusted
with ease but why is this not required on similar sized bearings on my SUV?

On a motor vehicle the manufacturer is on the hook for the labor for
warranty repairs. On a bicycle the dealer eats the labor costs. The
replacement parts that failed under warranty are expensive when you buy
them at retail but have an insignificant cost to the manufacturer.

They are not going to spend money on improved quality parts when few
riders are as hard on their bicycles as you are.

Fabricating frames and components out of lighter, stronger materials
costs more. Why do you think most lower end bicycles are always aluminum
rather than titanium or chromeoly steel? It's not the weight, it's the cost.

I believe that you are wrong here. Steel frames are far cheaper to
build that either aluminum or titanium. Both in material and
fabrication costs.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 4:14:00 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:


Those were people I knew personally. As I had mentioned earlier it was
in the city of Aachen, Germany.

That wasn't clear about all those people. But it sure makes Aachen, Germany
soujnd dangerous!

FWIW, I've lost eight friends or acquaintances in motor vehicle crashes. None to bicycle crashes.

- Frank Krygowski