FAQ Location and Weekly posting for Rec.Bicycles.*

Last updated: April 30, 2003

Weekly Posting for Rec.Bicycles.*


This is the weekly posting to Rec.Bicycles.*. In it, you will find
information on how to get a copy of the FAQ (in case you missed it
when it was posted to rec.bicycles.misc/news.answers) and some tips on
nettiquette when posting articles to rec.bicycles.*.

The FAQ was last updated on April 30, 2003.


Mike Iglesias



Gopher and Web access to rec.bicycles archives and FAQ
------------------------------------------------------

I've made the rec.bicycles ftp archives available via gopher and the Web,
and have split the FAQ up into individual files for easier access via
gopher. The FAQ is available via the Web as listed below.

You can access the FAQ and archives via the Web using these URLs:

http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/bicycles-faq/top.html

To connect to the gopher server, use the hostname draco.acs.uci.edu and
port 1071. Please don't ask me how to use gopher or how to configure
your gopher client; I don't know how to use all the available gopher
clients, nor do I have access to them. Please talk to your local gopher
gurus.

Again, please ask your local gurus for information on how to use Web
clients.


Posting Guidelines
------------------

The rec.bicycles subgroups are described below - please try to post your
article to the appropriate group. The newsgroups were designed to minimize
cross posting, so please take the time to think about the most appropriate
newsgroup and post your article there. Most postings to rec.bicycles should
not be cross-posted to groups outside of rec.*.

rec.bicycles: DO NOT USE THIS NEWSGROUP - it should have been dropped
from news servers, having been replaced by rec.bicycles.misc.

rec.bicycles.marketplace: Bicycles, components, ancillary equipment and
services wanted or for sale, reviews of such things, places to buy
them, and evaluations of these sources. Not for discussion of general
engineering, maintenance, or repair -- see rec.bicycles.tech.

rec.bicycles.tech: Techniques of engineering, construction, maintenance
and repair of bicycles and ancillary equipment. Not for products or
services offered or wanted -- see rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.rides: Discussions of tours and training or commuting routes.
Not for disussion of general riding techniques -- see rec.bicycles.misc.
Not for products or services offered or wanted -- see
rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.soc: Social issues, cycling transportation advocacy, laws,
conduct of riders and drivers; road hazards such as potholes, dogs, and
sociopaths. Not for products or services offered or wanted --
see rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.racing: Race results, racing techniques, rules, and
organizations. Not racing equipment -- see rec.bicycles.marketplace
or rec.bicycles.tech.

rec.bicycles.misc: General riding techniques, rider physiology,
injuries and treatment, diets, and other cycling topics.
Not for products or services offered or wanted -- see
rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.off-road: This group is moderated. Discussion of riding
on unimproved roads, gravel, dirt, grass, sand, single track or 4x4 roads.
Also discussion of environmental issues related to mountain biking, trail
issues, backcountry travel, how to handle conditions
(technically and evo-sensitively), off-road magazines and other media.

Nettiquette
-----------

Here are some tips to remember when posting to rec.bicycles.*:

* Check your line lengths. Most readers use 80 column terminals, and
articles with longer line lengths are hard to read. 72 characters per
line is a good length, since it allows others to quote you without
running over 80 characters.

* Trim down your quotes. Delete parts of the article that you are not
responding to. Less to read from previous posts is better. And please
don't include the signature of the article you are responding to.

* If you are asking a basic question, please check the FAQ first. If the
FAQ is has expired on your system, see the "Archives" section below
for information on how to get a copy.

* If someone posts a question about something that was resolved recently,
please answer the poster via email. Rehashing something that was just
discussed is a waste of bandwidth unless you have something new to add.

* Please don't flame someone if their posting should have been restricted
to a certain region (for example, california only). Most people are not
the news admin on their system, so publicly flaming them does no good.
A nicely worded email message to them that there may be a problem
would allow them to notify their news admin. Please remember that
it may be some other site somewhere along the line that is leaking
articles out of its region and the poster may not have any way to
solve the problem.

* Along the above lines, please try to restrict your postings to your
site/region/state/whatever. People in Australia may not want to see
bike-for-sale ads from the U.S., for example.

* Make your subject line informative about the content of your article.

* If you are following up an article to create a new article, please
remember to delete the "References:" line in the header. This will
help the readers who use a threaded news reader; otherwise your new
topic will be mixed in with an old one.

* Please don't flame others. We're a somewhat opinionated group, and
there are many diverse personalities here. This is especially true
in the never-ending helmet wars.

* Speaking of helmet wars, let's try to stay away from them. Most
everything that could be said pro and con for wearing helmets has
been said at least once in rec.bicycles. There is some evidence that
wearing a helmet can help prevent head injuries. There are people that
wear a helmet all the time, people that wear a helmet some of the time,
and people who will never wear one. Everyone has their own reasons
for their decision, and most will not change it in the middle of a
flaming helmet war. Questions on types of helmets, what ones are
coolest (temperature and otherwise), etc are always welcome.


Archives

I've made available via anonymous ftp a copy of the current FAQ and a
few other items on draco.acs.uci.edu (128.200.34.12). This is the
workstation on my desk, so I'd appreciate it if people would restrict
their use to 7pm-7am Pacific time. The files are in pub/rec.bicycles.

For those without Internet access, you can use the ftpmail server at
gatekeeper.dec.com to get copies of items in the archives. I really don't
have time to email copies of files to people who can't get at them easily.
To use the ftpmail server, send an email message containing the line

help

in the body of the message to . You'll get
a help file back with more information on how to use the ftpmail server.

Here is an example of what to put in the body of a message to to get the
README file:

connect draco.acs.uci.edu
chdir pub/rec.bicycles
get README


Here's what's available at this time:

README for Rec.Bicycles Anonymous FTP area

arnie.light Arnie Berger's ) "Ultimate bike light"

bike_gear.sea.hqx
Lawrence Hare's ) copy of a
Hypercard stack to calculate gearing. Lawrence says
there is a newer version on major bbs systems.

bike.lockers David H. Wolfskill's ) summary of
bike locker vendors.

bike.painting Sam Henry's ) collection of articles on
how to paint a bike.

bike_power.* Ken Roberts program to calculate power output and power
consumption. See bike_power.doc for more info.
updated by Mark Grennan )

biking_log.* Phil Etheridge's ) hypercard stack
riding diary. It keeps track of dates, distance, time,
average speed, etc., and keeps running weekly, monthly,
and yearly totals. See biking_log.read_me for more
information.


CA-veh-code A directory containing the California vehicle code sections
that pertain to bicycles and gopher bookmarks. See the
README in that directory for more information.

camera.tour Vivian Aldridge's ) collection of articles
on cameras to take on a bike tour.

competitive.nutrition
Roger Marquis' ) article from the
Feb 91 Velo News on nutrition and cycling.

computer.calibrate
computer.install
Sheldon Brown's ) universal bike
computer calibration chart and installation suggestions.

cyclesense Larry Watanabe's ) copy of
the "Cycle Sense for Motorists" ready to run thru LaTeX.

faq.* The current Frequently Asked Questions posting

first.century Pamela Blalock's ) tips on training
for your first century ride.

frame.build Terry Zmrhal's ) writeup of
a frame building class he took.

gear.c Larry Watanabe's ) program to
print gear inch tables.

glossary Alan Bloom's ) glossary of bicycle terms.

lab.info Erin O'Brien's ) article on the
League of American Bicyclists.

lights Tom Reingold's ) collection of
articles on bike lights.

lights2 More articles from rec.bicycles.* on lights.

mtb.faq Vince Cheng's ) MTB FAQ.

pam.bmb* Pamela Blalock's ) report on her
Boston-Montreal-Boston rides.

pam.pactour* Pamela Blalock's ) writeup of her PAC tours
across the country.

pbp.info Pamela Blalock's ) information
on her Paris-Brest-Paris ride.

pictures Bicycling gif pictures.

prof.sched Roland Stahl's ) list of
scheduled professional races in many countries.

pwm.regulator Willie Hunt's ) design notes
on a pulse width modulated voltage regulator. Originally
designed for caving, this design is adaptable to bike
lighting. The author has parts available in kit form.

ride.index Chris Hull's/Bill Bushnell's )
explanation of a way to "index" rides and compare the
difficulty of different rides.

ridelg22.* Found on AOL by Gary Thurman ), a
ride diary program. The .exe file a self-extracting archive
for PCs.

spike.bike Bob Fishell's ) Spike Bike series.
They are numbered in the order that Bob posted them to
rec.bicycles. All the Spike Bike stories are
"Copyright 1989 by Robert Fishell, all rights reserved."

spokelen11.bas Roger Marquis' ) spoke length
calculator, written in Microsoft Quickbasic.

spokelen.c Andy Tucker's ) port of
Roger Marquis' spokelen11.bas to C.

spokelen.hqx Eric Topp's 's Hypercard stack that
computes spoke lengths.

studded.tires (Name removed by request) compilation
of messages on studded tires, including how to make your
own.

tandem.boxes Arnie Berger's ) notes on how
he built a box to transport his tandem to Europe and
back. It's taken from a longer travelogue on his trip - if
you want more information, contact him at the above
address.

tech.supp.phone Joshua Putnam's ) list of technical
support numbers for various manufacturers. This list
used to be in the FAQ but now is too long to include there.

trailers A summary posting of messages about bike trailers. Good
stuff if you're thinking of buying a trailer.

wheelbuild.txt Sheldon Brown's ) instructions on
how to build a wheel.

wheels.*.hqx R. Scott Truesdell's ) Hypercard
stack to calculate spoke lengths. See wheels.readme
for more info.

wintertips Pete Hickey's ) notes about
how to cycle in the winter.

wintertips.pam Pamela Blalock's ) winter cycling tips.

--
rec.bicycles.off-road is moderated by volunteers. To find help solving
posting problems, or contact the moderators, please see http://rbor.org/
Please read the charter before posting: http://rbor.org/rbor_charter.txt