Topics

16

General Discussion / Transport Topics.

« on: September 03, 2019, 08:19:49 pm »

 I have been touring and forcing governments to obey road law for more than 20 years. Recently I came across the magazine Transport Topics. They were discussing the proposed interstate 10 toll road. I sent them an email stating the new project should include lanes for non motorized traffic which would allow the state to comply with Title 23 Section 109m United States Code should highway 90 ever need to be shut down for repairs. Of course I was ignored and the new toll road has been killed after overwhelming opposition. I think this is an excellent magazine to email if you ever come across a violation of non motorized road law. Don't sent them a I think this would be a good idea email. They claim to be a general magazine. Let's show them that all highway departments will violate the law if they think they can get away with it. https://www.ttnews.com/

17

Gear Talk / Are there counterfeit DT spokes?

« on: August 22, 2019, 10:15:13 am »

I dug a wheel out of a recycle bin that had 4 broken spokes. I didn't look closely at the spokes but it looked like they were cut. I disassembled the wheel and used the spokes of a new wheel. Since then I have broken 4 spokes all of them failed in the middle. I now believe the spokes I thought were cut also broke in the middle. These are the only DT spokes I have ever broke so either the quality has gone way down or they are counterfeit. Spokes that break in the middle always have an inclusion. I bought some DT Alpine spokes several years ago. Afterwards I learned they had made a change in the design of the spokes that made them easier for machines to build the wheels. The shaft between the elbow and head was lengthened. This resulted in the heads popping off of the spokes. All of the information is on the tandem list over at Hobbes. Several tandem wheel builders will no longer use these spokes. After that stunt and a failure of DT to fix the problem I would not be surprised if DT has downgraded their quality. I have been unable to reach DT. https://flic.kr/p/2gC4GDL

18

General Discussion / Motorists view cyclists as sub human.

« on: March 27, 2019, 09:08:06 am »

Read the article then we will discuss it.  https://phys.org/news/2019-03-offcyclists-human-drivers.html

19

General Discussion / I hit a rogue wave.

« on: March 22, 2019, 08:48:43 am »

For thousands of years sailors have reported a massive wave that comes out of nowhere on a calm day and capsizes their ship. Now days governments deploy buoys that measure wave height among other things and have proved these waves are real. Wave height is simply a matter of probability. The higher the wave the less probability it occurs. Recently I was traveling at around 20 mph on a road with newly patched pot holes. In addition there were crumbling pavement at the edges of the road and a downpour had washed mud into the road. Of course I hit the brakes but I didn't think the road was especially dangerous. This combination of rough pavement and the heavy traffic that would not allow me to use the full lane caused me to lose control and I slid into a deep pot hole full of water and crashed. As you know I have toured 100000 miles. It was only a matter of time before this happened. I bent a 4130 steel mountain bike fork and put a slight wrinkle in a 37 mm 4130 steel down tube. I replaced the fork since I'm on tour and am looking for a new bicycle. https://flic.kr/p/2dJbDdF

20

Routes / Cumberland Gap closed to cyclists.

« on: October 26, 2017, 08:15:59 am »

I tried this several days ago and ran into one of those interstate style signs. They have destroyed the road and built a tunnel. I went around by highway 74. Stay off this road it is the most dangerous one I have been on after more than 100000 miles. There is no shoulder and in many cases there is no road. The pavement is missing 2 feet chunks where it has simply fallen down the mountain. In addition the pavement has subsided which keeps turning your wheel off the road. If you get too fatigued to maintain a straight line you will fall down the mountain and no one will be able to see you. Now the ban is the clearest violation of Title 23 section 109m that I have ever seen. However we may not need to use this to get the highway rebuilt. The official highway department fluff piece on the road says the old 2 mile section of 25E was killing 5 people a year. If the tunnel is closed and traffic tries to divert through highway 74 there will be 5 deaths within the first hour and 5 emergency personal deaths before it is over. The roads will be jammed and the injured will have to be lifted out by helicopter. So this is also the clearest case of criminal incompetence as it pertains to motorized traffic by the federal highway department that I have ever seen.  I know nothing about the routes east of Cumberland Gap. 

21

Gear Talk / Building a 45 spoke wheel.

« on: May 20, 2017, 07:44:03 pm »

I have drilled 9 additional holes in a large flange hub and built a wheel with it. Photo link below There is a standard engineering practice for this sort of thing developed by the bridge industry. The holes must be 2 hole diameters away from the edge and 3 hole diameters away from each other. So even with a large flange hub we are way beyond what would be allowed on a bridge or an aircraft. This is why radial spoked wheels break the flange. On the other hand it may be possible to drill 50 percent more holes in a large flange hub and have comparable stress to a small flange hub without the additional holes. The additional spokes are radial with an offset equivalent to a 1 cross. They do touch the other spokes so the offset is 2 mm less than the other inside spokes. This allows me to calculate the strength gain. The tension of the left hand spokes went from .66 times the tension of the right hand spokes to .92 times after retruing the wheel. This indicates the amount of weight the wheel can support before the bottom spoke goes to 0 tension is 40 percent greater. The amount of force the wheel can withstand applied from the side before the wheel buckles on the gear side is also increased by 40 percent. I was not sure this pattern would work. You can't put a spoke on the rim seam so it has to be offset by 1 spoke. This put a bit of shear stress on the seam where it is always harder to true the wheel. However it went together well. Testing will continue until failure or I wear out the rim around 10000 miles. https://flic.kr/p/TLkrge

22

General Discussion / The Schwarzenetruber Amish.

« on: November 08, 2016, 08:46:07 am »

A federal judge has ruled that preventing horses and wagons from using the roads is a violation of the religious freedom clause of the United States Constitution. The Amish are a branch of the Mennonite church. Each church decides what technology it's member use. The Mennonites use bicycles extensively. This is important for several reasons. The court has ruled that the wagons do not have to use lights. Either flashing on the rear or headlights on the front including those that are not electrical. I expect the Mennonites may also be exempt from using lights on bicycles this will have to be fought in the courts. I sent an email to INDOT pointing out that the newly completed interstate 69 was in violation of title 23 section 109m US code. They wrote back that they were aware of the problem and a church in the area was affected. It looks like Indiana is allowing all non motorized traffic on that interstate. Given the extensive violations of road law by all states all interstates may eventually be opened to non motorized traffic. It is not necessary to be a member of a church to claim a religious freedom right. I use lights but the police treat cyclists far more harshly than motorists who also drive around without lights. I have cycled 10000 miles on the interstates in around 20 states. I may simple start my own church and call my self a Schwarzenegger Amish. After all my legs are bigger. The Swartzentruber Amish have went to jail and then sued the state of Kentucky over this issue. We owe them quite a bit.

23

Gear Talk / Willie and Max motorcycle bags.

« on: May 30, 2016, 07:47:32 am »

I got a new set of bags thanks to Harley Davidson's trash. These are Willie and Max slant design. I like this design. They will eventually transferred to the rear where they should give me an additional inch of heal clearance. These are fake leather of fairly rugged design. The internal stiffeners are plastic you see on yard signs. They should be easy to replace if they give me any problems. There was a zippered connector that would have went over the rack.I removed them and bolted the bags directly to the rack. https://flic.kr/p/HyskCg

24

Gear Talk / Saddlemen saddlebags.

« on: March 21, 2016, 08:42:01 pm »

No doubt some of thought it would be cool to tour with motorcycle bags. Well I've had a chance to test this and decided it's a bad idea. I will tell you in general what to look out for and give you specifics on one brand. The Saddlemen bags are made out of vinyl. I got mine with the luggage straps cut off and decided to remove the vinyl and discovered I could rip it with my fingers. The bags have a weight limit of 5 pounds each. That is not a misprint it was on the tag inside but not in the information available on the web. The  rack side is hard plastic sewed to vinyl top and bottom this will be very difficult to repair. I once tried to repair a leather shoe and broke the needle embedding it in my thumb. Because the top closes on three side I had to offset the mounting bolts .25 inch and place it 3 inches below the top. This causes the top of the bags to hang out 1 inch. You don't want a bag that closes this way. On regular bags the zipper is the first thing to fail. If I built my own which I might do using the old ones as a pattern I would use a flap and velcro. These bags are $330 new and the mounting hardware weighs several pounds. Some mounting options are extra. I generally use the $90 Trek brand and they last several years. Leather bags may be tough enough for cycling. They will be more expensive than the vinyl ones I do like the shape of the ones shown and would like to try the rear ones with a diagonal cut that whould clear the heals. https://flic.kr/p/FemMAw

25

Gear Talk / A home made 42 tooth cog.

« on: February 15, 2016, 07:42:41 pm »

My set up also has no dish and enough chain take up to work in all gears. The back is 12 13 15 17 20 24 30 42 and the front is 20 36 42. Come on industry keep up. https://flic.kr/p/DVyyQJ

26

Gear Talk / Auxetic tires.

« on: May 29, 2015, 08:50:00 pm »

The main problem with bicycle tires is they stretch when inflated. This pulls the rubber apart when it is cut and allows glass to cut deeper.  There are ways to solve this problem by introducing particles into the rubber that are in compression. Gorilla glass works this way. However as usual nature has come up with something better. Auxetic materials get fatter when stretched or thinner when compressed. Use of these materials in a tire would introduce a compression force at the point of a puncture preventing further cutting. Don't hold your breath. I'm still waiting for spiralock threads for bicycles. The bicycle industry is around 100 years behind the automobile industry.

27

Gear Talk / 50 tooth chain wrap.

« on: May 22, 2015, 08:39:34 pm »

Just replaced the pulleys on my really old shimano derailleur with 15 tooth ones giving a chain wrap of greater than 50 teeth. The gears are 20 34 42 front and 12 13 15 17 20 24 30 40 rear. It actually works a bit better with a 13 tooth jockey pulley. Now if only we could get some one to make after market pulleys. I would like to try a 13 17 combination. Derailleur pulleys are moment loaded which kills bearing faster than any thing else. I've had Dura Ace, XTR, Sram, Campagnolo and am not impressed with any of them.

28

General Discussion / Crash number 6.

« on: March 31, 2015, 07:01:37 am »

I was hit 2 days ago by a lady who hit the accelerator before she looked where she was going. I'm detecting a pattern now. This is the third crash I have been involved in that happened in the same way. I have also seen three others I was not involved in that happened the same way. This happens when a driver on a side road looks right then hits the accelerator before they look in front of them. I will be filming this when I get the chance to prove my point.  In all six cases the driver was at fault. This is what you can expect if you travel. I have done 110000 miles on tour. I have heard in other places a cyclist gets hit every 8000 miles. There are two reasons I survived these crashes. During my youth me and my friends spent time knocking each other off our unicycles. Now it's not that easy to knock me down even when I'm not expecting it. The other reason is I spend my youth in a pool hall playing video games. This is good training though foot ball or socker would work also.  I know my place in one crash the police refused to investigate even though it was a hit and run. I proved to the DMV that the man put a non existent address on his drivers license. I recently found the mans grave stone my guess is the police tried to arrest the man after they were ordered to do so by the DMV and he was shot in the arrest. I'm not saying any more about the man may he rest in peace. Of course the police are not happy with me the most danderous thing you can do is prove the police are fools not ride across country.

29

Gear Talk / Digipower U TC450 charger.

« on: March 17, 2015, 12:07:54 pm »

I've been using the Digipower U TC charger on tour now for 4 months. It will charge most camera batteries AA and AAA NiMh batteries. It looks like it will also charge N sized NiMh batteries also but I have not tried it. The 450 also has the advantage over the 400 of charging 14500 and 10440 lithium ion batteries. For those who are not familiar with these they are the same size as AA and AAA batteries. Since they are 3.7 volt they make a very good single cell pen light.  It looks like it will handle a 16340 lithium battery which is popular in laser pointers though I have not tried it.  It will charge one or two round cells of the same size and chemistry with .6 amps in each channel. Camera batteries also charge at .6 amps. There is a USB outlet rated at 1 amp. Theoretically you can't charge batteries and use the USB at the same time however it will work if you keep the combined power low. The picture shown is a USB charger drawing .36 amp. The charger is very light but there is no weather sealing so keep it in a baggy. https://www.flickr.com/photos/63373992@N07/15377240300/in/photolist-

30

Gear Talk / Too tight spokes causes wheel buckling.

« on: December 16, 2014, 02:32:55 pm »

I've done this twice the first time was an experiment. The arguments never end about tight spokes should be so I did a wheel build making the spokes as tight as possible. I build dishless wheels though I expect this also applies to a real wheel with dish. In order to get the spokes as tight as possible I did a standard build then adjusted the out of round 1/4 turn at a time using both a spoke wrench and a screw driver. The spokes were checked for equal tension by comparing the sound of opposite spokes on both the left and right sides and the top and bottom sides. After a certain point the wheel buckled into potato chip shape. This did not hurt the rim and after backing off on the tension I ended up with a useable wheel. The second time was an accident. I used a combination of transmission fluid and Mobil One to lubricate the nipples and the wheel potato chipped while stressing the wheel by squeezing the rim and the chainstay. This did not photograph well but you can see the wheel here after backing off on the tension. I estimate the spokes were twice as tight as the store bought Stay True front wheel by squeezing the spoke and comparing the deflection at the cross. I'm leaving this one tight and will inform you if there is a problem. The wheel is being ridden with 160 pounds on it. Nothing special there is a fh475 hub refitted with a 7 cog freehub. Generic stainless steel spokes of 2 types. A Weinman 519 clone rim. !0mm solid axle. Search for zerodish and spoke protector on flickr to the the wheel.