G's latest spweings from twitter...
Staus Quo
June 20th, 2010 | No Comments »I was in the shower and the thought crashed out of the sky on me – “did we allow for sag in the head angle?” (we all have moments like these in the shower, don’t we?). Over to Skype to call up Mr. X and a conversation something like this ensued (rather abridged):
Me: “Did we adjust for sag at the head angle?”
X: “No, we don’t really allow for that.”
Me: “Well, that means when we say 70 degrees, it’s not, it’s 70 less whatever it slackens by whatever when the shock allows for sag.”
X: “It’s not a problem, because everyone does it. To change that would mean that that the buyer has no benchmark ie. your 70 will be different from everyone else’s.”
Me:”OK, I can see that…”
And I did. But when I thought about it some more, accepting this status quo is even more wrong than when I first thought about it.
OK, so what am I talking about?
Back in the days when there was no rear suspension, when you claimed that your bike had a 71 degree head tube, that’s what it had because the rear end did not sag when you sat on the bike. Today though, with full suspension bikes, when you sit on the bike the rear end (on a well designed bike) will sag X amount to create what is called negative travel. Negative travel is critical for suspension as it allows the wheel to stay in contact with the ground by loading the rear wheel. A side effect of this is that the head angle slackens by an amount and our 71 degrees slackens off to maybe 69, maybe less. See the issue?
The argument that was proposed to me was that because no one allows for this and states the head angle for FS bikes in the ‘unloaded’ state, there is no point stating the factual angle as it will confuse people when they try different bikes – a true 71 will be different to a ‘claimed’ 71. That’s a fair enough argument and if every bike on the market was a full suspension frame, then it would not be an issue. It occurred to me though that hardtails still account for many bike sales, so therefore the angles stated for FS bikes can not be used to compare against handling characteristics of hardtails.
Right, I’m hearing you saying “so what?”.
Well, that’s a fair question but as I spoke about in my last piece, MTB Misinformation, discrepancies like this only add to confuse and make it difficult to make fair and baseline comparisons between bikes of various brands. Like trying to ‘factualise’ numerous claims made by marketing departments in regards to suspension designs, I think there needs to be a more open and clear way to compare the various design and performance characteristics. ‘Reach and Stack’ is one such attempt to sort out sizing between all manufacturers of mountain bikes, initiated by Turner and transition Bikes. ISIS previously and BB30 now are attempts to standardise bottom brackets and while for a period there was some harmony, it’s on for young and old again as ‘the boys’ are at it with their respective 10 speed systems – which are also tied to BB shell specifications. It’s become such a mess now that manufacturers themselves are in the dark with some electing to design and allow for one and forget about the other, as by allowing for one, you can’t easily allow for the other. To make matters worse, a particular 2×10 engineering spec goes so far as to make designing an effective FS bike for it increasingly difficult making life difficult for their key customers, the OEM companies!
Madness!
From where I sit, I’d like to be able to line three bikes up and look at the specs for each and get a solid feeling for how they are actually going to perform before I get on them. Right now, I can grab a hard tail and know it will perform in a particular manner just by looking at the numbers, making comparing hardtails easy. If I hop on a FS with similar geometry though, the way it will behave will be guess work until ride time. This makes the task of buying difficult as I either have to guess and hope for the best, spend a lot of time riding a lot of different bikes, which is very difficult, or buy something and hope there is not something closer to my liking. Personal experience tells me that looking at the current claims of figures for most bikes tells me very little about how the bike will feel or ride.
I might be alone in this, I might not be. Judging from some of the comments made by various people I work with, I think there is a feeling for a factual comparison system and less of the deeply seeded marketing hype one that surrounds the industry currently. I personally don’t feel accepting the accepting the status quo is a good enough reason to stay with something, especially if it is counter to what should be best practice, or to the detriment of the end buyer.
Must be something in the age
June 13th, 2010 | No Comments »To those who know me, you’ll know that for quite some time there was a definite lull in my getting on a bike. Almost like trying to get a clapped out Vespa going, over the past few years it was a bit cough, splutter, cough, wheeze… stall.
For some reason though, while up in Queensland last Christmas, I decided out of the blue to get up early and go for a ride on Christmas morning; it probably had something to do with the impending Christmas onslaught and bizzare lack of daylight saving, meaning at 5am it was light and already 20 odd degrees. That first ride, which had me discovering off-road track right next to the famous Gold Coast beach line was like a total engine rebuild and I ended up getting out pretty much every day afterward up on the Sunshine coast, rain or not.
Since then, other than a few weeks around the time I went over to the Taipei Cycle Show, I have been turning the wheels and been good about going to the gym on a regular basis. Now that it’s become cold, that motivation has definitely waned and I have not been out on the bike for a few weeks. This is not to say the legs are not turning, they are, just indoors on the bike at the gym. I am damned sure riding one of those things for 45-50 minutes is harder than riding an actual bike, because there is no ‘coast time’, it’s just pedal, pedal, pedal….. maybe that’s the attraction to single speeding? None the less, if it has not been the bike or the gym, then out the door and walking, so that 4-5 days a week, something has been happening.
But why the sudden burst that’s now in its sixth month? Well, I am beginning to think that age has something to do with it and after moving past a ‘certain age’, you suddenly realise that waiting another few months to get back on the wagon only makes it that much harder physically and worse, mentally. I have seen it before in people that I know, when that age came along it was as if a rocket was lit under their arse. For some it lasted, for others it fizzled. None the less it happened and I am wondering if that’s happening to me? A plus too I have found in all of this is that after all those years you know what your body is doing and when something goes wrong, rather than trying to fight it and make it worse, you have a more sane view and realise the faster road is to back off and let get better rather than fight it.
What’s more, that damned donut you ate takes three times the effort to loose… and who wants to give up donuts?
Next month I take delivery of the first production sample Mountain Cycle. Not a full susser but a carbon hardtail which I’ll be running with a rigid carbon fork and 2×10 as an urban menace. I have a feeling that this will be a turning point in my riding because I have not had an officially light bike for years – maybe 5? Pushing a big 6″ bike around with 1×9 gearing might get you fit but it’s as engaging on the road as watching paint dry and while I have a little section of singletrack worked out in the local park, after a few weeks it gets a little old. The idea of getting back on a bike that’s fast I am finding intoxicating and in a childish sort of way, July for me is almost like Christmas when you’re a child; I’m thinking that I might actually get back to riding some of the old road loops I used to years back.
Bike aside, I am thinking I am on the wagon once again. After six months, it’s got to the point that if I don’t do something each day, I’ll go a little potty and it gets worse… if I have not spun the legs for a few days, I start loosing the plot and that’s the sure sign of being back on board. Most importantly though is that the bike is fun again, not a pain, and riding up the hills around here does not leave me thinking I’m about to expire but rather wondering where that strength has come from. It’s even got me thinking about events later in the year, and that is something I have not done for a very long time.
So is there a morale to this blurb? Maybe. If there is it’s that maybe getting older has its advantages… maybe.
iPod Apps
June 12th, 2010 | No Comments »Ya I said it before, I will not touch an iPhone, call me a Luddite if you will. But I do love my iPod Touch, everything of the iPhone without the annoying telephone – though it would be nice to have a camera. Anyhoo, I mostly use my iPod as a second brain when I am out and about, so I have it pretty much geared up as a glorified PDA. I do have some games, you know, for when waiting can get a little dull but for all but a few, I find the screen size just too small to be ‘engaging’.
As I have been so selective with what I have put on my iPod, I thought I’d share my fave apps as maybe someone out there might find them useful as well…
Awesome Note: I Just wish they’d have a desktop version so I could sync between the two but that maybe would defeat the whole point? aNote is perhaps the best ‘notepad’ application I have seen to date and looks the part too. It’s pretty extensive and you can create all sorts of notes and categorise them, order them so on and so forth. On the iPhone you can link images to notes as well as geotag and backup is to Google Docs. I love this app, was the first I put on my iPod and has helped me remember some pretty key ideas and thoughts over time.
Things: More of a project management tool and I first looked at it for the desktop. I am one of those people that tends to keep things in their head and until recently it’s worked pretty well. these days though there’s just too much going on, so having a really simple tool to manage and track projects etc. has become a bit of a necessity. Things is designed to be super simple, clean and easy to use. I don’t like PM tools that are overly complex and are more of a pain to use than they are useful, so Things is perfect. Like anything it’s only as good as one’s ability to use it so I am training myself to use it more and more. Best of all, it syncs to the desktop version and, if you have one, the iPad version as well.
mSecure: I have so much info that I need locked down it’s not funny. Bank accounts, server, email, ftp logins, memberships and on it goes. mSecure is a password encrypted storage system that allows you to categorise and store all manners of information you want with you but locked down. Five false attempts to login and all the data is fried, so it is nice and secure from would be thieves. it also creates an encrypted backup to your Mac via a mSecure application available to you after you buy the app.
Skype: Perfect when on the move and wheen you’re in a WiFi hot spot, you can communicate as if you were in from of your desktop. Perfect.
Tweetdeck: On my desktop, Tweetdeck allows me to manage all the various feeds I have – Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts and pages etc. Tweetdeck on my iPod takes that ability on the road.
Allhours: A nice little app that allows you to arrange meetings in different timezones at all the appropriate times for all parties involved.
Convert: Convert pretty much all forms of measurements including live-time currency conversions (as long as you can connect).
Australian Oxford Dictionary: Because ‘like’ and ‘aw mah gawd’ is not English.
Peppermint: Peppermint is a portable colour reference system allowing you to define colours in a number of different colour systems. You can create palettes based on a number of colour ‘laws’ and store faves. If you have a design project and are dwelling on a colour scheme, Peppermint is perfect to go and have a coffee somewhere to work it out.
Sketchbook Mobile: Based on Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro for the desktop, the i’X’ version does everything it’s bigger brother does. Some people create amazing things with it but for me I might just do the odd doodle to remember something I am thinking about. Sketchbook though almost justifies the iPad for someone like me, as it finally gives a true alternative to having to carry around a sketch pad to work – if only they’d sort out the issues with the iPad and come out with V2.0, I’ll be there in a flash.
miniDraw (Trial): Trying this one out but like Sketchbook, I think this will be in its element on the iPad. miniDraw is a neat vetor based drawing app, great if you do lots of stuff in Adobe Illustrator and want to be able to do vector images while on the move but be able to then take them into Ai to firm them up. Fun on the iPod but really more of a toy because of the screen size.
Carpenter: This was my second app and is still by far the prettiest! Carpenter is a very accurate measuring tool (one calibrated) allowing you the measure angles, levels, plumb and length. A must if you deal with things in the physical world.
Buamai: Eye candy. Buamai is an app that taps into Buamia.com and serves up random posted images from the repository. More a source of inspiration when you are a little dull.
Auspostcode: Like it says, all Australian Postcodes. Handy.
Accura (Free): A better and far more indepth battery gauge for the iPod/Phone. Breaks down battery power based on the various activities you might do on you i’X’.
Zen Bound: Using the 3D physics engine of the i’X’ devices, Zen Bound is a super relaxing game where you wrap wooden object of increasing complexity with rope. It sounds pretty dull but it’s really entrancing with its beautiful graphics and deep sound track. I love this game and it also is now in the iPad.
Dinosaur Handbook: Because who does not like Dinosaurs? I know my wee one does and having every dinosaur discovered to date is pretty cool.
Labyrinth (Lite): A 3D puzzle game. Roll your chrome ball bearing through mazes of increasing complexity. This is the counterpoint to Zen Bound and that you can get quite worked up trying to get through some of the mazes, which of course only makes getting through them more difficult.
DigDug Remix: A perfect recreation of the Namco arcade game of the 80′s. Pure gold. I might have to buy it though I do think, like most games, it will be so much better on the iPad, prolly why I have not bought the full version yet. There’s also a revamped version on the same install but let’s face it, the charm lies in the original.
Galaga Remix: Like DigDug, this is the original Namco Galaga of the 80′s.
InfinityLite: Like DigDug and Galaga, this will rock on the iPad. Basically, take the original Space invaders and then put it on a heavy does of speed. This is a mind blower and in some ways a total overload. Love it but want it bigger!
Electric at the Isle of Man
June 11th, 2010 | No Comments »
Forget those silly electric solar races plodding their way through the outback of Australia each year, this is electric at the sexy and amazing end…. This is a little bit of history being made and I hope in the near future, we will look back and think that this was the the turning point when electric vehicles became exciting for everyone.*
“The 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc, ridden by American Mark Miller, has won the Isle of Man’s TT Zero, lapping the 37.7-mile course at an average speed of 96.82 MPH. To put that in context, the first ever 100 MPH lap at the TT was in 1957, last year’s TTXGP winner, Rob Barber, lapped at 87.434 MPH and the outright record is held by John McGuinness and his CBR1000RR at 131.5 MPH.” Source HFL
And to think that the big automakers struggle with making electric a real alternative when a (well funded) privateer can pull this off…
*Let me clarify….
Up until now, electric vehicles and been, how shall we say…. poky at best? Yes, there is the Tessla coupe (and soon the be sedan) out of the US, but for the most part exciting ‘real’ (as opposed to glossy concepts at the auto shows) are few and far between. The real world application of electric technology has to date either been watered down and funked of ‘eco’, (Toyota Prius anyone?), or reeked of home made.
The MotoCzysz on the other hand is 100% electric, 100% real and 100% professional. From where I sit, looking through all the images available of the bike, I can not find a single element that has not been given a professional Engineering and Industrial Design working over – you look at the bike and think, hell ya, where do I plop the money down? This also does not account for the myriad of design and engineering innovations you find on the E1pc.
Topping it all off, it’s a project not designed to save the world but purely to go damn fast. And that’s the difference at play here. While to date everything electric has been aimed with the end goal of ‘eco’, and we all know the general public does not consider eco sexy, the E1pc is designed to go fast – it looks fast, is designed to race and it’s these simple attributes that make it sexy. No saving the world here, just the simple, single minded pursuit of… fast. Mmm yea.
That’s why I think that this bike more than anything else to date, might and probably will, change our perception of electric. And there’s the clincher for me. In capturing the attention and desires of ‘everyone’, the MotoCzysz E1pc might just save the world. It would indeed be ironic to think that the individual who changed the world’s perceptions about electric vehicles is a motorcycle racing petrol head at heart.
Maybe it’s time we reconsider just how we look at addressing electric technologies. Instead of being green and tree hugging, we should be reckless and selfish, pursuing things with it that give us the proverbial ‘hard-on’, rather than that warm and fuzzy feeling we get when are doing something good for the world. Put another way, mankind has an issue getting motivated when it comes to saving itself, but when it comes to blowing himself up, going fast or doing something it should really not be doing, then there’s more motivation available than one would think humanly possible! Maybe then we’ll see more things like the E1pc that will make people want to trade their petrol burners for something more future friendly…. just don’t tell them it is.