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The current issue is Issue 16. The next issue is out early March 2005.
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Catch-up collection
Helmet compulsion bill, One-Off Ti handcycle goes into another production run, Velorution is Top Blog, Velomobile Seminar and SPEZI coming up, Greenspeed's latest newsletter and Ute version, ICE's child-carrier, and some CNC chainrings and hydraulic shifters
- A Private Member's Bill calling for compulsory child helmet wearing goes to the vote in the UK House of Commons this Friday. Although it is editorial policy at Velo Vision to ban the helmet debate from the magazine (helmet arguments ad nauseam can be found in other mags or ad infinitum on the internet) it is our view that compulsion is definitely the wrong way to go about things. For much more detail and how to go about adding your voice see the excellent coverage at BikeBiz.com. Although mostly a trade site, they have made their stories on this issue public-access.
- A new batch of the One-Off Handcycles as featured in VV 13 will be made shortly, says designer and manufacturer Mike Augspurger. The USD 5000 vehicles offer unprecedented all-terrain mobility for hand-crankers. Potential purchasers should register an interest by email or see www.titaniumarts.com.
- Congratulations to Velorution for becoming a Guardian Top Blog.
- Full programme details for the Velomobile Seminar this Friday (the day before the weekend SPEZI special bike show) in Germersheim, southern Germany, are now available. Speakers include Greenspeed's Ian Sims, C-G Rasmussen of Leitra and many more. See www.velomobile.info for more.
- Trike manufacturer Greenspeed's latest newsletter is out. Contents include details of GT3 production, and the announcement of an extended load-carrying 'Ute' version. Plus details of a US dealer tour and details of their continuing work on a full fairing.
- The above reminds me that I've not mentioned the ICE child-carrying extension except briefly in VV 13. This is an extended version of their trikes (not a retro-fit) with space for a childseat behind the rider, plus luggage.
- Arthur Clune sends me a link to this article which shows a chainring being made by CNC. Also on the same site is this hydraulic gear-shifter idea.
Posted on 22 April 2004
Your comments ...| From: Arch (@her desk) on 20 April 2004 |
At the risk of encouraging the helmet debate...
If you feel strongly about this issue (or indeed any other) there is a nifty website called www.faxyourmp.com
in which you enter your postcode and it automatically brings up a form to write to your MP. |
| From: The Twin (@half.mast) on 20 April 2004 |
| I tried the fax your MP thing and it worked! Got a very prompt and helpful reply - and she's not voting for this bill (which does not have Government support by the way and so is highly unlikely to become law). Don't bother sending a fax to Eric Martlew - he never replies. |
| From: andy scaife (throwing-eggs@politicians) on 21 April 2004 |
| That's a good reason to send him HUNDREDS of faxes then! |
| From: Ralf Grosser ([email protected]) on 21 April 2004 |
If they make helmets a law, for sapety resons, then make them mandatory for pub patrons as well as cyclists.
More people sustain headinjuries falling off barstools each year, then from bicycle accidents.
ONe of these days it will be illegal for me to leave my house without wearing my armor! |
| From: Ralf Grosser ([email protected]) on 22 April 2004 |
Interesting website for the CNC chainring makeing.
He saved 5 grams compaired to a TA Chainring.
I wonder, if it would have been simpler, just to shave off 5 grams from an allready existing TA chainring. |
| From: Rich F (lostonroundabouts@miltonkeynes) on 22 April 2004 |
I emailed my mp he replied "I must confess that until I received your email I had thought the use of compulsory helmets was a good thing and would lead to fewer accidents amongst children. After all the International Cyclist sports federation (UCI) have enforced the wearing of helmets in professional races following the death of a cyclist in last years Paris Nice race.
I therefore started to look at this in more detail and looked at attached research paper from the House of commons library. It confirms what you say."
So it's worth contacting them it might change some minds.
He also said it was unlikely to get through.
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| From: Arch (@her desk again) on 23 April 2004 |
Rich, were you posting on VV while driving round a roundabout? That seems very dangerous...
Ralf, you have agood point about saving 5g on a chainring. Alternatively, the rider could probably save the same amount of weight by cutting off their earlobes... |
| From: Seamus (etc) on 23 April 2004 |
| Only the Crane cousins would have ever seriously considered cutting off their ear-lobes to save weight. |
| From: Arch (@work) on 23 April 2004 |
Dunno, it would prevent getting earlobes tangled in helmet straps.
Talking of which, the helmet compulsion bill has just failed, due to lack of attendance of MP's I believe.
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| From: Seamus (etc) on 23 April 2004 |
I always thought that SPEZI was the name of the German Secret Police....
....though I suppose if it's secret then no-one knows it's name??? |
| From: Ralf Grosser ([email protected]) on 23 April 2004 |
Seamus, it was "Stasi" not "SPEZI".
BTW Scientologie was doing adverts at a time reading:We only use 10% of our brain capacity"!
This means, that if you join the Scientologie Church, you can have the useles 90% amputated.
How is that for weight saveing? |
| From: Ralf Grosser ([email protected]) on 23 April 2004 |
I also had a look at the hydraulic shifter device.
I agree, that standard cables sooner or later fail because the cable needs maintenance.
What they did is replace it with a hydraulic line and a pushrod at each end.
Most problems with a cable are, that it gets damaged at the ends, or has the nipple break off.
Also the bottom end gets jammed by dirt.
You rarely have problems in the middle of the cable.
The smae problems that you have with the cable are also the weak point of the pushrods at the ends.
I therefore see no real benefit in this system. It does have the disadvantage, that like on all hydrosystems such as Magura hydrobrakes, you need special tools to work on it.
A cable can be replaced within 2 minutes, using only a 5mm alan key . And you can do this on the roadside.
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| From: andy scaife (worried@prospect) on 23 April 2004 |
| Yes Ralf, I agree (we don't hear that often do we?). I wouldn't fancy being called out at midnight in the rain, to attend to a punctures or vandalised hydro line. I do cables quite often, in a few minutes. I only do brake cables though. If someone's gear cable has gone, it ain't a breakdown! |
| From: Herr Flick (.) on 23 April 2004 |
Ah Seamus.
SPAZI.
Very gut.
Zee eenglish sense of humour. |
| From: steve green ([email protected]) on 25 April 2004 |
| I've had hydraulic brakes on my commuting bike for ten years! I fitted them because there's less likelihood of problems arising than with cables. I erckon they must have done about 20,000 miles... |
| From: Raf Grosser ([email protected]) on 25 April 2004 |
THe point I was trieing to make about the hydroshifter, is, that it still uses a pushrod conected to the regular shifter on top, and a section of cable on the bottom.
THe magura Hydrobrake does not have a section of cable that can break as easy as on a regular cabel operated shifter.
20,000 Km in ten years, is not that much. I have done that at times in 2 years.
If you do have a problem with the hydrobrakes lines break, what would you do?
I have one bike with a hydrobrake, but I also have the tools for doing work on them, like for example shortening the lines, and refiting them.
if there is damage on a Hydobrake, it is often leakage at the end of the line. Up on the lever, or where the line conects to the reciveer cylinders.
They then have to be shortend and refitted.
I hate doing work on the steelmesh lines, because you can only replace them as whole, and can not shorten them. |
| From: steve green ([email protected]) on 25 April 2004 |
I understood the point about the connections to the lever and derailleur. However, you cannot extrapolate vulnerability of the hydraulic system from that. I still think that the hydraulic brakes work reliably, and ,more importantly, do not need constant attention like cable brakes. If they show any signs of trouble, i'll fix them. So far, they have given me absolutely no cause for concern, unlike some of the badly designed, ill-conceived junk that I see every day ( I'm a bike mechanic).
The saddest thing about bike components is that, although the really cheap stuff is horrible, a high price does not neccesarily buy good parts.
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| From: Antony (at pedalcars dot info) on 26 April 2004 |
Where a hydraulic system will score over plain cables is on machines with complex cable routing, such as is found on some full suspension machines, some recumbents, etc. This applies to brake and gear systems. I can imagine the gear system benefitting tandems too, as the longer the cable, the bigger effect on gear indexing a given amount of cable stretch will produce.
Also, in my experience, the most vulnerable parts of the gear cable system (in terms of performance) are where the cable runs through the outer sheath; as damp and salt get in, so the shifting accuracy degrades with corrosion to a point where you bin the cable and start again. The worst section (on a "conventional" diamond frame at least) is the last loop of cable before the mech, which is acts as a water trap. The hydro system eliminates all these areas; at the mech and shifter, the cable is not so constrained therefore corrosion will not cause so much drag. |
| From: andy scaife ([email protected]) on 26 April 2004 |
| 'Do not need constant attention' says Steve. Blimey, you should have a go at maintaining a fleet of working bikes! Maximus trikes (Magura front, Hope rear), Muli (Remember that one?- Maguras) filibus (Mag again) and Gustav Werner trike (Magurh hydro to sachs drums). All of them constantly giving trouble. york Cycleworks staff running for cover when I appearred, parts permanently on back-order. The maximus hope twin rears are fantastic, but the others? They usually ended up with cables. I'm a big fan of hub braking, but I've had it with hydro, not out of prejudice but experience! |
| From: A (again) on 27 April 2004 |
It occurs that a hydraulic gear system could, by means of different cylinder bores at each end, allow people to use SRAM shifters with Shimano mechs, or vice versa. Yes I know you can do this with cable-looping roller thingumajigs, but the hydro system could be a neater solution.
Just a thought. |
| From: Ralf Grosser (Doc) on 27 April 2004 |
"A" this sounds great, but who would want to pay for what it would cost to build this.
Instead, it would be chaper to buy a mass produced shifter, and mech that are made to worlk with each other.
Also you do not have a clue about how different shifters are in cble pull. Things do not work linear, but often just strange, to put it polite. |
| From: Antony (again) on 28 April 2004 |
Ralf, that's true in part, and I'm not saying a hydro shifter system would necessarily be a better solution. It does seem to have some advantages, but also some potential drawbacks.
However, the amount of cable pull required per gear shift is known for Shimano and other systems, so it would be possible for the manufacturers to build a "mix and match" system. Whether many people would want to use this is a different question, of course!
And, yes, a steel cable and a few lengths of outer sheath is always going to be cheaper and quicker to install than a length of hydro hose, two hydraulic cylinders and a bottle of shock oil! |
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