Data Centers and Bicycle Seats

RockBros Bicycle Saddle
Fist Most Bike

Uniberp Reports:

I'd been using a function on my chromebook that lets me select a portion of the screen and google search it, just like Google Lens but easier than drag-dropping an image or selecting a file.

I usually use it to help identify antiques and stuff, but lately it just sits and blinks "Thinking a little longer". Google Lens still works fine with the same image.

Aside from the possible local cache issues, I jump to the possibility that Google is just tired of me wasting its time looking at old lamps and fans.

It could be they have seen some of my critical remarks about data centers or Republicans and I am now pegged as part of the resistance to their goal of data center hegemony, but that would be kinda petty and work against any support I had for the least evil of the mega-providers (namely Google).

SO... what I think is actually happening is that all this processing power they are building "to help the consumer" is simply to mine more cryptocurrency.

Anyhow I got a new bicycle seat from RockBros. It was cheap, and I sold off my old brooks racing seats on ebay for a good price. I needed something that was easier on my new hips, and I ride more heavily on my butt now to reduce hip wear.

I liked it so much I bought another for my cottage bike. They sent the wrong thing, so I sent them a note and they sent me a return label. 

They said they were out of the saddles so they sent me a refund.

So I bought another of the same saddle from Canada.

Then the first company sent me the right saddle. Now I have 3.

If any of you would like to try it, I will gift it to you. It's not leather, but it works for my 1 hour rides.

Now we'll see if Google retracts my refund.

Uniberp's message came in via Gmail. Gmail, being my friend and all suggested this reply:

I'll take the spare saddle if no one else claims it. I've been doing more riding lately too.

As for the search function, that sounds like a typical Google move—making things worse under the guise of 'improving' them. I wouldn't put it past them to prioritize everything but the user's actual needs.

Two Wheel Transport

How e-Bikes are Killing Motorcycles - Aniioki A9 Pro Max Review
FortNine

I fully expect the government to weigh in on high-power electric bikes any day now.

The Janus Halcyon 250 is Dangerous and Wonderful
FortNine

Weird combination of custom throw-back and economy import. It's like a 1930's bike made with modern manufacturing techniques.

The government is legally required to drive you over this bridge*
Chris Spargo and Evan Edinger

We've got bike lanes all over Washington County, but you'll see a zillion cars before you see a bicycle, and that's good, because I hate seeing bicycles in the bike lane next to traffic flying by at 50 MPH.

Red Bull is out of Control

Red Bull e seus atletas [Red Bull and its athletes]
BMX 08

A Striking Encounter

A Striking Encounter by Paul Charles Chocarne-Moreau

Introduction from Rehs Galleries biography of M. Chocarne-Moreau:

Perhaps to the surprise of many, the iconic images of the fascinating and mischievously comical lives of young boys and girls imagined by Norman Rockwell during the early 1900s, were neither a wholly American invention, nor were they the first to treat the subject of children in such a humorous and anecdotal manner.  Prefiguring the immensely popular imagery of Rockwell, Paul-Charles Chocarne-Moreau introduced the French public to the secret scenes of young boys at play, recalling for his audiences the playful deceptiveness that characterized the age of youth.  Interest in children and their development had been increasing throughout the nineteenth century and Chocarne-Moreau harnessed this interest to create images that both capitalized upon and popularized this preoccupation.

Megavalanche

アマチュアとプロの違い [The difference between amateurs and professionals]
やくちゅ [Yakuchu]

What is this? Someone's daily commute? No, it's the Megavalanche, a giant downhill bicycle race held annually in France and half a world away on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. I think this video was taken in France. Réunion has a mountain that reaches 10,000 feet, but it's in the tropics, so not much chance of snow.

Réunion has appeared here before.

Heavy Duty Bike

Why This Bicycle Absolutely NEEDS 2 Chains
Berm Peak

Single speed bikes are great for flat ground and small hills. Low gear on this bike is like granny gear in truck - it lets you crawl up steep hills. It's slower, but it's relentless.

World Bicycle Relief has distributed over 800,000 bicycles and is shooting for one million.

Electric Bike Conversions

Want the Absolute Best Electric Bike? It's probably already in your garage.
JohnnyNerdOut

IAman's electric bicycle was stolen from in front of Winco a couple of weeks (months?) ago, and now he's looking to build another one. His previous source for electric bike parts was Bafang USA Direct, but they quit importing Bafang motors on account of them operating in Communist China, so he's looking for another source for parts and finds Johnny Nerd-Out just across the river in Vancouver, Washington.

Left Hand Thread

Intrinsic Bicycle Pedal

IAman bought some new Intrinsic pedals for his electric bicycle. He had some fancy rat-trap pedals but when taking the bike on the train they kept banging into his shins. The new pedals are rubber all around with a sandpaper like surface top and bottom. Probably weigh a couple ounces more than the old ones, but no one's going to notice on this machine.

He tried to replace them himself but broke his Allen wrench, so he drug it over to my house to see if I would have any better luck. First problem is that the pedal on the left side of the bike has a left hand thread. That's okay, you just tighten it to loosen it, right? But then I find that Allen socket is on the end that is stuck through the crank, so now which way do you turn it? Well from the far side of the bike, you want the screw to go away from you, like it's screwing in, so if it was a right hand thread you would turn it clockwise, but it's a left hand thread, so you turn it counter-clock wise. It didn't help that Igor the invincible had tightened these pedals so even with an eighteen inch breaker bar I couldn't budge them in either direction. I had to put my fifty year old cheater pipe over the end of a ratchet wrench to break it loose. You really want to be sure of which direction you should be going when using a big wrench like this.

The motor was loose. It has a ring that goes around the crank bearing so it's not going anywhere, but it should not be moving around. There were four washers between the motor and its mounting bracket. Taking out one allowed the big ring nut to properly clamp down on the bracket.

bike wreck, small

IAman reports:

hi,

Riding home after a delicious Sunday morning mcDonalds breakfast. I spun into macadam landing on my left knee resulting in 2.5 sq inches of road rash.

Details:

After a week of reminding myself of the hazards of biking in traffic.

ebiking, I pulled off Pacific highway thinking I was turning into a shortcut,  but no, it was the parking lot for a bottle drop.  Realizing my mistake I executed a 180 only to meet oncoming traffic,  I quickly executed a 270 at too slow of a speed resulting in a stall, not extending my leg fast  enough (age related)  I tumbled, landing primarily on my left outer knee. 

Getting up immediately, I check  for mobility,  thankfully no broken bones, The trauma shock wearing off,  the knee hurts.

A guy in a maxed out expedition Jeep asks if Im ok,  I wave him off witha "thanks, im ok".  He parks and comes over with his wife and a stocked medical kit.  Ointment,  gauze,  wrap  done.  "Thanks"  EJ and Pam were my saviours.

3 lessons:

1. Act your age,  at 67 dont bicycle fancy maneuvers in unfamiliar areas packed with cars.
2. Don't assume trauma victims are thinking straight
3. keep a stocked medical kit, in the car

I straightened the bike, found a safe place to try a ride, then pedaled home.

<end of todays lesson>

Hmm, nice outcome considering bicycles and jeeps are natural enemies.

Jackson School Road

Meanwhile, the fancy road improvement project in my neighborhood has been completed for a while now. As you might expect, there are bike lanes. However, the bike lanes are not along the edge of the roadway, they are adjacent to the sidewalk with a strip of garden between them and the road. They aren't marked as such except where there are ramps onto the roadway. The sidewalks are a good six feet wide, wide enough to accommodate a walker and a bicycle.

I never see any bicycles using the sidewalks. Twice this summer (Twice!) I have seen bicycles riding in the roadway completely ignoring the ramps and the sidewalks. Dadburn commies! Maybe when school starts and kids start riding their bikes the sidewalk bike lanes will get more use.

Electric Bicycle

IAman added an electric motor to his bicycle a while back (a year ago? Two?) and now he reports.

Latest finding on ebikes, my being near many ebike stores (& 60 years of riding bikes)

• Disk brakes are much smoother than rim brakes,  I will retro fit my bike with a front disk, 70% of stopping force.  The rear frame would be more difficult to retrofit.
• My midmotor aluminum ebike is more than comparable to the $3500+ midmotor bike on the market.
• I like my ebikes 48 volt, 11 amp power, not too little, not too heavy.
• My thumb paddle  throttle gives me the boost and control I need to overcome the inertia starting off.
• twist grips look clean,  but are not as tactile as levers.
• A step through frame like the Pedego Boomerang would be nice, but will have to wait for one to popup in used sales.
•  I am used to my big soft seat,  anything harder and normal is not comfortable.
• 20 mile range is more than enough,  any longer ride rewards me with a sore butt.
• 24 mph is fast enough,  the wind noise becomes unbearable and I would not want a accident at that speed.
• A cheap lightweight open top pannier is better than heavier buckled zipped expedition pannier, for <20 mile rides.
• Riding without a bell is childish, foolish, selfish and anti social.
• Biggest advantage to ebike is conquering hills.
• Cafe locks look like a good idea for quick stops.
• Lights of any sort are an improvement over possibly being missed in a shadow or darkness and ending up in the emergency room. Plus they are nice for differentiating fellow bicyclists on trails from the foliage and background distractions..
• HiViz clothing works.
• As much as Seattle and Portland are touted as "Bicycle cities"  Too bad, but I differ.  
• Inclimate weather much of the year
• Too Hilly
• Seattle streets and bikeways too lumpy
• Traffic calming needed
• Seattle seems like street department cannot keep up
• Too many cars, going too fast
• Good news: seems drivers are more aware and courteous to bicyclists than in years past.

Mosquito

Gustavo Bravetti - Mosquito (live)
gustavo bravetti

This isn't much of a tune, some people would probably not even consider it music, but for getting you moving it works pretty well. I've started riding my daughter's Peloton exercise bike and it's making a big difference in how well my legs work. The Peloton has a video screen, exercise programs and music. It's basically overpriced ridiculousness, but it's here and it's available and I needed to do something, so I've started using it.

My back got screwed up a couple of years ago (from climbing stairs with steps that are like four inches extra tall, if you can believe it) and it's been giving me all kinds of grief ever since. Go to the doctor and they recommend a battery of exercises. They would probably help, but I am very bad at doing them. They are boring and they take work, so stupid. I used to ride a bicycle quite a bit, probably up until I ended up in the hospital with heart problems. That's when I found out why riding was such a chore and I wasn't get any of the euphoria normal, healthy people got from vigorous exercise. The root cause seems to be atrial fibrillation. That and an enlarged aorta and then the general hazards of riding a bicycle on the same roads as 18 wheelers convince me that bike riding was stupid and I wasn't going to do it anymore.

I did have a good time when I was riding, at least when I wasn't effing struggling up some stupid 50 foot hill. So the exercise bike suits me well. I've been doing ten minutes a day and now I can go up and down the stairs without having to hold onto the hand rail. Cool.

Eileen Sheridan (cyclist)

Eileen Sheridan

Eileen was quite the cyclist:

Eileen Sheridan on her record-breaking ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 1954. She did the 842 miles in 2 days 11 hours and 7 minutes. - daily timewaster

Google estimates it would take you a bit longer:

Land’s End to John O’Groats via bicycle
(83 hours)

A commenter on daily timewaster tells us she road a Hetchins bicycle. Sheldon Brown has one.

Curly Stays on a Hetchins bicycle

The curly stays might be unique. I've never seen the like before. Back when I used to ride bicycles, I was taking to a guy at the local bike shop and he's telling me that he finds a steel frame bicycle is more comfortable to ride, possibly because the steel flexes and aluminum frames don't. I never noticed, but then I was pretty much focused on just getting one more turn of the pedals. I was never a powerful rider.

Hetchins is also known for their fancy lugwork:

Hetchins custom handlebar stem

According to Wikipedia, Eileen is only 4'11" tall and is still alive.

Sidecars

Top view of Ural Motorcycle and Sidecar
Link goes to Ural company website

Wallace & Gromit Sidecar Model
Link goes vintage model website

Do-It-Yourself Bicycle Sidecar
Link goes to article

Fancy Pants Bicycle Sidecar
Link goes to article

1955 Peugeot 175 fitted with a Simard sidecar
Link goes to brief history of sidecars.
Wikicommons has more pictures of this machine

Ural Motorcycle & Sidecar
Link goes to Ural company website

Sidecars have shown up here occasionally

Via Detroit Steve, Indy Tom and LMF

Electric Bike

Iaman's Electric Bike

Iaman bought an electric bike conversion kit and applied it to an old bike he acquired from Dennis.

Took me many hours over a couple days to assemble.  Now I could do it much quicker.  I had a psychic block about removing the crankset to install the motor. Bought the $799 kit for $900 total with shipping from Bafang USA Direct.

See photos here.

No test ride report yet, smoke is still stifling. 

America

Schwinn Sting Ray Bicycle with Baseball Bat Carrier

What do you think when you see this? It used to be that baseball bats were used for playing baseball. Not sure if anybody even plays baseball anymore outside of officially organized games.

Pickup Truck Gun Rack

This was a common sight when I was living in Ohio 50 years ago. It was probably a common sight when I lived in Texas, but by then I had become so accustomed to it that I didn't even notice. I suspect the reason for having the gun rack mounted so the gun was visible has to do with gun laws. If it's plainly visible, it's not concealed, which is what lawmen are concerned with.

I caught a ride with a guy in a pickup truck in New Mexico once. He had a big ol' 44 revolver sitting in plain sight on the dashboard. That got my attention, but I think it was there for the same reason. If it's sitting in plain sight, it's not concealed.

Via Iaman

Folding Bicycles

James May in Italy

I'm watching an old episode of Top Gear (Series 19, Episode 3 from 2013) on Netflix last night and at the very end James May unpacks a folding bicycle from his suitcase and sets off in pursuit of Richard Hammond. That was a surprise because until then I had no idea he was packing a bicycle.

Montague Paratrooper Folding Bicycle

Then today I come across an ad for this folding bike that the U.S. Military uses. Heck, two incidents in less than 24 hours, that's a blog post! Montague got a grant from DARPA to design this bike. You can buy one from Amazon for $900.

Montague Paratrooper, folded

World War I Italian Bersaglieri with folding bicycles

A little more digging turned up this picture from World War I. The coaster brake came from the military.

If you haven't had enough, here is an extensive web page about military bicycles.

London Edinburgh London

London Edinburgh London

This ride is 1400 km which is a fur piece on a bicycle, but these guys expect to cover that distance in five days, which means 175 miles a day, which is like 100 miles farther than I have ever ridden in one day, which is why I am not going on this ride. A remote correspondent is though, and he has a couple of things to say about it:

I’m leaving today at 5:40 p.m. from O’Hare, stopping for an hour in Reykjavik six hours later, then on to London in another three hours or so. Should arrive at Gatwick at 10:25 a.m. I’m staying at an AirBnB in Nazeing, northwest of downtown London. It’s billed as an apartment on the grounds of Harold’s Park, an equestrian center that occupies what was once King Harold’s hunting grounds. I’ll be there for a couple of nights, then leave Sunday afternoon to start the London-Edinburgh-London ride. If all goes to plan I will return to Nazeing the following Friday, sleep for a couple of days, then head down to Dover to catch a ferry to Calais.
From there, my current plan is to go Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels, then take a train to Paris, then another train to Rennes in Normandy. From there I’ll bike to Mont Saint Michel, then back to Calais, ferry to Dover, and ride back to London. Either on my way out or back I hope to stop in Canterbury for a bit. I plan to spend two or three days in London fairly close to Gatwick so I can pack my bike and arrive at the airport stress-free for my return flight at 11:40 a.m. on August 16. I’ll arrive in Chicago at 4:40 p.m., Katz will pick me up, and then back to work on the 17th.
This is a very loose plan. I’m taking a tent and sleeping bag, and have the Warm Showers and AirBnB apps on my phone. Pretty much everything is subject to change, with the exceptions of my flight times.
Just noticed a pull quote in the current issue of Adventure Cycling: “Adventure cycling is when a person feels some challenge, where they meet an edge and dig in and learn they can do things they weren’t sure they could.” I’m pretty sure this trip qualifies.

Via Indy Tom.

Paul Bernhard RIP

Mr Pork Chop Man on RAGBRAI XXXIV
Mr. Pork Chop, aka Paul Bernhard, has passed away. He ran quite an operation. He had a crew of half a dozen guys doing the work and he would do the vocal advertising. Their grill was like a four foot cube open on one side, the grill on top, and a pile of charcoal burning in the center. The did a land office business in pork chops every day, and they were tasty! I posted this video once before. Surprised myself.

PDX Bicycle Repair

Bicycle Repair Stand with Tools
Spotted at Portland Airport

Update May 2018. I eventually discovered that it is to assist travelers with reassembling their bicycle that was broken down for shipping.

Fatty McFat-Tire

Mongoose Fat Tire Bicycles at Costco

The tires on the original fat-tired mountain bikes weren't any fatter than the tires that came on your old Schwinn. The tires on these bikes are at least twice as wide. Seems people like them for sand and snow, including the Iditarod Impossible.