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Sandbox - Trash Talk, Tall Tales & Flotsam... It's a mess in here!

2843 comments · 30803 views
mugwump
Nov 29, 2016 at 03:22 AM
Jeffrey White said:
Jill thinks he looks like JP.
1. It looks like he's on an 80's Gary Fisher. Maybe a Pro Caliber

2. Jill is still smarting from being compared to me last year.

3. Joan Osborne also seemed to be of that mind when we took the elevator together going to Jazz @ Lincoln Center.

4. He's still trying to chase my look.  Le Sigh.
David Yang
Nov 29, 2016 at 03:01 PM
What if JP was one of us?  Just a fred like one of us?  Just a stranger on a bike trying to make his way home?  Like back up to harlem all alone.
Bruce van-Schalkwyk
Dec 09, 2016 at 09:39 PM
Was riding to work Thursday in downtown Brooklyn, on the right side of a bus rolling slowly, got up out of my saddle to push past it when my crank snapped in half.  It was the left side, which caused me to swerve toward the bus, which caused me to overcorrect to the right.  My first thought was not to fall under the bus (this is pretty much a metaphorical life-long action of prevention, anyway), then it was to stay upright because the ground, gross, and then that searing pain in my crotch when I hit the top tube.  
Well, I suppose something had to get thrown under the bus.

I stayed upright, managed to stop without actually being in traffic, retrieved my crank arm.  I locked my bike up and took the train into work.  

I brought the bike to RedBeard that night where they managed to remove the bits and pieces with various power tools.  It was the spindle on the bottom bracket that snapped like a twig.  They're ordering me a new bottom bracket, should be back up and riding by Tuesday.

Lessons learned:  
Meh, stuff happens.
RedBeard is pretty attentive to fixing stuff right away when they can, and Kasia, no matter what kind of day she's having, always smiles.
I skipped a day of training to go to the Brooklyn Book Fair, and because of that, I knew where I could lock my bike up in downtown Brooklyn where it would be out of the way.  It all comes full circle.
I considered that day borrowed Time for not being crushed by a bus, so I squandered it like a fat man with too much food and pretty much let it fall around me like so many pieces of a sandwich.  It was nice to feel rich in something in such a hard city.
Brendan Rigby
Dec 10, 2016 at 02:36 PM
what kind of crank was it? how old was it? that's insane
Bruce van-Schalkwyk
Dec 10, 2016 at 04:25 PM
I don't know what the original bottom bracket make was - I left it at RedBeard after he pulled it out.  It came from this bike which was shipped in a box and I assembled it 9/13.  It's the only bike I have that I don't work on.  I tighten parts now and again, but haven't changed anything out, except the handlebars.
I've ridden it in the sun, wind, rain and snow.  The handlebars were stolen once, and everything else is original.  I ride it with about 10lbs of locks on it.  Heavy bike.

Replacement bottom bracket is a 68 x 103
I'm assuming the original was a Chinese no-name.  The square spindle sticking out of the BB is what sheered, just a complete metal fatigue.  I'm lucky it didn't slice my leg open when I brought my foot down.

I thought it was an unusual occurrence until I did a search.  It turns out, people break every drivetrain part they have, from carbon fiber crank arms, to bottom brackets, spindles and chain rings.  This stuff just fails.  
I'd like to believe the lesson is to inspect equipment, change out parts before they need it, and keep everything clean, but from what I read, those are good preventative measures, but there's no definitive way to know if something is going to fatigue.  But still, new parts every couple of years, inspection, keep things clean, especially the way I ride.
Jules
Dec 10, 2016 at 09:02 PM
Jesus Christ Bruce; I can't believe you made it out in one piece! Thank goodness. That was indeed a borrowed day. Are you sure the pain in your crotch wasn't the giant horseshoe you dropped into your pants before you began your ride?

Thanks for sharing, and #chapeau on cheating the grim reaper :/
David Yang
Dec 12, 2016 at 03:57 PM
I'll have to dig up an old photo but after a pretty long weekend group ride 2 years ago, Vlad's BMC cranks fell apart right around Bleeker street just as we were about to cross a very busy 6th Ave.
mugwump
Dec 12, 2016 at 04:22 PM


Titanium spindle.

Fignon was leading Paris-Bruxelles, stood up on the pedals and came crashing down.
David Yang
Dec 12, 2016 at 05:23 PM
Never read about this one.  And did that photo come out of a yearbook editor's scrapbook?
mugwump
Dec 12, 2016 at 06:33 PM
David Yang said:
Never read about this one.  And did that photo come out of a yearbook editor's scrapbook?
Not my scrapbook.  I had seen the pic before.  

At the time, there was talk that the team voided their Campagnolo sponsorship.  However, after a year of a parts mix (never see that anymore--Modolo, Simplex, Stronglight, Cinelli, a few others) they were back on Campagnolo.

1983 Renault team bike.  Probably Fignon's.  


David Yang
Dec 12, 2016 at 06:56 PM
Hm, possible issue being the mix of slightly different square taper specs?
mugwump
Dec 12, 2016 at 07:05 PM
David Yang said:
Hm, possible issue being the mix of slightly different square taper specs?
no. They were on all campy when Fignon broke the titanium spindle.  The strong light crank on the bike pictured was mated to a strong light bottom bracket and never broke.

David Yang
Dec 12, 2016 at 07:15 PM
Ah, got it, thought you meant that at the time the crank broke they mixed and matched, but went back to just Campy after the failure.

Gets me thinking about the worst (or most visible) equipment failures in pro cycling history.  Maybe it was because I had just gotten into following the tour, but Andy Schleck's chain drop against Contador comes to mind as a good modern example.

Also, didn't realize just how tall Fignon was.  Also the level top tube, short post, giant stem, and belgian drops highlights how different geos were back then.  Good god that bike looks uncomfortable.
mugwump
Dec 12, 2016 at 09:09 PM
David Yang said:
Ah, got it, thought you meant that at the time the crank broke they mixed and matched, but went back to just Campy after the failure.

Gets me thinking about the worst (or most visible) equipment failures in pro cycling history.  Maybe it was because I had just gotten into following the tour, but Andy Schleck's chain drop against Contador comes to mind as a good modern example.

Also, didn't realize just how tall Fignon was.  Also the level top tube, short post, giant stem, and belgian drops highlights how different geos were back then.  Good god that bike looks uncomfortable.
Don't think he was particularly tall.  That's just how they rode bikes back then.  The classic flat fork crown was much lower than the carbon crown forks we use today, and with the smaller-diameter frame tubes, the distance between the down and top tube seems greater. 

(btw, the broken bb was campy, and the sponsorship went the other way around)
David Yang
Dec 12, 2016 at 09:41 PM
Relative to my modest 5'9 stature that frame looks like its for a basketball player.

My SL steel frame has a headtube half the size of that and it is still probably about a size too large for me.  It does feature a semi sloping fork crown so that might add (or rather subtract) a cm or so.
eloy
Dec 12, 2016 at 10:45 PM

from Jon Blyer's feed today.
too much powah!
Bruce van-Schalkwyk
Dec 12, 2016 at 11:17 PM
Yeah, I've had a commute like that.
David Yang
Dec 13, 2016 at 01:36 AM
Clean up that oxidation, braze it again and that frame will be as good as new! The beauty of lugged steel frames!
Jules
Feb 07, 2017 at 04:09 AM
Peeps!
I went "fat biking" today in the snow and BRAAAAP! 
#somuchfun
It was like MTN biking without any of the consequences. Stack it and whee! Fly though the air into a pillowy soft snowy landing. Good luck finding your dignity again afterwards though :)
Also - and unexpectedly; very technical - if you drift up either side of the "U" track that fat tires make you're in for a very fast and very dignity-shredding flop. 

Next time I'll bring a gopro and share.
Myles
Feb 07, 2017 at 02:37 PM
Its more like bra.


ap.

Why am i going so slow? #fatbike
Why does the air hurt my face? #leaver
Dan Reiners
Feb 22, 2017 at 06:09 PM
give yourself nightmares with the help of machine learning and thousands of cat pictures with the Edges2Cat tool. 

http://affinelayer.com/pixsrv/index.html


David Yang
Feb 24, 2017 at 03:38 PM
David Yang
Mar 01, 2017 at 09:41 PM
Zwift is missing this feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgqr-Gifjxg


PatrickGrehan
Mar 01, 2017 at 10:52 PM
David Yang said:
Zwift is missing this feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgqr-Gifjxg


I'm sure you can pay that guy to stand behind you and push your bike and kickr around. Let's see how those carbon tubes hold up (Yacks is not allowed to comment on his aluminum hotness)
David Yang
Mar 03, 2017 at 12:44 AM
I bet we can get cross fit people to pay for the privilege of pushing around zwift riders and zwift riders to pay for the privilege of having cross fit people push them around.

This is the New Economic Synergistic Opportunity. #postuber #americaningenuity #bullshit
Jules
Mar 03, 2017 at 04:06 PM
^Genius
jim_nelson
Mar 05, 2017 at 10:36 PM
Can we get Evil Twin as a beer sponsor? They've already started the Kissena series


David Yang
Mar 06, 2017 at 02:53 PM
GIVE IT TO ME.
David Yang
Apr 03, 2017 at 02:13 PM
Some guy on a pickup broke my brain yesterday.  I was going straight along a boulevard, had no intention of turning or changing lanes, and gave no indication otherwise.  Yet, guy in a pickup started to incessantly honk at me from behind.  I finally gave up and came to a near standstill, asking him WTF was up and he just repeatedly yelled at me two words that broke my brain:

"HAND SIGNAL!  HAND SIGNAL! HAND SIGNAL!"

It so thoroughly broke my brain that the irony of him immediately speeding to pass, then cutting me off to make a right turn onto a side street without signalling escaped me until I was back home showering 20 minutes later.
Dan Reiners
Apr 03, 2017 at 03:22 PM
Yang,

maybe he was looking for some kind of cryptic hand signal that you are part of his secret society. Something between a gang sign and a secret handshake.