@ Thierry - thats the drugs making you sick. Thanks for the thoughts though.

@ Mike - just notice your comments. Thanks. I'm going with the Gulf paint scheme - it is pretty cool looking. I think the cycleops purchase went in and am not sure that we'll have another group order before the end of our discount/sponsorship.

@ Jules
That sucks, so you REALLY have to replace cleats every six months. $50 suckness. Here I was, thinking you replace them solely because of walking wear. How about the pedal bowties ($40) themselves? Do you do those at same time?

Speedplay>>> How often should I replace my X cleats?
Replace X cleats at least every 3000 - 5000 miles or sooner if the cleat parts show advanced wear. Lubricating the cleat springs with a dry-type (PTFE) lubricant, keeping the cleats free of dirt and debris by cleaning them regularly and using X Coffee Shop Caps when walking will greatly extend the life of your cleats. Worn out X cleat springs will have flat, shiny areas, and the cleats should be replaced immediately. Never ride on parts that are damaged or show excessive wear. If you have any doubts about worn parts or their serviceability contact Speedplay or your Speedplay retailer before riding. Never install cleats using any combination of new cleat parts and old cleat parts. When replacing X cleats, be sure to check the engaging edges of the bowties for worn areas and replace the bowties if necessary.

Shoes never showed up? >:(

@ John

Shoes never showed. I walk my cleats into oblivion; not sure I'm really wearing them out. I'm going to buy myself some cleat covers though; perhaps I'll get more than 6 months out of this new pair that way...

A friend of mine is doing some research on helmet cams and would like some initial thoughts from folks who've used the things.

The basic questions are: which brand(s) do you own?, what it's used for (record memories*, training, other)?, where you heard about the camera you got?, what how did you decide on that brand?, do you use it for other activities** - if yes, what? Anything else you have to say about it?

* I think she means recording stuff for recreation/fun;
** uh, I guess this may draw some interesting responses.

From Velonews, Zinn letter:

(file under fascinating)

"I’m a physicist and years ago worked at a government aeroballistics facility where they were developing mortar shells, among other things. We had a very simple method of measuring the MOI of the shells, which would certainly be applicable to bicycle components. Basically, it was a length of music wire (~30″) suspended vertically. An item to be tested was suspended through its center of mass at the bottom of the wire. The top holder for the wire was rigged so that it could be rotated about 20 degrees against a stop and held there. The item under test would rotate back and forth oscillating: the period was measured and used to determine the objects MOI. The wire was first calibrated by doing this with a number of different aluminum cylinders for which the MOI can be very easily calculated using their length, diameter, and mass."

Thank you for this insightful description of some of the process of mortar bomb manufacture.

"Mortar bomb" strikes me as similar to "immediately right away" which I read in a work email today and managed to avoid mocking.

One outta two ain't bad :P

** recording Ricky push and assault people?

I can't stand watching helmet cam footage. Every time somebody moves their head i get seasick, stay away.

Handlebar cams are not to bad, but still pretty terrible, and who wants to watch 15minute segments of the backside of a rider mid-pack in most of our races. If people had editing skills, most of that stuff wouldn't be simply unwatchable. Many times it is dismal, and the actual action is happening in some other part of the pack. Maybe 3 or 4 cams in a pack that can be edited together would make them more useful.

Where cams become interesting, are the situations that are ultra scary, like hit-and-run accidents and horrible 24 rider pile-ups in a 4/5 Crit. I still have challenges watching those videos.

I will correct you; mortars fire a variety or ammunition, including illumination (flares) and smoke, as well as, of course, explosives (bombs). Additionally, the 'mortar' actually refers to the weapon, the ordinance, not the projectile.

You, clearly, have never been in the army.

Never too late Jules. There's a National Guard unit on 15th and 3rd in Manhattan or so. Could head there after work!

Interesting you you think so... I guess age and my lack of attention have dimmed my memory.

Much to my parent's distress I turned down an offer from the Queens Own Rifles and served for several years 1989-92 in the Second Combat Field Engineers Regiment, since renamed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32_Combat_Engineer_Regiment

Mortars always seemed like a good way to lose a finger, or worse. If anyone wants to know how to field strip a 1960's era FN I'm happy to oblige.

I also remember a few outrageously foul marching songs. NSFW.

I like this one.

William, would you be so kind as to rename this thread "Canada Jokes"? Because I have a feeling that's where this is going.

I'll begin.

I didn't know "America's Treasure Trail" had a military.

Really?! I was a TA reserve for 4 years. III Battalion, Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (not renamed). I was in a heavy weapon platoon, which was the machine guns in my battalion (thankfully not mortars as I have no pleasure in even contemplating moving one of those 81 mm fuckers, although, our guns were a total pig in any case). The machine gun I used was the GPMG (or, Fabrique National MG). We should compare notes.

@Adam: They don't look very heavy to me...

http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af87/angales/KICKINASS.jpg

Jeff.

Those are both the stubby M60 things, not sure exactly what.

This is what I am talking about! No bipod here!!

Also, I when I used to carry this around with my top off, I looked better then them. Smaller guns because they are smaller guys.

@ John,

We'll let these others play army together.

You don't need to replace the bowties the same time as you replace the cleats. Normally bowties last 20K miles or more. I have a pair of speedplays from 1993 which I've replaced the bowties once. The cleats do wear out faster. The retention wires get flat spots and then need to be replaced. If your cleat wires look like they've got flat spots where they contact the pedal, replace the cleat.

Granted you may want to invest in a whole new pair of shoes/cleats combination. I hear there are retention methods that work just as well as packing tape, and don't require cutting your foot out of your shoe like Dave Stoller.

Lucky for us we only had these 1960's era beasts... heavy enough for me at the time (imagine me, only 20 lbs lighter)

Later we got the fancy stuff; but the barrels melted so we had to carry around spares.

I blew up a car once with a propane tank and an AK-47 in a Mississippi rock quarry (no joke, I'll try to dig up the pictures). Yes, we were drinking beer and moonshine Kool-Aid.

who wants to do a biathlon? cause i'm so down.

Thread hijack!!

William is going to get so. very. angry.

Posted By: alyoshaswho wants to do a biathlon? cause i'm so down.

Alyoshas you should talk with Chris Bloom he did pretty well in the last biathlon.

I've been watching a lot of biathlon over the winter on Eurosport and .... there are no bicycles involved.

Although the terms are used interchangeably, biathlon involves skiing and shooting. it is really bad-ass. duathlon involves running and biking. usually run-bike-run. it is really painful. I think we need to create a new sport that involves biking and shooting.

i know a place . . .

as a kid, i used to watch that stuff on eurosport during the olympics...fascinating. yea! shooting while riding my bike 'no hands', now that's classy.

That would be a 'ride by' shooting