A few weeks ago a clubmate had a rear brake failure on a ride - it turned out to be cable slippage at the clamp so was probably fixable but he didn't realise until the following day. An hour or two later he hit a pothole hidden in a large puddle, came off the bike, punctured and buckled the front wheel. He had to release the front rim brake to allow the wheel to turn. So that is two brake 'failures' on one ride in the space of a couple of hours. Fortunately he was riding fixed gear so he could revert to full fixie hipster mode to complete the ride. This included the descent of a chevronned hill that I would definitely have walked down...
Living through different times
- Thread starter Katana
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A few weeks ago a clubmate had a rear brake failure on a ride - it turned out to be cable slippage at the clamp so was probably fixable but he didn't realise until the following day. An hour or two later he hit a pothole hidden in a large puddle, came off the bike, punctured and buckled the front wheel. He had to release the front rim brake to allow the wheel to turn. So that is two brake 'failures' on one ride in the space of a couple of hours. Fortunately he was riding fixed gear so he could revert to full fixie hipster mode to complete the ride. This included the descent of a chevronned hill that I would definitely have walked down...
Punkawallah
Veteran
The manufacturer’s bottom line?
Vapin' Joe
Formerly known as Smokin Joe
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
Only if people bought them. Like all innovations they would debut in the pro peloton, and the first crash due to a failure (Which there almost certainly would be as with any new development) would be the death of any sales prospects.
Punkawallah
Veteran
My point was that manufacturers take a different view of these things. IIRC an American car manufacturer happily declined to recall their cars when a potentially fatal issue came up, because they calculated the cost would be greater that that of compensating for any resulting deaths.
Bicycles today are saddled (sorry) with all sorts of ‘new & improved’ parts that become un-replaceable due to proprietary fittings. Watched a video last night of a Trek being serviced. Its ‘suspension’ system inside the head tube was a failure (later dropped) but could not be omitted nor replaced with an alternative. Don’t like it? Buy another bike.
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Shearwater Missile
Veteran
- Location
- Stowmarket
If technology changes for the greater good than that is an achievement, such as the advances in DNA etc etc. Technology changes otherwise are merely for the manufacturers to make more money. Fair point, if they did`nt they would not sell the latest gismo. Make something sound good and they`ll all want to buy it. Once the market is saturated then they move on to the next thing. I may be old and cynical. Years ago, talking cars here, it was always believed the best time to buy a car was when the new range came out but you bought the last of the old range. Reason, because any teething problems had been ironed out.
Shut Up Legs
Down Under Member
The bicycle was such a great invention: one of the most efficient modes of transport ever invented. The problem is that over the last several decades, "innovators" have been slowly turning them into motor vehicles.
I am too then as I get your take on things. I often feel that we are living in a time of technology seeking a purpose. Maybe it has always been that way though and it's me that's out of step, I dunno. I can point to a smartphone for example and wonder if all that unboubted wonderful technology is actually, you know, necessary. Yes, I know how that can sound. I'm not advocating communism, and the state only permitting what it deems necessary! Choice is a wonderful thing even if the objects of our choice are hideously expensive. There's a line somewhere and I guess it's the market, and available incomes, that decides it - though I do sometimes wonder if the price of something is also it's selling feature. Reassuringly expensive or whatever.
Shearwater Missile
Veteran
- Location
- Stowmarket
It is like computers. Back in the day when they had miniscules amount of RAM but they worked fine. As things progressed you suddenly thought " hey that is running slow" and so the RAM increased and then the processors increased in speed and before you know it everything is now powered by computer. I don`t have a smart phone, no interest in one. I use my phone for calls and texts and it fits in my pocket on my cycling jacket. I worked with technology and saw enough in my working life. Bah humbug !
Don't get me started on 'connected devices'! Yes yes, I am sure they have their uses, some more so than others, and people with them love them but I can only chuckle at the thought of a connected fridge with an associated app. Makes me think of Red Dwarf's talking toasters!
Btw, I was a techie geek once upon a time. Less techie now but still geek leanings.
Btw, I was a techie geek once upon a time. Less techie now but still geek leanings.
Punkawallah
Veteran
On the advent of ‘smart’ cameras, the jest went ‘when you turn it on, it tells you to take the lens cap off for one minute, calls you a bloody moron for one minute, then turns itself off in a huff for ten minutes’.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
Same here. Same book. Richard's Bicycle Book was my bible. In those days bikes were much simpler, just a collection of very similar bearings, each with a lock nut of some sort and some cables with barrel adjusters of some sort.
But now I too get my LBS to do most stuff. It's much more complicated and there are so many alternative ways of doing things, and I no longer find it fun to learn how to do stuff these days. It's easer to find out how, what with the internet, but I much prefer riding my bike to fiddling around with it.
Just to play devil's advocate. There's no backup for a snapped cable either.
