One To Make The Luddites Froth At The Mouth

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Drago

Legendary Member
Nothing like keeping it simple, eh?
 
I remember a conversation I had with a work colleague in the steelworks in the mid 1980s.

We operated machines & furnaces, and we drove over head cranes. When management decided to make much of our machinery computerised, we knew it was going to reduce the man power needed to operate the plant.

The one thing I said in that conversation was that you can never stop technology progressing. Sometimes for the better-maybe in respect of hospital equipment etc, sometimes for the worst-the loss of jobs?

I don’t know enough about bikes to pass comment on this new bit of technology. But if cycle technology is going the same way that the motor industry has gone, we will be able to do less maintenance on our bikes our selves with the passing of time.
 
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Smokin Joe

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
I don’t know enough about bikes to pass comment on this new bit of technology. But if cycle technology is going the same way that the motor industry has gone, we will be able to do less maintenance on our bikes our selves with the passing of time.
There is nothing to be scared of in servicing a simple hydraulic system and an extra cog or two doesn't make any difference.
 

rrarider

Veteran
Location
Liverpool
A long while ago, we used to call a 14,15,16,17,18 freewheel a corncob block. I think we should call that thing a cowpat block.
 

mikeymustard

Veteran
I (just about) understand that if you push one end then it pushes at the other but how dya make it come back? Is it sprung in some way?
 

mikeymustard

Veteran
I remember a conversation I had with a work colleague in the steelworks in the mid 1980s.

We operated machines & furnaces, and we drove over head cranes. When management decided to make much of our machinery computerised, we knew it was going to reduce the man power needed to operate the plant.

The one thing I said in that conversation was that you can never stop technology progressing. Sometimes for the better-maybe in respect of hospital equipment etc, sometimes for the worst-the loss of jobs?

I don’t know enough about bikes to pass comment on this new bit of technology. But if cycle technology is going the same way that the motor industry has gone, we will be able to do less maintenance on our bikes our selves with the passing of time.

It's witchcraft I tell you.

Burn the witch. :evil:
having just re-read a couple of Terry Pratchett books on holiday I think it's more likely to be goblins :smile:
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Hydraulic systems are usually a cinch to bleed etc...until the seals fail. If hydraulic brakes on bicycles are an example to go by, the small scale nature of the systems doesn't make for a design conducive to easy and effetive seal replacement. Hydraulic cycle brakes are generally pretty robust, but when they do fail they're a ballache out of proportion to the relative simplicity of repairing cable actuated systems. I see no indication that hydraulic shifting systems would be any different in that regard, if not worse.

Manual gearboxes on cars have remained almost entirely rod or cable actuated. If there were a more robust, effective, and cost-effective system the car manufacturers would have pounced on it long ago. So far they haven't.
 
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