dan_bo
How much does it cost to Oldham?
Useable my backside. It'd be like stamping on an action man.
Super-light road bike
- Thread starter Shut Up Legs
- Start date
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I don't quote weights in kg to make the numbers smaller...
I quote weights in kg because the metric system is a logical system that I learned in school over half a century ago and which makes far more sense than the archaic imperial system that many people seem emotionally unable to dispatch to its rightful place in the dustbin of history!
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
I wish people wouldn't quote weights in kg to make the numbers smaller...it's like the tabloids screaming "100°F!" when it's hot and "-10°C!" when it's cold
They also try to big up their ride distances by using Km and not miles. This is the UK, so distances in miles and bike weights in pounds!
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
- Location
- Inside my skull
Is this what your mates have said? I just work in km as that's the units used by audax. Nowt to do with bigging up, whatever that means.
Helium would weigh 1.1g per wheel and hydrogen would lighten it up to 0.59 g per wheel according to
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/791/why-don-t-we-fill-bike-tyres-with-helium
winjim
Straddle the line, discord and rhyme
Mass in kg. Weight in N.I wish people wouldn't quote weights in kg to make the numbers smaller...it's like the tabloids screaming "100°F!" when it's hot and "-10°C!" when it's cold
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Unless you're speaking to normal people
Anyway, my bike is imperial so weighs 11.7 poundals.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
And distance in ... furlongs! Long live 'our' glorious imperial units - there is absolutely no problem with them.
Examples:
I have a large regular rectangular metal container 7 yards 2 feet 6 and 3/4 inches long, 4 yards 1 foot 5 and 1/8 inches wide, and 2 yards 2 feet 2 and 2/3 inches deep. How many gallons of liquid can it hold?
A car weighs 1 ton 3 cwt 5 stone and 3 lbs. Its engine can generate 213.8 brake horsepower. Neglecting friction, how long does it take to accelerate from stationary to 30 mph?
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
I'm not keen on mixing imperial and metric measurements, despite doing it myself.
Thus I will take my 20kg+ ebike on a 50 mile ride.
Thus I will take my 20kg+ ebike on a 50 mile ride.
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
I measure weights (ok, mass) in grams, pounds (and stones for body weight)*, lengths in millimetres, inches, feet, yards and miles (fathoms for depth), power of most things in watts but engines in horsepower, and liquids in millilitres, pints and gallons.
I think this is fairly normal.
*at least a ton is pretty much the same as a tonne, at least in the UK. Unless it's tons of refrigeration, which is really a measure of power
I think this is fairly normal.
*at least a ton is pretty much the same as a tonne, at least in the UK. Unless it's tons of refrigeration, which is really a measure of power
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Kids were better at maths in the old days. They had to be.And distance in ... furlongs! Long live 'our' glorious imperial units - there is absolutely no problem with them.
Examples:
I have a large regular rectangular metal container 7 yards 2 feet 6 and 3/4 inches long, 4 yards 1 foot 5 and 1/8 inches wide, and 2 yards 2 feet 2 and 2/3 inches deep. How many gallons of liquid can it hold?
A car weighs 1 ton 3 cwt 5 stone and 3 lbs. Its engine can generate 213.8 brake horsepower. Neglecting friction, how long does it take to accelerate from stationary to 30 mph?
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
Units are just a matter of what you're used to, and therefore have a feel for.
Pounds are history, except in the minds of dinosaurs. Try buying anything in pounds these days.
Ounces are even deader - any weight quoted in ounces generally has to be translated to grams to be meaningful (mostly on US websites, or other websites that copy & paste specs off a US manufacturer site).
Body weight (since we aren't Americans) is in either kg or stones (with the pounds element translating to "a bit over", "about half" or "nearly"
Pints continue to exist because of beer and milk, but are meaningless in any other context.
Miles won't go until the road signs get changed and people get used to what a kilometre feels like.
I believe there's a long term plan afoot to convert to km. Changing all the signs would be expensive, so to reduce the eventual cost, all of the local finger posts (and many other signs) have had the distances missed off whenever they get replaced, for many years now.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
It is amazing how many people/websites do it. "A glorious 100 mile sportive with nearly 2,000 metres of climbing", that kind of thing. I have expressed my preference for the metric system, but if you are going to measure the lengths of rides in miles then please measure the climbs in feet!
It reminds me of my nephew and niece when they were very young. My sister had a French au pair helping to look after them so they were learning English and French at the same time. They would sometimes switch languages mid-sentence, which was pretty confusing!
Yes, I was one of them!
As soon as I was taught the metric system though, I saw the light... I never dreamed that over 50 years later, the nation still wouldn't have made the switch! Obviously, scientists and engineers did a long time ago but not a lot of ordinary people. I asked my (mid-30s) stepdaughter about it last night and she said she is still largely an 'imperialist'. She is now used to liquids being measured in L/mL and food being in kg/g, but still thinks of driving so many miles at so many mph, and her weight being measured in stones and pounds.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I do find myself slipping back into stones/pounds occasionally. If I do it, I translate back into kgs.
And apart from draught beer in pubs, beer has largely gone over to 500 mL bottles/cans, and wine is in mL (or L for large bottles or boxes).
That is the real biggie isn't it... Every sign in the country would have to be changed overnight! For a while there would be great confusion over speed limits. Diehard imperialists would potentially still be thinking miles per hour when the signs were displaying kms per hour. I reckon it would take a year or two before it all settled down, and then 99+% of the population would agree that it did make sense, and now let's move on!
