How hard is it to be a woman in the cycling industry? Well, a new video from engineer and YouTuber Hambini in which he seeks to discredit Cycling Weekly technical editor Michelle Arthurs-Brennan unintentionally underlines the point that it can be very hard indeed.
Clearly Hambini, who has more than 45,000 subscribers on the platform, has put a lot of time into producing the video, which has been viewed over 30,000 times – including trawling through Arthurs-Brennan’s social media accounts and personal website, as well as her posts published on Cycling Weekly.
According to his website Hambini works as an aerospace engineer and has sidelines in designing and making bottom brackets as well as producing his YouTube videos, with one uploaded recently criticising a Cycling Weekly article regarding testing of aero helmets.
As we reported on our live blog on Thursday, Arthurs-Brennan had taken strong exception to his reference to engineering tolerances in a caption to a picture of her. In a post on her personal website, she refers to it as “The ‘asks 44k people to comment on my vagina’ one.”
“Why does the cycling industry find it SO hard to attract women in key positions?”
Ans: pic.twitter.com/m54W4ndwyy— Michelle Arthurs (@RideWriteRepeat) April 15, 2020
Hambini, who believes that he is blocked from commenting on Cycling Weekly videos on YouTube because of his skin colour, seeks in his latest video to refute the accusations of sexism that have been directed at him in the wake of Arthurs-Brennan’s tweet – although the title he has given it, Feminist Cycling Journalist is clinically roasted by autistic Engineer in a suit would suggest to many that the fact she is a woman is a big part of his issues with her.
Referring to the journalist more than once in the video as “a girl,” among the accusations he makes against her are that she was guilty of “irresponsible behaviour” by tweeting that she had intended to ride from London to Brighton and back, which he claimed was against social distancing guidelines.
The tweet made by Arthurs-Brennan to which he refers was dated Saturday 21 March – two days before the UK entered lockdown, with cycling alone or with members of the household one of the forms of exercise that is permitted.
Moreover, the ride she did end up taking was confined to roads on the Kent and East Sussex borders, and covered 62 miles, which pre-lockdown, would not strike anyone as being excessive, particularly for a Category 1 racer.
Among other things, Hambini also flags up the infamous ‘Token attractive woman’ caption that accompanied a photograph illustrating an article published by Cycling Weekly in August 2017 – one that Arthurs-Brennan was certainly not involved in, and for which the magazine subsequently apologised.
Towards the end of the video, Hambini takes quotes relating to female anatomy and sex life from a post Arthurs-Brennan published on her personal website entitled Nine bloopers of being a woman in the cycling industry.
Then, providing no context, he throws them back at her in what can only seem an attempt to demonstrate that because Arthurs-Brennan used those words herself, she can’t accuse others of sexism, something that many people – and not just women – would see as a bit of a headscratcher.
Hambini also claims, “I asked an NHS doctor with a speciality in psychology to have a look through this and she was of the opinion that she [Arthurs-Brennan] was a feminist attention seeker.”
That “opinion”– any ethical considerations from a medical professional point of view apart – presumably helped embolden Hambini to posit, “If you were genuinely troubled by sexism, would you actually post this on your website?
Early on in the video, for no apparent reason, Hambini posts a picture, taken from her Twitter account, of Arthurs-Brennan, sitting on a train, wearing a dress.
“If you are going to comment on her appearance,” he says, “you might find a screenshot with her user name on Twitter that she’s taken later on today. I hope some of you that you won’t care but I’m just pointing that out.”
That certainly seems to go well beyond any criticism, valid or otherwise, of someone’s credentials as a journalist.
Editor’s note: The old internet adage says ‘don’t feed the troll’ so we thought long and hard about reporting on Hambini’s latest video, but given that this particular troll has 45,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and seems intent on proving the point that some people will go out of their way to make life hard for female cycling journalists we felt we didn’t have a choice.
We also considered carefully whether we should embed, or even link, his video on this article. We decided on the former so our readers can see the video for themselves and form their own opinion as well as commenting on it should they wish to do so.
102 thoughts on “How hard is it to be a woman in the cycling industry? Shockjock engineer devotes entire Youtube video to trying to discredit female Cycling Weekly tech editor”
Why not talk about cycling
Why not talk about cycling alliance fight to get the UCI to talk about the scheduling of cycling post lockdown rather that this non-story! Or more important what happened at Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport I see no articles on the this on your site!
Try here. And I’m glad they
Try here. And I’m glad they summed up Hambini’s nonsense so I didn’t have to watch the video. https://road.cc/content/news/271837-fck-you-aussie-and-ex-gb-coach-responds-online-critics-underwear-selfies-row#live-blog-item-13465
Not even a full article just
Not even a full article just a blog post. If this publication is going to take the moral high ground they should focus on the issues!
Because that’s more of a
Because that’s more of a Cycling New story.
Doltcini-Van Eyk Sport?
here https://road.cc/content/news/271815-wtfotd2-video-behind-closed-doors-paris-nice-stage-2-france-fights-coronavirus
and here https://road.cc/content/news/271837-fck-you-aussie-and-ex-gb-coach-responds-online-critics-underwear-selfies-row
Again more collum inches to
Again more collum inches to this story than the real issues. If you are going to claim sexism in this magnonics sport lets concentrate on the real issues, not a personal vendor.
Straw man argument
Straw man argument
I’d also question the
I’d also question the journalism of this article, sounds suspiciously partisan.
Partisan in the sense that we
Partisan in the sense that we’re reporting on someone using there Youtube Channel to pick on a female cycling journalist?
For what it’s worth our view on Hambini is that in his limited field of specialism he’s clearly a talented engineer – if you look back though some articles on road.cc you’ll see we’ve referenced him on some things – ceramic bearings being one. But he also clearly talks about stuff the he doesn’t know half as much about as he thinks he does which undermines his credibility. And then there’s him being an arse. Normally we’d be indifferent to whatever he’s got to say – but if you’re going to spend the time and effort to produce a video trashing one of Cycling Weekly’s tech editors for no better reason than she pulled you up on your own sexism then I think you can expect it to be newsworthy to the rest of us. Even websites that aren’t Cycling Weekly.
Firstly it seems pretty
Firstly it seems pretty bizarre your even reporting on something like this, but if you are going to I think it would have been more professional to report the facts and let people make their own minds up.
Why impartiality? Road.cc isn
Why impartiality? Road.cc isn’t the BBC. And as for the reportage, clearly it’s a talking point that people are engaging with.
No they don’t have to, but
No they don’t have to, but for a site that relies so heavily on seemingly impartial reviews, you’d think they’d be more inclined to. This article just feels like blinding defending one of “there own” and in doing so I think people will question the integrity. I do, I previously didn’t.
Tony Farrelly wrote:
registered just because of this. you clearly have no idea what engineering means when you say an aeronautical engineer has a limited field of specialism.
speaking only from an engineering point of view, having anyone without any training or understanding in any engineering discipline lecture the general public about engineering concepts and whatnot just to make a buck does tend to raise some pulses. not everyone handles bs politely. i can understand hambini.
If you watch all of his
If you watch all of his videos, if you can be bothered, he roasts people and companies that deserve it and bigs up people that deserve it. He knows his stuff about engineering and applies it to bikes. Consumers are fed so much rubbish and unfortunately only get the chance to read about manufacturers that put bikes into the hands of journalists. Thank goodness for dc rainmaker and Hambini et al who only look for truth. There are different ways of presenting it agreed, you have a choice, don’t watch it. If you are doing a crap job expect to be roasted regardless of colour, creed or gender. Power to the individuals with the knowledge and time and passion to call out the bullshitters and incompetent. Ridicule is invited by those confident in what they do.
I have watched a lot of
I have watched a lot of Hambini’s videos – and I enjoy the educational aspect. But inviting ridicule at a personal level is quite different from saying ‘this is bad engineering/silly marketing.’
Crying racism is not compelling. Saying he’s received death threats is almost certainly nonsense. Lying about asking a psychologist is damning for someone who claims to be a ‘truth-seeker’.
I believe he did ask an nhs
I believe he did ask an nhs psychologist/psychiatrist, very very likely his wife.
Except he’s a fool who uses
Except he’s a fool who uses perjorative and vindictive language against seemingly any group that doesn’t contain him.
Because he knows engineering he gets a free pass does he? As for don’t watch it, sure but also call it out for what it is and challenge his bullshit.
Msiv wrote:
Don’t forget Luescher Teknik. Gotta love his video showing the frames and forks cut out.
So beeing feminist implies
So beeing feminist implies beeing a woman then? No, you’re trying to make something larger than it is. Show me anywhere where Hambini says or implies that he seemingly thinks she’s incompetent because she’s female! I think he roasts all equally. Mr Aerocoach should be the one most offended. To me it serns like a lot of whining. Take it as a signal to up your game. Start doing proper jobs instead of just selling stuff. We’re tired of it and nowadays we have other sources instead of fake news. There are a lot of competent people out there telling things like they are and no sales bs.
Hmmm, one post on this story
Hmmm, one post only and on this story. Are you Hambini?
Yes, we are all a hambini
Yes, we are all a hambini
Thanks, but no. I’m not even
Thanks, but no. I’m not even a russian bot as far as I know.
Reading this it sounds like
Reading this it sounds like Michelle has rung around mates asking for support.
This article is not only biased journalism, it’s as poor as the Cycling Weekly aero video that started all this.
Is Hambini a part of the
Is Hambini a part of the cycling industry?
yes he makes or resells bb
yes he makes or resells bb bearings
Hambini makes the best bottom
Hambini makes the best bottom brackets you can buy; exquisite pieces of engineering.
Fair enough then, I had
Fair enough then, I had thought he was just a comentator. But he is also a bit player.
But the point I would make probably still stands. MAB asks how hard it is to make it as a female in the bike industry. But Hambini’s invective, in so far as he is at best a bit player in the industry, is more symptomatic of his kind in general rather than of the bike industry in particular. MAB could equally have come up against the same headwinds in any industry.
I suspect the bike industry does present its own particular difficulties for women, but not because of the likes of Hambini, whom you could encounter anywhere. However, the bike industry, leaning as it does on the underlying competitive sport, takes on the popular bias towards male competition.
Name a top cyclist. I know, you can probably dredge up some women’s names. But I’m pretty sure the men’s names come more easily. Same for olympic 100m winners. And so on.
Well, this story is
Well, this story is definitely incereasing sign ups.
Positive RaceView Cycling reviews anyone?
ktache wrote:
Thanks for the reminder to re-read the thread where they embarrassed themselves. For anyone else who would like a chuckle:
https://road.cc/content/forum/176025-anyone-ordered-raceview-cycles-co-antrim
The new forum software seems to have muffed up the threading, so just view it in “Oldest First” mode.
TBF everyone comes out of
TBF everyone comes out of this looking like a prize a cunt don’t they?
“Editor’s note: The old internet adage says ‘don’t feed the troll’ so we thought long and hard about reporting on Hambini’s latest video, but given that this particular troll has 45,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and seems intent on proving the point that some people will go out of their way to make life hard for female cycling journalists we felt we didn’t have a choice.”
AKA In the absence of any news this will do to keep the lights on.
Why not call out other
Why not call out other cycling press like cycling today for there appalling post http://cycling.today/female-cyclists-you-should-follow-on-instagram/
Probably because that isn’t
Probably because that isn’t the cycling press but a collection of illegal live streams of pro races (some of which didn’t even go ahead) and one “article” that you seem to take issue with.
Also, no need to deflect from Hambini and his misogyny – he could have apologised and learnt something but instead directs a worrying level of vitriol at the person who called him on it. Tactics straight from the Trump playbook or even Joe Exotic!
I watched that video and was
I watched that video and was utterly amazed at how puffed up and self-obsessed he is. Completely unable to admit that there is the faintest possibility he might be wrong. He made mistakes in it, like claiming that she had broken the law on her rides. I did watch one of his other vids, and lo and behold, he got something wrong about engineering too.
If I’ve learned one very hard lesson in life, it’s not to trust people who are absolutely sure of themselves.
Huh? Did you watch the
Huh? Did you watch the Cycling Weekly aero helmet video he refers to? It was so dumb even I know it, it doesn’t take an expert.
bigsy wrote:
No I didn’t, but since I didn’t mention it or refer to it in any way whatsoever, why do you think that is relevant to what I said?
Yes totally as how can you
Yes totally as how can you comment on this unless you know the facts. do you work for Rupert?
Big_al_Singapore wrote:
Posting bizarre messages without quoting what you’re responding to is incomprehensible and futile. Who is Rupert?
So what? He’s an obnoxious
So what? He’s an obnoxious piece of work who spews hate alongside his expertise. How does responding to some questionable journalism make that acceptable?
Am I the only one who finds
Am I the only one who finds it odd that 2 new posters appear to have solely signed up to to criticise this article, and have attacked/trolled at every point?
Russian bots or garden variety misogynists?
I’d ban em Road.cc Ed’s
Might have been three.
Might have been three. However I would suggest they are either Hambini Bots (would be interesting if the IP addresses are very very similar) or just his “fans” who probably made some of the comments shown after the original story.
Well whoever they are, their whataboutery powers are strong anyway, Like Hambini, not one of them have said it was wrong to do the original comments and instead have whatabouted the content of the original CW video being bad, and other websites content.
Well, I have. I (and others
Well, I have. I (and others as well) have said that I don’t like the vajina this’n that and the other namecalling. But to go from a perhaps in manners childish roast to call in the big weapon of sexism and the mob that follows is ridiculous. Fact is that the internet cycling press and the cycling industry need to shape up. Most are at best selling snake oil.
On here? On this article or
On here? On this article or the other one?
Because all these single figure posters on this page, including you have just done whataboutery from what I can see.
Being sexist is worse than
Being sexist is worse than being called out for that sexism.
No matter how “big” that weapon may seem.
Don’t be sexist, then you cannot be legitimately called out for it, simple enough?
Yes I agree, ban them all!
Yes I agree, ban them all! Especially those who don’t agree with you.
I wonder how easy it is to
I wonder how easy it is to set up a bot to “Notify me if someone somewhere on the interweb gets accused of sexism”? so these people can all flood there in support of their hero? Even if it’s not a hero they’ve ever actually heard of before.
There are a lot of comments on this article who read as if they were made by people who probably have the infamous “No females” edit of The Last Jedi saved on their computers, and who possibly subscribe to “Girls can’t play video games” threads on other websites…
Bit of a pickle, this. I
Bit of a pickle, this. I initially liked some of his stuff but quickly got sick of the same old bile. He has a narrow view, based on his qualifications, and swears and slags people off too much. He needs to back out of this one gracefully, rather than going in two fisted. By the same token, everyone else needs to stay out of it too really, its a bit subjective in some ways – its never as black and white as it looks, and his poor choice of words doesn’t equal intention or being a bad person, and we risk doing the usual thing of trial by internet.
What an utter fucking bellend
What an utter fucking bellend. Just admit you were wrong, apologise and don’t do it again. It’s not rocket science – so why is he so thick and can’t get this? If he really is using the shock jock playbook for views then I’m thinking his expertise ain’t worth shit (and why would a highly paid aerospace engineer lower themselves to get a few extra clicks?)
This thread stinks of his fanboys too. Reads like a Jeremy Clarkson appreciation society. Road.cc is better than this!!
Not been on here for a while,
Not been on here for a while, came across this via Hambini’s YouTube.. Yes he’s excessively rude but instead of covering the internet tit-for-tat (name calling, banning, going to the police for sexism..) why not focus on the reason for his criticism? The cycling industry has a lot of snake oil products and companies so calling out shoddy products and journalism should be welcomed. This is a consumer site isn’t it?
700c wrote:
He isn’t being criticised for pointing out the failings of the bicycle industry, he’s being criticised for being a foul-mouthed sexist and general all round know it all.
Exactly. Why not focus on the
Exactly. Why not focus on the science? Both road.Cc and Cycling Weekly. The ‘you’re a troll’/ ‘you’re a fanboy’ /’I’m banning you because I don’t like your opinion’ etc is the worst of the internet and perpetuates poor debate as per the comments on this very article.
He’s a funny old sausage that
He’s a funny old sausage that Hambini. I often respect the points he tries to make, but the cavalier manner in which he communicates is simply dire. Far too often he undermines any valid point he might have with unnecessary personal attacks, swearing and chauvinistic comments.
If he just stuck to engineering and aerodynamic facts, and stopped the shock jock talk and responding to criticism he could have been an oracle/institution.
As it is he’s just going to be hated, ignored and trolled by the majority, cycling press included..
Did I miss something, or is
Did I miss something, or is Hambini trying to use autism as an excuse for acting like a first class asshole?
Philh68 wrote:
I wondered that too, and why it wasn’t Tourettes that he was claiming to have.
Pity you failed to provide a
Pity you failed to provide a balanced critique to each side. Is it really appropriate to suggest that riding in excess of the 1hr government can be condoned …. ah, but officer, I was held up by the lights.
There are obviously a few axes being ground by each party here and quite clear that you missed the chance to manage the maxim “that there’s two sides to every story”. A pity.
what’s this 1 hour government
what’s this 1 hour government thing? can you show me in the official legislation (i.e THE LAW) where it states only 1 hour allowed?
Was mentioned by the minister
Was mentioned by the minister… but you are correct, that never translated into the law. Now RESPECT of the people fighting to control COVID-19 seems to be something this person totally missed, 298km the first week of the lock down, 304 the second, 267 the 3rd and 205 last week (incomplete data) for roughtly 10 hrs / week. Record she now errased from her strava…
What a load of twaddle you
What a load of twaddle you write. As long as social distancing rules were followed then there is nothing wrong with riding your bike on average less than 45km per day (based on your totals above). Any decent cyclist can ride 40km in less than 90 minutes. There is no law about time spent exercising – it is all about maintaining social distance. The minister himself said “There is no limit”. The times he quoted were what he thought were reasonable – no doubt for him.
The biggest danger for lack of RESPECT is going to the supermarket everyday!
I agree that Hambini plays an
I agree that Hambini plays an obnoxious persona on most of his YouTube videos. And the remote psycho babble attack on M A-B is more in line with what I expect from chattering classes (eg. in the US the xxxx shrinks sign a letter stating that Goldwater is nuts or Trump is nuts) than from a competent engineer like Dr. Hambini.
Also, racial prejudice does exist. I have seen it first hand here in the US. And from people across the political spectrum. But I suspect that the web sites that remove a Hambini posting do so because he is very rude in the way that he calls them out for their failings.
That said, how many bicycle frames has Road.CC done an ultrasound inspection on to see if they are well manufactured? How many bike reviews have included measuring the frame to see if it the head tube and bottom bracket are properly aligned? I know I haven’t seen any.
So, RCC: don’t just complain about that nasty little Hambini fellow. Up your game! When you get a Cervello or a Boardman carbon fiber bike to review, do an ultrasonic inspection of the frame looking for issues.
Maybe take the fork and BB off and check the fork tube to the bb. And check the bb alignment. And make a deal with the folks who send you bikes to review to get a randmo one from the warehouse or from a bike shop.
And maybe do a dynamic airflow analysis of wheels claiming to be “aerodynamic”.
I know, it adds cost to the production of your web site. It would also add to the value of the site. And maybe in a few years Hambini would not have so many frames being sent to him with rubbish manufacturing alignmebt tolerances and voids in the carbon fiber frames.
Dangerous Dan wrote:
So, RCC: don’t just complain about that nasty little Hambini fellow. Up your game! When you get a Cervello or a Boardman carbon fiber bike to review, do an ultrasonic inspection of the frame looking for issues.
Maybe take the fork and BB off and check the fork tube to the bb. And check the bb alignment. And make a deal with the folks who send you bikes to review to get a randmo one from the warehouse or from a bike shop.
And maybe do a dynamic airflow analysis of wheels claiming to be “aerodynamic”.
I know, it adds cost to the production of your web site. It would also add to the value of the site. And maybe in a few years Hambini would not have so many frames being sent to him with rubbish manufacturing alignmebt tolerances and voids in the carbon fiber frames.— Dangerous Dan
But, at the end of the day, it’s how the bike rides that is the most important factor, not about some techie point that 99% of readers would barely comprehend. Hambini’s comments are relevant to those manufacturing bicycles, but of very little relevance to those riding them. Applying aircraft standards to bicycles is not really sensible, unless you really are at the cutting edge, and let’s face it, very few of us are.
In fact, it would be very costly to do so, and therefore it isn’t done. You don’t apply aerospace standards to washing machines or cars, so why would you apply them to bicycles? If you did do so, the costs would rise exponentially as every increase in accuracy roughly doubles the cost, so unless you want to pay four or five times the price, accept that bicycles are built to an appropriate standard. It is entirely inappropriate to apply aerospace standards to bicycles, so the basic premise of his site and his ranting is hollow.
If you’re really that interested in how your bicycle is made and how accurately, that’s fine, but I’m more interested in how good it is on the road or track or field.
Only he’s not applying
Only he’s not applying aerospace standards really is he?
He’s measuring bottom bracket diameters with standard vernier calipers. And measuring offsets using mechanical gauges.
The fact he had used ultrasound to detect anomalies in carbon layups highlights the quality of frame manufacturer. And you’re saying it’s not relevant? Really??
As a consumer spending your hard earned cash on something purportedly cutting edge – I’m sure you’d want to get the maximum bang for your buck. And to say it doesn’t make a difference to the average joe is average wrong.
Chapo wrote:
Do you even know what a vernier caliper is? I’m guessing not, otherwise you wouldn’t have said that.
” And to say it doesn’t make a difference to the average joe is average wrong.”
Exactly how does the average Joe know that his bike hasn’t been made to the nearest 0.01mm rather than 0.02mm? And how would they tell the difference? The difference being 100%, a massive amount but undetectable by the rider.
I worked in aerospace, specifically machining to exacting limits, and I know very well that those limits are necessary for planes, helicopters and jet engines, but are complete overkill for bicycles. Bicycles don’t fall out of the sky and kill people, nor do they shed rotors and kill people, neither do they explode and kill people.
Get real. Hambini appears to be an engineer with some knowledge, but applying aerospace limits to bicycles is laughable.
If you want a bicycle made to aerospace limits, that’s fine. Just give me your credit card and I’ll tell you when you’ve reached your limit. As an example, check out the prices of his bottom brackets, and while they may be accurately made are still extortionate and grossly over priced. But maybe that’s the point.
eburtthebike wrote:
The sort of out-of-tolerance manufacturing that Hambini shows in his videos is much worse than that. The point is that nobody is asking for ‘aerospace tolerances’, but simply that manufacturers make their bikes to the ‘accepted tolerances for the industry’. So that, e.g., a BB30 bottom bracket doesn’t creak and wear out its bearings in short order. These sort of manufacturing errors are most certainly noticable by riders and reports that manufacturers (Boardman was the most recent one analysed by Hambini) don’t honour the warranty on these frames is a shame on the industry.
If the frame is beyond the
If the frame is beyond the recommended tolerances of the bearings, then service life is greatly reduced. Creaking, grumbling bottom brackets then arise a few months into ownership.
A close tolerance BB is ideal for longevity. That is basic engineering.
Why do the bearings in my BB
Why do the bearings in my BB keep wearing out? My friend has the same BB and the same frame and theirs last forever? Why does my BB make a creaking noise? Why does my bicycle wobble at 25 MPH? I spent (xxxx GBP, USD, Eur or xxxxx CAD) for wheels that promised to make me faster and they didn’t: why?
These are the kind of questions the Dr. Hambini’s rants are speaking to. Note well that he is not totally impartial in that for a fee he will machine an offset BB adaptor for your poorly made carbon frame to improve bearing life and eliminate creaking.
When a manufacturer pubishes a standard for their BB and then sends bikes out the door which do not meet that standard I believe it is useful information, and in his own way Dr. Hambini has been speaking out about this kind of issue.
He has been full of praise for Look bicycles, particularly for their manufacturing quality. They are not exactly cheap, but not out of line with a Cervello frame(Dr. Hambini’s personal bike), which he has castigated.
It should be possible to weld, stress relieve, and align a metal frame without adding a huge amount to the cost.
Dangerous Dan,
Dangerous Dan,
All of the things you mention are perfectly valid points, and Hambini or anyone else for that matter can rant all they want about them. Hopefully manufacturing standards will improve as a result.
However what has that go to do with posting an image of a woman with a caption “Vagina Head” and arrows pointing to her groin and asking what the engineering hole tolerance is? (with a follow up comment of H7 is like shagging a bucket)
Or drawing a penis on the head of her male colleague, for that matter?
Disgusting, sexist and personal attacks.
CygnusX1 wrote:
Here’s a tacit admission that you’ve not seen the original video. “Vagina Head” was the man from aerocoach. The one, who you observed, had a penis drawn on his head. Yes, they were personal attacks. I think personal attacks are quite deserved on people attempting to dishonestly obtain your money. I, like many working class people, also find crass and puerile remarks entertaining.
eburtthebike wrote:
That’s where people are so wrong. Bearing geometry are not “aerospace” specific and indeed the bearing on a washing machine does follow the SAME geometrical rules than on any other mechanical environment (and on the case of a washing machine probably more complex than on a bike due to the temperature variation). Bikes manufacturers are NOT respecting industrial rules (not bike rules, not aerospace rules, 1st year mechanical engineering school rules) their BB are too often OUTSIDE what ANY bearing manufacturer in the planet recomend period.
Brent-Norh-Sea wrote:
Surely someone is going to mention the fact that Graeme Obree made his ‘Old Faithful’ hour record bike using washing machine bearings??
Those production standards
Those production standards can, and in some case ARE applied to bikes, and to do so would not increase costs “exponentially”
Take a listen to Cyclingtips podcast with Rob Gitelis, who probably knows more about carbon bicycle manufacture than anyone, having made bikes for the biggest brands. In it he mentions asking them if they would pay “$40-50” more per frame to produce a much better product and they were unwilling to do it. These bikes were the highest priced bikes availalbe from those brands. Quite frankly they can do better, they choose not to.
Well worth a listen:
https://cyclingtips.com/2020/03/nerd-alert-podcast-peek-behind-the-carbon-curtain/
I am going to throw my hat in
I am going to throw my hat in the ring and think this would be a good opportunity for self reflection. Yes Hambini is brash, yes he is rude. That’s his failing not yours, who do you think that reflect poorly on?
But why are you not looking and seeing whether his more objective critiques have an merrit? I think we all know that the engineering standards in the cycling industry are, to put it kindly, absoulte junk. How many people have bought bikes from supposedly rutable brands to have the BB creak after a year or so, or the headset cup develop play? How many engineering faults are there that don’t manifest in detectable ways? Yet the review for all of these big brands are all overwhelmingly positive and are parroting marketing talking points and talk about wishy washy subjective sentiment.
So many of the press fit standards, and the manufactures inability to even adhere to those standards should have called out big time by the cycling-media. Yet we only hear about their flaws when the industry comes our with yet a new standard the review media starts harping on about how much better it is this time!
How many times do we look outside the bike industry when dealing with areas of expertise?
Hambini has shown what happens when an industry with more rigous standards, looks at the quality of the products in the cycling industry. The review-media has a chance to change their tact to one that will utlimatley produce better products for consumers.
The review-media needs to
The review-media needs to change tack. Whereas Hambini lacks tact.
“Why does the cycling
“Why does the cycling industry find it SO hard to attract women in key positions?”
That’s just plain misdirection.
Misogyny is an easy conclusion to jump to and makes everything simpler – if it were actually true.
You have to look at the grassroots of the problem. The answer is cycling is an industry driven by engineering and technology. Just look at the courses filling up in any university engineering or technology lecture theatre to see the gender divide. Male Engineering / Technology graduates outnumber their female counter-parts 5:1 year upon year. Plain and simple.
Incidentally, females outnumber men in medicine 4:1. And these students will more than likely embark on a career in care.
So you can see already the nature of industries – draw from specific genders.
I think it would be fair to say bicycle engineering and design is a male dominated industry. But make that through no fault of it’s own.
If you read the article (carefully) by MAB “Nine bloopers of being a woman in the cycling industry” in the link above – it does lots to say “I am a woman in the cycling industry” but literally nothing to highlight sexism specifically within the cycling industry.
You and dobby156 win this
You and dobby156 win this comment section for me and I wish I could give each of you ten likes.
There’s a world of difference
There’s a world of difference between ‘grass roots uptake = more men in industry’ and ‘shitty behaviour by men = discouraging the women in industry’ that you’ve missed there.
Compact Corned Beef wrote:
Though you clearly believe it to be true – shitty behaviour is not gender specific.
Whataboutery. That some women
Whataboutery. That some women are shitty doesn’t excuse men being shitty.
Compact Corned Beef wrote:
WHoooooosh! Over your head, you missed it.
WHoooooooooooosh! You misse the other one too.
Or maybe you purposefully looked the other way.
To wit: the Hambini dude didn’t diss her in the video because she is a lady.
He dissed the whole video on it’s technical demerits & its blatant misrepresentation; posing as “experts” when they had no clue on what they were blabbering about.
He gave her a tate of her own medicine: trumping up “racism”.
See? It doesn’t take that much to be intellectually honest, you only have to try.
@Simon, reach road.cc
@Simon, reach road.cc drifting from video and video and while I can appreciate the journalistic solidarity you display and you are focussing on the emotional aspect of an excessive swering / poor taste jokes… BUT nothing unique to this femalte journalist. over last few days I discover Hambini and he is “tough” to anyone that deliver poor manufacturing (and in some cases poor engineering like when Cervelo increase BB tolerances wayyyyyy beyond what any 1st year mech Engnineering studdent know be a 101 rule).
The root here is that this particular video was a TERRIBLE journalistic attempt to make science, then, consiously or not to misslead readers. This is the problem and we are totally ignoring it. I don’t care this unknown journalist to be a male or female, that was missleading information and having the head of an aerodinamic department exposing it was a positive thing even if the form was exaggeratingly rough but in no way treating a female differently from her male collegues
Brent-Norh-Sea – the story is
Brent-Norh-Sea – the story is the unwarranted personal attack that comes hard on the heels of a sexist quip in poor taste.
Cycling Weekly’s video may be sketchy, science-wise, but as been pointed out elsewhere no-one in the cycling media has a multi-million pound wind tunnel with swirl-inducing louvres to hand and few, if any, have the level of aerodynamic expertise Hambini has. And if that means that publications like Cycling Weekly do the best they can with the resources they have have – in order to add some sort of context to manufacturer’s claims of aero efficiency – then fair enough. What’s the alternative? Take a manufacturer’s claims at face value. If you’re a fan of Hambini, you’ll know how little stock he takes in that approach!
If Hambini had indeed treated all the video participants equally, then that would still be shitty, but to invite comments on the sexual anatomy of a woman while everyone else gets garden-variety insults – not the same. If he had said “ignorant muppets the lot of them” then no problem.
But he was wrong, and has doubled down on being wrong with a misguided follow-up. An apology for overstepping the mark, or simply wiping the video, would go a long way towards making him look less a malicious troll and more like the informed specialist his earlier videos showcase.
Your response darts around
Your response darts around the issue, Compact Corned Beef. That these “technical writers” lack expertise in aerodynamics means they are essentially incapable of challenging the claims made by manufacturers. I’ve spotted that a certain other cycling information channel gets academics (you know, actual scientists from that specific discipline!) on their videos to talk about sciences.
Also, Mr Aerocoach’s “sexual anatomy” was directly mentioned as being on his head. I find claims that Ms Arthurs Brennan has been treated with some special malice risible; the whole thing comes over as a smokescreen to distract away from the fact that these publications aren’t capable of fullfilling the tasks they claim to perform.
The issue of technical
The issue of technical expertise – or not – in the press is not the issue here. The article we are commenting under is about an unwarranted personal attack.
And to say that Arthurs-Brennan hasn’t been singled out is wrong. Or did I miss the videos dedicated to personally attacking Disley and Bracey?
“Unwarranted personal attack”
“Unwarranted personal attack” – Oh no, Hambini made rude remarks about people who are best described as incompetent. By your own admission. If we are being generous. Given that those people are touting themselves as advisors to assist me in spending my funds wisely, I don’t think they’re exactly unwarranted, either.
Nice way to move try and move the goalposts. Hambini making a video defending himself from dishonest accusations of “sexism” is “singling someone out”. Yeah, whatever.
Well, I do think he was
Well, I do think he was sexist, so we’re at a bit of an impasse there, aren’t we?
And maybe take another look at the title of the video.
I’m sure you do, but then
I’m sure you do, but then given you’ve also previously engaged in apologia for gross incompetence during this chat, I’m happy to leave it to readers as to which of us is less trustworthy.
Also, as it looks like you’re about to try and fall back on that last ditch position of shouting “It says feminism means equality in the dictionary – ha! Checkmate!”. You might want to reconsider, given that many people have had about ten years experience that feminism simply means advocacy and any similarity to equality, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Fair enough! Future readers
Fair enough! Future readers who stumble on this thread can make their own minds up. Looks like we’re the only ones left here in any case.
And I’m happy to say I’m a feminist, for what it’s worth.
For what it’s worth – what is
For what it’s worth – what is your definition of feminism? And at what point you felt a line was crossed?
Alright, I’ll bite – but it
Alright, I’ll bite 🙂 – but it’s more of a personal take than a definition:
Eliminating harmful bias and behaviour that seeks to pigeonhole both sexes with pre-existing expectations and roles. Ensuring equality of opportunity to men/boys and women/girls from the get-go.
Bit wishy-washy, but there it is. I’d prefer to live in a world where a female engineer wasn’t a rarity and a young man doesn’t get told he’s ‘being gay’ for wanting be a nurse. My version of feminism means women can be angry without snide comments about ‘being on the blob’ and where schoolgirls aren’t catcalled by grown men. And perhaps most importantly (to me) that young men don’t feel so hidebound by the need to *BE A MAN* and all the baggage that entails that suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 45 in the UK.
Some will argue that’s too broad a sweep, and maybe it is, but I’m not sure ‘Compact Corned Beef-ism’ will ever catch on.
And firstly at the H7/M7 comment – especially asking the viewers to pile in. It may have been tounge-in-cheek but saying essentially ‘come on lads, lets banter about this lass’s baggy vagina’ in a public forum isn’t ok. The follow-up video was just silly.
For sure a modern society
For sure a modern society seeks to promote equal opportunity. But do not confuse equal opportunity with an equal outcome. Industry should seek to employ the best candidates and not to hire on the basis of balancing a gender distribution.
The rarity of a female engineer isn’t sexism. It’s genders expressing a natural preference for a profession.
Science, Engineering and Technology is an industry where it should be constantly scrutinized and challenged. Because only by this process – it develops and improves. There were some very valid questions about that CW helmet test. Unfortunately, they are now over-shadowed.
There are several crude comments spanning over several months under the Hambini Eng channel. Firstly, if we are to live in a equal society – then it shouldn’t be the comment targeting a woman which bring matters to attention.
Well, I think we’ve a fair
Well, I think we’ve a fair way to go before we achieve equal opportunity – but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a considerable degree of self-selection (more female nurses for instance) even if it were achieved – but to say there are more x than y because of inherent preference now is premature.
And yes, there are inherent issues with the CW test, but they’ve been overshadowed, as you say, because Hambini made a mistake and then went on a bit of a rant when challenged.
As for this particular comment being the one that caused issues – well, we don’t live in an equal society, so not too surprising. Then again, perhaps this had been brewing for a while because Hambini has been leaning more heavily into shock-jock mode.
Compact Corned Beef wrote:
Gender biased professions are inherent gender preferences and / or natural selection.
Claiming mysogony, broadcasting it across social media platforms and calling the police has nothing to do with sexual equality, equal opportunity or equal outcomes and everything to do with seeking approval of one’s own personal justice.
Exactly – it is the H7/M7
Exactly – it is the H7/M7 comment that is unacceptable and he should have apologised – the rest is spurious.
gusstrang wrote:
Exactly.
The journalism is irrelevant.
Would those defending Hambini be happy for a picture of the most important woman in their life to be posted on social media and then inviting comments on the size of her vagina?
Thought not.
This is what the furore is about. Nothing else. Just this.
Hambini needs to apologise.
I would agree with you, I
I would agree with you, I would welcome a statment refocussing on the core of the video, saying “sorry than one comment perceived as sexist (and not as funny as I initially tought) deviate attention from the key point: this journalist is technically totally uber incompetent and now doubled with a person insulting all the people in this country fighting against Covid-19 by playing with the limits of the law (and now faking her Strava profile errasing 1200 km she did since the lock-down started)”.
I always though the difference between humor (good or bad) and bullying was the consistency you treat anyone. Several times he is not funny (or not my humor), others he is, but he is consistent.
Now regarding the difficulties in doing proper testing, you can’t have a questionable expert as aerocoach team, get SwissSide people. you don’t need to have NASA infrastructure to have a better protocol than theirs where they change multiple parameters and Please make a proper equipment selection and STOP including marketing punchlines to please the brands sponsoring your magazine (and I understand the dilema). Several disclaimer could have put boundaries to their test “the velodrome is an relatively controlled environment and repeatable, does it mimic 100% real conditions, no but it may give us an idea”…
Agreed on the disclaimer –
Agreed on the disclaimer – that would have been a useful addition (especially since Hambini has been doing a lot to educate and inform cycling enthusiasts on the pitfalls of ‘classic’ testing). Not sure about the SwissSide guys, I imagine their consulting rates are a tad higher than Aerocoach! That said, I’m certainly no expert, but I’d favour a Hadron over an Aeox… even if the actual difference to me pottering about on box sections would be about 1/3 kmh.
Re. the ‘cycling a lot outside’ stuff… to me, it doesn’t matter. I have the greatest respect for people on the frontlines of care (my wife’s dad is just out of hospital, as it happens, barely scraped through Covid) but one or two people pootling about country lanes isn’t going to make much, if any, difference. I’m incandescant about people doing 140 mph in London, or having house parties, mind.
If you know the test you are
If you know the test you are going to do is going to be so crap as to be pointless in ‘adding context to the manufacturers’ claims’ then perhaps you shouldn’t. Perhaps you should ask the manufacturers to prove their claims.
He’s certainly an arse, and
He’s certainly an arse, and he swears and does the ‘shock-jock’ thing more than I like, and to be honest I’ve started to go off him for being just a little bit too much like hard work. But : he doesn’t single out anyone for any specific characteristic other than the quality (or lack of ) of what they deliver, be it bike frames or aerodynamic tests. I had seen the CW video before all this furore broke and thought at the time that it was embarrassingly inept. And I’ve seen Hambini giving all sorts of people highly abusive commentary on other stuff and it wasn’t because they were male or female. He is one of those irritating people who shouts ‘inconvenient truths’ that you don’t like, in a way you don’t like, but its hard to ignore because deep down you know what he is saying is correct. Maybe he was a bit sexist / misogynistic : but that was a sidebar to his main reason for having a go which was they truly awful video.
I watch hambini and I watch
I watch hambini and I watch cycling weekly vids. I watch em all and I like em all. Chill and ride ya bike
How come so many of the
How come so many of the comments on this story are very-low-post-count commenters I’ve never seen before all arguing amongst themselves?
I’m one of those 45,000
I’m one of those 45,000 subscribers, and I’m a fan of his outspoken views on a technical level. But using ad hominem attacks on a lady cyclist (and journalist), specifically targeting her gender is wrong.
44,999 (okay it’s now showing 46.5k subscribers after I just unsubscribed, but he’s just gained subscribers arising from this furore, I’d rather not count myself among them).
Find it hard to take
Find it hard to take seriously a QA Engineer with no understanding of selection bias
The paragraph above that
The paragraph above that Hambini believes he is blocked from Cycling Weekly because of his skin colour misses the intended irony. i.e. He is being accused of “sexism” so he responded in an equally knee-jerk fashion with an accusation of “racism”. I don’t think either accusation should be taken seriously.
Hambini seems equally rude and insulting to anbody and everybody who offends his sense of engineering ethics. Having watched and discovered his videos after watching the Cycling Weekly test (and reading comments) I wish he would tone it down on all fronts, since his rants take away from some very good info. But to accuse him of sexism is totally wrong because he treated this journalist as he treats any supposed “tech expert” or engineer who doesn’t meet his standards. The journalist posted a testing video with dubious testing methods and was offended after she was criticized (for legitimate reasons) then treated as badly as anybody else.
You can criticize Hambini for being an ass and a jerk but crying “sexism” for being treated equally badly as any of Hambini’s rant targets is wrong, in my opinion.
The video in question,
The video in question, Hambini’s focus was slating the incompentence and misleading garbage of Aerocoach’s aerodynamic knowledge Xavier Disley. The side note of Micelle Arthurs-Brennan along with James Bracey, the two cycling weekly staff was for going along with it. How the police was involved to threaten Mr Hambini is a very low tactic and now this cherry picking ‘article’ that completely side step the whole point of his criticism is very disappointing. Road.cc shame on you.
yes, seeing as the video was
yes, seeing as the video was only on youtube for less than a week, i do wonder how many people actually saw the video, I did, and if i remember correctly, hambini said when he progressed the power point to the bit with the H7 M7 (or whatever it was i can’t remeber and cant be arsed finding out) ops, better skip that bit incase there are an engineers watching, and it was only on screen for maybe 5 seconds max, the talk around that slide was about hambini saying he doesn’t think disley gets aero very well, and calling out disley’s -the velodrome is the same as the outside- (paraphrased) comment, hambini’s issue with that is that velodrome air is low yaw and not transient it’s steady state (more or less) and real world outside a velodrome is turbulant/transient and higher yaw, my personal opinion is that disley will probably make you faster, help you with clothing / helmet selection etc. but the you are X mph faster for same power will be wrong when you get outside of the velodrome, but Hambini and Disley are probably more qualified than me to make those statements and I’d say Hambini is more qualified than Disley.