Forum Replies Created
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I’ve had no problem with
I’ve had no problem with AliExpress and I’d rate it as similar to buying from EBay. I’ve had no problem with the helmet that I bought from there.
I think you’re supposed to
I think you’re supposed to top up or check sealant every 6 months or so. I can recommend the Milkit system: http://road.cc/content/review/176166-milkit-tubeless-valve-and-refill-kit
However, that just adds to the price of tubeless – it’s definitely more expensive, but I’m a convert now.
I bought a cheap helmet from
I bought a cheap helmet from AliExpress and it seems functional (luckily I haven’t tested it’s ability to absorb bumps).
I got a carbon fibre integrated stem/handlebar and it was absolute rubbish – just got my money back as it cracked when I was installing it.
I’ve bought lots of electronics through AliExpress as well and they’ve all been good, though I had an ultrabook pack up after only a year.
The problem with buying direct from China is that you have to be prepared to throw it away if there’s any problem with it. Nowadays, I wouldn’t buy anything carbon fibre from there as the quality control is lacking with the cheap stuff.
Yes, a tubeless will behave
Yes, a tubeless will behave like an ordinary tyre if you want. I always carry a spare inner tube for my tubeless tyres just in case.
The “patches” that DaveyRaveyGravey is referring to (I think) are often called “anchovies”. Here’s a review of some:
http://road.cc/content/review/183575-genuine-innovations-tubeless-tire-repair-kit
The only puncture that I’ve had with tubeless ended up with a 1 inch cut in the tyre that I couldn’t fix (even with anchovies). Luckily, I was only a half hour walk from home, so I didn’t bother fitting an inner tube and ended up binning the tyre when I got home (it was only a week old).
Reminds of that song they do,
Reminds of that song they do, you know the one that goes Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah at the beginning.
hirsute wrote:
2 things, some ISPs only let your use their routers and you need to check if you need a cable router or not. You could consider a wireless access point if you are streaming to a tv via a stick or box or even better cat6 cable.I’m with Virgin Media and they insist on you using their router.
However, it’s easy enough to turn off the WIFI on the router and run a WIFI access point instead (Unifi make some superb kit). It’s also possible to put their router into “modem” mode which disables the routing side of their kit (i.e. you’ll then need to connect some kind of router with DHCP etc).
I’d guess that it would.
I’d guess that it would.
A 5 year old router might not support 5GHz (depends on which model/supplier) and in general 5GHz will give you faster speeds though for a shorter range (i.e. doesn’t cover as wide an area as 2.4GHz or go through brick walls as well).
For most applications, your router won’t be the bottleneck unless it’s old/sub-standard etc. Most of the time it’ll be the speed of your broadband or most likely the contention ratio. For those who don’t know, contention ratio is how many times your ISP can “oversell” the internet access with the assumption that not everyone wants peak speeds at the same time. Typically, you can’t change the contention ratio without changing ISP or switching to a business service (more expensive).
Personally, I’d recommend switching your ISP as that will give you a brand new router and most likely a better deal for internet access.
Thanks. I’ve submitted my
Thanks. I’ve submitted my objection to it now.
Inspired by Pan’s review of
Inspired by Pan’s review of WSB’s Interzone in the June issue, I decided to write a piece on the Cut-up technique of writing utilized and pioneered by Burroughs and his associate Brion Gysin.
For the uninitiated, the Cut-up technique was inspired by the collage technique used by artists and photographers. Often the greatest photographs and artwork happen by accident. An unexpected pedestrian walks into your shot, or an odd glob of paint scars your painting, and rather than tragedy you have something unexpected and spontaneous. Take this concept one step further and the artist can juxtapose various visual fragments with great and unexpected results. Gysin and Burroughs wanted to introduce the spontaneity and chance of the collage to the written word, and so they developed and utilized the Cut-up technique.
The technique is simple. Take any page of writing. Take a scissors and cut it into four parts; cut straight across, down the middle, on angles, whatever. Now reassemble the parts at random. You now have a different text. Meaning, time lines and narratives are changed. The result may be quite similar to the original or shockingly different. The more cuts you make and the more sources you use, the more fun you’ll have. The beauty of the Cut-up method is anyone can do it, and should do it; anyone can now be a great writer, if only by chance. Unfortunately this technique works better with paper than computer text, because you cannot easily (if at all) make vertical cuts on an electronic page. One method you could use would be to capture your screen as an image, and then use image editing software to cut it up, and OCR software to return it to text form.
Here’s some ideas for you:
Experiment #1:
a. Go to Police headquarters and grab up some scary pamphlets on drug abuse, deer ticks, cyber crime, domestic violence. Read them for kicks and then get some scissors and cut them into chunks.
b. Go to your poetry notebook, or that file where you keep the first chapters to the half dozen or so short stories you plan on finishing one day. Get a scissors. Cut them up. Or, photo-copy them, and cut up the copies.
c. Arrange the chunks at random, but not consciously at random. Many times in our conscious effort to be random or spontaneous, we achieve the opposite effect.
d. Now read the results. Prepare to laugh, or at the very least impress yourself.
Experiment #2:
a. Collect an assortment of text sources: your writing, your diary, a few web pages printed out at random, a newspaper, a famous book, some pamphlets from the rack in the lobby of the supermarket, anything!
b. Next time you have a campfire place them at the edge of the fire so they become partially consumed.
c. Sift through the ashes, find the remaining fragments, and you have your story. Granted, this technique is a little extreme and you may end up with nothing but ash, however, imagine the results otherwise.
Music was the final form of art to embrace the power of the collage. David Bowie, inspired by Burroughs and Gysin, used the Cut-up technique to form the lyrics to his songs. Later artists like Gary “Cars” Newman, Throbbing Gristle and even U2’s Bono confess to using the Cut-up technique. If it were not for Throbbing Gristle’s adaptation of Burroughs techniques and philosophies to music, there would be, without question, no Industrial genre today. Obviously sampling is being used to quite the same effect: creating something new from multiple sources. Sonic terrorists like Negativeland take snippets of found sound, TV broadcasts, and music of many genres and weave the pieces together to a wonderful, insightful and often hilarious effect.
Burroughs states correctly that all writing is in fact Cut-ups. As a writer, in particular a fiction writer, your inspirations come from many sources: a description of a woman’s face comes from the cashier at the post office, a character’s name taken from your friend’s cat, a line taken from an issue of Legends and a plot twist from Shakespeare. All your experiences, whether first hand or taken vicariously through a book or a friend’s story, add up to form the text of your next tale. If you want to read more about Cut-ups, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Throbbing Gristle, pick up the book RE/Search #4/5.
Moultons have held many speed records, and are used successfully in Triatlons.I was skeptical of the performance of small wheel bikes, but after a bit of googling and reading, I’m fairly impressed.
Boatsie wrote:
Just hearsay as to why such law. Might be due to privacy of chase occupancy. Wouldn’t want a good ol’ pickNflick on YouTube. LolI’ve had a good google around and can’t find any evidence that rear (or front) dashcams are illegal in any Australian state, so I’m calling shenanigans on your hearsay.
The situation in Germany is much more confusing. Dashcams aren’t necessarily illegal, but indiscriminate filming of people is considered an invasion of privacy, so you have to be careful to not film any passengers. Basically, in Germany you’d need a dashcam that only keeps a few seconds of video so that just the incident itself is recorded.
Boatsie wrote:
Are they legal in the UK? Australia doesn’t allow rear footage on road vehicles unless only active when in reverse.There’s no laws to make them illegal in the UK, so you’re good to go.
That sounds like a crazy law in Australia. Can you give us a pointer to it as it doesn’t sound right to me. I can’t think of any reason why a rear view camera would be illegal. I understand some states have issues with cameras on motorcycle helmets as it is changing the helmet from the original condition and thus could compromise the design.
I suspect it’s just to do
I suspect it’s just to do with the quality of most roads – larger wheels can easily roll over bumps/dips that cause a significant ‘bump’ on smaller wheels.
I’m not convinced that rubber dampers are an effective solution as they’re relatively heavy for a small amount of travel. That’s why most suspension forks don’t just use a rubber damper. What might work is to keep a small wheel size, but have a much bigger tyre on them. That would also increase weight, but would provide much better cushioning.
Also, I suspect that small wheels are relatively heavy compared with larger wheels as some features can’t just be shrunk without compromising strength (e.g. the hub). There’s also the economy of scale that makes 700c wheels cheap to produce.
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand a word Boatsie has just posted?
PP
I understand every individual word, just not the particular purpose they are intended to serve in combination with each other.
To be fair, the cut-up technique (to which Boatsie subscribes) has somewhat fallen out of favour. Can’t all you hepcats just dig it?
@Cyclisto – I haven’t found
@Cyclisto – I haven’t found anything wrong with the Romin, but I’d like to widen my experience of other makes. Also, I think the Romin looks a bit boring which shouldn’t really be a factor but is.
