Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
I’ve had a couple of Meridas
I’ve had a couple of Meridas (a hybrid & a Cyclocross 500) and rode a Scultura on my dealer’s demo day a couple of years back. Loved it. They’re always well-specced and score highly. They’re like Giant or Trek without the marketing budget – I’d highly recommend them for a mass-market bike. My LBS sells more Merida road bikes than the Treks they also stock (Emonda & Domane)
Only reason I sold the CX (which overall is the best bike I’ve owned) was because they started working with the fascists in Bahrain.
4700 is fantastic – I think
4700 is fantastic – I think if it is refreshed it will be just be the FD redesign and maybe the same chainring change to better accommodate disc brakes.
Doubt you’ll be able to get your hands on it in time for this winter.
I run 4700 on both bikes because I’ve got three sets of 10-speed only wheels, plus it’s slightly cheaper, particularly when buying unused kit off eBay. Always plenty of that about as people buy a Tiagra-equipped frame and transfer their higher-end groups across.
And getting back on topic a bit:problem is, and has been talked about many times (including by Guy Martin when he raced against an AI car) is how these vehicles are programmed. MB have already said they will sacrifice innocent victims to keep their motorvehicle occupents safe.Elsewhere and incl Guy Martin say those in the vehicle should be the ones that take the hit. There’s a discussion here https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/3pw714/why_selfdriving_cars_must_be_programmed_to_kill/
Seems to me that the only viable solution is for all cars to have the same homologated safety logic, like they have sealed ECUs in F1 & MotoGP. It’s the same as the rules of the sea and rules of the air, albeit in a more chaotic environment. If all cars know the control rules for all other cars then that should eliminate vehicle to vehicle collisions.
The challenge is that it removes a differentiator for the manufacturers – why would you buy a Merc instead of a BMW if it drives the same? Of course, you’ll no longer be driving it so perhaps that question is irrelevant .
One of the posited developments of autonomous vehicles is that they will constantly communicate with each other. This should have both safety benefits (I’m crashing, keep clear! Ice here! etc) and allow “platooning” (forming convoys of vehicles all heading for the same destination, thus saving energy).
Platooning won’t be safe. Even with as close to zero reaction time as possible to an obstacle, somewhere in the queue there is going to be a collision, unless the platoon is moving very slowly.
I find it very odd that a few families I know splurge £700 a month on car leases. Surely the better option is to pay off the mortgage and subscribe to the bangernomics approach? I’m probably going to spend £500 on a Xsara Picasso at the weekend – 1 owner, low miles, bit tatty but a good runner and easy to fix. Will easily last a couple of years. And I’m a higher-rate taxpayer.All about priorities I guess. Cars have always been about hierarchy, just as horses and buggies were. Personal transport has always carried status – its only when you get to 40-something that you realise its all bollocks.
(Of course, the same applies to bikes, but probably best not to go there 🙂
Totally agree. Im my last job, there was a police call Centre on the floor above us. About half the kids who worked in there were late teens / early twenties and most of ’em drove leased BMW 1-series. Here’s a thought, why not drive a banger like we all used to and save some money towards a mortgage deposit
? The world has definitely gone car crazy…I suspect it’s mostly about status anxiety and (related) peer pressure. I think younger and poorer people tend to be more prone to such pressures (and advertisers know it).
On buying bangers, there’s also the risk that your £500 bargain generates a £2000 bill at the MOT stage… Of course that could happen to any motor but it’s more galling when it’s more than the thing is worth!
It’s not just cars… how many people who can ill afford it are tied into expensive contracts for the latest iPhone, etc when they don’t need more capability than a midrange handset (which is as good as the top end of 3/4 years ago)?
If it generates a £2k bill you throw it away (or part it out) and start again. When you’re buying at £500 you can easily recoup most of your outlay if you’re handy with a spanner (interiors and switchgear are popular eBay items)
I used to go to footy – £800 on a season ticket – and would stand next to teenagers off the local estate who all had iPhones. No idea how they afforded them – I certainly couldn’t justify a £50 a month contract. Perhaps if it’s your only device and you don’t have broadband/tv it makes sense.
I was the same in my 20s – spent a fortune on cars, DVDs, XBox games, footy, drinking, etc. But the difference was I could easily afford a mortgage because the housing market hadn’t gone mad. I guess they’re all living with their parents still…
As per the very first post, I think we are most of the way there. It’s all down to marketing – people buy a Merc not because it does anything substantially better but simply because it’s more expensive. It’s a status symbol.why would you buy a Merc instead of a BMW if it drives the same? Of course, you’ll no longer be driving it so perhaps that question is irrelevant .I suspect that eventually, one day in the future, a whole load of people currently riding the new car treadmill will wake up and ask themselves why they pissed away a fat wodge of money every month (or every time they traded their 2 / 3 year old model in for a new one) to get what is essentially the same thing. Easy come, easy go, I guess.
I find it very odd that a few families I know splurge £700 a month on car leases. Surely the better option is to pay off the mortgage and subscribe to the bangernomics approach? I’m probably going to spend £500 on a Xsara Picasso at the weekend – 1 owner, low miles, bit tatty but a good runner and easy to fix. Will easily last a couple of years. And I’m a higher-rate taxpayer.
All about priorities I guess. Cars have always been about hierarchy, just as horses and buggies were. Personal transport has always carried status – its only when you get to 40-something that you realise its all bollocks.
(Of course, the same applies to bikes, but probably best not to go there 🙂
problem is, and has been talked about many times (including by Guy Martin when he raced against an AI car) is how these vehicles are programmed. MB have already said they will sacrifice innocent victims to keep their motorvehicle occupents safe.Elsewhere and incl Guy Martin say those in the vehicle should be the ones that take the hit. There’s a discussion here https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/3pw714/why_selfdriving_cars_must_be_programmed_to_kill/
Seems to me that the only viable solution is for all cars to have the same homologated safety logic, like they have sealed ECUs in F1 & MotoGP. It’s the same as the rules of the sea and rules of the air, albeit in a more chaotic environment. If all cars know the control rules for all other cars then that should eliminate vehicle to vehicle collisions.
The challenge is that it removes a differentiator for the manufacturers – why would you buy a Merc instead of a BMW if it drives the same? Of course, you’ll no longer be driving it so perhaps that question is irrelevant .
He said that they’ve found out that people are completely unprepared to take back control of the car.Exactly what happened to Air France flight 447. The pitot tubes froze up, the plane dropped out of autopilot and handed back control to the pilots, the young pilot flying panicked and stalled the plane, everyone died.
And the recent LionAir crash in Indonesia. Faulty sensor made the plane think it was stalling and so automatically forced the nose down. Pilots hadn’t been briefed/had forgotten how to recover from it (there’d been a recent procedure/software change) and fought the plane for control.
I know it’d never happen, but now that we can make small, smooth engines, is there any practical need for a road car to have more than about 75 horsepower?I’ve got a 180hp car and I like it, and I realise that’s not even that powerful any more, but all the extra power does is help me do dangerous things really.
I wonder if we should actually ban powerful cars now. Then we could concentrate on making things more efficient and probably smaller. I can’t imagine a 75hp range rover would be much fun, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
The Fiat TwinAir engines were a good concept – about 75bhp, 875cc, had to really buzz them along to get the performance – just like driving a SOHC Fiesta 1.1 or similar. Good fun to drive, economical, couldn’t really get much beyond the speed limit.
there are still a few cars that I carry a flame for, the Lancia Delta Integrale in full rally spec being one of them.+1 but in road-going spec and a subtle colour (I liked the burgundy-purple).
Biscuit leather interior with contrasting stitching
(remember it featured in a PC driving simulator c.1994)
A sensor in my car has gone that’s not even related to ESP but because this one sensor has gone it’s turned off my ESP. I’m sure there’s some Audi logic somewhere but I can’t see it. Don’t need ESP anyway as the 4wd kicks in better without it and I don’t need the over intrusive braking, sometimes you need to push a little over the traction limit to get the best out of it.Climate control has failed in my Passat. It’s a nylon cog that’s stripped on a motor buried deep in the dash. Need to rip the dash out to replace it – not much change from 12 hour’s labour. Means I have no heat in the car and can’t keep the windscreen clear. Car simply isn’t worth fixing, and all because someone in marketing said that Passat-buyers demanded automatic climate control, rather than having a manual slider to switch the airflow from hot to cold.
And that’s a 2005 car – one of these modern lumps is so integrated that if anything electronic fails it’s hours and hours of labour to fix.
He said that they’ve found out that people are completely unprepared to take back control of the car.Two instances of that in driving the Merc for me
First – forgetting it was an auto and trying to use the brake as a clutch (fortunately nothing behind me). I’d been wafting along for 20 minutes on cruise control with both feet off the pedals.
Second – having the limiter on and trying to overtake a driver doing 45mph on a national speed limit single carriageway. Popped out, floored it, went up to 50mph and no more. Cue frantic scrambling to disengage the limiter as traffic approached.
(Actually the Merc has a limit disabler built into the throttle pedal – double tap from your right foot and it switches off and gives you full bananas and a decent shove in the back)
Granted the first one you can end up doing in any automatic if you’re used to driving manuals but the isolation from the driving experience undoubtedly contributed to it.
Put some extra lamps on and this is about as far as cars needed to evolve.
Completely agree. Did a track day in one of those, utterly, utterly brilliant
Nitto do a lovely forged 31
Nitto do a lovely forged 31.8mm accessory bar:
http://nitto-tokyo.sakura.ne.jp/accessories-E.html
I no longer commute because I
I no longer commute because I work from home but I still try to get out and ride every weekday. The way I see it, there’s no other exercise I genuinely enjoy and if I didn’t cycle I’d be heading towards all the diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle. That’s not a risk, that’s a certainty. So I get out there and take the risk time and time again. Since becoming a Dad I have changed my risk attitude a bit – now I’ll ride later in the day when the roads are quieter, and won’t cycle at all if its icy or very windy. Everybody has their own risk assessment framework and it’s very much a personal choice for that reason, so don’t go taking risks you’re not comfortable with just because you feel you’re letting yourself down, let alone the cycling “community”
Still use the Powerade bottle
Still use the Powerade bottle I got on my first sportive. Only medals I’ve kept are RideLondon – I’m on a bit of a declutter/avoid consumption drive at the moment. Systematically sending back catalogues and junk mail, and cutting back where possible on packaging and other useless stuff. Last few sportives I’ve done I’ve refused the freebies unless they’re gels/cake/other consumables
? The world has definitely gone car crazy…