Recent content by spokewrench

Some sources say baking soda works. CO2 is 38% heavier than O2, so maybe it could get sucked in and keep the generated gases from mixing or dilute them too much for combustion. This source agrees with you, that a baking-soda extinguisher won't work...

How about an automatic extinguisher? Baking soda will extinguish a Lipo fire. When the soda gets hot, it releases CO2, displacing flammable gases if they're lighter than CO2. If the lithium metal catches fire, maybe baking soda will work, but I don't know. Maybe a paving stone would keep a hot...

NC/SC line on the Piedmont. The most conspicuous sign of activity is hovering males, identified around here by their white faces. They're bluffing when they attack because they can't sting. Then you look for sawdust from tunneling females, who can sting but are docile. As a tunnel lengthens...

I don't know why throttle wouldn't give as much power as PAS. I tested my Radrunner on a hill and found it was producing 500 watts, not 750 as advertised. I doubled the output with a 35-amp kt controller. It would take me to 24mph, which eventually I decided was dangerous. The controller made a...

I got an e-bike at 73 because I remembered how easy it was to roll up 50 miles a day on a 3-speed in utility use 60 years ago. Now I found that there are few roads around here suitable for bicycling. There's more traffic and it's in a bigger hurry, which means I'll quickly have traffic waiting...

It's easy to add a whole set!

I haven't tried it below freezing, but it's surprisingly good in the 30s. It's windproof, and the elastic seals against drafts. Heat isn't conducted directly from my head because, as the photo shows, the stuff is stiff and springy enough that there's little contact. For more coverage, I could...

Clamped to my handlebars. You can never have too many horns, but there wasn't room for the bag.

I quit wearing it until I can get a sign saying, "I'm not Kristi Noem." ICE claimed I was impersonating her and said if it happened again, I'd find myself on a plane for South Carolina. I don't even speak the language.

....as would be a tinfoil hat under a bike helmet. A good bicycle lawyer will advise @PedalUma to plead nolo contendere because ignorance of fashion is no excuse. Then maybe he'll get off with 6 months of rehab and 6 months of electronic monitoring. Always check with your fashion expert before...

As I rode, I could see runout on my front tire. I braced my finger against the fork so the end of my nail lightly dragged the rim. A spin persuaded me that the rim was within 1mm. I held a felt-tip pin against the fender to make a line along the center of the tire. I measured the runout at 3mm...

I wish I'd been wearing my special hat on the morning of February 17. The parking space in front of the town hall door is mine. I find I can collect a larger fine if I can take a violator by surprise, so I haven't told even Donald Trump that it's my space. That morning I recognized the car I'd...

Doesn’t your wheel have a rim strip to cover nipple holes and protect the tube? If you didn’t remove the tire, tube, and nipple, bending the spoke would have been necessary even if it were the right length. (Actually, I didn't remove the rim strip when I replaced spokes. I just cut holes over...

I had to bend my first replacement spokes because they were 5mm too long, I discovered. The ends extended about 5mm beyond the nipples, and I could see that wouldn't be a problem.