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    Rad Power Bikes may close soon

    I also get the impression that most of the Rad line, with the exception of their new Radster models, seems kind of primitive compared with many of the newer offerings from other manufacturers. But that's just an impression from when I was shopping for a bike for myself; the Radster I bought is...
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    Show Us a Tool

    This is my great grandfather's monkey wrench. Not sure what he used it for, he had a livery and transport business (horse drawn). A little larger than a typical small airplane tool but just what I needed to loosen the oil breather elbow.
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    Show Us a Tool

    Mine is clearly the Model B. I also have several unknown brand monkey wrenches (what they call "automobile wrenches") of various sizes which I still use.
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    Show Us a Tool

    I can't say I've actually used this on a bike, but this little monkey wrench is (I believe) from the toolkit included with Pierce Arrow bicycles, made by Billings & Spencer, around 100 years old. They also made motorcycles and cars but my understanding is that the "B" marked short wrenches...
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    RAD Power Bikes Going Bust

    Another part of the problem may be that most of Rad's older models are, well, kinda crude. That was OK at one time but the industry has moved on. Their new Radster models are a big step up in sophistication (I love mine), but I guess it was too late.
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    The Future of eBikes: How Fast is Too Fast?

    Note that the article is defending legal class 3 (28mph) ebikes, not the faster electric motorcycles masquerading as e-bikes.
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    Three fat old men on ebikes could nail that

    That video is fun but way overdramaticized. It only takes about 15 lbs of pull to get that glider airborne, which about 1.5HP at the speed it needs to go. Remember a plane powered by only one pedaler crossed the English channel!
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    What happened to good manners

    The bot scours the web to find forums, then creates the account and then posts the links, on thousands of forums at the same time. Now there are thousands of links to boost the search rankings.
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    What happened to good manners

    Search engine ranking. The more other websites that have a link to yours, the higher you sit in the search results. So they put links in the post, in their user profile, etc. That's one reason why many forums restrict new users from posting links, so the bot tries to post enough messages to...
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    What happened to good manners

    Well, being polite is a sign of "a proper upbringing that instilled a superior class of behaviour." It has nothing to do with social class. Indeed these days one is as (or more) likely to see to see polite behavior from an uneducated backwoods hillbilly than from a successful and "educated"...
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    Which brake first?

    I'm in the "both" camp, but I modulate the front and rear pressures according to how the bike feels without really thinking about it. But I'd say that a front wheel skid goes bad faster and is harder to recover from, than a rear wheel skid. And I vividly remember friends going over the...
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    Drug driving

    The thing that seems to be ignored is the synergistic effect. One or two pints of Guinness or one or two puffs on a joint may not cause significant impairment, but combine the two and you may be way too impaired to be safe, even if below the legal limit(s).
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    RAD Power Bikes Going Bust

    26 / 600,000 = 0.004%. Just for fun, I did a search. Online quoted statistics are dubious, but that's about exactly the rate of fires for electric vehicles in general... which despite the hype, are a lot less common than fires in gasoline powered vehicles (but a lot more difficult to extinguish).
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    Your own way sexuality

    I think much of what a person finds attractive is based on the prevailing images and people around you during puberty when you start noticing the opposite sex (or, I guess, the same sex if that's how you're wired). For me that's the late 60s-early 70s simple/natural/no makeup/blue jeans/hippie...
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    Florida Legislature considers problematic provisions that threaten cyclist safety.

    The linked petition contradicts itself in several places. And, It's not arbitrary at all, it matches the established limits used by many other jurisdictions. As @jabberwocky said, if you want to go faster, buy a motorcycle.
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    shock absorbing seat posts

    I too have the Suntour seatpost and am very happy with it.
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    Rad January funding or close

    As the owner of a new Radster Trail, I sure hope they can turn things around. They seem to be at that awkward stage... their older models seem to be peceived as lower end and somewhat crude (and limited to class 2), while their new Radster models are class 3 and clearly a step up in...
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    Only in France...

    Only in France... "A French cyclist who plunged down a 130-foot ravine survived for three days living off a few bottles of red wine that somehow didn’t break in the fall, police have said."...
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    Should We Eliminate the Time Change?

    I like it the way it is. But, if the twice-yearly changeover is eliminated, it should be standard time, because it would most closely align with astronomical time, at least near the center of each time zone. Permanent DST is, IMHO, silly. The whole point of DST, where the clocks don't match...
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    So what's your other hobbies or interests?

    Being pretty far off center on the engineering spectrum (which should be a recognized medical disorder) most of my hobbies seem to involve interesting but (sadly) expensive equipment used outdoors. Things that I once was intensely into but not so much any more include R/C airplanes...
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