The Experience of a Bicycle

[SC00CHB00CH]

Much of the problem with carbs getting gummed up is due to the failure of the user to run the machine until the tank is empty. Every chainsaw I have (6 of them) I removed the factory fuel lines and replaced them with impermeable lines. The factory lines will absorb the alcohol from the fuel, swell and rot away. The impermeable lines do not. I have a 17yr old chainsaw runs with no problem, and it's not a pro saw, just a mid range big box store one.

If you have generators, wood splitters, snow blowers or anything else with a bowl type carb, you should shut off the fuel while it's running then allow it to run until it shuts off. If you don't have a fuel shut off, install one.

Even if a carb does get gummed up, they're not that hard to clean up, it just takes some patience and the right assortment of chemicals. The biggest issue on chainsaws and other 2 stroke machines is there's a little tiny screen right behind the fuel inlet. You'll have to take the carb apart to get to it, but if you can, it's easily cleaned with gummout or other carb cleaners.

Cleaning the jets can be little tougher but it can be done. If you get a carb that just doesn't want to get clean, they're generally $20 on Amazon, the only problem is getting them adjusted just right after that.

We shouldn't have to do all this, because ethanol shouldn't be in the fuel, and sadly finding ethanol free fuel is difficult and many times expensive. But machinery needs to be maintained, even without ethanol in the fuel.

All this reminds me, I have 3 machines sitting out there right now that I need to see if they run or not. Anyone need a walk behind 5hp leaf blower or a pair of monster size snow blowers?

snow blower would be nice , I'm in NC though , a little far away from you

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

snow blower would be nice , I'm in NC though , a little far away from you

I doubt you get enough snow for these beasts, I can pick you up a nice amish broom.

 

[SC00CHB00CH]

I doubt you get enough snow for these beasts, I can pick you up a nice amish broom.

HAHA yeah I shoveled the entire driveway last year. Good exercise.

 

[PedalUma]

I have been busy all day. No EBR. Natalie has yet to send those photos or if she did, she put them all in high-rez and emailed them all at once, so the ISP didn't deliver. Maybe she is holding out. She did provide another purchasing referral today. That's cool. Because of her I will be doing a new Giant Momentum Vida, mid-step with a 48V, 750W, duel clutch with a 10.5Ah battery. Wires will be thru frame. The bike shop was selling $16,000 bikes that the guy saw. This one will feel like a Como that is lighter and more powerful, yet non-proprietary with the Right to Repair. I negotiated a discount on the bike and accessories. $700. The natural beauty returned to France today with her mom, I talked to her sister.

 

[Cowlitz]

I don't get it. I sometimes have to load just on one side (I use folding baskets with a trunk in between), and have never noticed a problem with an off-center load. The body/bike unit seems to sense the need to adjust--automatically. It always just feels like normal bike riding, but with a load. On the other hand, I've never tried it with a watermelon, so
maybe that would feel different. I guess with a really heavily lopsided bike you might be riding on the sidewalls instead of the tread.

Actually, maxi scooters (I had a couple of 400 cc bikes) do very well on the freeway.

In Spain, I saw scooters everywhere in the cities--even the cops used them. But on the freeway, nary a one, no motorcycles even.

Yah, one compensates but a watermelon takes more compensation. We have very few sidewalks here and I never ride on them. It's illegal. It's streets or stay home.

 

[Cowlitz]

Safety lecture time. Be sure and wear gloves with those pruning saws. I've cut myself more with those than with a chainsaw.

I was impressed with the Silky Ketanaboy saw that a guy brought along on a volunteer trail crew. He cut some serious stuff with it.
https://silkysaws.com/silky-katanaboy-650-folding-saw/

They are spendy,

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

This thread needs more love
”I passed my hand with unintended tenderness—sensuously, indeed—across the saddle. Inexplicably it reminded me of a human face, not by any simple resemblance of a human face but by some association of textures, some incomprehensible familiarity at the fingertips…I knew that I liked this bicycle more than I liked any other bicycle, better even than I had liked some people with two legs…How desirable her seat was, how charming the invitation of her slim encircling handlebars, how unaccountably competent and reassuring her pump resting warmly against her rear thigh!”

Wow, I've been away from cycling longer than I thought. This is considered a normal relationship between a human and a bicycle nowadays?

 

[Mulezen]

From a century ago

 

[PedalUma]

Here is the geometry of that bike, just like a Como, but better. It is getting a back swept handlebar for comfort. $700. The valve stems have been removed for safety. And the spoke nipples have been removed, because who wants to think about nipples?

 

[tomjasz]

You gotta get the 80volt battery powered leaf blowers. Anything less won't be as good as the gas ones or corded.

Blowers suck. Air polluting POS. I bought dozens as hort director and always disliked them. Sadly yard vacuums were generally expensive junk. I mulch mow leaves and aerate, add some compost tea from vermicompost/thermophilic compost and let the forest/soil food web manage itself.

 

[tomjasz]

I’m by now used to EBR costing me money…but it’s generally bicycle related…but now I have to look into a fancy folding blade…which would sit so perfectly in my thoughtful Kubota toolbox…but what I wonder is will the bright yellow clash with tractor’s orange?

All of my gardening hand tool, pruners, knives, saws, etc were best quality available. They were my primary tools. Spendy but many are now 40 plus years old. Felco and Bahco, like old friends.

 

[SC00CHB00CH]

Blowers suck. Air polluting POS. I bought dozens as hort director and always disliked them. Sadly yard vacuums were generally expensive junk. I mulch mow leaves and aerate, add some compost tea from vermicompost/thermophilic compost and let the forest/soil food web manage itself.

Yes they do and noisy to boot. I use a battery powered one which has zero emissions and I have a mulcher for my mower which just grinds up the leaves as I mow. Total life changer. I used to rake leaves by the pallet load in florida with all the oak trees. NEVER AGAIN !

 

[dodgeman]

I use a Stihl leaf blower, gas powered. My main driveway is paved but I have a second gravel driveway with a parking area for my car trailer. There is gravel underneath the leaves in this picture.

 

[tomjasz]

I use a Stihl leaf blower, gas powered. My main driveway is paved but I have a second gravel driveway with a parking area for my car trailer. There is gravel underneath the leaves in this picture.
View attachment 140711

I can see why! It’s in the confines of a city that IMO they get to be a nuisance. Nice fall day and all the landscapers and home gardeners kicking up clouds of dust. And my windows are all open to enjoy the now not so fresh air.

 

[PedalUma]

Redwoods are not dusty. A cord blower works great to clean the driveway.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I can see why! It’s in the confines of a city that IMO they get to be a nuisance. Nice fall day and all the landscapers and home gardeners kicking up clouds of dust. And my windows are all open to enjoy the now not so fresh air.

I can definitely see using a gas-powered leaf blower on an area such as what @dodgeman has or for commercial purposes. I live in a city neighborhood where most shovel their walkways when it snows but one much younger resident insists on using his backpack blower when a bit of shoveling would do the job just as well and in less time. It is loud but thankfully we don’t have our windows open during the winter season.

We do own a gas driven chipper/shredder and a snowblower that might be put into action less than a handful of times during the summer, fall and winter seasons but all the rest of our yard maintenance equipment is either battery or A/C powered including a leaf blower, mower, edger, pruner and my wife’s favorite…electric soil sifter. Yes, she is one serious gardener.

 

[Djangodog]

Can we get back to e-bikes? It is funny that the conversation seems more civil when e-bikes are not discussed. Maybe e-bikes are evil.

 

[Djangodog]

I feel like I'm in noodle doodle crazy-land.

I'm sick of people who have local shops they can/would buy from and trust acting like everyone has a choice of dozens of them in every town, when for many of us it's a two hour round trip at minimum.

I'm sick of people who act like bicycle infrastructure is everywhere. Or who are shocked when I say riding on the sidewalk is illegal and we have no real bike lanes here.

I'm sick of people who don't even realize their social status acting like having a bike collection that combined is worth more than both my family's cars put together is "normal" or "within reach if you work hard"

I'm also sick of the assclowns who seem to talk about "high speeds" that are slower than I was when I was 100 pounds heavier on a crappy, steel framed, non-motorized $250 three speed internal hub beach cruiser that had nothing more than a coaster brake for stopping. People acting like 15mph is fast need a boot up their ass.

I'm sick of pretentious know-it-all jackasses -- who actually don't seem to know diddly squat, apart from parroting propaganda and obvious lies -- flipping out because nubes are daring to ask questions or have opinions and ideas that differ from the "echo chamber norm". Much less occasionally bringing in new information that DARES to contradict the popularist BS peddled by marketers, propagandists and the bandwagon mentality. Emphasis on the "mental"

I'm sick of fools who seem to think that just having a throttle is magically some sort of "evil". Or worse equates speed, particularly when on most bikes (in my limited experience) the top speed on throttle is two-thirds (or less) that of pedaling with assist.

But what I'm getting really sick of are self centered egotists on all sides of the discussion thinking that just because what they own means nobody else should be allowed to own something different of differing capabilities.

You're happy with what you own, fine. Don't act like a total jackass just because people have different needs, live in different places, or might actually ride places -- like 50mph+ speed limit main roads with zero space allocated for bikes -- where going 30+ isn't a danger to anyone, and if anything makes for a SAFER ride because you're not as much in the way.

Or assuming that just because the bike can do 20+ means the people owning them are barreling down trails shared with pedestrians at unsafe speeds.

At which point you might as well make all cars in America illegal if they can go faster than the 20-30mph found in school zones.

Street legal vehicles, (cars, trucks, motorcycles or whatever), have to fall within certain limits and have features that make them Street legal. You can’t drive an F1 car on public roads. “Street legal” e-bikes also fall within certain limits. If they exceed the specification that defines an e-bike, then they are not technically a street legal e-bike, although they may still be an e-bike. Some don’t think that the regulations make sense, (some feel that they are too restrictive and others feel that they are not restrictive enough). Like it or not, these are the regulations that are currently in effect. Ranting and raving on a forum won’t bring about change and attacking each other is unlikely to help anything.

I don’t say this to be divisive or take a side. It’s simply a statement of fact.

 

[dodgeman]

E bikes? I was confused, I thought I was on a tractor forum. The front of my tractor after mulching all the leaves I could get to. I will probably start riding tomorrow, we had an early cold snap that is ending, now if the wind woukd just lay down.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

E bikes? I was confused, I thought I was on a tractor forum. The front of my tractor after mulching all the leaves I could get to. I will probably start riding tomorrow, we had an early cold snap that is ending, now if the wind woukd just lay down.
View attachment 140729

Gas powered leaf blower will clean that right up. I hear early morning is the best time to blow leaves.