Author Topic: One more of us... (Read 11011 times)

Charlotte · « **Reply #25 on:** 18 May, 2010, 10:56:46 pm »

Fantastic

Valiant · « **Reply #26 on:** 19 May, 2010, 04:32:00 pm »

Wooo! 2 wheeled betns still scare me.

Cunobelin · « **Reply #27 on:** 19 May, 2010, 07:29:31 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 18 May, 2010, 08:01:15 pm

And another...

(apologies for the crap photo - the light was fading)

We went for a play in Cannon Hill Park this evening. barakta got the hang of it even quicker than I did - without a single unplanned dismount - possibly due to a combination of having ridden an upright for all of about 20 minutes in the last decade, and the absence of oncoming taxis. The bar position is incompatible with her arm length, so she has to sit up, and she can't operate the left-side controls, but she's clearly got darkside genes...

(She also managed to ride there and back on my folding bike, which has the twitchy-as-hell steering that is typical of the species, so a double success.)

Welcome to the Dark Side, I have had my SMGT for some ten years and it is still going strong....

So If I'm teaching Granny to suck eggs.. forgive me.

The Bars on the SMGT are a bit of a design problem. As a short term and quick adjustment, you can rotate them, but this means that the wrists also rotate up and back, which at the extremes can be uncomfortable.

The other more permanent design I have seen is to remove the bars and reverse them so the urve is facing back and rotating more like a set of traditional bars, but can again be difficult at extremes.

Kim · « **Reply #28 on:** 19 May, 2010, 07:48:34 pm »

barakta's arms are *significantly* shorter than most people's due to radial aplasia, and asymmetrically so. So to sort this out properly would I suspect involve fabricating something clever, as well as moving the left-side controls to the right, where she has a more normal range of motion in her hand. Not the sort of thing that's worth doing to a bike she isn't going to be able to ride seriously anyway, even if you could do it in a way that was compatible with my own ergonomics. Really she needs her own machine, and for balance reasons that would be a trike (which we currently have neither the money nor the space for, so if anyone's thinking about selling one, please keep quiet

).

I will try rotating the bars though, easily done and might make things a little easier for short pootles around the park.

Tim · « **Reply #29 on:** 19 May, 2010, 10:04:41 pm »

If you have asymmetric reach issues and desire to control from only one hand packaged up upon a trike may I refer you to the windcheetah.

Nope not selling mine.

Kim · « **Reply #30 on:** 19 May, 2010, 11:24:27 pm »

Quote from: Tim on 19 May, 2010, 10:04:41 pm

If you have asymmetric reach issues and desire to control from only one hand packaged up upon a trike may I refer you to the windcheetah.

Ohhshiny...

rower40 · « **Reply #31 on:** 21 May, 2010, 01:24:42 pm »

Quote from: Tim on 19 May, 2010, 10:04:41 pm

If you have asymmetric reach issues and desire to control from only one hand packaged up upon a trike may I refer you to the windcheetah.

+1

Quote from: Tim on 19 May, 2010, 10:04:41 pm

Nope not selling mine.

+1

But if you happen to be in the East Midlands at any time, feel free to come round for a test-ride.

Cunobelin · « **Reply #32 on:** 21 May, 2010, 07:46:45 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 19 May, 2010, 07:48:34 pm

barakta's arms are *significantly* shorter than most people's due to radial aplasia, and asymmetrically so. So to sort this out properly would I suspect involve fabricating something clever, as well as moving the left-side controls to the right, where she has a more normal range of motion in her hand. Not the sort of thing that's worth doing to a bike she isn't going to be able to ride seriously anyway, even if you could do it in a way that was compatible with my own ergonomics. Really she needs her own machine, and for balance reasons that would be a trike (which we currently have neither the money nor the space for, so if anyone's thinking about selling one, please keep quiet ).

I will try rotating the bars though, easily done and might make things a little easier for short pootles around the park.

I have a Catrike, which has direct steering based on a "Stem" attached to the headset and a "handlebar" rising off this.

Reach can be altered by a fair way by sliding the upright along the "stem" and different heights can be achieved as well. The two sides can be altered individually.

If you ever feel the urge - Give Ian at Wheel N.V. a ring

Red · « **Reply #33 on:** 22 June, 2010, 05:36:50 pm »

48 hours after getting me to cycle 30 miles in Bristol, Kim further proves her evil, tempting ways by introducing me to the Dark Side. I'm beginning to think this cycling lark is an insidious cult... but oh, what fun it is! Wobbly, but fun nonetheless.

Once I was steering well enough to avoid the curb, it was all epic fun hurtling down a hill to certain doom at a great rate of knots. The supportive cheers of nearby picnickers helped.

In summary, Kim is evil, bents are lovely... but I need to get my own bicycle (mine was half-inched a couple of years back, I'm borrowing my dad's) before even thinking about a recumbent. Sigh.

TimO · « **Reply #34 on:** 22 June, 2010, 06:21:17 pm »

Quote from: Red on 22 June, 2010, 05:36:50 pm

... I'm beginning to think this cycling lark is an insidious cult...

Quick, send in the Flying Monkeys, someone has found out the secret...

nuttycyclist · « **Reply #35 on:** 23 June, 2010, 11:59:55 am »

Quote from: Tim on 19 May, 2010, 10:04:41 pm

If you have asymmetric reach issues and desire to control from only one hand packaged up upon a trike may I refer you to the windcheetah.

Nope not selling mine.

Whereas I am toying with freeing up some garage space.

Kim · « **Reply #36 on:** 08 July, 2013, 09:57:33 pm »

Haven't had one of these in a while, but...

The scream of terror:

And the "it's easier with your eyes closed":

Charlotte · « **Reply #37 on:** 09 July, 2013, 08:31:21 am »

Nice

nikki · « **Reply #38 on:** 09 July, 2013, 09:16:40 am »

That's my recumbent quad in the background of the second photo.

Took the opportunity to try Kim's 'bent in the absence of traffic and broken glass, however I hadn't properly factored in the exhibition vitrines full of artwork...

Narsty accidents avoided, however I think I need to upgrade to longer, thinner legs before trying again - I was perched right on the very edge of the seat and um, perhaps didn't have the full range of steering. Freewheeling was nice, as I didn't feel so precarious longitudinally.

Lovely looking back at the earlier posts in this thread: 3 years ago somehow doesn't seem long enough ago for the Kim + Street Machine institution to have begun. Surely that's a combination that's been going since forever?

loadsabikes · « **Reply #39 on:** 09 July, 2013, 11:29:09 am »

That position certainly give you the opportunity to 'look down your nose' at other road users

Any flatter and you would need a periscope

Wobbly · « **Reply #40 on:** 12 July, 2013, 11:34:32 pm »

You were obviously going very fast. The photos are ALL BLURRED!

Grr. Panning. Phone cams. Rant...

Kim · « **Reply #41 on:** 12 July, 2013, 11:40:25 pm »

Light levels (and yes, bike speed) were such that only the well-timed panning photos had any sharp bits, unfortunately. (The Public seem to have an aversion to replacing light bulbs, perhaps because no two fittings seem to take the same lamp.)

The phone camera is a net win for me photographically, as I'm chronically incapable of remembering to get a camera out, but the Nokia 300 has decent battery life and can live in my pocket. Better camera and the ability to use self-signed SSL certificates are joint third of the feature list for my next phone (after proper keypad and battery life).

Wobbly · « **Reply #42 on:** 12 July, 2013, 11:56:30 pm »

As they say a bad photographer blames her tools.

However I have an f1.2 lens I can lend you.

Kim · « **Reply #43 on:** 12 July, 2013, 11:58:16 pm »

I never claimed to be a good photographer. They tend to get the camera out, for a start. And can doubtless shoot full-manual with one hand while push-starting rookie cyclists.

Lighting design, OTOH...

ETA: Actually, I'm being unfair on the phone. I had a couple of much clearer shots with the light in the good direction which were discarded on the grounds of extreme unflatteringness and/or not showing the whole bike in motion. What it does do well is actually take a photo when you press the button, and be ready to take another reasonably quickly. Things which have made me dismiss previous phone cameras as mostly useless.

Wobbly · « **Reply #44 on:** 13 July, 2013, 12:15:26 am »

You may be interested in the new Nokia 41 squillion pixel camera phone. Barking mad I say.

Better to get a camera that's a camera. But also a phone! See the latest piece of latest piece of Samsung lunacy... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/12/lgs_curvy_telly_and_samsungs_galaxy_camera_spotted_in_the_wild/

Kim · « **Reply #45 on:** 13 July, 2013, 12:42:49 am »

41Mpix seems mad in nearly anything!

I'd be quite happy if my phone could take photos as good at my first 1Mpix digital compact. Noisy sensor by today's standards, and it was prone to surreal white balance moments under artificial light, but most of the time it took competent photos using a proper lens with actual glass in it, and could usually be relied on to meter the flash properly. Pretty good if you ignored the memory and battery capacity that had you pining for the convenience of film. Unfortunately, in the world of phones (and probably most cameras), it's megapixels that sell.

Quote from: Wobbly on 13 July, 2013, 12:15:26 am

Better to get a camera that's a camera. But also a phone! See the latest piece of latest piece of Samsung lunacy... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/12/lgs_curvy_telly_and_samsungs_galaxy_camera_spotted_in_the_wild/

That's bonkers. I can see the attraction of putting a cellular chipset in a camera, as a logical extension from Eye-Fi. Journalistic types might find it genuinely useful. Cloud storage and mobile telecoms companies would also have good reason to love it, but at what point does putting a *touchscreen* on there as the primary UI even begin to seem like a good idea? Who'd want to pay real money for a camera where you can't tweak the settings while looking through the viewfinder? The Garmin Monterra has merit, this just seems like Android for the manufacturer's convenience.

Sadly a camera that's also a phone has the same flaw as a camera that's just a camera: It's a camera, which means it's either still in my bag, or I left it at home. $:-\$

I think my ideal camera is a GoPro. Stick it to the bike, set it on timelapse, come back later. At least that way I'll come home with some photos. And bringing things back on topic, a GoPro would have come in rather handy on Monday, for the Best Bike Ride Ever...

Beardy · « **Reply #46 on:** 16 July, 2013, 05:52:37 pm »

as the old adage goes, the best camera in the world is the one you have with you.