Author Topic: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike  (Read 36935 times)

Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #75 on: 13 October, 2014, 11:53:25 pm »
I have to admit I laughed out loud when he wheeled in the 5 series for the machine gun test.
What's this bottom line for anyway?

Mr Larrington

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #76 on: 14 October, 2014, 12:03:12 am »
So did I but I can't help but think that a Mercedes-Benz would have been more appropriate.
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #77 on: 14 October, 2014, 10:31:15 am »
the BF in BF109 stood for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #78 on: 14 October, 2014, 06:19:04 pm »
Yes, the "later, unrelated BFw" which later became Messerschmitt.  But it did have a Daimler-Benz DB601 under the bonnet.
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #79 on: 14 October, 2014, 07:36:04 pm »
And of course BMW now own the Rolls Royce car name, after the owners of the brand, Rolls Royce aero engines, denied the right to use it to VW, due to their partnerships in aero engines with BMW.

I'm intrigued by the idea of how noisy Colossus was, it was largely electronic. The Bombes that Turing used to decode Enigma were electro-mechanical, so would have sounded like telephone exchanges.

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #80 on: 14 October, 2014, 09:14:45 pm »
I'm intrigued by the idea of how noisy Colossus was, it was largely electronic.

The high bits of the counters were all relay logic, to keep the valve count down (they didn't need to switch as quickly).  And there were a few multiselectors and things in there too.  And of course the paper tape reader isn't exactly quiet when up to speed.  What you hear depends on the (hard-wired!) program it's running, but if you imagine the paper tape spinnning at 5000CPS, a clatter of relays every time it complete a full loop, and the occasional burst of printer noise, you're on to the right idea.

I've no idea what the original power supply arrangement was.  The rebuild project uses a modern telecoms PSU, but if there were rotary converters involved, you'd have to allow for that, too (though they might have been housed elsewhere).


Quote
The Bombes that Turing used to decode Enigma were electro-mechanical, so would have sounded like telephone exchanges.

Less so than Colossus, I expect.  They were mostly rotating multi-pole switches linked with belts and gears, rather than relays.  I've not seen the Bombe rebuild in action, though.

As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of telephone exchange in Collosus, but it doesn't have the instantly recognisable telephonic rhythms.

Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #81 on: 14 October, 2014, 09:59:21 pm »
There's a lot of Strowger videos to demonstrate the noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUOh9fCSgqw

LEE

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #82 on: 15 October, 2014, 09:10:36 am »
Because I can sense you are all waiting for a Strowger anecdote....

I was working in Manchester Trunk exchange (ie. a focal point for smaller local exchanges) when Noel Edmonds gave away a pocket calculator on "Swap Shop" (Google it kids).

The cascade of noise roling through the exchange was deafening up until the point the main fuse blew and took down long-distance services for South Manchester.  (We weren't the only exchange that was "fused" by that shitty little calculator).

Resetting a Strowger telephone exchange is a pain in the arse and I think BT (probably still the Post Office back then) politely asked Noel to stop giving shit away without forewarning in future.

There's a rack of BT Strowger for sale on Ebay at the moment.  I think I should buy it for something to do when I develop "Altzheimer's", I can spend my days bending armatures, setting spring tensions and cursing Noel Edmonds (something I actually do today but without the Strowger maintenance side of things).
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #83 on: 15 October, 2014, 11:15:19 am »
The University of Salford has a Strowger heritage project. I drink regularly with a couple of ex BT engineers, and Strowger is one of their foci of nostalgia. It makes a change from the discussion of severance packages, which is now shading into reports of funerals for hard-smoking and hard-drinking former workmates.
http://www.cntr.salford.ac.uk/comms/strowger.php

There seems to be a great hunger for tinkering among ex BT engineers. The snowslope at Yad Moss relies on them to keep the lift running. The generator is out of Carlisle exchange, and the low voltage it provides means the heaters in the club room  are pathetic. Guy Martin is a symptom of that residual desire to fiddle with bits of metal.

Cumbria Tourist Board made a little film about Alston which sums up the volunteer culture of pottering about with machinery. Participative tourism in essence.

<a href="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=82184755&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=01AAEA" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=82184755&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=01AAEA</a>

LEE

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #84 on: 15 October, 2014, 02:15:14 pm »
I drink regularly with a couple of ex BT engineers

So did I....mostly during working hours.  "The Finger Post" pub near Stockport appeared to have the most unreliable phones in Manchester, given the number of Yellow BT vans in the car park all afternoon (fortunately it was walking distance for me).

So, if you want to trigger discussions about Strowger with your drinking buddies, simply mention that "Strowger is simple...A ops B ops C and the rest is self-explanatory".  That's day One, lesson one of the Strowger maintenance course in Bletchley (yes, that Bletchley).
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #85 on: 24 October, 2014, 10:33:06 am »
"Speed With Guy Martin" - new series starts at 20:00 on Sunday October 26th, Channel 4.  In episode 1 "he finds out how far it's possible to travel on a bicycle during 24 hours of non-stop pedalling.  Helped by bike experts Miles Kingsbury and Mike Burrows he builds a tandem..."

FSVO "bicycle" and "tandem".  It's a sociable trike.
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #86 on: 24 October, 2014, 01:31:49 pm »
Tandem's just a bike for two people though, innit. Innit?

Mr Larrington

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #87 on: 24 October, 2014, 07:26:48 pm »
Tandem's just a bike for two people though, innit. Innit?

From the lat. "at length"
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #88 on: 24 October, 2014, 08:40:44 pm »
Tandem's just a bike for two people though, innit. Innit?

From the lat. "at length"

You know that, I know that, but hoi polloi like, don't. Innit.

For those poor benighted souls who have not benefited from a classical education and are likely to make up the bulk of the audience, a tandem *is* just a bike for two people, and they're not likely to be fussed about whether the riders are side by side, in line astern or indeed facing in opposite directions.

Do you reckon most folk are more likely to get a sense of what he's trying to do if they hear 'tandem,' or if they hear 'sociable recumbent tadpole tricycle'?

Mr Larrington

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #89 on: 25 October, 2014, 09:09:19 am »
Just because most people didn,t do lat. at their grubby little secondary moderns doesn't mean they shouldn't be edumaficated in latter life.  Innit.

At least, that's what my butler (Winchester, Balliol & the Horse Guards) says ;D
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #90 on: 26 October, 2014, 08:43:39 pm »
 I'm watching right now and it's very funny while being informative at the same time, some interesting ideas for speeding up my audax times ;)

Mr Larrington

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #91 on: 26 October, 2014, 09:15:31 pm »
Just finished watching it and spotted my chums Jonathan, Al, Neil and Andy lurking in the background as Observers (I had been invited to Observe too but had a prior engagement chiz).  No obvious howlers1 though they did keep quiet about the solo record, both for conventional bikes and HPVs, being somewhat higher than their target.

Don't know why they had to include the clip of Young Master Robert decking the Mango at Battle Mountain in 2002, though...

1 - though apparently the Sports SCIENCE mob from Mos Eisley Portsmouth rang up Mike Burrows to ask how to support the Windcheetahs' rear wheels when on the training rig ::-)
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RichForrest

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #92 on: 26 October, 2014, 09:18:12 pm »
What is the 24hr record in a velo now? Seem to remember it to be around 1200km

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #93 on: 26 October, 2014, 09:27:56 pm »
1219 km / 757 miles; Christian von Ascheberg in a Milan at the DEKRA track in 2010.

Some of the Dutch PSOs in Battle Mountain this year were muttering about aiming for 1000 miles :o
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #94 on: 26 October, 2014, 09:32:39 pm »
well the only one I recognised was Guy Martin:) and why was the sports nutritionist so overweight ??

Mr Larrington

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #95 on: 26 October, 2014, 09:47:57 pm »
The physiology bloke is the bastard lovechild of Vladimir Putin and Ron Dennis...
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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #96 on: 27 October, 2014, 12:00:47 am »
Nice that they acknowledged a forum member as holder of the CTT 24 hour tandem record.

Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #97 on: 27 October, 2014, 08:31:27 am »
I enjoyed the programme very much, but I'm a bit confused as at what record they actually broke? Surely HPV and upright bike records are separate categories, no?
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

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Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #98 on: 27 October, 2014, 08:51:46 am »
I enjoyed the programme very much, but I'm a bit confused as at what record they actually broke? Surely HPV and upright bike records are separate categories, no?

This one: HPVA. Though, strictly speaking, I think they set a record rather than broke one.

Re: Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike
« Reply #99 on: 27 October, 2014, 10:25:30 am »
It's interesting to see how TV is put together, I got this message on July 15th.

Quote
I am a researcher working on the Channel 4 programme Speed with Guy Martin, we are in our second series and are looking into endurance 24 hour cycling records, we are particularly interested in the record of Andy Wilkinson and have been talking with him. We are currently trying to get together any photo and video sources that we can feature in our programme, trying to get them together by the end of the week. We are very interested in the video you have on Youtube and were wondering if you are able to give us permission to feature it in our programme, Also could you let me know if you have any more photos or videos of the attempt. If you can get back to me as soon as possible that would be fantastic,

I can see how the programme evolved the way it did. The solo records are out of reach, so the multi-rider HPV record was an obvious target. There's a Mike Burrows connection with Andy Wilkinson, Wilko got the RTTC record in 1997 with a Burrows designed Giant MCR, and holds the HPV Lands End John O' Groats record in a Windcheetah, also a Burrows machine. It would be interesting to see what Andy and Jill Wilkinson could do in terms of a mixed record in the Martin machine.

We could very probably assemble a male pairing from YACF to take the record higher, but that's an indication that this is the home of endurance cycling.

It was a good show, there was an interesting comment on the Andy Wilkinson video posted a couple of hours after the transmission.
Quote
   
LivingThroughTV
Hadn't seen video footage of Andy's state at the end before. Found myself laughing almost in sympathy. I cannot comprehend how that must've felt. Incredible, incredible ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tix9iF3reSE