Sixty Fiver

I have been thinking, (and this can be a dangerous thing), that some members here deserve a little extra recognition for their contributions to the forum and for adding to the collective knowledge it contains.

This really is a database of information that is without equal due to the contributions of so many members who willingly share their knowledge and experience and I always find myself learning new things because there is simply no way a person can know everything, not even Sheldon Brown would have ever made that claim.

Technology changes so fast that it can be hard to keep up on the latest and greatest, a lot of my own time is spent following developments in the cycling world because it is my job to know this stuff.

So with that, I'd like to start by giving FBinNY a big thanks for being rather tireless in answering countless questions and dispensing what is consistently, some of the soundest advice you can find here. I most often find that if he has answered a question there really is no need for follow up.

Besides that, he has a gift for explaining things and putting thoughts to words that makes those answers easy to understand for those who may not have an extensive technical background and knowledge of terminology and despite being from New York, isn't that tough.

I think it can be hard for new forum members to come here and know who to trust when it comes to giving sound advice and I would put his name high on the list of people who will give you solid advice, not that there aren't many more people here who have extensive experience and do not do an equally awesome job of making this one of the best resources on the interwebz.

Feel free to add to this list... maybe the person who just saved you a bundle on repairs because they showed you that you can do it yourself and that it isn't all rocket science and black magic.

jyl

cny-bikeman.

Telly

A thread that has been long overdue!

I would like to sincerely thank, in no particular order:
FBinNY, fietsbob, Bill Kapau, ChiefIsaac, Kimmo, bobotech, ThermionicScott, Continuity, contango, acidfast, of course you Sixty Fiver and countless other people here at B/F which have helped me out with tech issues and info, have put up with my stubborn OCD behavior and have made my cycling experience awesome!

Unfortunately I'm located pretty much on the other side of the planet to most of you since I would love to have the opportunity to take place in rides and meet you in person. Hopefully, some of you might get a chance to travel and visit Greece in which I'll arrange a ride here!

mrrabbit 

AEO

=8-)

Still owe him an update for "modified triplet lacing" in my spreadsheet.

=8-|

Sixty Fiver

mrrabbit... your name needs to be on this list as your wheelbuilding advice is as solid as it gets.

Sixty Fiver

I would love to visit Greece... best thing (after riding) would have to be the food.

Have been addicted to this since I was quite young and my friend's mom would make traditional Greek meals and also taught me how to cook the food I love so much.

Sixty Fiver

+1

Dan Burkhart 

Great thread! Hard to come up with all the names at the drop of a hat, but as the OP says, FBinNY is certainly head of the class. Such depth of knowledge and a willingness to share, and a complete lack of snarkyness too.
I agree with the entire list as posted so far.
AEO is the only one I've had the pleasure to meet in person, although I have not seen him posting much lately.

cny-bikeman

I think we would be remiss in not recognizing the invisible contributors - those who moderate and maintain what is arguably the best bicycle oriented forum on the Internet.

10 Wheels

FBinNY has Great Answers.

Dan Burkhart 

Absolutely.

pursuance

Sheldon Brown has 2302 posts here aside from his site.
It was my privilege to exchange several emails with him many years ago and reading his posts here only reinforces what a knowledgeable, humble man he was.
He was grateful & humbled that Harris would keep his site/work active.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." A special thanks to those that appear here daily.

FastJake

Off the top of my head (sorry to anyone I forgot) - Kimmo for learning how to fix things that most don't dare try. How many others have provided an STI rebuild guide? FBinNY of course for all his advice. HillRider too. And if you need to buy or sell a bike, I don't think anyone can beat wrk101 in quantity or quality of information. Tmar has an amazing knowledge base, but that is mostly over in C&V appraisals.

Thanks to EVERYONE who contributes to this great forum!

kmcrawford111

I agree, the whole internet experience seems to have largely been degraded from an infrastructure that seemed to me to be focused on sharing information (I'm talking maybe 10-15 years ago, where finding sites like say sheldonbrown.com instead of online stores was the norm) to an infrastructure designed around moneygrubbing. Anyone who uses Google knows this - try to search for information, and the overwhelming majority of "results", especially at the beginning, will be sites trying to sell you stuff, even stuff that is barely or not at all related to what you're looking for. I completely understand that Google needs money to fund their massive operation, but as in the rest of my life the last thing I want to spend my limited time on is slogging through forced advertisements. What kind of way is that to live?

Forums like this are truly gems - where there are people willing to give a considerable amount of their time helping others and sharing information, and not to benefit themselves. So a big THANK YOU to all the members who make this place much more like a community than the typical internet fare.

FBinNY 

Thank you to Sixty Fiver for starting this, and again for leading off with me, and to those who seconded this. Besides the others mentioned, I'll add Hillrider, and Andrew Stewart.

Knowledge comes in various forms, and it takes the combined knowledge of many people to make this forum work. I consider myself more of a generalist or theorist, and quite frankly have little need or interest in knowing all the details of compatibility of new components as they come out. I leave this to those who are willing to track it, and provide valuable specific knowledge to those asking specific compatibility questions.

Others like Mr.Rabbit maintain large databases making them available to those who need specific data.

mrrabbit 

Man my radar is bad the last few days...

Talking about databases, it was John Hurley of CR who provided the impetus for getting off my butt and making the web based gallery database of "spoke heads" a reality. Don't know if John Hurley is a BikeForums member or not, but I though I'd plug his name as well.

As to you FB, the reason you are so good at what you do is simply this:

You are a practitioner of applied "deductive reasoning". Applying deductive reasoning - arguing to the conclusion already contained in your premise - is very difficult to do and requires lots of experience combined with maturity that comes with age. When you meet a great troubleshooting mechanic of any kind whether auto mechanic or bicycle mechanic - you are basically witnessing someone who's put themselves through the process of deductive reasoning on a regular ongoing basic on the job.

Inductive reasoning comes to us naturally and we all do it everyday - that's easy. Applying deductive reasoning is actually hard work but you get better at it in the long run.

=8-)

berner

I would like to add my thanks as I have learned quite a bit here about maintaining my bike. One of these days I'll build a wheel which I feel confident of accomplishing successfully due to the fact that if I need bailing out, the knowledgeable people here will come to the rescue.

Retro Grouch 

I absolutely agree.

A bicycle is a simple machine but the devil is in the details. I'm pretty good with a certain class of bikes, but the details are evolving faster than I can keep pace anymore. There are a number of subjects, mountain bike suspension, SRAM road groups and 10-speed anything, that I know very little about. Furthermore, when taking advice over the internet, the first thing one should do is to evaluate the advice givers. Some are simply a lot better than others. The list of names that have been mentioned so far is an excellent place to start.

contango 

Go ahead and do it. It was people here who inspired me to build a wheel rather than buy one when I cracked my rear wheel.

I was only at the LBS this morning talking about the tools I was going to need. Turns out the owner is willing to lend me a stand to see how I get on before buying one. That's the kind of service that inspires me to give him more business.

aidanpringle

Thank you to everyone who has helped me with my numerous mechanical issues, I've learnt a great deal.
Thanks !

Airburst

I can't really add anything that's not already been said to the list of praises of individual posters, so I'll make my statement a general one. I know I've said some monumentally stupid things on here occasionally, but I've learned an enormous amount, and I owe a significant amount of my bike knowledge to this place. I doubt I'll ever come close to matching some of the people who post here, but that won't stop me trying!

vol

As someone who usually comes to this forum with dumb questions (I don't often come here, but when I do, it's with a dumb question ), I have too many fellow members to thank to be able to list them now on top of my head. I thank them for not ignoring a layman's questions, however trivial (I once asked about a certain type of seat bolt that I couldn't come up with a name, and someone posted a picture of exactly what I was talking about), and responding with timely help, great patience and courtesy.

Maybe the Forums could devise a rewarding system to the most helpful members?

Reynolds 

+1 on FBinNY, mrrabbit, Sixty Fiver, and many more.

FBinNY 

Let's not forget John D. Thompson, Gyozadude, & Retro Grouch.

Mr. Jim

I work for a shop, when I run into a situation I don't have an answer to I, like many others, google it. It never surprises me that one of the top three answers is almost always BF. Happened today, we were having trouble with a set of BB5 disc brakes, imagine that, googled a fix and BF was one of the discussions we looked at, brakes still suck but it gave my head mechanic some place to start.