You just defined it.;)

I am honest to goodness curious. What event are you referring to?

French and Indian I presume. It's a stretch, but what the hell, toss our friendly neighbors to the north a bone, eh!

@Burton, Surrender pronto, or we bomb Toronto!

Aside from making better beer - I was referring to the war of 1812 - but please don't take things too seriously - my dad was American :)

Promise??? Do that and I'll send a case of whateveryouwant!! :lol:

Did you forget the Montreal / Toronto rivalry?

I know, I know. I gotta say I love driving on Rt 81 heading south rather than NY Thruway to 95. I'd much rather drive amongst the Ontario peeps than the Quebecois! And while your mediocre lager is superior to ours, I think we have you beat on the craft beer tip. Oh, and NY maple syrup is the best. There I said it.

Nah, I am just a history enthusiast. Not sure how I forgot about that one lol

:lol: You left out the part about the US voluntarily adopting a second language instead of some small minority threating to take their toys and go home if they didn't get their own way!
Don't know about the maple syrup but skiing was pretty good south of the border! :beer:

:lol:

this is true

also, any country that has a National Strategic Reserve of Maple Syrup has their priorities straight in my book :D

Here, it's a special reserve of each specific Oktoberfest brew :lol:

I must say I enjoy your posts and I hope you don't "tone them down". Hearing from people living on different parts of the globe is one of the things I like most about this forum.

You should be careful, you'll be considered "too political" for Commuting, even if your comment is an observation about the number of homeless in the US :lol: Sometimes I feel like it's poking a caged animal, but I digress.

I do find it humorous when on the forum I show some cables routed in "euro"-style people treat it as a mistake or odd. Never mind the fact there's more bikes cabled that way (Euro-style) than non-Euro-style in the Western hemisphere (and possibly globally).

It just confirms that the US is an insular place. An an aside, I still get faculty selection committees or hiring managers that look at my CV and ask why would an American want to work extensively in Europe (5+ years)? My response is why would I not want to :lol: Maybe the people asking the question can't handle a few new languages? I always answer that way, because if management/faculty have that attitude, it not a place I want on my CV :lol:

I need to head your way at some point. Maybe an Iberian tour?

You should try the touring forum! According to the reps at Shimano - touring products represent 1% of their bike related sales worldwide, and NA represents 1% of THAT 1%! :lol:

But most sales are in China and Japan and since this is an English forum and 99% of the Chinese don't have Internet anyway - we're getting a very Americanized view of bicycle touring. :lol: Don't know about your experiences but in the countries I've visited the word 'tourist' is usually said with a condesending sneer. 'Traveler' is a different story altogether. :innocent:

:lol:

same could be said for people riding drops as an NA-only thing.

do you mean touring as in parts with "t" in their number ... like fc-t551

http://www.amazon.de/SHIMANO-Kettenr...1800527&sr=8-1

i think those parts are quite bad-ass actually and want to swap out my fc-m442 for one of the touring versions.

In the NA dealer's cataloge there isn't even a 'touring' section. The 'T' designation here means Treking whereas in Germany I think it refers to Treking/Touring. Yeah - those cranks are good for touring on level ground because they're geared lower than a road crank but higher than a mtb. I say level ground because coupling that 48/36/26 with a 700c wheelset (the common approach in NA) wouldn't be my first choice for loaded touring. With a 26"wheel it would be OK but with a 700 wheel and loaded touring in the mountains I might want to go down in chainring size to a 44/32/22. Thats just me - and I'm Canadian :lol:

actually, a lot of companies make almost identical bikes in the same line-up with 559s or 622s.

559s: http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/bike...re-xt-30-gang/

622s: http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/bike...re-xt-30-gang/

Ooooooooppppssss ...... think we've kinda derailled this thread :eek:
:trainwreck:
Those Abus Bordo Lite's still haven't come in yet but when they do I'll show proper etiquette by posting an evaluation. :beer:

cool, i see them all the time ... maybe on 40% of the bikes I see locked up at the uni

Not to mention coming stock with Magura hydraulic brakes, Ergon grips and Schwalbe Marathon tires! :notamused:
You left out one little detail - lots of companies IN GERMANY :lol: Maybe you can add that one to your posts!

what's wrong with:

Magura
Ergon
Schwalbe

they're the best

Angela Merkel tells me so.

Here is a story about the tragic looting of said reserve. Fascinating stuff.

http://www.businessweek.com/printer/...le-syrup-heist

:lol:

i have a lot of friends from Europe in MTL and they keep me updated.

they also get bodies (torsos actually) in suitcases where they live

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rnet-cafe.html

:lol:

To add insult to injury you will be cited as well for obstructing a hydrant lol.

The problem is ...... they're over there .... and I'm over here ..... where well equipped bikes seem to be a pipe dream and everyone's selling 'recreational vehicles'.

elitist euro commutng, right? I should fit right in...

OK - do we got a little carried away! At least a few people were having fun and not bickering! If you wanna maje a post that brings things back on track - feel free!