acidfast7

ok course. i have a nice 20L bag that I use when climbing and it goes quite well on the bike. fwiw, the tires are Schwalbe Smart Sams which roll quite well on asphalt and hard-packed dirt, which is quite useful to me.

bag and bike:

Medic Zero

I'll be surprised if anyone in the commuting forum finds that hot.

acidfast7

not my loss.

perviously, it was a 30km RT urban commute or a longer 40km RT packed dirt commute. mixed with some weekend riding in the local mountains until the local hunters started placing wire at chest level across the non-permitted trails and injuring riders because they were destroying the environment or so they say.

if you do some research you'll see that the Smart Sam is an excellent mixed tire for soft dirt, packed dirt and some asphalt. it's not like i'm going into the Taunus with Marathon Plus tires.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taunus

best part is that Subway pretty much goes into the mountains so one can avoid the boring ride to/from the mountains.

i think it will rain more here in northern England, so I'll pick up some fenders.

Medic Zero

For once, you are making sense, but I still don't think anyone will find that bike hot. That's an uninteresting mountain bike with a paint job like an original Battelstar Galactica Viper.

acidfast7

actually the paint is quite nice compared to the crap that I usually see on here (perhaps that a US/EU divide.)

i do like the fact that all assembly takes place in Germany after the frame is made in Taiwan.

here's some German porn for you:

webtwo

Counterpoint: This scores points for creative photography using limited resources; but it is difficult to score for the same reason.

Simpletommy

...That being said...I could have also cleaned the big-ass plate glass window that makes up that wall of my appartment...

tjspiel

I suppose at this point my tastes might be considered somewhat questionable but I kind of like it. It's not the staid and practical sort of bike you normally think of when it comes to European commuters.

tjspiel

Now I'm more inclined to rate it as hot.

As snarky and off the wall as the Surly folks might like to think of themselves, when it comes right down to it the Crosscheck is sort of like the bicycle version of the Toyota Camry. It's a very practical and non-flashy bike.

You've managed to make one look a little interesting.

Simpletommy

"...with a paint job like an original Battelstar Galactica Viper." great one-liner Medic.

I'm pretty tired of acidfast's constant "Everything is always better in Europe, especially Germany, and the only way everything else in Europe would be better is if it was under German rule. The whole world should be under the rule of one Federated German party." Yeah...I got it...your grass is greener. Isn't that nice?

I personally don't like white bikes but I do like mountain bikes as commuters. However, that is only if they are ridden hard in an urban environment that includes hopping curbs, or urban mixed with dirt MUPs/trails. I think that this bike needs to have fatter slick tires, probably something like Big Apples for paved and hardpack dirt, and something else with some teeth for playing in the soft and muddy stuff. But I'm sure we'll get another lecture about how the German way is better than any way suggested by anyone else in another part of the world.

I find it to be neutral as a commuter bike.

acidfast7

Actually, I found almost everything better in Japan than Europe, especially in Kyoto and in the south (Kyushu). I was also quite impressed with the Japanese command of English and German. I enjoyed the Yokohama region but wasn't so impressed with the high concentration of Americans in Kanagawa.

Also, I find your choice of bike both interesting and sad. You live in a country with super interesting commuting bike options (holder for translucent umbrellas anyone?) but your find choice is very pedestrian and stuck in the whole road bike mode for commuting. American serving over there perhaps?

I think that the tires are pretty much as you describe a flat rolling with tiny teeth for muddy stuff. Rolling resistance is quite low.

https://www.google.com/search?q=smar...w=1280&bih=702

edit: as far as the Battlestar Galactica comment, I haven't seen the shows/movie/read the books nor would most likely associate with someone who has, so I had to look it up, and it's quite correct ... never heard of that before.

Germany_chris

Those of us the choose to live overseas tend to view the place we currently live as better than the place we left behind. It's not exactly easy to establish residence and find a job in a place where you don't speak the language proficiently. I've lived in Germany for just under 10 years and I have no intention of going back unless I absolutely have to. I cannot think of anything that is "better" in America than here. One of the biggest things I like about the Germans is when a fault a system is found it's actively worked on until it's fixed. For example 10-15 years ago it was discovered that German kids were falling behind in international testing, there was no parochial justifications they just fixed the problem. My daughter will never leave the German education system it is simply better by any performance metric. I sleep better at night knowing that even if she doesn't make it on the college track that her education will prepare her for the future unlike the American HS experience.

acidfast7

No Child Left Behind ... just slow everyone down ... well, it is a solution per se.

mikhalit

Yet lots of Germans complain about "streaming by ability" approach. I see it as a major flaw in German education system. To bring everyone up (educators at first place) would be a better way but it's more difficult.

Germany_chris

Not everyone can go up and those that mistracked are provided an oppotunity to rectify it. My wife works for a small university her immediate supervisor is a Prof. Dr. and the head of the marketing program and never attended gymnasium, he is of course the exception his exceptionalism proves the validity of the system. Tracking is an elegant solution to an imperfect system. The American system where everyone is feed one curriculum is in-eloquent and has proven disastrous to the blue collar work force.

Simpletommy

...And I've fallen into the trap myself...

To everyone, I am sorry that I have fallen into the trap that so many others before me have; letting another thread on this forum become derailed in the same damned manner as so many others. I obviously let my ire get the better of me.

Germany_chris

This thread hasn't been on track in a long while so whats the big deal?

mikhalit

I get your point. And I am not comparing the local system to the American one, i just think there is a huge room for improvement and German system is still far from the optimal, imo.

As i understand the problem, quite a few may never be able to realize their full potential. I just briefly discussed this issue with my collegues and all agreed that nowadays it's the education level of parents that defines the level of education of their kids.

E.g. people in academia have an advantage of being able to recognize what needs to be done to get on the right track, while many immigrants or jobless or whomsoever might have a little clue.

I am quite curious what is the future of Gesamtschule, if it will ever take the place of the tripartite system.

acidfast7

It wasn't so long ago that people were providing their parents' names and professions on their lebenslauf ("lifewalk" ... kinda like a German CV). In fact, I still get applications from Germans that provide this information when their parents are professors, doctors, lawyers, judges, etc...

Personally, being brought up in America, I find it quite strange, but that older generation of Germans don't find it strange at all. And, with the competition for really great jobs as tight as it currently is, I guess that I can't blame the applicants

examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=lebe...w=1280&bih=666

Germany_chris

There is always room for improvement in any process and educating children is a process. It maybe time for the Germans to take ques from the Finns and integrate more advanced students in teaching those that are not thus reinforcing the learning of the "teacher" and providing a non authoritarian educator whom may be the same ethnic background to help the student.

The macro level of education though is to provide a diverse and skilled workforce, this is what the German system delivers in spades.

I live in Bavaria where Gesamtschule isn't particularly popular the only one I've heard of is in Nurnberg so I cannot hazard a guess to it's effects or lack of them nor its validity going forward.

acidfast7

+1 agree. especially through the 300+ certified apprenticeship programs. it also provides a living wage after the apprenticeship is completed.

I know it's not the same, but in Mainz the Realschule and Hauptschule have been combined into a Mittelschule. Completion of Mittelschule is not the same of completion of Gymnasium and no Abitur is awarded. I've seen a few students get into a "vordiplom" program (Biochemie) but only after passing an oral Begabtenprüfung with all professors in the program.

The use of oral exams is quite strange from American perspective as there's no written documentation (just a second person who ensures that it was fair).

The bottlenecks are in different places in the different systems.

FWIW: I just had my first meeting with my new UK colleagues ... and they all stressed that there is no "competition" among faculty members. They also stressed that this isn't Germany and we don't need to fight each other to make ourselves stronger, like how it is in Germany. Then we loaded in my car ... with the steering wheel on the wrong side ... and the satnav in German. They immediately changed the language English after 2 words in German. I can already feel my German slipping away

Germany_chris

Grading Oral exams is a big part of my wifes jobs. It started with just the English classes and has now moved to all classes taught in English in the business program. The oral exam is something else Americans could pluck from the German system and use to great effect.

acidfast7

I think it's an interesting concept for language ... but for biochemistry? It does hurt by American sensibilities for fairness slightly.

Germany_chris

Giving public presentations under stress is something students will do from the day they leave the education system. If you've been doing it for every class for 126 semester hours it removes some of the stress and give you ample practice. Second it's very hard to BS your was through subject matter when you have to talk about it.

Mr. Hairy Legs

This whole last page is 'not'.