Me too :)

where?

You're the man! I was just writing a little something about it for the old blogerino and I was thinking "I wonder if Andy will have had that changed by the time I hit publish." :)

14th floor, with the LCBO

I've heard that wheels on fixed gear bikes have to be especially stiff/rigid to handle the added torque and such of fixed riding. Is this BS, or is there a certain type of wheel and/or rim/spoke combination I should know about when I choose the wheels for my build?

These look pretty good, for the price. Any thoughts?
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/691886347.html

haha coolio I'm on 4, the floor with the poisonous cafeteria and bad coffee.

Oh I frequent that floor for the rye toast...

I don't know about that re: extra torque, etc. But I know it's not recommended to have radial lacing on the back for that reason, other than that I don't know.

That wheelset caught my eye, too - sounds fairly decent, it's something I would consider for myself if I had the bucks to burn right now.

test email.. feedback?

"I must admit to being pretty put off by your headline regarding the latest cyclist death on our streets. It seems pretty badly worded in that it seemed the cyclist just so happened to run into an open car door and killed himself by falling under the wheels of another truck. Once I logged in and got settled it would appear that many of my brethren on bikes were equally put off, saying your words read as if you were implying blame on the cyclist. This may have been unintentional, but the damage is done in the public eye, as cyclist tend to read stories about dead cyclists more than most folks. FYI...Cyclists DO NOT accidently collide with opening car doors. Drivers break the existing laws on the books and open doors into the path of oncoming cyclists without looking, plain and simple. In our congested environment it's not always possible to avoid riding in the door zone, but it is possible AND REQUIRED, by law, to make sure that when one opens their door on the side of the street one doesn't inadvertently throw a metal wall in front of a moving cyclist causing them to crash or in this case push them under the wheels of another vehicle.

It's a pretty simple law.... strange how drivers rarely open car doors in front of other cars and have their doors torn off though. I, and a fair number of cyclists who read your piece would really appreciate some form of editing to make this a bit more accurate or at least seeming a bit less biased *edit* against the deceased/edit. please and thank-you."

+1 on all that. :)

I hit a woman in Yorkville a couple years ago. She walked out between parked cars without looking. I totally shoulder-checked her. I guess she saw stopped traffic and just ASSUMED she could strut across.. best part? Her yelling at me: "Watch where you're going!!!"

:thumb:

I like the way if you creep along the streetcar driver will not ding/freak if you eek your way through the loading and unloading of TTC users. I do get the occasionally lemming..'look there's the streetcar' step off's. In all my years commuting here I've never been dinged by a TTC driver. I guess being part of the solution actually helps sometimes. These guys know how traffic works...I've even had occasion when racing the streetcar, he's totally beat me to the corner but will actually wait for me to pass before opening the doors. I think it's also to let the cyclist get a couple blocks away so we're not in front of them anymore.

While I too blow stops/reds etc, I do so safely without freaking anyone out.... I feel you there flimflam, some really stooopid red runs out there. Just waitin' for the skreech bang one day.

nvm i should have read this page before posting lol

Yeah I appreciate the TTC drivers, like you said they know how it works - just like messengers/cabbies - for the most part it's all good. I had one streetcar pull up behind me at Carlton/Parliament this morning, he was wanting to do the right turn there so I just skootched over for him after a quick "you going right?" check - it's all about minimizing troubles for me and everyone around. Another one this morning was I let a big rig come onto the road (from the 401 offramp) by me staying in the centre lane of Brock in Whitby here, he waved very appreciatively - no point in delaying others if I can help it, I figure.

I had to play "pacifist" between a cabbie and my buddy on Wednesday night, and I made damn sure this cabbie knew that all cyclists weren't like my (admittedly drunk) buddy, and I apologized - apparently the cabbie mouthed off at him as he clipped the passenger mirror, so drunken mouth-off started.

Thanks for the effort there TJ!

Drunk in traffic.. a recipe for disaster... it's almost gotten me killed a few times when I was a Beer Fish. Least I remember how I got home these days, there's been many a morning I woke up not know HTF I got home in one piece. This wasn't meant to sound preachy I swear, I've also had some amazing rips in traffic while drunk :innocent:.

i'm sure the Star reporter would be surprised how easy it is to hit an open car door in traffic when it's flung open in your face...

email sent to the reporter and letters to the editor

i have to say that the pedestrians walking in traffic for the street car that's a block away really irks me too. these days i ride as close to the streetcar as possible as i know it's not going to swerve and that way i'm as far away from street-lurkers as possible. actually i had a close calla while ago in the same situation while driving a car. i'm honking at people on the street and there just standing there shaking their fists at me. mob rule i guess?
i had a similar pedestrian collision as wes - i hit a guy a few years ago while he was j-walking across the danforth in rushour moving traffic. came out of nowhere and his friend starts yelling at me. i wonder if he got hit by a car he would yell at a driver. should we start carrying jousting sticks?

Wes/Dom, Twin Six order should be going in next week - I'll be in touch w/ what your orders come to.

Cog?

Still no stock. I'm going to order some Surly ones instead but I'll also try to find out when the supplier expects more of the Shimano ones in case they're not far off.

Who makes a SS shimano cassette compatible cog in a 20 something? Looking to achieve 2:1 on the TBL so it can get dirty.
As well.... rock solid tensioning so the chain doesn't drop. I run a couple cogs in the back, so eno hubs aren't the solution.
Is that 75$ tensioner the bomb, or can I alter the spring in my crappy 20$ tensioner?

As terrible as a ped strike is..... I'll wager they've started looking before stepping out now. Most only ever get hit once, you'd hope.

I had a guy run into me last week in the EXACT same spot that a car ran into last October. He got shoulder checked, I stayed on the bike and he at least yelled "Sorry Buddy!" after the fact... Could have been bad but the little dance he did before we collided made the experience pretty hilarious.

second email sent to Star PPL

Perhaps:

Cyclist dies after being knocked into traffic by parked car opening door.

Cheers.

Torque on the hub depends on the gear ratio (torque is actually higher with lower ratios), not really on the drivetrain. Like on any bike, the quality of the wheel built (spoke tension) is what's important. A 3x 36h wheel is pretty much indestructible.