Notices by Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)

Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 16-Oct-2019 15:07:31 EDT Nick

jeans paul sartre

In conversation Wednesday, 16-Oct-2019 15:07:31 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jul-2019 17:35:24 EDT Nick

Grocery mode engage

In conversation Friday, 19-Jul-2019 17:35:24 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 15-Jul-2019 20:34:47 EDT Nick

Also I am pleased to use an extremely broad brush for bigotry because you know what there's a fucking' lot of them and they can ALL fuck off

In conversation Monday, 15-Jul-2019 20:34:47 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 12-Jul-2019 15:00:18 EDT Nick

me: anime is ridiuclous let's see what's new in american tv
american tv:

In conversation Friday, 12-Jul-2019 15:00:18 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jul-2019 22:30:52 EDT Nick

🎶 Brown's BODY lies mold'ring--🎶
::giant hook emerges from offstage::

In conversation Wednesday, 10-Jul-2019 22:30:52 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 09-Jul-2019 15:58:22 EDT Nick

Panda: I'm certainly not going to do what I'm supposed to do, and whatever I'm going to do, I'm going to do it painfully slowly
Me: I'm a panda, this explains so much

In conversation Tuesday, 09-Jul-2019 15:58:22 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 06-Jul-2019 16:06:58 EDT Nick

periodic bikefriend reminder to squirt some triflow, w40, or chain lube in your u-locks

In conversation Saturday, 06-Jul-2019 16:06:58 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 05-Jul-2019 18:55:29 EDT Nick

This is interesting reading, to which my main reaction is "but removing a stuck square taper crank is so uniquely unpleasant"
https://janheine.wordpress.com/2019/07/05/why-square-taper-bottom-brackets/
In conversation Friday, 05-Jul-2019 18:55:29 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Attachments
1. Why Square Taper Bottom Brackets?
  
  By Jan Heine from Off The Beaten Path
  Square taper bottom brackets may seem like anachronisms dating from the last century, and yet they remain the best option for metal cranks. Here is why our Rene Herse cranks use square tapers and will continue to do so in the future.
  
  Modern bottom brackets have larger spindles, so they can use thinner walls. The result is a lighter bottom bracket – but the larger spindle requires more material on the crank.
  
  No problem on a carbon crank (above), which needs to be large anyhow, because carbon is very light, but also bulky. Just don’t try to replicate the massive shape of a carbon crank in aluminum: It will get very heavy.
  
  Our Rene Herse cranks are so incredibly light – just 490 grams for the 42/24 shown above – because they use only as much material as necessary. We’ve optimized the shape using Finite Element Analysis to remove all material that isn’t needed, but keeping aluminum where it’s needed for strength. The photo above shows that there is just enough material to fit a slender square taper spindle. Imagine how much material we’d have to add to make room for a massive spindle!
  
  The light weight doesn’t come at the expense of durability or safety: Our cranks pass the most stringent EN ‘Racing Bike’ test for fatigue resistance. Few other aluminum cranks are as light and as strong.
  
  There is another benefit of square tapers: The taper reforms itself every time you install the crank. You can remove and install the cranks dozens (or hundreds) of times, yet the square tapers will not develop play. And even if a crank comes loose by accident because the crank bolt wasn’t tightened enough, you can usually reform the taper: Tighten the crank bolt as much as you can, then ride the bike for 5 miles, retighten the bolt, etc. Do this five times, and the taper will usually be fine, unless it’s really been damaged beyond repair.
  
  The smaller spindle of a square taper has another advantage: It leaves more room for the bearings. Above is an SKF bottom bracket that I cut open after years of use. The large ball in the center shows the size of the balls used in the SKF bottom bracket. On the right is a typical, much smaller, ball from a modern bottom bracket.
  
  Bike makers now work around that problem with new standards that use bigger bottom bracket shells. For carbon frames, this works fine, since you have a lot of material in the BB region anyhow. A steel frame built to a ‘modern’ BB standard will be quite heavy, as the oversize bottom bracket shell adds a lot of material. Bottom bracket shells are the heaviest part of a metal frame, so keeping them as small as possible is useful for keeping the frame weight down.
  
  And then there is the issue of the ever-changing standards, because none work as well as the old square taper. It didn’t come as a surprise when Allied, the US-based maker of high-end carbon frames, decided to return to the BSC/BSA bottom bracket standard. Their web site explains: “After more than a decade of changing bottom bracket standards, we are happily back to BSA. No more creaking, easy to service and just as light as any other bottom bracket standard. Your mechanic will thank you.”
  
  Aren’t there performance advantages with bigger spindles? In theory, the bigger spindles are stiffer. In practice, all spindles are stiff enough. Your frame flexes far more than your bottom bracket spindle. The reason we haven’t done a double-blind test of crank stiffness is simple: It’s so pointless that it isn’t worth the effort. Eddy Merckx used square tapers, and so do the Japanese Keirin track sprinters. If they can’t flex them, neither can you and I! In fact, I’ve raced our square taper cranks in Japan’s toughest gravel race (above) – without any issues.
  
  It’s only for mountain biking with its huge jumps – especially downhill – where the higher impact strength of larger spindles is useful. That is why we don’t recommend Rene Herse cranks for mountain bikes. On the road, cranks don’t fail due to impact, but they fatigue after many miles of use. To resist those forces, we forge our cranks. This aligns the grain structure to make them more resistant to fatigue.
  
  We give a 10-year warranty on our Rene Herse cranks as well as on our SKF bottom brackets. Few makers are prepared to stand behind their products for that long. This illustrates how much confidence we have in our square tapers (and the rest of our cranks and bottom brackets). We’ve spared no expense to make them as good as they could possibly be.
  
  Click on the links below more information:
  
  Rene Herse cranks
  
  SKF bottom brackets
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Jul-2019 21:13:38 EDT Nick

One of the things I had not realized is that zinc-based sunscreens are less likely than oxybenzone sunscreens to make your eyes sting, which is information that is super fucking important IMO if you are a human who sweats

In conversation Monday, 01-Jul-2019 21:13:38 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Jun-2019 11:44:04 EDT Nick

ahaha

In conversation Monday, 24-Jun-2019 11:44:04 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Jun-2019 20:03:38 EDT Nick

Hmmm https://cal.streetsblog.org/2019/06/18/parking-protected-bike-lanes-even-when-built-on-the-cheap-work-really-well/#new_tab
In conversation Tuesday, 18-Jun-2019 20:03:38 EDT from mastodon.social permalink
Attachments
1. Parking-Protected Bike Lanes, Even When Built on the Cheap, Work Really Well
  
  By Melanie Curry from Streetsblog California
  
  These graphics tell a clear story about improved safety for everyone on Telegraph Avenue.

Public

Notices by Nick (kukkurovaca@mastodon.social)