Bike porn

... so about 540N is applied to the lower element of the bottle cage, the important (i.e. weak) part of which is the beam under the bottle consisting of two parallel flat steel plates of approximately 4mm x 1mm section and 40mm long, loaded in the worst possible way. ...

I'm not sure why you're focusing on the bottom of the bottle cage? The beam the cablestop hangs from is connected to the strip that runs down the back of the bottle cage. That strip appears to continue to the top of the cage, so would take the load in tension.

I'd be worried about the dodgy join between the beam and that back strip. If the joint from the beam to the connector is free to pivot, you'd get some movement from the strip bending at the top of the connector allowing the pivot to move down a little.

But i'd be more worried about the beam itself and the risk of it buckling sideways then bending down in the middle, pulling the bottle cage backwards as it goes. The connection to the cablestop doesn't seem particularly careful to avoid the twisting that could precipitate failure.

It is an otherwise lovely bicycle though.

That strip appears to continue to the top of the cage, so would take the load in tension.

Good point well made. Given the low resolution and poor focus at that point, it wasn't immediately obvious that this was so, but on a second look it does seem to be the case. There are still plenty of places for the Meccano to bend, twist or otherwise move, but the bend in the element you describe, along with the angle by which 'my' element has pulled away from the bottom of the bottle, suggests that your element has already self adjusted to its ideal position. As others, and you, have noted, the next failure looks like a twist in the beam joining the quill to the bottle cage thanks to the off axis load from the cable stop, and as this has a lot of leverage over the jubilee clips clamping the bottle cage to the bars, I'd expect them to rotate, along with some complex bending and twisting of the interconnecting elements of the bottle cage itself.

Of course, we all know that nodders frequently fail to make adequate, or sometimes any, use of the front brake, which makes discussion of it's viability to make a maximal stop moot.

Good point well made. Given the low resolution and poor focus at that point, it wasn't immediately obvious that this was so, but on a second look it does seem to be the case. There are still plenty of places for the Meccano to bend, twist or otherwise move, but the bend in the element you describe, along with the angle by which 'my' element has pulled away from the bottom of the bottle, suggests that your element has already self adjusted to its ideal position. As others, and you, have noted, the next failure looks like a twist in the beam joining the quill to the bottle cage thanks to the off axis load from the cable stop, and as this has a lot of leverage over the jubilee clips clamping the bottle cage to the bars, I'd expect them to rotate, along with some complex bending and twisting of the interconnecting elements of the bottle cage itself.

Of course, we all know that nodders frequently fail to make adequate, or sometimes any, use of the front brake, which makes discussion of it's viability to make a maximal stop moot.

Good work, Mdcc_tester and Oswald!! All us thickos here at lfgss.com are being well and truly covered in a bukake-fest of reflected boffin glory with this meandering (and very well-written diatribe). Long may you both keep up this sterling exercise in frivolous, otiose ingenuity... it's the sort of stuff that continues to make Britain almost great!! xx

Amen

new S&M splined sprocket, made from steel!

Now we are talking Porn

http://velospace.org/files/p245561771-5b.jpg

^Now that is porn.

http://velospace.org/files/p245561771-5b.jpg

i have a hard time with bikes like this.

So 'spensive and so planned out, yet single speeded and geared to go slow. Right when you're gonna let the bike sing, you run out of legs. why spend so much on a bike thats only good when pointed slightly up hill or in some techy spots? 60% of whats fun about single track and XC riding is when you get to rip on the fast parts.

sorry but I can't help thinking all single speed XC MTBs are completely ridiculous. Maybe an excercise in graceful building and certainly a good conversation starter for mustached chatter fucks, but as a machine to rip on, they fail. 100%.

XC bikes need a few gears to really go. Always anti for me.

I understand where you're coming from Jersey.

But, in the winters that we have over here, SS MTBs are ideal. Agreed, in the summer, gears are the way to go.

In other news:

Geekhouse street fixed.

^^yea was looking at that yesterday and thought that it was nice. My brother is in the market for a new expensive bike. Thinking he should go with a Geek like that but with a lighter build.

That'd be nice.

^nasty (the geekhouse)

Hush up.

By the way Jersey, I'm a bit late with this but love the foldy. Pretty quick turnaround too. Don't give it to your girl. Well, not like that anyway.

sorry but I can't help thinking all single speed XC MTBs are completely ridiculous. Maybe an excercise in graceful building and certainly a good conversation starter for mustached chatter fucks, but as a machine to rip on, they fail. 100%.

XC bikes need a few gears to really go. Always anti for me.

IME they aren't much slower and generally faster up, i found the only limiting factor was the fork travel (on mine a 100mm fox compared to a 140/150 fork on my geared bikes) but you could say that about a short travel 'race' bike. it depends on the terrain you ride too. for twisty surrey hills singletrack they are well suited.
i guess if you are unfit and a bit of a pie eater then they wouldn't be fun to ride

they are no more "completely ridiculous" than a fixed gear bike on the roads.

sorry but I can't help thinking all single speed XC MTBs are completely ridiculous

Don't play in the mud much, do you?

^^^ not to swing dick, but i've been riding MTB for 20+ years and raced for 12 or so. Grew up literally obsessing over MTBs. I'm actually new(ish) to the road scene (5 years or so). Soooooo, i get it, but i also get it well enough to know that MTB gears are pretty resistant to mud, if well maintained in their down time.

anyway horses for.... each their own.

By the way Jersey, I'm a bit late with this but love the foldy. Pretty quick turnaround too. Don't give it to your girl. Well, not like that anyway.

after this i'll stop messing with the porn thread.

thanks... yea i am gonna give it to her. But needs some hand brakes i think. new seat. also that handle bar is worth more than the bike, so thats gonna go as well for something more sensible.

new S&M splined sprocket, made from steel!

I'm assuming for Profile cranks since they have splined axle?

Or any splined axle crank...

(that fits)

^^^ not to swing dick, but i've been riding MTB for 20+ years and raced for 12 or so. Grew up literally obsessing over MTBs. I'm actually new(ish) to the road scene (5 years or so). Soooooo, i get it, but i also get it well enough to know that MTB gears are pretty resistant to mud, if well maintained in their down time.

anyway horses for.... each their own.

Again, true.

But maybe you've not experienced the British winter.

If you ride your MTB 2-3 times a week through the winter, and that winter the temperatures are constantly -5 to +5 degrees centigrade, then the last thing you're going to want to be doing is scrubbing your gears with a toothbrush and a (frozen) hosepipe!

SS means less regular maintenance until the spring when the gears can come out again!

Much like people having fixed winter steeds for the road and geared for the summer. Just look at the proliferation of geared bikes in the projects thread.

Even if you have a garage, it's not much use. For a large proportion of this winter, my parents garage (where I keep my MTB) was around zero, or colder!

Jersey lives in Cleveland.

He knows what real winter temperatures are like.

In that case, as he said - Horses for courses.

Maybe I just need to HTFU and clean my bike without thinking about the onset of frostbite!

I admit, I'm a wimp :-(

Weirdly, I just put a record on by a Cleveland band just before clicking on this thread.

@dmczone, That photo on the blog reminds me very much of a snapshot I have of driving through East London this winter!

Brrr... Don't remind me.