Extreme Cycling - Experiments in Speed

The biggest chain ring ever
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Experiments in speed. Inspired by those great men of the salt flats, those men that in the 60s pushed the Land Speed Record from the 300s up towards the 600mph mark in jet-propelled cars built in their sheds. We decided to do what we do: build a bicycle, but this time, in the spirit of those pioneers of speed, build it to see how fast we could go…

donhoubicycles.com
spindleproductions.co.uk

Director | Greg Hackett
Editor | Tim Swaby
Production Company | Spindle Productions
Sound Recordist | Adam Williams
Camera Assistant | Greg Harris
Production Assistant | Dickon Ireland
Aerial Cameras | Ben Kenobe Ben Sturgess Chris Ridley
Photographer | Tristan Conor Holden
Composer | Daniel J. Harvey

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31 comments
1 HappyWarrior  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:16:17pm

Holy shit. Too bad Hilts didn’t have one of these bad boys in the Great Escape. (Was watching it again the other night)

2 freetoken  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:18:24pm

Speaking of extreme:

Anti Abortion Activists Give Children Toy Fetuses at State Fair

Children attending a parade at the North Dakota State Fair received gifts this past weekend that they may not have been expecting: toy fetuses, courtesy of a local anti-abortion activist group.

[…]

3 Balfour Rage  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:23:28pm

On my way from Houston to San Francisco for my birthday. While walking to the terminal, I saw a Fox News newsstand. I walked in and purchased copies of the NY Times, The Nation, and Mother Jones. Then picked up Das Kapital as well.

4 Charles Johnson  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:25:22pm

Over 100mph on rollers! Incroyable!

5 HappyWarrior  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:32:26pm

salon.com
File this under shit you can’t make up.

6 freetoken  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:35:10pm

Extreme makeovers:

Instant Index: Monopoly Game Getting Rid of Jail

There’s an extreme makeover coming to the classic American board game Monopoly. Makers of the iconic board game are getting rid of jail to make the game shorter for American families. The creators of the game say the children have shorter attention spans.

But….

Whew, Monopoly Isn’t Getting Rid of Jail After All

I wanted to get to the bottom of this controversy (see below), so I e-mailed Hasbro’s Nicole Agnello, a publicity manager at Hasbro. We exchanged e-mails, and she assured me that the “jail” spaces are intact in Monopoly Empire:

The Monopoly Empire game has a different game play where players buy and sell brands, rather than real estate but there are still the traditional ‘go to jail’ spaces on the board.

I also asked her about a colleague’s quote in The Wall Street Journal, wondering if it applied to any Monopoly game on the market. She wrote back:

The jail spaces have not been removed from any Monopoly games.

So there you have it. Jail spaces, according to the Hasbro people themselves, have not been removed from Monopoly games right now. The free world can rest easy. For now.

[…]

Yet further down on that Atlantic Wire story:

[…]

Monopoly isn’t the only game adopting to changes changes in kids’ time commitments. Scrabble, Zimmerman notes, has a fast and furious version of the game that can be completed in two minutes and 30 seconds. And there are speedy versions of Boggle and Rubik’s Cubes on the market, too. These are all designed to fit into the pockets of time allotted to kids these days in between gymnastics classes, test prep courses, and whatever else they’re signed up for.

Curmudgeon I may be, but this gets to one of my soapboxes. Kids these days are being kept busy, but they are not being developed in their actual skills. We just keep them busy.

7 EPR-radar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:38:11pm

re: #5 HappyWarrior

salon.com
File this under shit you can’t make up.

Of course Zimmerman has much higher approval among Republicans than Obama. No surprise at all, sadly.

The numbers aren’t even close.

Obama 18/79 favorable/unfavorable.

Zimmerman 45/27 favorable/unfavorable.

This is apparently a Fox News poll, so caution is needed, but the result is very plausible.

8 HappyWarrior  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:40:45pm

re: #7 EPR-radar

Of course Zimmerman has much higher approval among Republicans than Obama. No surprise at all, sadly.

The numbers aren’t even close.

Obama 18/79 favorable/unfavorable.

Zimmerman 45/27 favorable/unfavorable.

This is apparently a Fox News poll, so caution is needed, but the result is very plausible.

I’m starting to think that Onion article about Republican voters favoring Mahmoud Ahmainjad over Obama wasn’t far off.

9 b.d.  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:40:58pm

re: #7 EPR-radar

Of course Zimmerman has much higher approval among Republicans than Obama. No surprise at all, sadly.

The numbers aren’t even close.

Obama 18/79 favorable/unfavorable.

Zimmerman 45/27 favorable/unfavorable.

This is apparently a Fox News poll, so caution is needed, but the result is very plausible.

Of course Zimmerman is more popular.

Obama only killed Osama while Zimmerman killed a …….

//

10 darthstar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:42:50pm

Nice video, Charles. Thanks.

11 HappyWarrior  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:44:19pm

re: #9 b.d.

Of course Zimmerman is more popular.

Obama only killed Osama while Zimmerman killed a …….

//

The funniest thing is Liz Cheney going around saying Obama doesn’t care about stopping global terrorism. Yeah that dead Bin Laden guy and some otehr Al Queda high ups may disagree Liz. And then there are the other extreme who think Obama is the worst war mongrel ever.

12 EPR-radar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:45:22pm

re: #8 HappyWarrior

I’m starting to think that Onion article about Republican voters favoring Mahmoud Ahmainjad over Obama wasn’t far off.

The Onion could write a parody today about Hitler polling more favorably among Republicans than Obama that would likely become true in 2015, especially if the 2014 midterms are disappointing for the GOP.

13 darthstar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:51:03pm
14 darthstar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:52:20pm

re: #7 EPR-radar

Of course Zimmerman has much higher approval among Republicans than Obama. No surprise at all, sadly.

The numbers aren’t even close.

Obama 18/79 favorable/unfavorable.

Zimmerman 45/27 favorable/unfavorable.

This is apparently a Fox News poll, so caution is needed, but the result is very plausible.

Why the fuck would an acquitted murderer have an approval rating and who the hell cares? Seriously, they want to compare that piece of shit mall cop wannabe to President Obama? Stupid motherfuckers at Fox.

15 EPR-radar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:53:48pm

re: #14 darthstar

Why the fuck would an acquitted murderer have an approval rating and who the hell cares? Seriously, they want to compare that piece of shit mall cop wannabe to President Obama? Stupid motherfuckers at Fox.

Red meat for their racist customers, of course.

16 HappyWarrior  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:56:52pm

re: #14 darthstar

Why the fuck would an acquitted murderer have an approval rating and who the hell cares? Seriously, they want to compare that piece of shit mall cop wannabe to President Obama? Stupid motherfuckers at Fox.

Fox News 1933: Who do you approve more of Al Capone or FDR?

17 darthstar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 4:59:32pm

re: #16 HappyWarrior

Fox News 1933: Who do you approve more of Al Capone or FDR?

FoxNews 33: Barabas or Jesus?

18 Decatur Deb  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:01:24pm

re: #16 HappyWarrior

Fox News 1933: Who do you approve more of Al Capone or FDR?

You would not have liked the printout.

19 GeneJockey  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:03:39pm

re: #11 HappyWarrior

The funniest thing is Liz Cheney going around saying Obama doesn’t care about stopping global terrorism. Yeah that dead Bin Laden guy and some otehr Al Queda high ups may disagree Liz. And then there are the other extreme who think Obama is the worst war mongrel ever.

It’s not about how many terrorists you kill, it’s about how many countries you take over.
//

20 Stoatly  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:07:34pm

Looks like they were running that bike not too far from where I am right now - though scraping ice off windscreens is a distant memory in the current weather.

It’s good cycling country - apparently Kraftwerk decided to play a gig here because they could cycle the last part of their journey to the venue!

21 EPR-radar  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:08:31pm

re: #19 Mateo Scourge

It’s not about how many terrorists you kill, it’s about how many countries you take over.
//

The real point is how many suitcases full of $100 bills can disappear into the pockets of one’s cronies in the chaos of a poorly run occupation. /half

22 wrenchwench  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:48:13pm

Just handed over a major project to its new owner. I sold the guy a frame, then I sold him all the parts, then I assembled it. There was a lot of frustration helping him choose compatible parts, and some satisfaction in making all those parts work together. Only had to make the front derailler a little bit crooked to work perfectly.

It won’t be setting any speed records. The biggest chain ring only has 46 teeth.

23 klys  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:50:32pm

re: #22 wrenchwench

I imagine there’s a lot of satisfaction in seeing something come together, though.

Also, is there an e-mail I can ping you at? In case we end up down the NM way?

Mine is my user name here (reversed) + ai (so it is all one word reversedme+ai) @ that Google thing.

24 GeneJockey  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:57:23pm

re: #22 wrenchwench

Just handed over a major project to its new owner. I sold the guy a frame, then I sold him all the parts, then I assembled it. There was a lot of frustration helping him choose compatible parts, and some satisfaction in making all those parts work together. Only had to make the front derailler a little bit crooked to work perfectly.

It won’t be setting any speed records. The biggest chain ring only has 46 teeth.

I got a lot of satisfaction from building up my own bike. Bought a used, lugged Columbus MAX frame on Ebay, had it repainted Ferrari red. Then slowly put together the rest of the kit - 2006 Chorus, all bright alloy. Phil Wood BB, Chris King headset, 3T stem, American Classic seatpost (one of the few 27.4 seatposts I could find!). Custom wheels with White Industries hubs. I had the local shop put in the BB and HS, but the rest of it I did. It’s a thing of beauty, and I did it myself.

Well, mostly.

25 wrenchwench  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 5:58:19pm

re: #23 klys

I imagine there’s a lot of satisfaction in seeing something come together, though.

Also, is there an e-mail I can ping you at? In case we end up down the NM way?

Mine is my user name here (reversed) + ai (so it is all one word reversedme+ai) @ that Google thing.

Let me see if I can figure that out….

Did it work?

26 klys  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 6:02:16pm

re: #25 wrenchwench

Let me see if I can figure that out….

Did it work?

I haven’t seen anything yet, so in case it wasn’t I sent you a Twitter DM.

…..which is probably what I should have done in the first place, but…

27 wrenchwench  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 6:09:59pm

re: #24 Mateo Scourge

I got a lot of satisfaction from building up my own bike. Bought a used, lugged Columbus MAX frame on Ebay, had it repainted Ferrari red. Then slowly put together the rest of the kit - 2006 Chorus, all bright alloy. Phil Wood BB, Chris King headset, 3T stem, American Classic seatpost (one of the few 27.4 seatposts I could find!). Custom wheels with White Industries hubs. I had the local shop put in the BB and HS, but the rest of it I did. It’s a thing of beauty, and I did it myself.

Well, mostly.

The bike I just did had an Independent Fabrications frame, which was red but got painted black (a lousy paint job at a car painting place), Phil Wood BB, Chris King headset, Thompson stem, seat post, and seat collar, (an American Classic seat post came out of that frame, 26.8), White Industries hubs, the T-11s, did you get those? Man, they are beautiful. XT deraillers, 12-36 cassette, Sugino crank, DuraAce bar end shifters on Paul Thumbies, and XT brakes levers, on a Jones H-Bar Loop. (Trying to get you a picture of that, but their site isn’t coming up: jonesbikes.com ) The fork is from Rivendell, their Carbonomas steel fork, doing just what Grant Peterson intended; replacing a carbon fork.

28 GeneJockey  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 6:28:35pm

I think the hubs might have been a previous generation, since I built the bike during the summer of 2007.

Here’s a picture of it in penultimate form:

Image: BatFinal1.jpg

The seatpost, stem, and wheels came later. And BTW, that’s the original steel fork with those HUGE blades. The whole bike is about 23 lbs, but it holds my considerable mass without fear, and sprints without flexing.

29 biorabbi  Thu, Jul 25, 2013 10:33:58pm

Had a very bad day, but it ended very nicely thanks to your video, Charles. Thanks. I needed that.

30 wrenchwench  Fri, Jul 26, 2013 6:12:31am

re: #28 Mateo Scourge

I think the hubs might have been a previous generation, since I built the bike during the summer of 2007.

Here’s a picture of it in penultimate form:

Image: BatFinal1.jpg

The seatpost, stem, and wheels came later. And BTW, that’s the original steel fork with those HUGE blades. The whole bike is about 23 lbs, but it holds my considerable mass without fear, and sprints without flexing.

Pretty!

31 GeneJockey  Fri, Jul 26, 2013 8:24:26am

re: #30 wrenchwench

Pretty!

Thanks! It’s the first bike I’ve ridden where strangers ride up and compliment it.


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