"Recumbent Rant" in Road Bike Action mag

[cycleguy]

HI all
Last night before bed, I read a really annoying column in "Road Bike Action" Magazine. On the Inside back cover, there is a column called "Off The Rivet" and author Phil Booth, went off on recumbents. He was asked at a party why his magazine doesn't test recumbents.

After he listened to the benefits of recumbents from this person, he states in the article "The truth is, and it should be stated clearly, recumbents are not bicycles. They are seated mobile exercise equipment." He then goes on to give ridiculous arguments against recumbents. Clearly the only ones he has ever seen are the lawn chair recumbents ridden by 80 year old women in Florida. The reason I read or did read, that magazine is that all of the same components that are advertised in their will work perfectly fine on a Silvio. For a person making a living in the cycling industry, he is shockingly unaware of what is out there.

He ends the article by saying "If you want to ride a recumbent, go right ahead, enjoy yourself. Just don't call it a bicycle."

I could not find a link online at their website to this, but it is in the Nov/Dec Issue. Its incredible the ignorance out their on recumbents, even within the industry. When their are bikes like the Silvio that take all the standard road bike components, with a greatly improved frame geometry, they are still bicycles.

Harold

 

[JonB]

The solution is easy. Just dont buy and read his magazine.

 

[currystomper]

Maybe we should agree with him - Bicycles are a pain in the Ar**.

When someone is threaten they come out all aggressive, you have to remenber that "cyclists" have spent years and thousands of pounds trying to get ther bike to be a little bit better. A cruzbike is cheating!! it is so much better.

Did 18 miles on my 'Bicycle' today - can't wait to get a nice comfy seat on my ..... cruzbike.

 

[teacherbill]

Why do Engineers always confuse Halloween and Christmas?
Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec.

I don't understand...

 

[WhiteSilvio]

teacherbill wrote:
I don't understand...

Hi Bill,
Apparently....
Why do mathematicians, and supposedly engineers, always confuse Halloween and Christmas?
Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec.

"The "humor" lies in the fact that Halloween occurs on October 31 and Christmas occurs on December 25, thus equating "oct" in October and octal, and "dec" in December and decimal. (This one is also often attributed to computer scientists: Real programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas — because dec(imal)(25) = oct(al)(31). e.g. Decimal 25 = 2x10 + 5 = 25 and Octal 31 = 3x8 + 1 =25 :geek: :roll: )"

refer mathematical joke -wikipedia
Personally I've never confused the two dates! And I have to admit to having to"Google" the answer.
Regards,
John R

 

[John Tolhurst]

We should quit listening to him, real journalists write for proper newspapers.

 

[teacherbill]

WhiteSilvio wrote:

teacherbill wrote:
I don't understand...

Hi Bill,
Apparently....
Why do mathematicians, and supposedly engineers, always confuse Halloween and Christmas?
Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec.

"The "humor" lies in the fact that Halloween occurs on October 31 and Christmas occurs on December 25, thus equating "oct" in October and octal, and "dec" in December and decimal. (This one is also often attributed to computer scientists: Real programmers confuse Halloween and Christmas — because dec(imal)(25) = oct(al)(31). e.g. Decimal 25 = 2x10 + 5 = 25 and Octal 31 = 3x8 + 1 =25 :geek: :roll: )"

refer mathematical joke -wikipedia
Personally I've never confused the two dates! And I have to admit to having to"Google" the answer.
Regards,
John R

Thanks....

And I thought, that I thought outside of the box.

 

[currystomper]

...I'm going to have 10 change my digital signature now.................



Currystomper

 

[Sylvain]

I have to confess I understood the joke as soon as I read it.
Another one: There are 10 kinds of people: those who know binary and the other ones.

 

[cycleguy]

Hi All,

I was thumbing threw the latest Road Bike Action Magazine (March 2010) and in the "Letters" section, they actually printed my letter that I sent in about their "Recumbent Rant" article. They started of by saying they got a lot of replies to this and it should have been taken as a "funny" article not a serious one. yeah, ok...

Part of my response...

" The reason I was reading your magazine was to check out all of the components that are advertised in RBA that keep the magazine in business. All of these components i can use on my Silvio recumbent."

So hopefully a bit more Silvio recognition! I could not find an online link to their letters.

Harold

 

[John Tolhurst]

Cool, Harold.
Here's a new graphic, trying to break through the iconographic bigotry.

 

[John Tolhurst]

Or even:

 

[cycleguy]

That second graphic is great! I love the Silvio passing the DF!

Harold

 

[JonB]

John Tolhurst wrote: Or even:[attachment]roadsilviobodyposition2.jpg[/IMG]

No, this is bad. For me it looks like the racing bike is overtaking the Silvio.

 

[John Tolhurst]

JonB wrote:

John Tolhurst wrote: Or even:[attachment]roadsilviobodyposition2.jpg[/IMG]

No, this is bad. For me it looks like the racing bike is overtaking the Silvio.

Ah! maybe I need to add many more road bikes to make a peleton that has been passed?

 

[John Tolhurst]

JonB wrote:

John Tolhurst wrote: Or even:[attachment]roadsilviobodyposition2.jpg[/IMG]

No, this is bad. For me it looks like the racing bike is overtaking the Silvio.

Yes, I think I see that the road bike position has the connotation of agression, which you cant read out of the Silvio riding position, even though it can more certainly be there in practice. This is the hard thing to convey, that the position still means your legs are burning and your heart is busting and your throat is rasping. Idea's anyone - gritted teeth? anything?

 

[zivl3]

Put the Silvio rider in front of (closer to the viewer than) the DF rider. With the front wheel of the DF in front of the rear wheel of the Silvio it gives the impression that the DF is pulling out. If the DF front wheel is behind the Silvio rear wheel it would give the impression that the Silvio is pulling ahead.

 

[WhiteSilvio]

John Tolhurst wrote: Idea's anyone - gritted teeth? anything?

Hows about a simple animated GIF showing passing? No doubt then what's a happenin'!! :lol:
John R.
PS I've always considered this a good graphic demonstrating the aero advantage of recumbents.
Aero Advantage (scroll down a half page)
The problem is that in this forum one is preaching to the converted.
There's nothing like rolling at the top of a slope/downhill section of road, with a group of DF riders and, without pedalling, just rolling past everyone after a 100m or so. This gets peoples' attention.
Or better still catching DFs at the bottom of a slope when they've been pressing on, and you fly by about 10-15kph faster, doing 60kph!! This also gets peoples' attention too!
What's needed is exposure to the concept. I'm doing my part, as are most Cruzers, but I can only ride one bike at a time. (Well, yes, I do only have one bike, but you get my drift!?)

 

[John Tolhurst]

cycleguy wrote: That second graphic is great! I love the Silvio passing the DF!

Harold

If you are riding on the left side of the road, passing is done on the right, and vice versa. Therefore in Australia, this is an image of Silvio finishing a pass on a road bike, while in the US and Europe its a graphic of a road bike commencing a pass on a Silvio.

 

[JonB]

John Tolhurst wrote:

JonB wrote: No, this is bad. For me it looks like the racing bike is overtaking the Silvio.

Ah! maybe I need to add many more road bikes to make a peleton that has been passed?

No, that would be even worse.

 

[JonB]

John Tolhurst wrote:

JonB wrote: No, this is bad. For me it looks like the racing bike is overtaking the Silvio.

Yes, I think I see that the road bike position has the connotation of agression, which you cant read out of the Silvio riding position, even though it can more certainly be there in practice. This is the hard thing to convey, that the position still means your legs are burning and your heart is busting and your throat is rasping. Idea's anyone - gritted teeth? anything?

Get an artist to make the Silvio rider seem agressive, but not mad. Also, consider making more lines after the Silvio than the road bike. Lines are some times used to indicate speed.