79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 05/22/2016 06:55 PM |
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Specialized's left side drive track bikes for Rio, complete with 70 mm forkend spacing and 100 mm track end spacing.
Faster? Yes. Might get the US a gold or two. But introducing 3 new standards into the sport helps only the manufacturers and their stockholders. This is an aid only for those with deep pockets, further distancing the poorer teams and does nothing to make the sport better to watch.
Personally, I would like to see UCI stop this in its tracks. Say drives must be right side, spacings 100 mm and 120 mm. I applaud Specialized for its research but not all innovatoins are actually good.
Ben.
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 05/22/2016 08:51 PM |
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Pssst.....it was Felt, not Specialized. 
What I find interesting was that this bike was born out of the idea that they wanted to test long-held beliefs re: track racing, specifically the idea that riding on the velodrome is essentially 0 yaw. Testing that belief led to proving that belief wrong, which has led to development o new technology / ideas.
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 05/22/2016 10:16 PM |
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| The Stetinas had track bikes with left hand drive back in the 70s. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 05/23/2016 06:58 AM |
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yeah, left hand drive really isn't a new standard per se. Anyone can run left hand drive on a track bike. Just swamp the stuff around.
Now, Felt did design the frame soecifically around the left side drive aspect and incorporated some asymmetry into it, but it is not necessarily required for LHD. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 05/23/2016 11:45 AM |
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"Innovation" is something you don't know you need until you have it, then it's pretty awesome. If it's really a valuable innovation, it will either help the team at Rio and/or be copied by other teams. Testing long-held assumptions is what innovation is all about. Sometimes they are upheld and other times overturned.
Head tubes, hub spacings, axles, bottom brackets, cranks, drivetrains, have all gone through many gyrations in my lifetime and I've accepted that there is no one standard for all bikes, nor should there be.
I may not be an early adopter, but I appreciate the new stuff as it's being proven or disproven in the marketplace. I'll pick it up down the road when all the bugs are worked out. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 05/24/2016 12:41 AM |
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| CK, I think not quite - threads have to cooperate, at least the threads that hold the rear cog. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 05/24/2016 07:40 AM |
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| Eh, you are right...I was thinking of a flip-flop rear hub and just using the other cog, but then y run the risk of unthreading the rear cog. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 05/24/2016 08:04 AM |
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Here's my list:
Anything past CD's for music and DVD's for movies... I can't keep up with it!
Anything other than a key to start a car
Self parking cars... if you can't parallel park use Uber or take the bus
Glasstop stoves
Cake mixes... make it from scratch or don't bake
Fox TV and AM talk radio
Innovations we need:
Phones to deactivate when they are within 3' of a steering wheel
Access to the BBC on a standard radio |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 05/24/2016 10:22 AM |
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You kids stay of Dale's lawn!
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 05/24/2016 10:36 AM |
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Anything past CD's for music and DVD's for movies... I can't keep up with it!
Anything other than a key to start a car I bought the basic Prius C in part because it used a key and had a shift on the floor. No paddles. Edit: Paddles - for me they have three connotations. Flippers, good for swimming, less so on land. The short, handier version of the more powerful oar. The shaped and painted plywood cutout in the shape of a whale about 20" long that my dad spanked us with growing up. It lived over the front door, always in sight. My dad was very even tempered and fair, Its use was always justified. But he was also an ex-wrestler, rower, tennis player and swung a mean axe and splitting maul. That paddle hurt.
Self parking cars... if you can't parallel park use Uber or take the bus
Glasstop stoves and ceramic counters that shatter glassware and dull knives. With grout that needs to be kept dry and sealed (in an environment where water and cleaning solvents are used regularly for sanitary reasons! Pulling out my tile and replacing it with laminate (that we used to call "linoleum" was a huge step up!
Cake mixes... make it from scratch or don't bake
Fox TV and AM talk radio No TV seems to solve the Fox (and CNN) issues
Thanks Dale!
Ben |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 05/24/2016 10:57 AM |
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Posted By Frederick Jones on 05/24/2016 10:22 AM
You kids stay of Dale's lawn!
LOL!
dang right |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 05/24/2016 11:04 AM |
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| This is why I gave him the old codger vote |
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