THINKING backwards, 'bi-cy-cle-u-lar-i-ly'

Reid Welch

Reid Welch

1 MW
Joined
Nov 18, 2006
Messages
2,031
Location
Miami, Florida
=Why not= reverse your stem, "thud busters"?


Normal
CIMG4614-1.jpg


Reversed
CIMG4621-1.jpg



Q: Why consider doing this? What might be the advantage? What may be the disadvantage?
A: You answer first? Then I'll give my usual "jesus!reid" :p explanation of why I do seemingly crazy things :wink:


Cheers, all,

Go for a two minute ride on the Seven-'Leven?

tooot-tooooot, ding, ding, r.
 
I can think of two reasons I would be hesitant.

Turning the stem like that causes the handlebars to sweep an arc rather than pivot around a center. Or in the case of the pictured bicycle the swung arc is located further back closer to the rider.

I'm a bigger guy, the arc would cause the handlebars to hit my knees.

The arc would cause the center of gravity to shift to the left or right on harder turns since the handlebars sweep out further.
 
I bet it works well for flat florida where you never have to stand and grind out hills.


Nice to have the hands very close though, would put you very upright.
 
TPA said:
I can think of two reasons I would be hesitant.
Turning the stem like that causes the handlebars to sweep an arc rather than pivot around a center.
Or in the case of the pictured bicycle the swung arc is located further back closer to the rider.

I'm a bigger guy, the arc would cause the handlebars to hit my knees.

The arc would cause the center of gravity to shift to the left or right on harder turns
since the handlebars sweep out further.
Click to expand...
Quite right!

As the bike is at this moment, medium-sized-me
(I am 5' 10'' and only 145lbs, waist size 29" and inseam length, 32"),
MY KNEES just barely clear the rams-horn 1898-style bars.

HOWSOWHATSOME-EVER :lol: (that's "Barney Fife"), I shall soon slide the OEM seat rearwards for even more clearance.
As it is, as you see: the bars do not hit my knees.
BUT THE BARS WILL FOUL THE KNEES OF A LONGER-LEGGED MAN THAN MYSELF:
cure? more set-back, if practical.

I did this "stunt" with the old, blue Currie Mongoose retro-styled e-cruiser.
Had NO problems. The bike could be run 40MPH on a downgrade (our local big bridge, the Rickenbacker Causeway),
and that bike, and this one too, are PERFECTLY stable. It makes for more-fully UPRIGHT-stance riding. WORSE for "aero",
but I don't give a care about "aero" on a pedal bike or an ebike.

YES, you all can stand on the pedals when you want to, just like always.

TO COME EARLY NEXT WEEK:
a new Thud Buster.

THEN I will have even more "set back".
You all will see...this rider farther back over that super-grippy Hank slick.
You will understand that this makes the rear-brake-only coaster bike more brake-efficient, too.

And there is NO loss of stability; other than the fact that you cannot ride "Gee, mommy, lookit' me: no hands!"

We have to keep one hand on the TILLER-LIKE back-sweeping handlebar/s.

I can and do hold a camera in my free hand, or a flashlight at night, and ride with perfect control.

This "way" can work for others, too, but is not practical/easy to do for normal bikes,
what with all their complex brake hand levers, throttle, cables every which-where.

So, that is the gist of it.

Let's see how the Trek Lime looks and works, with even more "set-back", by the benefit-of-comfort-too,
with a Thud Buster, very soon, I do hope.

:lol: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~thud~~~buster~~~king~~~of~~~the~~~oceans~~~of~~~BUMPS~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :lol:


r'y, starry-eyed
 
johnrobholmes said:
I bet it works well for flat florida where you never have to stand and grind out hills.
Nice to have the hands very close though, would put you very upright.
Click to expand...
Hi John. Yes, it works for me, here, at least.

I have "the set-up" on, now, three bikes of my own customizing, from the past to this present day.
The original, the blue retro Currie ecruiser, is now discarded, parted out. It was a fine rider in its day.

THE IDEA of "tiller bar" steering is very, very old: think of those early motorcycles with their sweep-back bars?
WHY did they do this? A: it makes the motorcycle "slower" to turn, yes, but less...twitchy,
yet, at speed, or slow, you have plenty of reaction time to avoid pot holes and kitty cats.
Me? I go for the katz, every time :twisted:


Here below is the current ebike.
Right now the project is on hold while I play with the new Trek Lime,
and try to write-out "The Haven", and stay out of jail. :| (jk, I am not going to jail again).

Dudes, are you all gellin' yet?
mens_dr_scholl_massaging_gel_insole.jpg

I am gellin! :)

P1090306.jpg

Note that in this bike, for example, the bars are more of a "longhorn" style.
IF the bars were to foul Mr. Six Foot Six's knees: he simply tilts the bars UP, as needed, to clear his needs.

Note, too, that =in theory=, F/R weight distribution should be about "equal".
Here, it is not. It is biased to the rear, for this gives my coaster brake bikes max. stopping power.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH for riders in hilly terrain. For FLORIDA and KANSAS only, or you may end up IN
Miss Gulch! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Gulch.jpg


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Let's look for an ancient YT video of MOTO xcitement!

Stand by? You guys are great Tolerators, to put up with "i kno so much, reid".

am really a babe in the woods:
usually having just flown over the bars and into that-there briar patch.

Call me B'rer Rabbitreid?

:wink:
 
I don't know Reid. Why don't you point that saddle a bit more skyward and give your Thudbuster a real name? :lol:

John
 
John in CR said:
I don't know Reid.
Why don't you point that saddle a bit more skyward
and give your Thudbuster a real name? :lol:

John
Click to expand...
There is a very good reason why you are a Yankee expat..... :twisted: ....you am e-vile, chile!
Dey won' let you come home again to Kansas, never 'gin!
edit addendum, important: that the line in red font be understood/understandable.
It is not clear, the way I write. The line is meant to be a play of words,
in dialect of olden times, of a little girl sort of trying to thread
a darning needle. ALL THAT, I tried to compact into a few ARCANE words;
no way Normal Person would 'get' the extended metaphor-meaning of that bracketed line.
Apologies in advance for confusions caused. I am not so smart. I'm really very stupid at algebra,
or IC design, or...but, at words, I am too smart for my own good. sorry!

______________change gears back to the original post's wordings:

Evidently I am feeling well and secure tonight.
I got in a LIME lite ride, and have some good vibe-energy today, for a change.

Being a "night person", I will take a break now, and then photo the LIME here in the garage-shop,
showing how I can probably move the existing OEM saddle a bit back, and tilt it a bit rearward (horn UP),
which I think, by experimentation will help keep me "back in the saddle again"...keep my arse over the padded portion,
and save my groin.

COULD tilt it upright, pointy-end up, yes.
WHY NOT? I don't plan to father any children.
:roll:

-----------------
More later. Pictures! Bad Pictures! Naughty Pictures! Fun thread!
Need a sharper needle, though, than what I is :wink:
 
Jumpin' Jehosophat! I can't believe the number of "reids" this beginner's thread is already getting.

Have just finished making a VERY HOMELY narrated video, no edits, here, at 3AM.
Windows Movie Maker and the old, lousy Casio digicam at 4:3 aspect ratio.

The video is now in "publish movie" mode. Select "highest quality for this computer".
(do not nowadays, compress your viddies for YT; YT will further compress whatever you upload;

YT now offers true "HD" (nearly so), and your upload-file can be as large as 2GB.

--------------------
It will be hours before the video can be uploaded to YT. It's not much. itsnotmuch. it snot much. :D
Anyway, that's my jolly YT screen name for very casually made videos of very limited general interest.

--------------------

Amazingly for me: my recent health problems (SLE and the savage head-beating by Officer X) do not evidence in this video!
Hooray! My voice is strong and clear for a change. No drugs (diazepam) in me at this time of writing/filming.

Funny, how the new reality of "quavers and shakes" can come and go. Valium (diazepam) does not affect the syndrome.
But, in the AM if I awake, I sound like old Kate Hepburn...."Sssspenccccerrrr, you ollllld dddddevil, yyyyou."

BUT, late, late at night, I can, sometimes sound just like my old, pre-head-bashed self: strong voiced and clear.

So... whilst the video uploads I can take time and READ every word of input you guys have offered...
...have yet to catch up on this thread since my last input of some hours ago.

Need to take a chill pill now (diazepam wards off SLE symptoms for me), but it does not make me "feel good";
two beers would be fun, but I don't drink; no taste for alcohol, lucky me....daddy was an alkie; the trait skipped over me.

Lucky me. My only problem:

I AM A MOOOOTOR MOUTH :p :p :p :p :p You'll seeeeeeeeeeeeee (or rather, hear....)

Till then,

R.

--------------Let's see Kate Hepburn. What a woman!
Temporary ( let us keep her here?) viddy grab from YouTube:
great people, those YT/Google folks!


[youtube]f_QgROhJWcs[/youtube]
 
I'm an old 6-ft tall guy, and I dont like putting my weight onto my wrists or perineum (lean forward onto mountain bike handlebars while sitting on a narrow seat)

I very much wanted a front disc brake and full suspension on fat tires. I bought a Wal-Mart MTB with those features, and since I prefer "beach cruiser" seating, I altered the seating so that is was farther back and lower (added a wide seat). Then I reversed the stem and replaced the straight handlebar with an 8" tall BMX bar from a trash-day bike.

I am very happy with it now, except for one thing. On an uphill, it can pop a wheelie too easily because of the rear weight bias. So, I am planning on getting a hardtail, and then adding the rear suspension from a $40 thrift store MTB as I saw in the "Diy longtail" thread. This will only make the bike about 1-1/2 ft longer, and also add a solid place to mount saddle-bags (hardtail rear section)
 

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The Video of the Motor Mouth
I will not quaver. I will not quaver, but

I should'a shaved! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[youtube]1WLrVs3ILYY[/youtube]


Please to* always choose the "HQ" option,

if you have the download speed, and an "HQ" button appears, press it right away?
:wink:
Please, dial-up victims: sell your firstborn to the slave traders,
in order to have funds for basic-plan broadband?

56k is :wink: DEADSVILLE

_________________

Thank you all, for your Endless Fear :wink: famous-patience with obnoxious, yak-master-me,

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreid (firing on all two cylinders to-night)

*"Please to..." is an obsolete, polite, "Americanism" of probably, the middle 19th cent. to the turn of the 20th centuries.
It is heard in the famous Orson Wells movie, "The Magnificent Ambersons".
Young cad, fraud, holier-than-everybody, "Georgie" is about to get his "comuppance".
The very old lady has spotted him at last. She quavers (that word again) in blazing rage.
Georgie is in her home, hat in hand over something or other. But SHE WILL HAVE NO MORE OF HIM.

Powerful words, even when ostensibly polite. SHE is about to eject the hapless Georgie from her abode.

"PLEASE TO LEAVE MY HOUSE, NOWWWWW!!!!"
This is a ca. 1940 film, and is historical in that it depicts a human tragedy, inexorably unfolding.
It is one of Wells' best films. And it contains that very polite, quaint, forgotten, "please to...attend our dinner party?"
sort of pleasantry. But SHE is so incensed that she shouts in bloody red, eighty years old if she's a day,
PLEASE TO LEAVE MY HOUSE, NOWWWW!

I am pleased that no-one here has asked me to leave this house of Endless Sphere.
It is, bar none, the finest ebike site of them all. Why? Because E.S. management TOLERATES
eccentric people like myself. I can "live" here, safely, without worry of bans or admonishments,
even when I go a weeeee bit too far. They keep me in check.

I am no "Georgie", but...I am often a mis-guided missile, by pure, stupid human-reid error.

Thank you all. I will bust my arse promoting E.S.
And some day before too long, I hope to have a monetary settlement
which will allow me to donate MONEY to E.S. , to help maintain the COSTS
of running a forum like this one: E.S. was never originally envisioned to become
THE best, biggest, free-est ebike forum in the English-speaking world.

Amen. And I'm not even a person of godly faith. Amen, Michael Brown and fecter and Ypedal:

you all, and Bob McCree, and so many others...you all have done such good for us all.
 
spinningmagnets said:
I'm an old 6-ft tall guy, and I dont like putting my weight onto my wrists or perineum (lean forward onto mountain bike handlebars while sitting on a narrow seat)

I very much wanted a front disc brake and full suspension on fat tires. I bought a Wal-Mart MTB with those features, and since I prefer "beach cruiser" seating, I altered the seating so that is was farther back and lower (added a wide seat). Then I reversed the stem and replaced the straight handlebar with an 8" tall BMX bar from a trash-day bike.

I am very happy with it now, except for one thing. On an uphill, it can pop a wheelie too easily because of the rear weight bias. So, I am planning on getting a hardtail, and then adding the rear suspension from a $40 thrift store MTB as I saw in the "Diy longtail" thread. This will only make the bike about 1-1/2 ft longer, and also add a solid place to mount saddle-bags (hardtail rear section)
Click to expand...
Listen, children, to your elders.
They are maples.
You are alders
like as not
to be mown down
before the frost
turns ground to brown.

Listen, children, to your elders.
They are no better;
not one whit;
only wiser
because
they have,
for sure, by Life,
been bit.
 
See, now, I have gone and done it again.

I've "overdone it".

Have about run out of steam.

The little video made last night shows me hitting on both cylinders, ICE-speaking.

But much is on my little mind, and it isn't about thinking things out backwards.

We....I...have cost this site and its keepers many a dollar of money and lost time to do other things.

They....give and give and give.

We (I) take and take and take.

Can you tell by now that I am chagrined and a little bit depressed?

It's time for me to really take a long nap and reflect.

When I wake up again I will be writing a PM to one Michael Brown.

I will cc a copy to fecter and to Ypedal and all others I can think about.

It has to do with what we are and why we have no adverts here E.S.

Somebody has bills to pay.

Life is not fair nor is it a free ride.

It grieves me that I can beg my mate for a toy or tool or tud bluster....

and he will give unto me, adding to our household debt, which is enormous.

I cannot give a dime, per se, at this time, as donation to the keeper of this-here place.

So, Ern will never read this posting. We are pretty much at the end of a rope;
it only seems like I can "afford" a new Lime, or a tasty toy thrud fuster (jk).

But these little material things give me rays of hope, and occupation for my mind.
This site has figuratively saved my life. Some of you have actually preserved my life;
you just don't know it.

More later. It won't be in reid-code of fancy writing.

But I have plans, I have dreams. I need help, though, to make these dreams come true.
I do not need a shrink nor any "pills".

We need all to think and then do the right thing,

that's what I think. Somehow I will help, someday, big time.

I do hope to have some money someday, big time.

Then I will pull my weight, instead of free-loading here.

But as it stands: I like bikes. I like ebikes. I like life. I like ES.
I love knightmb. I love fecter. I love Bob McCree, Mathurin,
and about a jillion others here. Sturdley...I hurt for you, man!

We all have to cope and get along and save each other from despair.
You all have done great works in keeping me yammering away, making happy sounds.

But now I am tired out. So this post sounds depressing. Really, it is not depressing.

Off for a ride, just to dreamland, on the old "Seven 'Leven".

Turn a page,
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11534&start=90
different theme. Hope. Moralizing. I try. I can "pay" only with words, but, damn me,
I am trying.

No worries, mates?

Reid

-------------------

"grieves" not "greives" corrects hisself, mr. ash-holio.
 
screenshot from the short film clip from the link above, second posting of that page...Anita!

ScreenShot2336.jpg


:|

It's not about stem reversal after all.
It is about love and care for those who love and care for us.

None of us is "rich" so far as I know.
We make do, and we get by, pretty much.

That's important. The goal of life is to be happy,
to be fruitful and to multiply, not in numbers,
but, in quotients of numbers, indivisible.
 
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