Re: Why have bicycle components advanced so much more rapidly than automobiles in the last half-century?

In article <rubrum-050953.20353531082009@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Michael Press <rubrum@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article
<6da9b575-6084-44d7-a735-8bbaacd27153@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Andre Jute <fiultra1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sep 1, 3:32 am, Michael Press <rub...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article
<a15d993e-2b4f-4d29-b2a4-607e62868...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
,  Andre Jute <fiult...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Aug 30, 2:17 pm, Nate Nagel <njna...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Of course, I consider the introduction of the automatic
transmission in both cars and bicycles a harbinger of the
transition from a serious tool to something else...  a
combination of fashion accessory and toy for those who really
don't know how to use them.

You're an elitist, man. Stick shifts and six-speed manual boxes
are for people fixated on high-revving little engines. The sort
of people who believe in global warming and vote for gun
control... A good autobox mated to an engine with enough torque
(no substitute for cubic inches!) does all the business a
stickshift does, and without the fuss. At least for those of us
who don't think God made those little Japanese and Italian cars
that go a hundred miles to a rubber band.

I have not driven many automatic transmissions; and that mostly
rental cars. My objection is the jerk when they shift; never
knowing when they will up shift; never knowing if or when they
will down shift. It is having some automobile engineers in an
office miles and years away shifting my car's gears.

Any automatic transmissions out there that shift seamlessly?

-- Michael Press

Your experience is a function of inexperience and a clumsy right
foot rather than poor quality in automatic boxes. An autobox is
basically a torque converter with some built-in slur. If put your
foot in the corner and hold it there, the box (given that the
engine isn't gutless) will kick you in the back. You have to drive
it as smoothly as a stick shift.

You tell when the gearshifts will happen the same way you tell in a
stickshift car when they should happen, by the rev counter and/or
the pitch of the engine sound. Good hard drivers learn to lift
their foot very slightly at the changes to smooth them off; it
become second nature.

Bloody hell! I am supposed to conform to the driving style of
engineers in a far off land and time? I will stay with the manual
rather than wet nurse an automatic transmission.

Well, if you rely on Andre's misconstruction of reality,,,
.

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