Re: OT. Freedom Of Speech

On 2006-07-09, Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

snip

When I first set up home for myself, asbestos was a normal part of much
domestic equipment.

Still is, isn't it? My parents have an asbestos roofed garage.

I was thinking of things like ironing boards and pot-stands and
oven-gloves and such. Those are no longer in the shops. I know there is a
lot of 'structural' asbestos around; the flats I live in were built in the
'60s and I'm sure they're riddled with asbestos. (A surveyor recently
found it in the ceilings and floor-tiles of the 'common' stairs).

snip

as does
putting the rear brake control under a hand rather than a foot.

I disagree about that. You just learn to use the controls you have.

Mmm.... I'm not sure about that. Some control patterns are more
convenient than others. I began with brakes on the handlebars of my
bicycle, and I recall finding the `Japanese pattern' motorcycle control
arrangement instantly familiar and `correct' as soon as I started
riding. I had trouble when I borrowed a BSA...

A
foot-brake on a 'bike can give you a nasty surprise if you aren't
expecting the side-effects that can make the bike lean and steer,

? How does that work?

See later.

and
steering a powered bike is a bit of a dark art in itself without adding
any more weirdness.

Erm... All bikes are powered one way or another - whether by
adenosinetriphosphate (sp?) or by petrol. I don't know of any
differences between steering a leg powered bike or a Honda powered one.
I've met many who reckon that motorbikes are easier to ride than
bicycles.

Perhaps it's a matter of familiarity. Speed also comes into it.

A pedal-cycle being pedalled moves in a series of 'swoops'; looping to each
side as that pedal is driven down.

A pedal cycle is very light, and at most normal speeds is steered as much
by turning the handle-bars as by 'leaning'; indeed, either action will
generally cause the other.

A bike-with-an-engine is certainly heavier, and in particular has more mass
in the wheel-rims and tyres than a human-powered vehicle - thus a much
stronger 'gyroscope' effect, which can take a pedal-cyclist (Me!) very much
by surprise when taking the first bend on a moped. The effective way to
steer a motor-bike is to transfer one's weight towards the side to be
steered into; usually described as 'press down on the handle-bar' on that
side, although in fact a press on the foot-rest is just as effective. That
generates the 'steering effect' by exloiting the 'precession' of the
wheels considered as gyroscopes. Except at very low speed, one does not
'turn the handlebars'; trying to is likely to have the opposite effect to
what you might expect, if you can 'turn' them at all.

(Hang on, I thought /you/ were the physics buff?).

<http://www.gyroscopes.org/behaviour.asp>

Perhaps the 'size' of the bike compared with the weight of the rider
comes into the equation; my experience id that of a large person on small
motor-cycles, and I'm quite prepared to believe that a big bike will
handle very differently.

I have noticed in traffic, that when bikers get into a rear-wheel skid due
to panic braking, they almost always tilt and steer to the brake-pedal
side. One sees quite a lot of that in London traffic, as bikers squeeze
between the lanes or 'up the outside' and gets surprised by another
road-user.

snip

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.

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