aus.bicycle FAQ

Yes, this should be posted automatically once a week, or preferably, if the
enwsgroup server could hol dit in position 1 at all times.
"kingsley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

aus.bicycle FAQ
Version 1.0.0, Last updated 10-DEC-2003

Welcome to the aus.bicycle FAQ

This is a compendium of Frequently Asked Questions from
the newsgroup aus.bicycle, some of them even have
answers. The lastest version is always available from:

Text
http://maddogsbreakfast.com.au/ABFAQ/aus.bicycle.FAQ.txt
HTML
http://maddogsbreakfast.com.au/ABFAQ/aus.bicycle.FAQ.html

This document is Copyright (c) 2003 Kingsley Turner.
Permission is granted to distribute this document on the
criteria that it is remains unmodified, and it is not
sold for profit.

1 - Bicycling Resources & Propaganda
1.1 What other bicycle newsgroups are there?
1.2 What are some good cycling websites?
1.3 What are some good mailing lists?
1.4 What are some good cycling (paper) publications?

2 - Riding

2.1 Miscellany
2.1.1 What do I do about this f@#$%^ing Magpie?
2.1.2 Why do you shave your legs?

2.2 Kids
2.2.1 What are the options for carrying
(non-riding) children by bike?
2.2.2 Which is better: child seat or trailer?

2.3 Touring

2.4 Organised Rides

2.4.1 Miscellany
2.4.1.1 What are the major events on
the Australian Cycling Calendar?
2.4.1.2 What is Critical Mass?

2.4.2 Clubs & BUGs

2.4.3 Polaris

2.4.4 Road Racing
2.4.4.1 The TdF: What do the coloured
jerseys mean?

2.4.5 Couriers

2.5 Laws, Accidents & Road Rage
2.5.1 I've been involved in an accident, what do I
do?
2.5.2 I've been a victim of road rage, what do I
do?

2.6 Training, Fitness & Weight
2.6.1 Reducing Body Fat
2.6.2 How do I calculate my BMR (Basil Metabolic
Rate)?

3 - Gear

3.1 Miscellany

3.2 Shopping
3.2.1 What online bike stores are there?
3.2.2 Can I save money by importing gear myself?
3.2.3 Where can I buy a 2nd-hand bike?

3.3 Frame Building/Builders
3.3.1 Does anyone know a good framebuilder?

3.4 Parts & Maintenance

3.4.1 Miscellany

3.4.2 Lights
3.4.2.1 Where can I get a cheap
Vistalite Nightstick battery?
3.4.2.2 Can someone recommend a smart
charger?

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1 Bicycling Resources & Propaganda:

1.1 What other bicycle newsgroups are there?
* aus.bicycle
* uk.rec.cycling - Much like aus.bicycle
* rec.bicycles.marketplace - Bike stuff for sale
* rec.bicycles.misc - General bike discussion
* rec.bicycles.off-road
* rec.bicycles.racing
* rec.bicycles.rides - About touring, but sometimes not
* rec.bicycles.soc - The social ascpects of cycling
* rec.bicycles.tech - Technical Q&A
* alt.collecting.bicycles
* alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
* alt.mountain-bike

1.2 What are some good cycling websites?
* Cycling News: www.cyclingnews.com - Packed with news &
reports.
* Audax Australia: www.audax.org.au
* Bicycle Fish: users.chariot.net.au/~gloria - Australian
Bicycle Touring.
* Aussie Cycling: www.aussiecycling.com.au/cycling - Books,
links & for sale.
* Tandem Club of Australia: home.vicnet.net.au/~tandem/
* Biking Asia with Mr Pumpy: www.mrpumpy.net - Bicycle
touring South-east Asia.
* Bicycle Victoria: www.bv.com.au
* Bicycle NSW: www.bicyclensw.org.au
* Pedal Power ACT: www.pedalpower.org.au
* Bicycle SA: www.bikesa.asn.au
* Bicycle Tasmania: www.biketas.org.au (non-aussie pages)
* MTB Review: www.mtbreview.com - User reviews of bike gear.
* Ken Kifer's Bike Pages: www.kenkifer.com/bikepages
* Sheldon Brown's: www.sheldonbrown.com - Bike gear and
repairs

1.3 What are some good cycling mail lists?
* Phreds Bicycle Touring:
www.phred.org/mailman/listinfo/touring - Bicycle Touring,
and sometimes unrelated topics (can be very high volume).
* Hobbes Tandem List:
www-acs.ucsd.edu/home-pages/wade/tandem.html - Tandem
Everything (moderate volume).

1.4 What are some good cycling (paper) publications?

Magazine What's it about
Australian Cyclist Bit of a mix: bike politics, touring, lists of clubs

and

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diary of club rides, occasional gear review. Not

usually

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any road racing news. Six issues a year, available at

most

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newsagents and bike shops.
RIDE Cycling Review Completely covers the bicycle racing scene, including

both

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road and track. Has great gear reviews, although it

does

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tend towards the top-end stuff. Six issues a year,
available some newsagents, and bike shops
Cycling Australia Covers racing, road & track. Always has reviews of
high-end bikes, the occasional maintenance tip, and a

bit

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of cycling gossip. Published five times a year
Mountain Biking As above, but for mountain bikes.
Australia
Australian Mountain Covers the mountain bike racing scene in detail,

usually

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Bike has interviews with Aussie riders, gear review,
maintenance and (technical) riding tips. Six issues a
year.
Velovision (UK) This is an exceedingly interesting magazine, it focus

is

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mainly bicycles as transport (or maybe 'bikes as a

part of

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life'😉, with a heavy bent towards recumbent and other
non-mainstream cycling. It does have a British and
European focus, but contains articles sourced from all
over the world.

Available (at least) at Cheeky Monkey in Sydney.

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2.2 Riding: Kids

2.2.1 What are the options for carrying (non-riding) children by bike?

This mostly depends on your childs age and capability:

Child Seats:
There are two types of child carriers, the ubiquitous rear-rack
mounted seats, and the seats that mount on the handlebars so
that the child sits between the arms of the rider.

Trailer Bikes:
A trailer bike is basically the back-half of a diamond-frame
bike. There is no front wheel, but a tow arm that commonly
connects to the seatpost or under the seat. These require some
bike riding skills and balance, but not steering.

Trailers:
These are usually tethered to the bike by a socket-jointed
tow-arm to the left chainstay. They can hold one or two
children, who are held in with a seatbelt, but are still
requried to wear a helmet. It's common for trailers to come

with

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instructions that specify the minimum child age of 1 year.

2.2.2 Which is better: child seat or trailer?

Kingsley Turner wrote in aus.bicycle:

Both of these have pros and cons:

Both:
* Child needs decent head control, approx 1 year old

although

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I read about someone who strapped their car capsule into a
trailer.
* Adds at least a little weight to the bike, effecting
handling.

Seats:
* Cheap - sub $100 for rear model, around $200 for a front.
* Back & front (Bobike mini) available
* Child is exposed to the elements
* Child goes over with the bike in a crash (seen this happen
twice)
* You can talk quite easily with your child
* Must be cautious that legs are properly strapped in (and
not near spokes/wheels)
* Loose usage/access to rear rack

Trailer:
* Expensive ($500-$1000)
* Can hold 2 kids (Trek models up to 45kg)
* Bike can stack, but trailer stays put
* Slim chance of rolling it if you clip a gutter in exactly
the wrong way at speed
* Difficult to talk to your kids, near impossible with the
plastic weather-shield down
* Child is not exposed to the weather (don't forget hot

sunny

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days too) and is toasty warm in winter/rain.
* Weighs about 10-12kg depending on the model
* Has plenty of 'boot' space for nappy bags, drinks, food,
spare change of clothes, big doll, and the other doll.
* Food & drink tends to get trampled into the floor (but you
can just about hose it out)
* High wind-resistance
* Makes your bike into a wide load, watch the bollards on
bike paths!
* Weight of children is not directly on the bike
* Can convert some trailers into a stroller (very important
for touring)

As you can probably guess most of my experience is with

trailer.

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We towed both the brats 1200km touring last year (and many km
since) When they weren't being towed, they were being
parambulated with the stroller conversion kit engaged.

For quick trips, the seat is probably better/quicker but for
longer ones the trailer is great.

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2.1.1 Riding: Miscellany

2.2.1 What do I do about this f@#$%^ing Magpie?

(i) Ride fast, duck oppertunely!

2.2.2 Why you shave your legs?

(i) It makes applying first-aid/bandages simpler.

(ii) It looks and feels good.

(iii) Andrew Morris wrote in aus.bicycle:

Have you ever had gravel nail brushed out of hairy legs???

(iv) Paul J wrote in aus.bicycle:

kingsley:

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2.2.2 Why you shave your legs?

I think if you're going to include things like this topic in a FAQ, you
should at least attempt to inject some counterbalance to the myths.

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(i) It makes applying first-aid/bandages simpler.

Bandages can be applied with or without hair; these don't rely on
sticking to the skin but rather on the tightness of the wrap.

It's First Aid, meant to be a stop-gap measure between injury and more
appropriate medical care; not meant for long-term treatment. You won't
lose your leg if you get it superficially injured and you haven't shaved
it, and you won't require the expertise of paramedics to apply FA either
just because you have hair on it.

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(ii) It looks and feels good.

Looks good on men? Debatable. Feels good? Only if you run your hands
along your legs a lot. This reasoning is why people have good cause to
label it a fetish.

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(iii) Andrew Morris wrote in aus.bicycle:

Have you ever had gravel nail brushed out of hairy legs???

It's not that hard. How often do you get gravel nail on your hairy
legs?

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(iv) Paul J wrote in aus.bicycle:

... Reasons include; it feels damn nice, it look's good (so I'm
told) and after a 120km ride the much needed massage afterward
is so much better and easier.

How is a massage "so much better and easier" without hair on your legs?

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2.5.2 I've been a victim of road rage what do I do?

(i) Report it to the police, try to include details like the
rego number

Good advice, but you ruin it by adding the pseudo-spiritual New Age
neo-mystical crapola below. FAQs are supposed to be informative, not a
note for ramblings... you, bike, road are lovers? Get a grip (or
perhaps better, don't...).

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(ii) Claire Petersky wrote in rec.bicycles.misc:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

There are days when you dominate the road. It does your bidding.
You groove on your control. There are other days when the road
is your master. You submit to its demands. You get a perverted
pleasure from the pain of your burning legs, your oxygen-starved
lungs screaming for air.

In any of these instances, though, you with your bike, and the
road, are lovers. The term, "get off" as we all know, is a slang
term that means to "derive pleasure". Thus, the encouraging, if
crude, words, "Get off the [censored] road" can be understood as
"Enjoy yourself as you and the road make beautiful love
together".

[snip crapola]

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2.6 Riding: Training, Fitness & Weight

2.6.1 Reducing Body Fat

Have you verified the medical veracity of the advice you included under
this heading? If not, it's unwise to include them as answers to FAQs as
you don't know whether these are true or not. A simple way to verify
these is to ask for the specific references and include them.

"kingsley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

aus.bicycle FAQ
Version 1.0.0, Last updated 10-DEC-2003

A section on bicycle theft insurance and crash insurance
options would be good - that pops up a bit..

hippy

hippy said:

"kingsley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

aus.bicycle FAQ
Version 1.0.0, Last updated 10-DEC-2003

A section on bicycle theft insurance and crash insurance
options would be good - that pops up a bit..

WTF!
Does that mean that my previous post did come through ?
I still can't see it!?

Anyway, yeah, insurance is a good idea. I'll have a poke
about google for some info. I might still even have my
papers from last year.

cheers,
-kt