Browse Wright Brothers bike shop

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Lovely find.

Quoted message said:

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.

B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

You know, I agree that you've explained the purpose and history of
mounting pegs, and when one-sided, that purpose is singular and
indisputable, but at my local corner Daiso, they also sell pegs very
much like those. There, the pegs are explicitly meant to be used for
carrying another rider.

But of course, those same pegs, whatever their original purpose, then
went on to become the trick standing and grind pegs on freestyle BMX
bikes, giving them a third life.

Is this essentially a single design feature that has been revitalized
twice by finding a new reason for being? That's a remarkable bit of
technology.

Quoted message said:

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

And yet, how are the two frames next to it stored?

Quoted message said:

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

In the second room, I noticed that 19th century equivalent of in-built
compressed air: dual overhead power shafts, with belt-drive for all the
machines.

What, chain was no good for them? I suppose belt was more forgiving when
you brushed against it or it broke.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"My scenarios may give the impression I could be an excellent crook.
Not true - I am a talented lawyer." - Sandy in rec.bicycles.racing

Quoted message said:

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

??? Looks almost cavernous to me!

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

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

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.

B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:54:21 GMT, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Lovely find.

Quoted message said:

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.

B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

You know, I agree that you've explained the purpose and history of
mounting pegs, and when one-sided, that purpose is singular and
indisputable, but at my local corner Daiso, they also sell pegs very
much like those. There, the pegs are explicitly meant to be used for
carrying another rider.

But of course, those same pegs, whatever their original purpose, then
went on to become the trick standing and grind pegs on freestyle BMX
bikes, giving them a third life.

Is this essentially a single design feature that has been revitalized
twice by finding a new reason for being? That's a remarkable bit of
technology.

Quoted message said:

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

And yet, how are the two frames next to it stored?

Quoted message said:

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

In the second room, I noticed that 19th century equivalent of in-built
compressed air: dual overhead power shafts, with belt-drive for all the
machines.

What, chain was no good for them? I suppose belt was more forgiving when
you brushed against it or it broke.

Dear Ryan,

Yes, BMX pegs are sort of reinventing the--

Er, not reinventing the wheel, but you get the idea.

Mounting pegs were just part of the earliest safeties. All full-size
highwheelers came with them (except for racers, where you were helped
up and held steady by an assitant until the start). So many of the
early safeties with their large wheels and fixed gears offered the
same mounting step.

Unfortunately, mounting steps are darned hard to see because riders
tend to stand on the left side of the bike and smile over it into the
camera. (I was browsing through "King of the Road" by Andrew Price
today while looking for other things and noticed lots of them, but
I'll spare you my glorious discoveries, at least for a little while.)

Here's an amusing example of just how hard a mounting peg can be to
see. The Smithsonian has an online picture of a generic old safety
bike with its parts numbered and named:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_319.html

But that picture is so low-res that you can't read the numbers or the
text, even enlarged! Even when I copied the picture and used an
enlarging program, most of the stuff was still illegible.

In fact, about half the numbers and captions were accidentally cut
off. (Not that I think there's an online conspiracy to hide things
from me.)

I belatedly found the original high-res picture, uncropped, from
"Wheels and Wheeling: The Smithsonian Cycle Collection":

http://i2.tinypic.com/815ql4z.jpg

Full size, the bike fills the whole screen and you can see that the
coasting pegs are #31 on the front and are called "coasters." A tiny
bit of the rear mounting step is now visible, labeled #33 and called
"step." The mounting step was just a common part of a bike back in
those days, like quick-releases and water bottle cages are today.

I haven't seen any old safeties with mirror-image mounting pegs like
modern BMX, but you've given me an excuse to show a double-step on a
highwheeler:

http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/wq/beck/1e.htm

With that large 56-inch wheel, the normal low left-side mounting peg
wasn't quite enough, so a higher right-side mounting peg was added.

The rider below might have appreciated that second right-hand mounting
step as he scaled the backbone of his highwheeler:

http://i2.tinypic.com/4tz3tp0.jpg

As for the almost universal preference for belts over chain in shops
of that era, leather belts were cheaper, quieter, and cleaner than
chains.

Belts needed no oil, were easy to change around on the machinery, and
never wore out the sprockets that they didn't run on.

If you look inside your inexpensive multi-speed drill press, you'll
find a belt and pulleys instead of the over-complicated chain drive
that provides so much entertainment on RBT.

Larger and more precise tools tend to skip from belt to direct gears,
with no chain drive versions in between. The cost of electric engines
has been reduced so much that most factories now run electric lines to
separate engines at each station rather than running many tools off a
central shaft--the engines run only when needed and the operators have
much more control.

I still want that Wright brothers bike stand.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

Quoted message said:

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

??? Looks almost cavernous to me!

Dear Mike,

I admit that if you look carefully it's big enough to make and store a
small airplane.

:-)

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:54:21 GMT, Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Lovely find.

Quoted message said:

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.

B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

You know, I agree that you've explained the purpose and history of
mounting pegs, and when one-sided, that purpose is singular and
indisputable, but at my local corner Daiso, they also sell pegs very
much like those. There, the pegs are explicitly meant to be used for
carrying another rider.

But of course, those same pegs, whatever their original purpose, then
went on to become the trick standing and grind pegs on freestyle BMX
bikes, giving them a third life.

Is this essentially a single design feature that has been revitalized
twice by finding a new reason for being? That's a remarkable bit of
technology.

Quoted message said:

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

And yet, how are the two frames next to it stored?

Quoted message said:

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

In the second room, I noticed that 19th century equivalent of in-built
compressed air: dual overhead power shafts, with belt-drive for all the
machines.

What, chain was no good for them? I suppose belt was more forgiving when
you brushed against it or it broke.

Dear Ryan,

Yes, BMX pegs are sort of reinventing the--

Er, not reinventing the wheel, but you get the idea.

Mounting pegs were just part of the earliest safeties. All full-size
highwheelers came with them (except for racers, where you were helped
up and held steady by an assitant until the start). So many of the
early safeties with their large wheels and fixed gears offered the
same mounting step.

Unfortunately, mounting steps are darned hard to see because riders
tend to stand on the left side of the bike and smile over it into the
camera. (I was browsing through "King of the Road" by Andrew Price
today while looking for other things and noticed lots of them, but
I'll spare you my glorious discoveries, at least for a little while.)

Here's an amusing example of just how hard a mounting peg can be to
see. The Smithsonian has an online picture of a generic old safety
bike with its parts numbered and named:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_319.html

But that picture is so low-res that you can't read the numbers or the
text, even enlarged! Even when I copied the picture and used an
enlarging program, most of the stuff was still illegible.

In fact, about half the numbers and captions were accidentally cut
off. (Not that I think there's an online conspiracy to hide things
from me.)

I belatedly found the original high-res picture, uncropped, from
"Wheels and Wheeling: The Smithsonian Cycle Collection":

http://i2.tinypic.com/815ql4z.jpg

Full size, the bike fills the whole screen and you can see that the
coasting pegs are #31 on the front and are called "coasters." A tiny
bit of the rear mounting step is now visible, labeled #33 and called
"step." The mounting step was just a common part of a bike back in
those days, like quick-releases and water bottle cages are today.

I haven't seen any old safeties with mirror-image mounting pegs like
modern BMX, but you've given me an excuse to show a double-step on a
highwheeler:

Ironically, modern BMX skate-park freestylers often revert to
single-sided pegs. The principle is that the rider is happiest grinding
on one side of the bike (usually the non-drive side; the drivetrain gets
in the way), and the (nowadays, huge-diameter) pegs are put, front and
rear, only on the grinding side. The trend is by no means universal:

<http://picasaweb.google.com/ngallizioli/ThanksForComingToMyPartyHereAreT
hePhotos/photo#5073351841572702978>

Here's a fairly good pic of a one-sider:

<http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?mid=53334716&epmid=2&partner=Googl
e>

Here is a carefully posed still life illustrating a BMX with grind pegs
on only one side:

<http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?mid=53334716&epmid=2&partner=Googl
e>

Oh, and since my description of the neighbourhood Daiso gained less
discussion than I thought it deserved, here it is:

http://www.daisocanada.com/richmond.html

"Every product is required to meet a rigorous quality control standard
of 1.5% (in the specified size, material, color, design, packaging or
safety requirements), much higher than the European standard of 3%."

1.5% of what? I look forward to using my Daiso box-end wrenches,
guaranteed to be with 1.5% of the claimed size.

Quoted message said:

http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/wq/beck/1e.htm

With that large 56-inch wheel, the normal low left-side mounting peg
wasn't quite enough, so a higher right-side mounting peg was added.

The rider below might have appreciated that second right-hand mounting
step as he scaled the backbone of his highwheeler:

http://i2.tinypic.com/4tz3tp0.jpg

As for the almost universal preference for belts over chain in shops
of that era, leather belts were cheaper, quieter, and cleaner than
chains.

Belts needed no oil, were easy to change around on the machinery, and
never wore out the sprockets that they didn't run on.

If you look inside your inexpensive multi-speed drill press, you'll
find a belt and pulleys instead of the over-complicated chain drive
that provides so much entertainment on RBT.

Larger and more precise tools tend to skip from belt to direct gears,
with no chain drive versions in between. The cost of electric engines
has been reduced so much that most factories now run electric lines to
separate engines at each station rather than running many tools off a
central shaft--the engines run only when needed and the operators have
much more control.

I smile at those inexpensive electric engines. Perhaps some day they
will be so inexpensive that they will be common in private homes! Dare
to dream...

Quoted message said:

I still want that Wright brothers bike stand.

It's pretty cute.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"My scenarios may give the impression I could be an excellent crook.
Not true - I am a talented lawyer." - Sandy in rec.bicycles.racing

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov
You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Ryan Cousineau said:

Lovely find.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.
B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

Ryan Cousineau said:

You know, I agree that you've explained the purpose and history of
mounting pegs, and when one-sided, that purpose is singular and
indisputable, but at my local corner Daiso, they also sell pegs very
much like those. There, the pegs are explicitly meant to be used for
carrying another rider.
But of course, those same pegs, whatever their original purpose, then
went on to become the trick standing and grind pegs on freestyle BMX
bikes, giving them a third life.
Is this essentially a single design feature that has been revitalized
twice by finding a new reason for being? That's a remarkable bit of
technology.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

Ryan Cousineau said:

And yet, how are the two frames next to it stored?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

Ryan Cousineau said:

In the second room, I noticed that 19th century equivalent of in-built
compressed air: dual overhead power shafts, with belt-drive for all the
machines.
What, chain was no good for them? I suppose belt was more forgiving when
you brushed against it or it broke.

We can't get the video to run on any platform we have here but full-room
power to various machine tools was usually done with leather belts from
ceiling shafts. It's quiet and efficient, allows each operator to
engage/disengage belt pressure as needed and is much less trouble
overall than a chain system would be.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Quoted message said:

I haven't seen any old safeties with mirror-image mounting pegs like
modern BMX, but you've given me an excuse to show a double-step on a
highwheeler:
http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/wq/beck/1e.htm

I see the proto-hippies of the '90s indulged their floral urges with
'petal position' adjustments. Patchouli-scented 'candle headlamp'?
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

What's interesting is that other than all of the cogs missing half of
their teeth :-) it looks a lot like a modern bike shop might.

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.

B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Looks like the Wrights were fans of celeste too. Or perhaps backwards-
engineering?

I'm with you on 'C'. That is one floridly ornate bike stand. Thank you
for providing my object of covetousness for the day.

/s

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:05:30 -0600, A Muzi <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov
You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Quoted message said:

We can't get the video to run on any platform we have here . . .

Dear Andrew,

It should run in QuickTime.

Maybe a misunderstanding?

It's not a normal video that runs for you as a movie.

It's a static view of two rooms, with no action. It just sits,
motionless, but you can pan and zoom around the still image, seeing
more to the left or right and in the second room.

You pan around the two rooms by holding down the left button and
dragging the mouse pointer. Zoom in and out with the shift and control
keys, or by clicking on the + and - on the controls.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] wrote:
> http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov
> You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Quoted message said:

A Muzi said:

We can't get the video to run on any platform we have here . . .

Quoted message said:

It should run in QuickTime.

Maybe a misunderstanding?

It's not a normal video that runs for you as a movie.

It's a static view of two rooms, with no action. It just sits,
motionless, but you can pan and zoom around the still image, seeing
more to the left or right and in the second room.

You pan around the two rooms by holding down the left button and
dragging the mouse pointer. Zoom in and out with the shift and control
keys, or by clicking on the + and - on the controls.

hmmm. Even the young people here see only a horsie logo in black and
white on their machines. We'll check later.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:57:50 -0600, A Muzi <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> [email hidden] wrote:
>> http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov
>> You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

Quoted message said:

A Muzi said:

We can't get the video to run on any platform we have here . . .

Quoted message said:

It should run in QuickTime.

Maybe a misunderstanding?

It's not a normal video that runs for you as a movie.

It's a static view of two rooms, with no action. It just sits,
motionless, but you can pan and zoom around the still image, seeing
more to the left or right and in the second room.

You pan around the two rooms by holding down the left button and
dragging the mouse pointer. Zoom in and out with the shift and control
keys, or by clicking on the + and - on the controls.

hmmm. Even the young people here see only a horsie logo in black and
white on their machines. We'll check later.

Dear Andrew,

The lower right corner of the page below should have a link to "take a
virtual tour" and "see a 360-degree view inside this site" of the
Wright cycle shop:

http://www.thehenryford.org/village/mainstreet/wrightcycle/default.asp

The terrible little strip picture that you click on is a thumbnail of
part of what you should see, a cluttered bike shop with a bike heading
to your left.

Here's the direct link to the "video" again. It's just a .mov static
pan and zoom view of two rooms, popular on real-estate sites:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

It works on Windows with Apple's free QuickTime player:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/qtvr/wrightbrothers.mov

You can pan and zoom and go to the next room.

A) That's a shaft-drive bike, front and center. Sorry, Orville, but
that won't fly.

B) The bike has a nicely visible mounting peg on its rear axle.

C) It's poised in the finest rear-wheel bike-stand that I've ever
seen. If I had a bike stand like that, I'd never flip my bike
upside-down again.

D) I don't know whether Andrew Muzi will like the LBS stuff more than
Chalo Colina will like the machine tools, but neither of them can ever
complain about cramped quarters again.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Here's that stand again:

http://koolstop.com/mesicek/index.html

Alas, it's just for show, not for sale.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel