Request For Comments

in message <[email hidden]>, Ian

(') said:

I've seen various posts in this NG asking for an FAQ.

I think this is a great idea.

I would be willing to attempt the creation of such a document for
weekly posting to the group. If anybody agrees (or disagrees) I would
welcome their comments.

BUT...

This has to be done by general consensus. If there is an opinion that
this would not be helpful then it is dead in the binary pool that is
/dev/null.

Also, this has to be a collaboration. I cannot compile such a thing
myself.

I would be happy to be a collaborator.

Your list of questions seems a good start.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Age equals angst multiplied by the speed of fright squared.
;; the Worlock

Ian said:

I've seen various posts in this NG asking for an FAQ.

I think this is a great idea.

I would be willing to attempt the creation of such a document for
weekly posting to the group. If anybody agrees (or disagrees) I would
welcome their comments.

BUT...

This has to be done by general consensus. If there is an opinion that
this would not be helpful then it is dead in the binary pool that is
/dev/null.

Also, this has to be a collaboration. I cannot compile such a thing
myself.

If you think this would be a good idea, what should it contain?

IMO, what it should not contain is any product/retailer
recommendations, or any political bias as to cycling arguments (ie the
helmet/no helmet issue).

Once this is established, only then can content be considered from the
group. If this is to proceed, I do not want this to be solitary
effort, but I offer to be a collator of information to (hopefully)
create a useful guide for all cyclists.

My initial thoughts are;

The benefits of cycling.

Types of cycling persuits

I want to buy a bicycle;
LBS or online
what type of bike do I buy
mtb
racing
others...
Anciliary purchases;
clothing
backpacks
paniers
bottles
pedals/shoes
helmets (lets not get into an arguement)
trip computers
others..
(In this I do not mean product recommendation, but things
useful for joe bogg cyclist. and why they are useful)

Where do I find cycle routes?

How do I cycle?

Road safety?

Health, fitness, diet.

The list could possibly be endless, but in the spirit of FAQs I want
it to be a good guide to someone who has decided (like me) - I want to
get into to cycling. Where to I start?

The best FAQs that I have seen (in 40 years in the IT industry) start
out by listing the real Frequently Asked Questions, then adding the
Frequently Replied Answers (FRA). There is a danger in making a
contents list first that you will create a Guide to Cycling in the UK -
which I don't think is your intention - it's also a mammoth undertaking.

Of course, you will need to categorise your FAQs - which is why your
list above is probably quite a good start.

As a newbie here I'm not qualified to comment on the urc FRAs though :-)

R.

Ian said:

I've seen various posts in this NG asking for an FAQ.

I think this is a great idea.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

IMO, what it should not contain is any product/retailer
recommendations, or any political bias as to cycling arguments (ie the
helmet/no helmet issue).

But helmets are a FAQ.

Seriously I think it is possible to word a paragraph that the majority
would agree on. Something like

Helmets are of debatable efficacy in reducing head injuries for road
cycling and some believe that they can lead to increased risk taking
and in some circumstances exacerbate some injures. Some regulars always
wear helmets, some for specific types of riding (mtb), and some never
wear helmets - however a large majority feel that compulsory helmet wearing
to be a bad thing. Please view the google groups archive before posting
a "helmets saved my life" post.

Then give out links to cyclehelmets and the Scottish Parliament
paper/presentation.

--
Andy Leighton => [email hidden]
"The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials"
- Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_

Andy Leighton said:

Helmets are of debatable efficacy in reducing head injuries for road
cycling and some believe that they can lead to increased risk taking
and in some circumstances exacerbate some injures. Some regulars always
wear helmets, some for specific types of riding (mtb), and some never
wear helmets - however a large majority feel that compulsory helmet wearing
to be a bad thing. Please view the google groups archive before posting
a "helmets saved my life" post.

Then give out links to cyclehelmets and the Scottish Parliament
paper/presentation.

erm... how about "Helmets and other body armour must always be worn when
posting anything about Helmets on u.r.c" 🙂

.... I'll get my coat...

--
Chris

Ian said:

The list could possibly be endless,

That's the trouble :-(

Quoted message said:

but in the spirit of FAQs I want
it to be a good guide to someone who has decided (like me) - I want to
get into to cycling. Where to I start?

How about the 20 most frequently asked questions, whatever they really
are? Google Groups might be a help to work that out somehow.

When it comes to bike maintenance, I would like links to SheldonBrown.com
and Park Tools "How do I Work on my Bike" included, even though both have
commercial connections. They are /that/ useful.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

How about the 20 most frequently asked questions, whatever they really
are? Google Groups might be a help to work that out somehow.

Google would probably help, but we probably already know what the most
common questions are, I think. These are the ones which spring to my mind:

- what bike should I buy
- what tyres should I buy
- name a good maintenance book / resource
- which way do pedals unscrew
- how to start out with clipless / which pedal system to buy
- route advice
- clothing advice
- my chain is skipping, what should I do / chain cleaning and wear
assessment
- riding with kids: how to teach them, trailer bikes, how old before they
can go in a trailer / on a tag-along / in the Tour de France

And more specialist questions like "good buike shop in the [censored] area" or
"where to get a respray in the YYY area".

And, of course, h*lm*ts.

If we combine the faq suggestions of the regulars, we'd almost certainly get
what we wanted quicker :-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University

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

Quoted message said:

I've seen various posts in this NG asking for an FAQ.

I think this is a great idea.

me too, didn't guy chapman attempt this a while ago?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you think this would be a good idea, what should it contain?

Quoted message said:

Road safety?

speaking from my experience, what to do in the event of a road accident

Easy maintenance jobs

"get you home" tips should something break

I'd be happy to help. But don't email the address shown as it's duff

dudley<underscore>nomoore<at>hotmail<dot>com will work

Al

you know? said:

And more specialist questions like "good buike shop in the [censored] area"

Hi Guy

I've a feeling I have mentioned this before but in my kiting days I
used to point others towards
<http://www.poolekites.freeserve.co.uk/surveys/index.htm> for LKS and
flying site info. A similar web presence for LBSs and the like might
be a good idea.

James

Quoted message said:

I've seen various posts in this NG asking for an FAQ.

I think this is a great idea.

Yep, great idea. Anyone think it's not a great idea? Will be happy to
help, although I know almost nothing about cycles, cycling etc (it's why I
frequent this ng).

I suggest the faq be limited to the real frequently asked questions (which
would include the h word). The link to the Scottish Parliament thing is a
great idea, as it says pretty much what the group consensus on the issue
is, whereas the previous standard link issued to unwitting helmet trolls
had a blatent anti-[censored] agenda. Could be left at just that link
actually.

A short bit about posting conventions - tags to use and what sort of 'for
sale' things are tolerated would be a help to new poster.

All this is, of course, IMHO and would have no problem with a more
comprehensive faq.

Ian said:

The list could possibly be endless, but in the spirit of FAQs I want
it to be a good guide to someone who has decided (like me) - I want to
get into to cycling. Where to I start?

I have a little experience of doing this. Basically, there are two ways
of going about it, though it's possible to adopt elements of both ways.

Firstly, you can have a linear FAQ (which will often be found in a
literal question-and-answer format, often a text-only document). This is
the way all FAQs used to be in the days before the web.

The other way is to have a hypertext FAQ (which will usually also
contain images and other shiny things) which will have to be hosted on
the web.

The advantages and disadvantages of each from the point of view of the
user are pretty obvious. For the FAQ's creators and maintainers, you
have to think a bit more carefully about it. How well can you convey
what you want to communicate via text alone? Do you really want to have
to maintain a web site? Etc.

A hypertext FAQ can become pretty tedious to update and maintain. A
system that can be collaboratively created and maintained is a great
advantage, hence the rise of TWikis all over the place.

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

you know? said:

And, of course, h*lm*ts.

While the matter of headgear occasionally gives rise to extended
debate, I don't it qualifies as FAQ. How often does someone pop up and
ask "should I wear a helmet?" Very occasionally, someone might ask for
a brand suggestion but it's right down there with seat posts, spoke
material and other tedious detail.

in message <[email hidden]>, Just zis Guy, you know?

(') said:

Pete Biggs said:

How about the 20 most frequently asked questions, whatever they
really
are? Google Groups might be a help to work that out somehow.

Google would probably help, but we probably already know what the most
common questions are, I think. These are the ones which spring to my
mind:

- what bike should I buy

What's wrong with very cheap bikes and how to recognise the good cheap
bikes.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

See one nuclear war, you've seen them all.

In article <[email hidden]>, Simon

Brooke said:

Quoted message said:

- what bike should I buy

Quoted message said:

What's wrong with very cheap bikes and how to recognise the good
cheap bikes.

I went to a recent trade only bike show and bought a few bikes.

Some cost £39-00 and are very very good - end of line and lets get
rid of them.

A few cost £59-00 to £99-00 and are reasonable.

A very few cost in excess of £140-00 and I would not buy them again -
very good bikes but it is impossible to find touch up paint to match.

But we all look at bikes in a different way - most on this ng want a
bike - I want to make a living!

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

in message <[email hidden]>, Ian

(') said:

I've seen various posts in this NG asking for an FAQ.

I think this is a great idea.

I would be willing to attempt the creation of such a document for
weekly posting to the group. If anybody agrees (or disagrees) I would
welcome their comments.

BUT...

This has to be done by general consensus. If there is an opinion that
this would not be helpful then it is dead in the binary pool that is
/dev/null.

Also, this has to be a collaboration. I cannot compile such a thing
myself.

OK, there is now a Wiki at
<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk:8180/urcautofaq/jsp/Wiki?FrequentlyAskedQuestions>

This is *highly* experimental. The machine is an old 120MHz box with
64Mb RAM which does a lot of other more important jobs, and the
performance hit from the Wiki may be too much for it in which case I
shall have to take it down. The performance of the Wiki is pretty slow.
I know this. Be gentle with it.

In any case I don't currently plan to leave it up for ever - just two or
three months for us to collaboratively produce a FAQ. Then I'll convert
it into a static HTML form and either host it or pass it on to someone
else for hosting.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; may contain traces of nuts, bolts or washers.

Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as "Just zis
Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> gently breathed:

<snip good stuff>

Quoted message said:

And, of course, h*lm*ts.

LOL!

Can I suggest something that explains the different kinds of bikes you
can get at different price ranges? And don't totally write-off the
cheap ones, that just puts people like me (who's managing a daily city
commute on something that cost about 100 quid) off. While 500 quid
bikes are nice (and 1000+ quid recumbents even nicer), not everyone can
afford that kind of money for cycling.

Would something basic on the health benefits of cycling be an idea?
Giving info on what kind of exercise / calorie burning / which muscle
groups are used, etc.

Explanation of terms like spinning?

Reminder of highway code and things like "don't go through red lights"?

Btw, while we're here, what is the correct height for a saddle on an
upright - is it that both feet should be just flat on the ground with
the legs fully extended, or is it supposed to be feet at bottom of pedal
travel with legs extended? I have a feeling my saddle has gradually
sunk, as I now have more or less the first option, and while I can still
ride uphill, and the bike is a lot more comfortable this way, I'm
wondering if I'm wasting energy with the upper legs being almost
horizontal.

NP: Hecate Enthroned - A Requiem For The Mighty.
--
- Pyromancer Stormshadow.
http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk <-- Pagan Gothic Rock!
http://www.littlematchgirl.co.uk <-- Electronic Metal!
http://www.revival.stormshadow.com <-- The Gothic Revival.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

And more specialist questions like "good buike shop in the [censored] area" or
"where to get a respray in the YYY area".

I'd throw in something along the lines of "Which mail order
firms/on-line shops are recommended?"

David E. Belcher

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

And more specialist questions like "good buike shop in the [censored] area" or
"where to get a respray in the YYY area".

Ignore my post re. a FAQ about on-line shop recommendations - I see
Ian's beaten me to it!

David E. Belcher

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

Quoted message said:

Where do I find cycle routes?

How do I cycle?

How about "I live in the X area - can you recommend a good cycling
club for a newcomer?" (or something similar for non-newcomers to
cycling who've moved house to an unfamiliar neck of the woods)?

David E. Belcher

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

Quoted message said:

Reminder of highway code and things like "don't go through red lights"?

I don't think an FAQ should moralise like this. Certainly it should
point out that going through red lights, and pavement cycling, are
illegal, frowned on by most serious cyclists, and may contribute
towards motorist aggression towards cyclists. However, a few urc
regulars admit to doing both and advance arguments to justify
themselves. That's a simple straight answer.

--
Dave...