Thank you for the definition of skitch! Boy oh boy, I don’t like how this is going! Next couple weeks will be pretty awesome on this strip. Following Thistle’s trials with biking with her kid, now Joe’s bike may get trashed by sister sprocket!
She can always just let the pedals spin, feet held clear of course!
Would add lots to the images of SS on her fixie, speeding along at 30-40+ with the legs spread apart and the pedals going around like some mad threshing machine.
Of course, without brakes, how does she re-engage to get back into control/stop later on? Maybe a ‘Footjam Tailwhip’?
Not that I skitch rides, but I do have a lot of high speed downhills on my commute and on most of my regular training routes, so it’s pretty rare that I switch from my freewheel to my fixed side.
I’m only comfortable topping out my downhill spin at around 180 – 185 rpm, which puts me right around 35mph; but it’s not unusual for me to top out at 42 – 45mph coming down the hills on my commute, and I’ve seen 50mph on a few of my training rides.
as a once and probably future fixie rider my knees top out at about 155rpm which means the fastest I can spin is a hair under 35mph with even the biggest of my prefered gearing (46-48/17) Freewheeling is any other matter though I’m still not a fan of skitching. There was a hill near my house in Guam that I could coast at 53mph….scary thing but soo fun
There were better topics in the past few days…
What about the “not only a new bike can feel like it was new”…, for instance? My topic of the day. )
I performed some extensive maintenance on my “main” horsey (main for this time of year, at least), after a few long rides and before some more long rides I’m planning. (It was also my birthday a few days ago, so I could claim the buying of new parts to be a gift for myself (from myself)).
New bottom bracket, new chain, new derailleur hanger etc., everything else of course thoroughly cleaned, lubricated, adjusted. The bike sure feels much faster and easier to pedal. New brake pads, brake cables… much more confidence when braking even with the bike fully loaded. I could even perform such silly thing as a “stoppie” (this time without the load, of course). Not that I would do it on regular basis (far from that), but it surely is a good way to test how “sharp” (or not) your front brake is.
Oh, yes. It surely feels great, and you don’t need a brand new bike for that. Thinking of it… perhaps it can be even better, at least in some aspects – when you put some effort into making your (t)rusty (old) friend run with that maximum efficiency like it was new… the feeling is richer thanks to that intimate relation between “a rider and the horse”, which you are only beginning to discover with a new machine…
The whole bike could be quite light.
Another question is the durability… I would like to see someone ride down the staircase (shown briefly in the video). Not that you need to do such things – but as a test of what the wheels and the bike as such can take, it would be quite convincing, I guess…
Who’s “kaff”ing?
@ Ben… Glad you were able to follow the links to the kite images.
K’Tesh – it took me all day to see what you referred to!
IMHO it is Joe’s monobrow – hence the very small ‘kaff’
Just in case anyone has to ask…
http://www.urbandictionary.com/products.php?term=skitch&defid=751938
Have a good weekend. Finally sunny in Perth this weekend might see you onna mia bella Bianchi
Thanks. I hadn’t any idea what it meant.
Ah. So now I understand his shock.
Thank you for the definition of skitch! Boy oh boy, I don’t like how this is going! Next couple weeks will be pretty awesome on this strip. Following Thistle’s trials with biking with her kid, now Joe’s bike may get trashed by sister sprocket!
She can always just let the pedals spin, feet held clear of course!
Would add lots to the images of SS on her fixie, speeding along at 30-40+ with the legs spread apart and the pedals going around like some mad threshing machine.
Of course, without brakes, how does she re-engage to get back into control/stop later on? Maybe a ‘Footjam Tailwhip’?
Yep foot on the back wheel. Will destroy your shoe though. I rubbed off a good chunk of my sole when I had to do it for a bit.
Srsly, he’d give her a new one from stock rather than lend her his. It’s going to get fubar’d.
Yep, or a spare hack or something. And I’d make her ask again – “Lemme borrow your bike” is lacking the ‘magic word’…
@DonDare – ‘Like’
Sister Sprocket makes a comeback… Love the expression on Joe’s face in the last frame.
@Dreenol – It is rather well depicted isn’t ir – Joe’s shock/surprise
He’s not [italics] that [/italics] shocked; he’s kept his eyebrow on.
Nice one…
damn turbo charged diesel engines totally spoiled drafting and skitching.
Unless you smoke a pipe.
when you draft or even skitch emmissions is the last you have to worry about.
i’m talking about the acceleration characteristics..
Draft electric cars. There are enough around here now to do that.
SS should get herself a flipflop, one side fixed one side free.
Maybe SS’s meeting is an anti rebuttal to the old hag…
No, she said it was an ‘alleycat’ meeting — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleycat_races
But I betcha the old bag would be down on those too.
i heart ss
+1. It’d be great to learn more of the Sister’s history–such a compelling character!
Not that I skitch rides, but I do have a lot of high speed downhills on my commute and on most of my regular training routes, so it’s pretty rare that I switch from my freewheel to my fixed side.
I’m only comfortable topping out my downhill spin at around 180 – 185 rpm, which puts me right around 35mph; but it’s not unusual for me to top out at 42 – 45mph coming down the hills on my commute, and I’ve seen 50mph on a few of my training rides.
as a once and probably future fixie rider my knees top out at about 155rpm which means the fastest I can spin is a hair under 35mph with even the biggest of my prefered gearing (46-48/17) Freewheeling is any other matter though I’m still not a fan of skitching. There was a hill near my house in Guam that I could coast at 53mph….scary thing but soo fun
But is she going to wear a helmet?!
[I know the answer, just referring to the last few days of heated debate here...]
OK let’s talk about helmets.
Let’s not and say we did… or better yet, wait until next week when I’m sure it’s bound to come up again.
There were better topics in the past few days…
)
New brake pads, brake cables… much more confidence when braking even with the bike fully loaded. I could even perform such silly thing as a “stoppie” (this time without the load, of course). Not that I would do it on regular basis (far from that), but it surely is a good way to test how “sharp” (or not) your front brake is. 
What about the “not only a new bike can feel like it was new”…, for instance? My topic of the day.
I performed some extensive maintenance on my “main” horsey (main for this time of year, at least), after a few long rides and before some more long rides I’m planning. (It was also my birthday a few days ago, so I could claim the buying of new parts to be a gift for myself (from myself)).
New bottom bracket, new chain, new derailleur hanger etc., everything else of course thoroughly cleaned, lubricated, adjusted. The bike sure feels much faster and easier to pedal.
Oh, yes. It surely feels great, and you don’t need a brand new bike for that. Thinking of it… perhaps it can be even better, at least in some aspects – when you put some effort into making your (t)rusty (old) friend run with that maximum efficiency like it was new… the feeling is richer thanks to that intimate relation between “a rider and the horse”, which you are only beginning to discover with a new machine…
Happy rides to you all.
Oh, but we don’t know what SS is smoking today
I thought I was the only one who noticed that!
Ha ha! I was looking at this strip, and looking, and something was wrong/missing
Windmill Brand – on account of the wildly spinning cranks on SS’s mixte fixte when skitching, at least before she borrowed Joe’s bike.
Three Nuns Original, perhaps: http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend_detail.cfm?ALPHA=T&TID=1259
Oh, and speaking of helmets, check out the cardboard helmet: http://urbanvelo.org/abus-kranium-cardboard-helmet/
Looks good Adam
Oh, oh, or maybe even better, check out the CARDBOARD BIKE! http://www.technologicvehicles.com/en/actualite-mobilite-verte/1948/video-un-velo-en-carton-izhar-gafni-prouve-qu
That’s got to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I want one!
Brilliant innovation – I bet the wheels are light!
The whole bike could be quite light.
Another question is the durability… I would like to see someone ride down the staircase (shown briefly in the video). Not that you need to do such things – but as a test of what the wheels and the bike as such can take, it would be quite convincing, I guess…
Better idea: make cars and lorries (that’s automobiles and trucks in American) out of cardboard.
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