sjh - mountain biking running linux vegan geek spice - mtb / vegan / running / linux / canberra / cycling / etc

Steven Hanley hackergotchi picture Steven
Hanley
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Mon, 27 Sep 2004

Reasons to ride bikes - 18:54
So here I am responding to Chris again on some bike issue. Chris did some sums on the cost of a car for Australian drivers after one of his co workers pointed out figures for car owners in the US.

Chris did note that people will always make time for things they are truly interested in. Which is good, and correct, also I have to remind myself often that the majority of people are not as interested in Cycling as I am. I may take it to extremes (doing a few climbs of black mountain this evening and having a ball doing so) but there are some things about bicycle commuting that Chris didn't mention.

The two big ones are it can often be faster, especially at heavy traffic times, and the other point is it is less stressful than driving a car. To explain why it is often faster. Any commute that takes less than half an hour generally will not make you sweat excessively so you may get away without showering at the end of the commute. You also need not hunt around for parking spots or similar and have to walk from the car to work as bicycles will generally be stored in your office building somewhere.

The above is not really that helpful as it does come down to making time for something you really enjoy to a large extent. The big win for bike commuting I find is it is far less stressful and it wakes you up. Personally I find driving sucks, especially in traffic. However for me cycling lets me loosen up mentally and physically and gets my mind and body working, siting in a car driving somewhere just aggravates and annoys me. To some extent this has to do with mind set, however I find if I have not had a good ride (well exercise) in the morning I am not as alert and ready for work as otherwise.

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Buggy Bike Lock Considerations - 11:40
Last week I commented that there is a bit to think about with the Buggy Bike lock stuff that has hit the Internet recently.

First as Chris noticed it is not exactly recent and new information.

John Stevenson (from CyclingNews and previously in many other bike industry positions here and in the UK for a long time pointed out this. 

>http://thirdrate.com/misc/krypto.mov

Gee a movie of a lock design defect that was known about ten years ago:

http://groups.google.co.uk/......

That it's still possible to buy u-locks with this gaping design flaw
*ten years* after it was first revealed just indicates how serious some
lock companies really are about the quality of their products.

I was taught that trick (and several others) by a bloke who'd found
himself living on a Nottingham council estate full of petty crooks and
been taught by them in turn. The bottom line is that there are several
attacks that will open most inexpensive u-locks.

If you want something serious, spend big and make sure it says 'Trelock'
or 'Abus' on it.

Just about every lock marketed at cyclists is a toy.

Kryptonite does alas fall into the toy category. And apparently there are movies on that site and others for opening the other key whole types on most common locks. Including the new modified straight key Kryptonite are now marketing.

As seen on SingleTrackWorld, Kryptonite are coming to the party with respect to giving consumers replacement barrels that are less buggy. Of course if you read the forums with those two articles people have noted that the new barrels and locks on them that Kryptonite are offering consumers are almost as bad.

What has happened with this new information on the Internet is now rather than only bike thieves and the like having the information pretty much everyone can easily find out about it. Sure bike lock companies should not have been relying on Security by obscurity, and alas they have not gotten entirely better. As John says try Abus or Trelock brands, motor cycle locks and companies supplying them (ie these two brands) are a lot better than most bike locks.

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