On Oct 18, 7:45 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <[email protected]> wrote: >I tend to roll my eyes at the technical stuff, because I've never had wheel >flop or tire rolling resistance make or break a fun ride for me.
I totally agree, and I doubt you've ever read in BQ that we were out on a lovely day, the leaves were turning, and the road snaked into the hills, but the bike had too much wheel flop, so the ride was no fun. Similarly, one of my best road trips was in a rented Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. Awful car, great trip. But when the time comes to buy a bike/car, it's nice to have the information to get something better. As a bike shop owner, I think you might find the information in BQ useful. Imagine a customer not being able to decide between a 26" and 700C Surly Long-Haul Trucker. You can point them to the BQ article showing that (slightly) smaller wheels don't roll any worse on smooth or rough roads, so the 26" LHT will roll as fast, have stronger wheels and allow them to ride dirt roads if they like. (Of course, if a customer prefers the look of the 700C version, you'll sell them that. Not everybody's taste is the same.) Or imagine somebody complaining that their hybrid is hard to ride in a straight line up steep hills. You see that they have 25 mm tires on there, so the first thing you can do for them is fit wider tires to add pneumatic trail. And if they are in the market for a new bike, you can suggest one with less wheel flop. Information is good. What you do with it, is up to you. Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly http://www.bikequarterly.com Follow our blog at http://janheine.wordpress.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
