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Carteret posted:EV Lane, with induction coils on the road to charge as you ride increasing range. Bumper car electric grids over the road and a big pole to pick them up, like the dream I had when I was a kid. Now some of you are probably thinking "but how do you corner on a bike like that, the pole will leave the grid as you lean" but as you'll also need a metal road for the return path, you're not going to be doing a lot of cornering. That this means refactoring every single road in the country into a series of long, recharging straights between shellgripped braking zones and tight corners is very much a feature, not a bug.
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Apr 19, 2021 10:26
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Renaissance Robot posted:Induction into rolling vehicles has really poor performance iirc, just incredibly low efficiency. It'd make even less sense for bikes because you'd struggle to get the pickup coil close enough to the ground without making a bike that couldn't lean. What about, and hear me out here...... Metal tires
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Apr 19, 2021 12:49
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:What about, and hear me out here...... It could work, but they're pretty low friction. You'd need some sort of rail that they can hook a lip over. Ahhh poo poo we invented trains again.
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Apr 19, 2021 12:54
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Bumper car electric grids over the road and a big pole to pick them up, like the dream I had when I was a kid. a) the pole is on a gyro so it always points straight up b) only part of the road is metal (a thin strip running the whole length, off to one side) and there's another pole sticking out to touch that Wait poo poo that's just a third rail train goddammit
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Apr 19, 2021 13:04
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Sagebrush posted:An average gas pump dispensing about 7 gallons a minute is "charging" your vehicle at a rate of ~15 megawatts.
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Apr 19, 2021 14:23
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Sagebrush posted:Gasoline is an incredible fuel. If it didn't already exist under our feet all over the world, we would have invented it independently. There's almost nothing else with that combination of energy density, relative non-toxicity* and convenience. You can carry 600 megajoules (165 kWh) in a 5-gallon bucket weighing 30 pounds. It never loses potency and it can be moved around with a funnel and a hose. As long as you keep the bucket covered it's safe enough to leave in the corner of your garage. Between fossil fuels, asbestos, and cfcs, I feel like the history of industrial materials in the 19th and 20th century is one of incredibly useful substances that our species was in no way responsible enough to be allowed near.
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Apr 19, 2021 16:18
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Phy posted:Between fossil fuels, asbestos, and cfcs, I feel like the history of industrial materials in the 19th and 20th century is one of incredibly useful substances that our species was in no way responsible enough to be allowed near. *looks at the transuranium elements oppenheimerishly*
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Apr 19, 2021 16:49
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LodeRunner posted:
Why not 395? Is the desert bad for batteries? Phone posted:You guys are thinking about this all wrong: What you do is buy a small fleet of electric bikes and perpetually stagger them by parking them at charging locations and treat every extended ride as a relay race. ahhh poo poo you invented the Pony Express again
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Apr 19, 2021 20:13
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Renaissance Robot posted:a) the pole is on a gyro so it always points straight up I mean if we're just stealing 19th century technology, trolley poles are right there and account for lean and don't need the metal road. Getting them hooked up is a pain but that seems like something we should be able to have an app for.
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Apr 19, 2021 20:21
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I mean if we're just stealing 19th century technology, trolley poles are right there and account for lean and don't need the metal road. Getting them hooked up is a pain but that seems like something we should be able to have an app for. Hookly, the convenient way to summon a peasant with a pole anywhere, anytime.
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Apr 19, 2021 20:51
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Phy posted:Between fossil fuels, asbestos, and cfcs, I feel like the history of industrial materials in the 19th and 20th century is one of incredibly useful substances that our species was in no way responsible enough to be allowed near. The guy who came up with CFCs was the same guy who recommended adding lead to gasoline. Kind of amazing how much of an impact one guy had on planetary health. Then he managed to kill himself accidentally by munching himself in a contraption of his own design to help him get around his house when he got old and less mobile (I've always suspected it was really auto erotic asphyxiation but either people didn't recognise it for what it was or chose a different interpretation to sanitize the cause of death).
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Apr 19, 2021 21:57
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Greg12 posted:Why not 395? Is the desert bad for batteries? Infrastructure is a bit sparse. And someone may chance it, but looking at the charging station map the leg from Bishop to Bridgeport is about 90 miles with several steep elevation climbs where it jumps from 4,000 to 8,000 feet and a couple smaller climbs in between. There are some level 2 stations in that gap so the person likely wouldn't be stranded if they miscalculated, and it may be viable to knock off 60 miles from the journey. So to answer you, someone may totally do it. I can't make that on my 2018 bike, but one of the guys with the Big Boy batteries may attempt it. That's actually likely what I'd do if I had one of those bikes, even if it meant an hour at one of the J1772 stations. I think the last time I checked there weren't as many DC stations on that route, so some of the gaps that existed recently have been filled in.
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Apr 19, 2021 22:15
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Carth Dookie posted:The guy who came up with CFCs was the same guy who recommended adding lead to gasoline. Kind of amazing how much of an impact one guy had on planetary health. Then he managed to kill himself accidentally by munching himself in a contraption of his own design to help him get around his house when he got old and less mobile (I've always suspected it was really auto erotic asphyxiation but either people didn't recognise it for what it was or chose a different interpretation to sanitize the cause of death). Oh yeah no gently caress Thomas Midgely though the way science and engineering work some other bright spark (or group thereof) would have discovered both cfcs and tetraethyl lead. And it's not like he was some evil overlord forcing them on the world, corporations chose to foist them on us at the cost of our health and sanity and downplay the negative effects once they were aware, because it made money faster
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Apr 19, 2021 22:38
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Phy posted:Oh yeah no gently caress Thomas Midgely He gets a pass on CFCs because nobody foresaw it's effect on the ozone layer, but gently caress him for promoting lead. He knew that poo poo was insanely poisonous and the reason it was introduced was to prevent engine knock, which could have been dealt with using alcohol, but would have been fractionally more expensive.
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Apr 20, 2021 03:12
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Bought a new bike last Tuesday (Kawasaki KLX230) and thanks to the current vehicle registration process combined with my excitement, I'm now receiving parts for a bike I do not yet possess. The RMV is accepting drop-offs for registrations only, so I'm waiting on an email to give me a link to pay for my plate which will then (?) be sent to me. The dealer told me once I have a plate they'll set the bike up and I can come get it. Worst case, it's a dirtbike. So I'll just go get it, strap it to my jeep, and do wheelies in my back yard until the plate comes.
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Apr 20, 2021 19:34
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Carth Dookie posted:He gets a pass on CFCs because nobody foresaw it's effect on the ozone layer, but gently caress him for promoting lead. He knew that poo poo was insanely poisonous and the reason it was introduced was to prevent engine knock, which could have been dealt with using alcohol, but would have been fractionally more expensive. In fairness, much like CFCs, nobody had even the slightest idea that the lead would cause the problems it did once it got into the environment. The main concern was over the way they actually got the lead into the engine - adding ethyl groups to it so it would stay in solution and not just sink to the bottom of the tank. Unfortunately this trick also means it can easily be absorbed through the skin and straight through the blood-brain barrier, meaning TEL was toxic to a genuinely terrifying level. However it was considered to be safe enough once it was actually in a fuel tank, and the ethyl burned off in the engine, leaving only lovely safe elemental lead, in concentrations low enough to be easily below even the most stringent safety requirements of the time. Of course those requirements were set by "How much can we make a lead miner/smelter breathe before they show immediately obvious symptoms" - nobody ever considered the hazards of chronic exposure until the 1960s. Not that this excuses him of course - especially as he was actively involved in the coverup of the toxicity of TEL , even going so far as to wash his hands in the stuff as a demonstration of it's safety (and being hospitalised for months afterwards with lead poisoning). This coverup probably killed dozens of people at the plants making TEL and injured hundreds, if not thousands, more. Of course there's a better than zero chance this little trick was the actual cause of the paralysis he suffered later in life - there was no test for polio at the time and lead poisoning can cause the exact same form of paralysis, and it's not like he'd have been keen to tell the doctors "Actually lads it's probably the stuff in every single engine in the world that I invented that's causing this". Alcohol doesn't really work as well as an anti-knock agent because you need to use so much of it to have an appreciable effect that it considerably reduces the power of the engine because of the lower energy density - TEL is considerably more expensive (even if you poison your workers to save money) than ethanol or methanol to produce, it was used because it really was amazingly good stuff - it also reduced engine wear (the lead residue effectively lubricating the top end) and protected valves and springs. It's just another of those things like asbestos and of course CFCs that is just so perfect - and so cheap - for the job that it's really, really tempting to not look too hard at why people are dropping dead.
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Apr 20, 2021 20:15
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goddamnedtwisto posted:In fairness, much like CFCs, nobody had even the slightest idea that the lead would cause the problems it did once it got into the environment. Nah, they could have figured it out if they'd thought about it. They just didn't give a poo poo.
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Apr 20, 2021 21:30
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It wasn't "didn't know" or "chose not to investigate too hard", it was 'knew and did it anyway". There are scientific articles about why TEL in fuel is a terribly bad idea from as early as 1922 or maybe 24.
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Apr 21, 2021 00:05
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Leads issues were known from waaaaay back in the day when it was used a a a sweetener and hosed people up
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Apr 21, 2021 01:09
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Leads issues were known from waaaaay back in the day when it was used a a a sweetener and hosed people up Elector_Nerdlingen posted:It wasn't "didn't know" or "chose not to investigate too hard", it was 'knew and did it anyway". There are scientific articles about why TEL in fuel is a terribly bad idea from as early as 1922 or maybe 24. TEL is dangerous because, like I say, the ethyl groups let it through the skin much more easily than the elemental metal. You can hold a lump of lead in your hand for years on end and it's not an issue (well apart from cramp from carrying around a lump of metal all that time). Powdered lead on the skin (as was used in some makeup) is more of a problem but it's "gently caress up your skin" kinda problem. Lead vapours, like from a smelter, *are* dangerous as gently caress (it's one of the very first known workplace hazards, the Greeks knew about it). The point is, as I said, they knew about, and covered up, the substantial hazards of TEL to the workers making it (and people at petrol stations etc) but covered it up. They knew (or believed and were disinclined to investigate further) that the fact the exhaust gases were considerably below the boiling point of lead meant that they didn't have to worry about the known risks of lead vapour, and had no idea of the developmental issues caused by long-term exposure to low levels of lead - this wasn't even suspected (at least in published work) until the late 50s/early 60s at the very earliest.
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Apr 21, 2021 01:34
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Organometallic compounds are real nightmare chemicals. The head of a lab I used to work at ages ago wouldn't allow anyone that wasn't a grad student to handle them. Has anyone made a fuel cell motorcycle? Presumably hydrogen would resolve some of the charging concerns (and bring its own drawbacks). Otherwise, maybe run e-bikes with really long extension cords, and when you reach the end, swap for another cord at a swapping station. Tarzan your way across the country on copper vines.
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Apr 21, 2021 04:57
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Of course those requirements were set by "How much can we make a lead miner/smelter breathe before they show immediately obvious symptoms" - nobody ever considered the hazards of chronic exposure until the 1960s. And we will never, ever know for certain whether the boomer generation had their brains hosed up by long term inhalation of leaded gas fumes during their development years. I'm guessing yes and its the oil industry's dirty secret much like the harm caused by tobacco was to cigarette companies.
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Apr 21, 2021 06:53
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T Zero posted:Has anyone made a fuel cell motorcycle? Presumably hydrogen would resolve some of the charging concerns (and bring its own drawbacks). It's been done, yeah, but personally I wouldn't straddle anything with a compressed hydrogen tank. There's some novel aluminium compound in development that can spontaneously produce hydrogen out of water; I like the idea of running fuel cell electrics in concert with that because it means you could keep all the current pumping station infrastructure but have one of the nozzles deliver distilled water instead of petrol.
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Apr 21, 2021 10:42
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goddamnedtwisto posted:The point is, as I said, they knew about, and covered up, the substantial hazards of TEL to the workers making it (and people at petrol stations etc) but covered it up. They knew (or believed and were disinclined to investigate further) that the fact the exhaust gases were considerably below the boiling point of lead meant that they didn't have to worry about the known risks of lead vapour Yeah, you're right. I was misremembering the poisoned workers looney gas thing as being about burning the fuel not manufacturing it.
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Apr 21, 2021 11:37
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Renaissance Robot posted:It's been done, yeah, but personally I wouldn't straddle anything with a compressed hydrogen tank. Finally zoolander is reality
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Apr 21, 2021 13:18
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Renaissance Robot posted:It's been done, yeah, but personally I wouldn't straddle anything with a compressed hydrogen tank. *explanatory why i don't wear a seatbeltishly* idk about you, but if im in a crash i want to be propelled out of danger and into safety
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Apr 21, 2021 14:43
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Phone posted:*explanatory why i don't wear a seatbeltishly* idk about you, but if im in a crash i want to be propelled out of danger and into
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Apr 21, 2021 14:48
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The first person on Mars will not be a astronaut, but a motorcyclist.
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Apr 21, 2021 17:44
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Renaissance Robot posted:It's been done, yeah, but personally I wouldn't straddle anything with a compressed hydrogen tank. You prompted me to look this one up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhlwuSs6uPM This looks like an interesting concept, particularly the removable multi-use fuel pod.
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Apr 21, 2021 23:07
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Everyone in the northern hemisphere, please stay focused if you're starting your riding season right now. I was sitting on my buddy's front porch last night, and heard this happen from less than a block away.  The bike wasn't even going that fast, the engine was not wound up at all. It sounded to me like they may have been in 4th gear going about 40-50 mph (road is a 5-lane 40 mph limit). No brakes, no horn, just quiet evening traffic sounds and then a enormous bang like an explosion. I knew what had happened right away. Cover your brakes, slow down at green lights with an open oncoming left turn lane, weave in your lane, and remember the cemetery is full of people who had the right of way. edit: someone on Facebook who claimed to have driven by right after it happened said they saw a helmet in several pieces in the road. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Apr 26, 2021 |
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Apr 26, 2021 15:56
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Jesus, that loving sucks. Regarding weaving, I read a thing that the human eye/brain isn't great at perceiving movement of something getting closer, but it's great at side to side, which is why it's best to weave in your lane as you approach an intersection. I've started doing that so much it's kinda become second nature. Lights > noise.
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Apr 26, 2021 17:29
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the smidsy weave Not even a week since I crashed and my wife is getting "so you're not going to let him get a new bike, right?" from both her family and mine. Thankfully she knows how much I like riding and just tells them I can do what I want.
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Apr 26, 2021 17:40
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That will NEVER end. I have a friend who crashed, broke his spine, and is partially quadriplegic. This was back in like 04 Literally one week later, another friends dad rolled his Ford Contour, hit a tree and got the exact same injury. Exactly the same, right down to the specific break in the same vertebrae, the same partial quadriplegia, same outcome, same everything. I have received an unending stream of "how can you still ride after what happened to him", going on 17 years now. Another friend who rides with us was basically guilted into getting out of riding by his wife. The bike that he crashed on was an SV, I asked him before I bought mine if he was OK with it, and I still get "thats the same bike he crashed on, huh? Yikes". People dont realize that two people owning SV's is like two people owning Honda Civics, not exactly a rare occurrence, given their popularity You know how many people questioned me when I've bought new cars between then and now? Zero How many people have said "You remember what happened to Kens dad in his Contour, right? How can you still be driving?". Zero If I bought a Ford Contour for some reason, no one would even remember that it was the car that my friend's dad crashed in, let alone give me crap for it. And not once has anyone commented on how dangerous cars are, because of what happened to my friends dad. Its infuriating how crashes are somehow always the bikes fault, but car crashes are not the fault of the car, even when they have the exact same outcome. I feel for people. Most people don't know enough to know what riding actually entails, but the complete disregard for a car accident that had the same outcome just feels scummy. Sorry, rant over.
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Apr 26, 2021 18:31
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I'd add that for whatever reason running red lights has recently become an epidemic even here in traffic-free NW Wisconsin. Check both directions even when that light turns green. I've had people blow through when my light has been green for several seconds. Scary poo poo.
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Apr 26, 2021 18:46
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the greatest country in the world accepts a bloodbath of 40,000 annual deaths and 4.4 million injuries requiring medical treatment because, uh, postwar glad-handing white guys figured out that you could get rich, quick, by having the government subsidize turning farmland into houses that qualify for subsidized government loans, and that the proud new owners would become right-wing psychos the minute they bought the property, so they made it illegal to build anything else so now there is nothing within walking distance of most homes, so we have to drive to do literally anything this is the actual history of the american city
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Apr 26, 2021 18:47
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Everyone in the northern hemisphere, please stay focused if you're starting your riding season right now. I like how the lesson here from that post is MOTORCYCLES PLEASE BE COGNIZANT OF TRAFFIC. Bitch please, as a biker we are already more in tune with traffic and warning signs than the vast majority of these dumb gently caress drivers out there. How about little dipshit point A to point B drivers wake up and pay the gently caress attention
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Apr 26, 2021 18:53
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Greg12 posted:so now there is nothing within walking distance of most homes, so we have to drive to do literally anything and even if you could walk you'd be risking arrest by trying, because nobody walks anywhere in America so anyone who does is a Suspicious Character and liable to have the police called on them 
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Apr 26, 2021 19:07
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And god help you if you arent white
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Apr 26, 2021 19:08
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:That will NEVER end. Oddly enough multiple family members on my wife's side have had horrific mountain biking injuries yet there's no talk of "don't ride bicycles"
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Apr 26, 2021 19:15
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Gorson posted:I'd add that for whatever reason running red lights has recently become an epidemic even here in traffic-free NW Wisconsin. Check both directions even when that light turns green. I've had people blow through when my light has been green for several seconds. Scary poo poo. I think the pandemic has made people shittier drivers and more angry overall. I haven't noticed an epidemic of red-light runners here in California, but people are absolutely driving more aggressively, changing lanes less safely, and generally doing more unpredictable things. It used to be that in a half-hour drive on the highway I'd see one or two real stupid moves; now it's at least half a dozen every time. Riding in the city is definitely more stressful than it was in the past. So many people changing lanes or turning without signaling.
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Apr 26, 2021 19:16
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