nikongod

So to update the crew on the status of my hub.... I took it apart on Saturday evening. Taking the hub apart was fairly uneventful, although I under estimated how fucking tight the ring they say to knock free with a hammer and punch was... After that came free, very easy to take the thing down to nothing but gears. I broke the hub. There are 2 little ratchet pawls that select the lowest gear. One is jamed shut (there is a spring to open it that popped out of place) the other completely shattered and little pieces were floating around in my hub. I wonder how this will go...

Happy Birthday Todd!

Happy Birthday Tom!

I think the historical issue with Sigma lenses (may only apply to certain lenses) is that its impossible to focus the left and right sides (or top and bottom) on a brick wall at Fmax which is a sign of internal elements being shifted/tilted. Considering how people shooting at F1.4 actually use the lenses, I'm not sure I can fault Sigma for it as it does not affect the final result. Lack of focus shift between F-almost-max and ~F5.6 is a MUCH more important decision point if you want to shoot "nearly wide open" which I imagine is important in Texas. Sometimes there is just too much light to shoot at F1.4 and dealing with a lens that has bad focus shift at F2.8 (still low enough DOF that it matters...) is frustrating.

After I moved my lovely Brooks saddle, long seatpost, and Xootr rack from Squirt to my new-to-me Brompton my GF suggested that I just move the good wheel from the new-to-me bike to the bike that is really set up like I like. :facepalm: @ me. The seatpost was INCREDIBLY tight. Like whoa. The new to me Brompton is not very new at all, and has the M-type handlebars, which are are much more upright than the S-type bars on Squirt. Despite my best efforts I could not get the new bike to hit all 3 gears in the hub without adjusting the cable - at which time it would not hit the gear on the other side. With the shift lever on Squirt it took 1 try to get it dialed in.

So we tried to RMA the hub from squirt, but Brompton is not having it. They want us to take it apart and tell them what broke, then they will send new parts. This is not really unreasonable, but will require them to send parts from the UK which will put Squirt out of commission for at least 2 weeks. Facing at least 2 bikeless weeks I did the only head-case and Brompton approved thing. I bought another Brompton. This one is much older than Squirt. It is about 10 years old based on what the CL ad said and matching certain features (or lack of features) up with historical data. It also has a 6-speed gear setup, but with a "narrow range" 6speed - 214% range VS 302% on Squirt. The lowest gear is not nearly as low as the lowest gear on Squirt... Hopefully I am strong enough to get it up the big hills on the way home from work. The brakes SUCK. I am glad that Brompton upgraded the brake levers on the 2013 bikes. But what do you expect for $400? I spent a bit of time tonight switching it from "euro brakes" with the front brake on the right (which actually makes sense, considering that the majority of the population is right hand dominant, it's just not what anyone is used to) to "correct brakes" and oiling the cables&housings which felt like they have never been oiled. Switching the brakes was very easy, and ignoring the neglect could have been done in a few minutes. Good stuff. Maybe the brakes will improve now that I have lubed the cables. I certainly hope so. For some reason one of the stoppers that holds the bike together when folded (I dont know what its called - the one that bumps into the seatpost when its all folded) was installed backwards which made closing the bike nearly impossible. The guy I bought it from said he just had the bike tuned up, and it definitely has a brand spanking new rear tire (worth like $50!) and a much nicer front tire than I have now, but I cant imagine what else they did. Fuckers. Tomorrow I will move my long seatpost and rack over to the new-to-me bike in preparation for riding the next time it is more than 40* out. Although it would fit (thank you Brompton for reverse compatibility) I will **NOT** be putting my dynamo-wheel on this bike. Too much work. Switching the wheel is very very easy, but you need to take the front brake off to attach the mounting bracket for the light. Yea, not interested.

Is anyone interested in playing a few games online? I just discovered that I have an account at chess.com and am active on itsyourturn.com My name is nikongod on both sites.

Happy Birthday Gene!

Happy Birthday Bryan!

Anyone else play chess here? I play (very very poorly) at a few websites.

I think this was due to some GPS calculation errors. I have gone as fast as 38.5mph on the Brompton. Maybe not the best idea I have ever had.

On Saturday I Rode in the NYC Cranksgiving race. http://www.cranksgiving.org/ride.html Which is a bike messenger style race. Instead of traditional checkpoints with race staff you go to a bunch of grocery stores, buy food, and bring it to the end to donate. I had a great time, and gathered a bunch of food to give to the food bank. Although its a bit late for this year, I would highly recommend it to anyone near enough to participate next year. *STRONG* Knowledge of the area is kind of mandatory, as with any messenger race. Owning a smart-phone (I don't) also helps a LOT. Strava outcome of the route I took: http://www.strava.com/activities/96942051 NOTE! This was the "long route." There was a shorter route, but I'm pretty sure that required going through the east village & further south in Manhattan, and fuck that. I don't need to get lost where the streets go at funny angles and don't have numbers. As you can see where I went way east towards the williamsburg bridge (no reason for that) when I should have gone west near the end, I am totally hopeless once I get out of the numbered streets. In lesser news, I am pretty sure I broke the rear hub on my Brompton as I was zipping through central park at 96th street. It wont shift into lowest gear *in* the hub which means something broke, according to everything I have read on the web. This was OK for the rest of the race, as its mostly downhill from there, but could suck in the near future if I want to ride up any hills... Since I think its kind of played out on FB, and have not been updating, I have put about 1850miles on the bike since I got it in early August.

I thought about soldering to the big gold buttons (Rivets?) , but decided against it. I was afraid that the heat from soldering to such a big chunk of metal would cause it to melt out of the plastic and then the little pins would not line up. I dont remember if the wires go straight or cross. I would *NOT* just cut the KSC75 cable and solder it to the SENN connector. The KSC75 cable is enameled wire and generally a PITA to work with. Much easier to cut a few bits of just about any stranded wire and use that. Winning! And yet you are intrigued.

Happy Birthday John!

When building balanced amps I use a 2-deck pot with shunt resistors.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Link to post on head-fi. http://www.head-fi.org/t/85561/post-pics-of-your-builds/9405#post_9982243

If you are very careful you can cut apart the old HD580/600 drivers and use the female bits to insert the stock cable into. KSC75 with interchangeable cables. I will post pictures tonight.

You are welcome in advance for saving you so much trouble, and possibly your life. Don't fucking touch this thing. I'm not saying that the piece of shit built 50 years ago is good and will work properly for another 50 years, it probably isn't good, and it probably wont work that long. I'm saying that this is the worlds worst first project.

At the risk of returning this to a serious discussion, there are ways of double-insulating (as indicated {if you believe it} by the 2 squares next to the CE mark - on the lower left of the panel) the chassis of a device so that if a mains wire were to come loose there is no danger of the user getting zapped. They do add expense to the whole mess, but I guess Emotiva thought the expense was worth an added layer of ground loop resistance. The note to use a 3-prong plug could be a leftover from generic instructions. Who actually wants to write instructions on how to plug something in? Much easier to just copy it from something else without even proof-reading it.

I think I read in the Ken Rockwell review (with a pound of salt) that the DC lens does weird things with CA depending how the DC ring is set.

DOF wide open is also thin enough that you can not focus a persons eyes, tip of nose, and ears wide open. Does it do the weird CA thing at all DC settings?

Happy Birthday Dinny!

Happy Birthday Guys!

Ouch, hope that heals quickly. On Saturday I rode Squirt about 85miles. Strava seems to do some funky corner smoothing. Fuckers. http://www.strava.com/activities/92859290 I had planned for 100miles (WTF was I thinking?) but (thankfully) the ride out to the farthest part of Jones Beach was basically a highway with no shoulder so I was forced to turn around. At 85miles with about 5miles left to get back to Nechama's place my GPS died and I decided it was a very good time to stop.