"There was a moth. I saved you from it "

I have a few bikes with aluminum and CF forks. One of my main whips was all aluminum and I sold that bike at ~125,000 miles and had no worries about it going another 125,000. I did everything with that bike: loaded touring, mixed surfaces, commuting, rutted/rooty trails, hucking down stairs… With the much lower moment arm of the 406 and 451 wheels, I’d have absolutely zero fork concerns. FWIW, my mountain bike is full rigid with an aluminum fork, 29" wheels, 203mm front rotor (for which it’s not designed), and I beat the snot out of that bike. Still going strong with all my crashes, abuse, air time, and generally misguided actions. Between the 29er wheel and the larger rotor, that’s a looooong moment arm reefing on the fork in multiple axes.

And Terns are quite bulletproof, almost literally. I had an S27h that, among other indignities*, got caught by a loose tarp in a windstorm. Spokes broke, a pedal cracked, fenders ripped off, handlebars bent, rear rack snapped, and a huge ditch carved in the yard where it was thrashing. I repaired the damage and rode that bike another ~5000 miles. The frame and fork were just fine, just a few scratches. There weren’t even any dents. I gave that bike to a friend a five years ago, and it’s his daily driver to this day.

*It fell in the ocean a week after I bought it. Because I’m an idiot.

For folders, it really depends on your use case, budget, and fit. I’m also a huge fan of Bike Fridays, and owned four over the years: a Pocket Rocket (the 451 wheel speed demon), Speeding Tikit, and two NWT Silks. I think Tern is the better value proposition, but Fridays tend to have a better feeling ride. Bike Friday’s motto used to be “As good as your best bike.” And my Pocket Rocket absolutely went toe-to-toe with my Cannondale R2000. In some ways, the Friday was better because it was more comfortable and accelerated like a shot from a gun.

Bromptons are amazing, but just not my jam for a wide variety of reasons that probably only apply to me. :D

If you don’t really need the folding, check out mini-velos, such as the Velo Orange Neutrino.

There are other niche brands, such as Birdy or Moulton, but I don’t have direct experience with anything not listed above.

It was always the plan from the beginning. “Scene on Radio” podcast, season 4, goes into great depth on the Founding Fathers’ mindsets and motivations as evidenced by their own writing and speeches. They were trying to balance a semblance of democracy and egalitarianism with outright money-grubbing and keeping slaves “just” until their own wealth was secured.

Yes, Adams (John and Samuel) and Gerry were vocally anti-slavery. But all the other names we really know? All slaveholders.

These are kind of apples and oranges. The Tern Link line is more of a last-mile, multimodal commuter bike and are a “value” segment. The Verge line are more of a fast urban bike. For example, Tern used to make a drop bar Verge that had a very high level of components.

As @Diplomjodler mentioned, hard pass on v-brakes. There used to be amazing v-brakes brakes, but it’s a technology that has been eclipsed by disc brakes. Now, v-brakes brakes on a new bike are the hallmark of cheapness. There are still good aftermarket v-brakes brakes out there, but it’s going to be money better spent on better starting technology.

I’ve owned a bunch of Terns, and my partner works in a shop that sells Tern. The Verge bikes are mostly good to really great. The Link bikes are mostly okay to “OMFG, this was made by Tern?!”

For the coffee drinkers: https://velo-orange.com/products/soto-helix-coffee-maker?keyword=coffee. We use these as daily drivers with a really good manual coffee grinder. Added bonus: our coffee can be about the same as we get at home.

There were a couple books I read long ago, one of which I think was “Catwatching” by Desmond Morris. I can’t recall the other one. Both books indicated the chittering was a frustration sound.

If you like that, you’re gonna love “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James Loewen. I suggest this to everyone as an entry into deprogramming what was learned in US history class.

• The United States is a righteous, fair, and just country.
• Success and a comfortable life necessarily followed hard, diligent, smart work
• Adults, by virtue of having been around longer, necessarily knew more and knew better than I.
• Socialism bad.
• All kids get beaten on a daily basis for transgressions such as a B grade on their paper, a speck of food still stuck to the dishes after washing, or for listening to music on the radio that their parents didn’t like.

Oh, yup! I totally missed the approximately sign.

Except… that it doesn’t. Serious question: am I OOTL on a joke?

Edit: I totally missed that it was an approximately sign. Derp.

How do you think the gaskets are made?

I had a partner with genital HSV-1. YMMV, but in general:

• No BFD; the stigma of HSV is the result of a marketing campaign in the 70s (not 100% on the date) by a company selling HSV treatments
• Be honest and inform your prospective partners; yeah, some people who haven’t done the reading are going to react negatively
• Antiviral treatments are available; the one my partner was a daily pill
• In eight years of unprotected sex with her, she never had an outbreak and I test negative
• You may never have another outbreak, you may have regular flare-ups, or something in between
• Talk to your doctor and any take all of my previous comments like the Internet rumor it is

By executive order, I decree that humans are, effective immediately, forbidden to ever allow the lap to disappear, ever stop petting or playing with me, or ever leave to go to work. Additionally, I now have Presidential immunity to sleep between JayleneSlide’s legs all night, and hugs and kisses must be delivered to my head at every meal time.

I love when someone writes a pleasant “this is my experience and what worked for me.” And then people downvote. ITT some real night owl/daywalker tension. :D

Just to add some crunchy bits to the batter, your circadian rhythms will most likely shift as you age. For example, I used to be hardcore night owl, and couldn’t imagine my life ever going differently. Then I couldn’t do it anymore and managed to become a second-shifter. Now I’m all about getting in bed early and up early.

Raleigh has a history of acquisition, waxing and waning. How much of the app functionality evaporates when the backend servers are shut down? For anyone who sees whiz-bang app features, here are some considerations:

• 85% of the cost of software is maintenance; somewhere in the software engineering leadership chain, this always gets lost
• apps such as these are mining your data, adding to massive data profiles corporations maintain on individuals, share, and sell
• what is the long term support agreement on the software, firmware, and hardware? Parts availability/lead times?

If someone is describing jockey wheels as “middle derailleur hubs” and that replacing this one part will somehow cost almost as much as the bike, they don’t know enough to be buying a used, complex machine. Ya know, the machine that one is putting between their legs and riding down the road.

Unethical seller? Most likely, and the blame probably rests on the seller, although I’ll give some benefit of the doubt here. If someone bought one of my bikes and had such an issue, I would be aghast. I would bend over backwards to make it right.

There are so many subtle ways that a used bike can be a bad deal at any price. Please let this person’s experience be an opportunity to learn. Read a couple articles on what to examine when buying a used bike, how to determine if a frame is true, and how not to get screwed by a shady or just plain ignorant seller.

And FFS, take a few minutes to understand the rudiments of the systems on which you rely AND spend your hard-earned money.

in many ways, mechanical shifting is more reliable than the electronic equivalents - Di2 and AXS - due to the hardier nature of the components and the lack of reliance on batteries and phone apps.

Huh, TIL. It was my understanding that electronic shifting is more robust than mechanical. I wonder if reliability in this context is fault tolerance.

Ooooh, that Burley Hopper looks like it belongs in my trailer quiver!

I’m a total trailer junkie. I… uh, might have a problem. I had the Gen 1 Tern GSD S10. It can absolutely haul an adult, but the comfort is lacking. Improving passenger comfort on the longtail can seriously impact cargo volume capacity depending on your needs and bag configuration. I prefer a bakfiet or semi-recumbent tandem for hauling another person. Putting an adult on a bakfiet lowers the CoG and massively raises the CoG on a longtail. Added bonuses over a diamond tandem: nobody has to yell to be heard, everybody gets a view, and most semi-recumbents let the stoker coast. I had a Bilenky Viewpoint with an independent stoker drivetrain; the stoker could select their own gear ratio.

Here are some of the stupid things I’ve done with trailers and cargo bikes.

Making smashburgers for 20 hungry Juneteenth mountain bikers.

Thanksgiving dinner for 20 plus supplies for a 5-day vacation.

150 pounds of books? Sure!

Ya know… I used to be this binary in my thinking. For example, I naively opposed harm reduction measures, such as needle exchanges and safe injection sites. Aaaaand I’d like to congratulate drugs for winning the War on Drugs.

Yes, we need to fight for a better world, better candidates, and better leadership in all things. But JFC, stop fighting last year’s fight.

I too want 100% progressive governance. Just a little bit of history and psychology reading demonstrates what you’re doing right here, along with the intractability, is categorically NOT how we get there. Just like the Overton Window slowly shifted since the 70s to the fascist US shitshow we have today, we need to work to shift the window back.

InB4: yeah, history also generally indicates bloodshed is inevitable in these cases, so we’re kinda in uncharted territory.

I understand the sentiment. I agree with the justified contempt for the DNC and Democratic Party. Let’s light a candle rather than curse the darkness.

Gawd, I hate the UCI. The UCI’s fuckery holds back bicycling and innovation. Once in a while, the rules make sense for safety, e.g. aerobars banned for mass starts. But the rest of the time, they’re just pissing in the well.