Text 7189, 140 rader
Skriven 2010-04-18 13:17:27 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
   Kommentar till text 7172 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Rant
============
18 Apr 10 08:03, Robert Bashe wrote to Roy Witt:

 RB> Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Saturday April 17 2010 at 17:32:

 RB>>> Has anyone except for me ever had the wish to kill bicycle
 RB>>> designers who use the cheapest, flimsiest plastic part possible as
 RB>>> a locking key to hold the rear hub shift assembly together?

 RW>> No. I bought quality ware when I was into riding bicycles.
 RW>> Schwinn...

 RB> And when did you buy your next bicycle - in 1956? ;-)

My last new bicycle was in 1955. One of the then new models with
intermediate white-wall tires (vs skinny or balloon) and a just released
in 1954 3spd transmission housed in the rear axle hub. It was Candy Apple
Red and was called the 'Corvette' model.

 RB> Seriously, I didn't even know Schwinn still existed, and if it does,
 RB> whether it's still an American-made product or just a brand name put
 RB> on the "Made in China" products sold nowadays.

Schwinn went bankrupt, but not out of business, in the early 80s, due to
their workers joining with the United Auto Workers union and competition
from Japanese makers. Workers demanded higher wages, etc., which with the
comptition and lower sales actually backfired on them and most were
eventually laid off. That was when 4th generation Schwinn Jr., decided to
begin importing bicycle parts made in Japan to ease the pain of high
labor costs. Eventually they imported parts from Taiwan (China) and still
exist today.

 RB>>> I have a bicycle that cost - new - something like $500. OK, it's
 RB>>> old in the meantime, but has always been reliable. Until recently,
 RB>>> when the Shimano gearshift suddenly stopped working and I could
 RB>>> only pedal in first gear.

 RW>> $500 was a cheap bicycle when you bought yours. My kids' bicycles
 RW>> cost at least twice that.

 RB> For me, $500 was and still is a _heap_ of money for a frame and two
 RB> wheels. And I would *never* pay anything like $1,000 for a mere
 RB> bicycle - unless, of course, the frame was gold-plated carbon
 RB> composite <g>. That might justify such a price.

Actually, a $1000 frame is made of titanium. Titanium being a class of
stainless steel with the strength of high carbon steel, plus it's about
the same weight as aluminum, makes it an ideal bicycle frame.

 RB>>> I've reassembled this now for the second time, quite a job
 RB>>> incidentally. The plastic lock tends to twist into the unlocked
 RB>>> position and then the gearshift no longer works. If this happens
 RB>>> again, I plan to bond the damned thing in the locked position with
 RB>>> epoxy and hope for the best.

 RW>> Send it to me and I'll make you a metal copy...

 RB> Thanks for the offer, but I think I have the trick now... I had to
 RB> redo this still again, and found that the lock can be put on in two
 RB> positions, 180ø apart. In one of the positions, it is pulled into the
 RB> unlocked position by the gearshift lever every time you change gears.
 RB> In the other, it appears to be out of the way. I think this time I
 RB> may have the right position and hopefully this "el cheapo" part will
 RB> hold out for a few more years. Luckily, it doesn't have to stand much
 RB> mechanical stress, it just prevents sideways movement of the two
 RB> nmetal parts - otherwise the plastic wouldn't stand up more than a
 RB> few years.

Ahhh. My friend Harry builds racing transmissions, most are the aluminum
Power Glides from 1962 - the mid-70s. There's a part of the case that has
a 'shift retard' solinoid with a bastard thread, 11/16-12-UNC...no source
for a tap so he could have a case welded up because of a bad thread and
then repair it by re-tapping that hole. So, I made him one on his lathe
and my mill. He was elated to have it. Then I went home and did a search
for one on the internet. I found three sources but only one of which had
that tap in stock. It only cost $17.50 plus shipping.

 RB>>> But why, oh, why??? would anyone make a really _key_ part of the
 RB>>> gearshift chain out of the cheapest, cruddiest plastic possible? To
 RB>>> save a cent on the manufacturing cost? At a price of $500 for the
 RB>>> bicycle?

 RW>> The mold to blow that part cost at least twice what your bicycle
 RW>> cost.

 RB> Probably. I certainly hope so. They could have stamped it out of
 RB> metal for a fraction of the cost.

The die to do that would cost as much as the mold and they may need more
than one to finish the job (the part can be stamped out 'flat' then
formed in another die, making at least two operations).

Plus they'd have to buy the material to stamp it from. Plastic injection
costs more initially, but they can use scrap plastic to save on the cost
of materials.

 RB> By the way, this was (as mentioned) a Shimano Nexus gearshift. But a
 RB> Sachs 3-speed hub gearshift also has a flimsy plastic part that's
 RB> equally as vital for the shifting operation. I haven't managed to
 RB> break it yet (my wife's old bicycle has this kind of gearshift), but
 RB> if I ever do, I fear there is no chance of getting a replacement.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/shimano-nexus.html

If you go to Sheldon Brown's site you can get info about the Shimano Nexus
gearshifts and there's still some info on 3spd shifters there at the
bottom of the page.

 RW>> My wife brought me a plastic part for her electric cutting knife. It
 RW>> was in bad shape, but I made her one out of a better material
 RW>> (delrin). She's still using her favorite electric knife. Personally,
 RW>> I would have bought a new one...

 RB> I have to admit that I also can't throw things away and keep fiddling
 RB> with them until I get to the point that _nothing_ helps anymore. For
 RB> me, though, it's not just a matter of convenience or familiarity, but
 RB> the feeling that I hate to throw something away that only has a
 RB> fairly minor problem and could be fixed. It seems such a waste to me.
 RB> But I also have to admit I carry this to an extreme in some cases -
 RB> sometimes I really have to force myself to dump something and replace
 RB> it by a newer or different model.

Not I. I got bored last fall and decided to buy myself a CNC verticle mill
to play with. I found one in January and had it shipped here in February.
I didn't realize how rusty I was in programming, but finally got a manual
for the CNC and it all came back. This one is ancient to me, c1988, as I
learned on a newer version in the 90s. A local machine shop owener dropped
by and asked me to help him program a similar model. He was absolutely
clueless, even though having had the machine for six months prior. When I
looked at the face of it, at first I didn't want to even try, but then it
began to look familiar. As it turned out, it was the same model and
version as mine, but with a different brand name on it. I had it up and
running within minutes. The memory in these things can hold 99 events and
that one had 90 events programed in it from the last owner. I added one
more to show him what the machine could do besides move to XY coordinates.

                R\%/itt

    You can put lipstick on a pig, but the pig still stinks!
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