Dies the Fire - Recon Riders

[perttime]

Derailleur gears  only work because cyclists believe in them.

I've managed to keep a few fairly modern derailers working fine ... except for one thing: The %/"#%¤ things - and derailer hangers - are so %$#@&/% fragile. I bent quite a few, riding on trails, until I quit using them.

(I quit using the French spelling for them, in memory of Sheldon Brown...)

[PR19_Kit]

North Circular is a pussy compared to the South 

Exactly! You can almost do it without steering very much, apart from that bit in the NE corner where it does a dog-leg right and left with traffic lights.

As for fragile deraileurs, I could recommend a '60s Huret Alvit 1900. I've been using them since the 60s and have NEVER bent one, but then I ride on the road usually and not on those 'track' things. I've got four 1900s in stock, but still ride using one I fitted in the early 70s!

[This must be one of THE most driftied threads EVER by now!  ]

[perttime]

What sort of pressures did that upheaval cancel, BTW? Would hydraulic brakes and air-filled tyres still work?

[pyro-manic]

Very impressive work on that bike, and I really like the finished dio. The premise of the book sounds interesting - what kind of read are they? I can't stand Dale Brown/Tom Clancy etc. type writing, I'm afraid.

A sort-of-similar premise is a main theme in Alastair Reynolds' excellent "Terminal World". Set in the far future, the world is affected by "zones", each of which allows a different level of technology to function. Some areas allow electricity, radio, automatic weapons etc. while some allow only a "steam era" and blackpowder level, and some are so bad as to let no life function at all. Worse, people are affected if they cross into a zone other than the one they were born into, suffering "zone sickness" that becomes more severe the further the shift (eg from top-level tech to pre-steam era will kill you), and heavy medication is required to suppress the effects. Superb book, and fascinating ideas. Also features angels, airships, and predatory cyborgs.

[buzzbomb]

Perttime..
About the pressure thingy, SM Stirling gets around that by putting an upper limit somewhere so that stuff like tyres, bellows for forges and water used as a low level hydraulic still works. But the Engineer in the book tests a lot of stuff and finds out what works and what doesn't. for example existing cylinders of Oxy Acetelene still work, but cannot be refilled.. Anomalies.. probably..... but the gist is really to give the 'No Guns" meme a go.

Pyro.
His style is alright but he does rabbit on a bit about one of the main Character who is a Wiccan, but it is a pretty free flowing book, always something interesting, although a few "highly improbable" character appearances give a couple of "yeah right!" moments.
The Emberverse series is a 3 book first series which covers this depicted, early period and a follow on lot that cover 20 odd years later.. in that lot even I reckon he lost the plot a bit. In later books there are Airships as Hydrogen/helium does not need to be pressurised

It appears that the new series Revolution "borrows" a bit of the Emberverse series premise, but we will have to see, when if ever we get it down here in OZ.

[perttime]

But the Engineer in the book tests a lot of stuff and finds out what works and what doesn't. for example existing cylinders of Oxy Acetelene still work, but cannot be refilled.. Anomalies.. probably..... but the gist is really to give the 'No Guns" meme a go.

Many manufacturing processes would have to go backwards a bit ... or some new ways have to be invented. There's a few companies making bike frames out of bamboo or wood, now. Apparently, it works quite well, once you know what you are doing.

[Rheged]

But the Engineer in the book tests a lot of stuff and finds out what works and what doesn't. for example existing cylinders of Oxy Acetelene still work, but cannot be refilled.. Anomalies.. probably..... but the gist is really to give the 'No Guns" meme a go.

Many manufacturing processes would have to go backwards a bit ... or some new ways have to be invented. There's a few companies making bike frames out of bamboo or wood, now. Apparently, it works quite well, once you know what you are doing.

I  remember  seeing a 1920's  Hanomag  two  seater  car  some  years ago,  which  appeared  to  have been  woven out of   basket-work  at  a series of occupational  therapy sessions.     And   of  course some Morgans   have a wooden  chassis......................can  you  fail an MOT through death  watch  beetle?