[tmoney727t]

ok, i'm doing a math project and they want me to explain about a career that uses math. What sort of math is required for a bike mechanic? whch courses are required? Describe a typical day on the job. How is math used on the job? and what sort of salary range? thanks this would help me out a lot.

 

[Toshi]

uh, i think you may want to pick a different career than bike mechanic for this project. not much math involved imo.

 

[tmoney727t]

yeah, i know, not necesarily wiht a bike mechanic, but wiht a bike in general, spoke tension, gear ratios, just the basic phyics of a bike.

 

[PatBranch]

You could do geometry/frame designing.

 

[brungeman]

wheel building requires math... to calculate spoke length... (then again you can just measure and feed the measurments into a SL calculator

 

[Mike B.]

Not much math in being a bike mechanic but lots of math on the design side. I think I had eight or nine dedicated math courses in college on my way to an engineering degree and just about every core course was math based.

If you have to focus on one thing, the calculation of spoke lengths might be a good one to look at. The formulas are pretty widely available on the web as well as the derivations.

 

[BikeGeek]

32 spokes x 2 wheels = 64 spokes

 

[-dustin]

3 chainrings x 9 cogs = 27 gears.

 

[Crashby]

Eeeeee gads!!!:

Cyclo-Math
by Wade H. Nelson

Originally published in the Proceedings, Institute of Paranormal Cycling Studies

Everything that goes up must come down, we are taught. While lawn darts and arrows shot straight up by twelve year olds may bear this theory out, everyday bicycling offers equal and opposite proof to the contrary. For example, have you ever encountered a bi-directional opposing headwind (BDOH)? This is a 12-18 knot gale which is in your face on the ride out, and also on the ride back.

Such a wind is contrary to Newton's obscure and seldom mentioned 4th law, which deals with weather and crop circles. Yet cyclists encounter BDOH's with regularity. Fortunately, bi-directional headwinds and other cycling phenomena can be described quite readily using Cyclo-Math.

Cyclo-Math is an obscure branch of mathematics which describes phenomena which defy all known axioms of Newtonian Physics, and Relativistic Bicycle Mechanics. Cyclo-Math accurately describes paranormal phenomena cyclists encounter almost every ride.

Meteorologists have no explanation for the bi-directional opposing headwind, nor can physicists explain the double-ramped hill, or DRH. This is a road which poses a slight uphill climb in either direction, and cannot be coasted back down from either. Some double-ramped hills are actually man-made phenomena. DRH's can be created by highway crews who really don't like cyclists, using a special high friction asphalt coating. Motorists never notice the slight drag and simply press the accelerator a little harder.

Other DRH's are merely optical illusions, such as a less steep piece of road followed by major steep. The first section can look like a gentle downhill compared to the 7% grade which follows. Yet other DRH's are simply flat stretches of road experiencing a prevailing BDOH.

True DRH's exist, however, and have been documented on virtually every major training route in the Western US. Scientists have proposed that a real DRH is a macro manifestation of an inverted quantum tunneling effect.

A subset of Cyclo-Math is Training Group Theory. What TGT says, in so many words, is that no matter how hard you train, when it comes time to perform, someone who has trained longer and harder shall appear -- usually from out of town. This is kind of like Newton's 3rd law -- equal and opposites -- except, in TGT, it will always be a stronger and faster rider opposing you.

Another branch of Cyclo-Math has to do with tools, pumps, valves, and is called Accesso-Algebra. Like Chaos theory, Accesso-Algebra insists that if someone with Presta valves has a flat, the only rider in the group carrying a pump will have a Schraeder pump. Adapters provide the matrix-relaxation equivalent hardware for Accesso-Algebra, allowing solution of at least one of the equations. Don't leave home without one.

Accesso-Algebra has been used to proven that if you break something in the boonies, there's a 97.8% chance you won't have the right tool or spare to fix it, no matter WHAT you carry with you. By carrying an entire spare bicycle with you, you can only reduce that metric down to 92%. The moral? Give up. Carry nothing and say an ohhhhm to the Gods of cycling prior to departure.

Bike shops use Cyclo-Math in figuring out what repairs your bike needs. You know, you go in for a broken spoke, and come out with a new freewheel, a repacked headset, and a RockShock Judy. The ability to convert $2 worth of spokes into $200 worth of service and parts is why bike shop owners dearly love Cyclo-Math.

For spoke length and gearing calculations, Cyclo-Math says it all. No matter what beautiful and fantastic lacing pattern you come up with, spokes of the necessary length do not exist. You'll have to cut them. For any desired gearing arrangement -- half step, misstep, or Texas two-step -- Cyclomath ensures the cogs you'll need to make it happen will not be available, at least not at your local bike shop. Crossing a time zone can flatten the Cyclo-Math matrix, meaning mail order cogs will be available which will meet your needs.

Motorists use Cyclo-Math when choosing how and when to unsafely pass a cyclist. If there's a car back, and a car up, there's a 99% chance they will BOTH adjust their trajectories to cross paths at exactly at the point in the road where you are cycling, no matter what speed they were traveling at previously. These are the same people who can't solve the train going 40 mph problems in 7th grade, but Cyclo-Math provides such intuitive solutions to intercept trajectories even Iraqi test pilots use it.

Any chain-suck your bike has recently experienced can be amplified by the Cyclo-Math matrix to suck a 4000 pound passing pickup truck over to where their rear view mirror will pass within inches of you. It's like a pinhead-sized black hole sucking in a 4AU neutron star. Logic, math, and chain suck are all warped in Cyclo-Math-space. Grok it, and you can cyclo-tour the universe.

Potholes, road debris, gravel, glass, and dogs have been strategically located along preferred cycling routes using a Cyclo-Math computer program at the DOT for years. The orange trucks now have GPS receivers to tell them, within plus or minus three feet, where to lay down a major crack in the asphalt or to place a shovel-full of gravel. This is the same exact spot where Billy Bob will finish his Pabst Blue Ribbon and throw the empty out the window, completely unaware he's caught up in the Cyclo-Math web of influence. This illustrates the cohesive power of a unified cycling field at work.

Cyclists can also be found using Cyclo-Math. Instead of pedaling ten pounds of lard off their butts, and in the process getting in great shape, they'll spend an extra $1000 on a titanium bike that's ten pounds lighter. The Cyclo-Math here has to do with fractions and proportions. For example, if a titanium road bike costs $175 per pound saved, and a Double-Whopper with cheese, large fries, apple pie and a shake costs $5.63 and will put exactly two and a half pounds of lard on your ass, how many whoppers do you have to eat to justify buying that Clark Kent frame? Its easy! Just use Cyclo-Math!

If you've encountered any other paranormal situations where Cyclo-Math based phenomena appeared to be occurring, please contact the author. Your name will be kept anonymous while our team of experts wearing the appropriate safety gear will cycle out and investigate.

 

[Crashby]

and... 6th grade level

1. Do all the bikes travel the same distance?

2. Why do the bikes travel different distances when each was given the same single revolution or "crank" of the pedal?

3. Look at the wheels. For each bike, measure and record the height of each wheel. The height of the wheel can be measured from the ground, through the center of the wheel, to the top. This is also called the diameter of the wheel.

4. Now measure and record how far the wheel roles if it makes one complete revolution. Start with the valve stem at the bottom and roll the bike forward until the valve stem is back at the bottom. Measure how far the bike traveled. This measure is also called the circumference of the wheel.

5. Compare the height of the wheel to the distance around. If you had to pick a number to multiply the height by to get the distance around, what number would you chose?

6. The distance around the wheel is a little more than 3 times the height of the wheel. Or in math terms, the circumference is a little more than 3 times the diameter. The actual number is pi, which is approximately 3.14. Check and see if this relationship is true for your tires.

7. If you increase the height of the tire by 1 inch, describe any changes to the distance around the tire.

 

[Crashby]

Here's a good one:

http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/hst/HSTMW521.PDF

 

[jimmydean]

If a 22 pound road bike leaves Chicago traveling at an average speed of 26 mph, and a 28 pound cyclocross bike leaves at the same time from Seattle traveling at an average speed of 24 mph;

How many Clif Bars will be consumed by each before they meet in Las Vegas?

 

[BSEVEER]

If a 22 pound road bike leaves Chicago traveling at an average speed of 26 mph, and a 28 pound cyclocross bike leaves at the same time from Seattle traveling at an average speed of 24 mph;

How many Clif Bars will be consumed by each before they meet in Las Vegas?

Eleventy.

 

[Radarr]

Eleventy.

Nope, you're off by a factor of 23.116. You didn't calculate the change in elevation.

The answer is twelveteen and a half.

 

[jimmydean]

Your both wrong. The roadie doesn't eat Clif Bars.

It was a trick question.

 

[-dustin]

no, you're wrong. you never mentioned a person. just the bikes, and bikes don't eat.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Here's all the Bike Mechanic math you'll ever need to know:


$4.00 x Hrs worked = X beers

 

[jimmydean]

Here's all the Bike Mechanic math you'll ever need to know:


$4.00 x Hrs worked = X beers

Are you talking "at home", "PBR Pints", or "Happy Hour" beers? That problem can get complex very quickly.

 

[-BB-]

Here is some more LBS math...

1) If I have 15 bikes in for repair, and the average repair takes 1 hour while sober, or 1.5 hrs after a six pack, given given the fact that I'm drunk half the time, how many hours of ride time can I fit in this week.


2) If some kid wearing a "Pink Bike" hoodie comes in with a brand spanking new DH bike and says that he did 15ft drop...
a) given pinkbike math, how many REAL feet was the drop?
b) how much did the KID pay for the bike?
c) How much additional money can you reem the kid for if you tell him that Brian Lopes rides this brand?

3) If the average LBS employee stay at a particular job for 2 years, how many "sick" days can you take before they fire you?

4) If you want a bike that retails for $3800, and you get a 15% pro-deal by working at the shop, how many will you have to work given your salary of $6/hour and a 30hr a week work schedule.

Answers:
1- As many as you want... the bikes will still be there when you return
2a - it was really just a curb
2b - Nothing... his parents bought it for him
2c - As much as his parents are willing to spend to shut him up
3 - As many "sunny" days as you can.
4- Math makes my head hurt

 

[tmoney727t]

OK OK, I'll do frame design, as much as i want to do a presentation about how bike mechanics are bombed half the time and dont do any real math at all, lets hear some frame design math.

 

[BSEVEER]

Nope, you're off by a factor of 23.116. You didn't calculate the change in elevation.

The answer is twelveteen and a half.

I was rounding...

 

[Toshi]

frame design math? you should try to solve an equation of whether it's more profitable for a company to design a good frame or to hire N number of shills to tout its merits on the internet