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This is what's wrong with The Industry™

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Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,456
5,077
Most of my 40-something friends play a lot of futsal, or futbol 5 as we call it down here, and as a result have the knees of 90-year-old marathonists. In fact, one of them has dropped off our next bike trip in two weeks because he wasted his right knee in a match last Sunday.
yeah. Love the game, hell if I’d take 2 years off because of it again!
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
Serious question regarding balance bikes....

Why do they not have a rear brake?
I have visions of kid careening down a driveway and out into the street.
Same with any even slightly hilly environment - seems like it would be either have the child get off and walk, or watch an impending edition of Friday Fails....
No joke. My daughter has a Strider and ate shit from a high side coasting down a hill because the only brake was to drag her shoes. I did end up finding a brake kit for it, but they’re more rare than they should be, and the design still looks a little questionable.
 

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,470
4,208
sw ontario canada
plenty do
Cool.
Granted, my exposure is minimal. Have only seen a half dozen in real lifes, and none had a brake. I can kinda see the point of the very young and potential problems of using a brake, but still think it should be an option - not every kid comes out of the same mould.
 

lobsterCT

Monkey
Jun 23, 2015
278
414
hootoo balance bikes from weebikeshop.com do have a rear brake. I actually took it off my kid's balance bike. He did pretty well with the Fred Flintstone method, even on a sloped driveway.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,784
5,602
Ottawa, Canada
I snapped up a 16" Commencal with pedals & brakes for my 4yo for 1/3 of that price.
So $333 (or so...). Maybe that's part of the lizard ploy... "but honey, 300 bucks is CHEAP... look at this one over here... it's a THOUSAND dollars..."

I'm not a breeder but those striders always make me cringe at the taint impact. :fie:
funny thing is, kids don't feel taint impact. My 8 y.o. still thinks nothing of it when he drop kicks me in the taint while I'm in bed... :fie:
 

Andeh

Customer Title
Mar 3, 2020
1,182
1,147
So $333 (or so...). Maybe that's part of the lizard ploy... "but honey, 300 bucks is CHEAP... look at this one over here... it's a THOUSAND dollars..."


funny thing is, kids don't feel taint impact. My 8 y.o. still thinks nothing of it when he drop kicks me in the taint while I'm in bed... :fie:
Yeah, $300 + shipping is a lot more than the free strider he has outgrown, but I'm in the Bay Area so I'm sure I will be able to resell it for like $250 in a year when he outgrows it. Plus, it was actually available. My wife questioned why I didn't just get some $50 Novaro one she saw on Nextdoor, and I pointed out that it had a coaster brake, which is totally unrideable. ;)
 

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,470
4,208
sw ontario canada
Yeah, $300 + shipping is a lot more than the free strider he has outgrown, but I'm in the Bay Area so I'm sure I will be able to resell it for like $250 in a year when he outgrows it. Plus, it was actually available. My wife questioned why I didn't just get some $50 Novaro one she saw on Nextdoor, and I pointed out that it had a coaster brake, which is totally unrideable. ;)
Actually the coaster brake can be a detriment.
I grew up on the damn things. When on a proper freewhub, It took me forever to be able to drop my heels / drop a crank arm back without thinking that I would hit the brakes.

First world problems / cool story bro.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,492
6,379
UK
few actually come with them. i remember looking at a dozen or so different brands, i don't recall any actually including them.
No. Plenty do.
look harder.

Cool.
Granted, my exposure is minimal. Have only seen a half dozen in real lifes, and none had a brake. I can kinda see the point of the very young and potential problems of using a brake, but still think it should be an option - not every kid comes out of the same mould.
My youngest (now 11) was riding 3 wheel scooters before 12months and had a 10" wheel balance bike from 15months old, was riding it feet up by 18months and pedalling a proper bike before 2yrs old. She had no problem with operating the brake.
But no every kid is different. She was mad about anything with wheels and still rarely a day goes by when she's not riding a scooter/bike even though she travels to train/plays 4 days a week for football.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,636
26,884
media blackout
No. Plenty do.
look harder.


My youngest (now 11) was riding 3 wheel scooters before 12months and had a 10" wheel balance bike from 15months old, was riding it feet up by 18months and pedalling a proper bike before 2yrs old. She had no problem with operating the brake.
But no every kid is different. She was mad about anything with wheels and still rarely a day goes by when she's not riding a scooter/bike even though she travels to train/plays 4 days a week for football.
FB_IMG_1606257040608.jpg
 

rideit

Bob the Builder
Aug 24, 2004
24,579
12,414
In the cleavage of the Tetons
Interesting U.K. vs. Murican english difference here I have never noticed before.
You said she was/is mad about anything with wheels, which I interpret to mean annoyed or whatever...whereas I think yanks would say mad for anything with wheels...
 

Andeh

Customer Title
Mar 3, 2020
1,182
1,147
Actually the coaster brake can be a detriment.
I grew up on the damn things. When on a proper freewhub, It took me forever to be able to drop my heels / drop a crank arm back without thinking that I would hit the brakes.

First world problems / cool story bro.
Yeah, I worded that weird. I know coasters make it harder to teach them, which is why I told her that coaster brakes are deal breakers.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,492
6,379
UK
Interesting U.K. vs. Murican english difference here I have never noticed before.
You said she was/is mad about anything with wheels, which I interpret to mean annoyed or whatever...whereas I think yanks would say mad for anything with wheels...
Yeah. We use "about" too. Accents, slang and styles of conversation change every few square miles throughout the UK so we have many different ways of saying the same thing to interpret throughout our every day lives. Whereas the US still hasn't got the hang of one yet.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,943
21,974
Sleazattle
Yeah. We use "about" too. Accents, slang and styles of conversation change every few square miles throughout the UK so we have many different ways of saying the same thing to interpret throughout our every day lives. Whereas the US still hasn't got the hang of one yet.
The biggest surprise I had when I worked in Birmingham is not being able to understand a single fucking thing anyone said, and people who live 20 miles apart not being able to understand each other, yet everyone could understand me just fine. I grew up with an English mother so it had nothing to do with the vocabulary but pronunciation.

There is a story of a ship that left London in the 1700s during a storm that got lost/damaged. When the storm lifted they anchored and sought materials for repairs from the locals. Not being able to understand what the locals were speaking the Captain thought he had landed in the Netherlands but in fact was still on the Thames.

It is beleived that the American Accent is closer to the 1700s English accent, which has evolved over more over the centuries.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
I once had to share a shuttle van from Manhattan to JFK with an archetypical guy from Texas (cowboy hat, boots, you all know), an african american and an English couple. Traffic was terrible as usual at rush hour, and the Texan guy eventually got us all talking. I was sitting between him and the English couple, and what stroke me was how everyone ended up exaggerating their accents by the end of the trip. At one point I swear I couldn't understand a god damn word the English couple said. Their pronunciation got so closed it all sounded the same.
 

rideit

Bob the Builder
Aug 24, 2004
24,579
12,414
In the cleavage of the Tetons
I once had to share a shuttle van from Manhattan to JFK with an archetypical guy from Texas (cowboy hat, boots, you all know), an african american and an English couple. Traffic was terrible as usual at rush hour, and the Texan guy eventually got us all talking. I was sitting between him and the English couple, and what stroke me was how everyone ended up exaggerating their accents by the end of the trip. At one point I swear I couldn't understand a god damn word the English couple said. Their pronunciation got so closed it all sounded the same.
I hope you pretended you were Mexican, with a deep Sonoran drawl...
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,492
6,379
UK
I grew up in a small town and left home really young. I moved to the Capital city Edinburgh and although it was only 22 miles away loads of Edinburgh locals had trouble understanding my accent. It really wasn't hugely different from an Edinburgh accent at all so within a year or so my accent and way of speaking had become far more Edinburgh and I no longer had any trouble being understood. Then a few years later I moved from Scotland to the south of England and took a job in a large factory with over 2000 employees. When I started the job I would soften my Scottish accent and pronounce my words more clearly in an attempt to help my English co-workers understand me. After a few weeks of hardly anyone understanding me I stopped trying to be understood and went back to the much broader Scottish accent I'd had as a teenager and lo and behold everyone suddenly understood me far better.
WTF, eh?
I put the lack of ability to understand other accents down to people who haven't travelled or mixed with different cultures. Not that this is always the case. but it is a common connection.

My accent naturally changes slightly now depending on who I'm talking to and whether I feel a connection.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
I hope you pretended you were Mexican, with a deep Sonoran drawl...
Back in 2003 I traveled to southern Italy to try to sell our heavily developed version of a ROCKS HACMP cluster. Our local contact had the nicest attention and organized me a tour so I could understand the idiosyncrasy of my target buyers. I stayed in 7-8 small towns and also at Taranto, the industrial port of the region, and at the capital city of Puglia, Bari. It was the time of strong vindication of the regional cultures, so I witnessed the bizarre situation of these two villages separated by a dry creek which couldn't talk to each other because of the impossibly different dialects they spoke.

I also learned that Barese, the dialect spoken at Bari, is almost 50% gestures, so most people there speak a pristine Italian over the phone, but instead heavily use their facial expressions and hands when chatting face to face.
 
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rideit

Bob the Builder
Aug 24, 2004
24,579
12,414
In the cleavage of the Tetons
Back in 2003 I traveled to southern Italy to try to sell our heavily developed version of a ROCKS HACMP cluster. Our local contact had the nicest attention and organized me a tour so I could understand the idiosyncrasy of my target buyers. I stayed in 7-8 small towns and also at Taranto, the industrial port of the region, and at the capital city of Puglia, Bari. It was the time of strong vindication of the regional cultures, so I witnessed the bizarre situation of these two villages separated by a dry creek which couldn't talk to each other because of the impossibly different dialects they spoke.

I also learned that Barese, the dialect spoken at Bari, is almost 50% gestures, so most people there speak a pristine Italian over the phone, but instead heavily use their facial expressions and hands when chatting face to face.
I am picturing you saying “Yo soy de Argentiiiiiiiiiina”, out italianing the Italians in Spanish....
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
Guess we're telling accent stories now.


Years ago, I was working in Sydney. One night I had plans to meet up with some friends for drinks after work, but they were running late so I took a seat at the bar and started chatting with the bartender. It was quiet enough that she actually had time to talk, but there were some other patrons in there that she'd periodically go to serve. After going back and forth like that a few times, she asked where I was from. I told her I'm American, and at that moment someone else came up to the other end of the bar. The bartender didn't say anything, but just went off to serve the other guy with a slightly puzzled look, and when she got back just said "I wouldn't have guessed American, you're not loud enough. I was thinking Scottish."

She also told me that for American sounding accents she always guesses Canadian, because Americans generally didn't give a shit, but Canadians had a chip on their shoulder about everyone assuming they were American. :rofl:
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
I am picturing you saying “Yo soy de Argentiiiiiiiiiina”, out italianing the Italians in Spanish....
Pssst... most of the time I only managed to say "Io sono argentino", only to be shut off by somebody screaming "Maradona!!! Maradona!!!" while hugging me too effusively.


Also, everybody knows speaking Italian it's just a matter of attitude.

 
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slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
im surprised they didn’t ask “lo sai luisana-lopilato?”
This happened back when that girl was just a random local starlette, long before she married Michael Bubble... The only other things Italians knew about Argentina were Juan Manuel Fangio and a couple more soccer players, such as Gabriel Batistutta or Claudio Caniggia.
 
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