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Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

cyclingtips.com

31–40 of 205 posts

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#31
post #17

This is unrelated, but that has to be the most confusing way to write a price I've ever seen: 2.699,00 - a period for the thousands separator, and a decimal comma for the cents. I am aware of decimal commas - but a period for the thousands? I thought they used a space, or an apostrophe? 2'699,00 It must be tough writing code in Europe - computers only use decimal points, not decimal commas. And how do you make an int…

Yes, period for digit separator is a thing in many countries, including Russia, we were taught that way in school [1]

It was a little bit inconvenient when I started programming, but nothing too major.

Interface for money and many other things is a solved problem: we have locale settings for that in operating systems and software that respects them, works just fine.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark#Examples_of_use

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even rather casual cyclists will want something as light as possible and the in-frame hub drive arrangement has nice aesthetics.

Yes but casual cyclists will not pay €2499 for the pleasure of doing so

I didn't mean that they would, just that light weight and performance get a lot of consideration in cycling so it can be expected that a product category will address them even if it isn't aimed at pros.

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#35
post #4

It makes me wonder if the engines would be this sophisticated if they weren't for cheating?

Even rather casual cyclists will want something as light as possible and the in-frame hub drive arrangement has nice aesthetics.

But they have no reason to hide it, as in the frame can be in a shape giving more room or at least making it easier to access for maintance without "breaking" the aesthetics of whole.

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#36

I don't see it in the article but I heard it recently so I guess I'll share. Lance Armstrong was on the Joe Rogan Experience and discussed doping within the sport. He said at one point in time, people would thread fishing line through a wine cork. They'd tie the line to the tail of a car and stick the cork in their mouth. As the car starts moving, the cork pulls against your teeth giving you just enough pull.

Sounds like a fine way to lose your teeth.

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#37
post #17

This is unrelated, but that has to be the most confusing way to write a price I've ever seen: 2.699,00 - a period for the thousands separator, and a decimal comma for the cents. I am aware of decimal commas - but a period for the thousands? I thought they used a space, or an apostrophe? 2'699,00 It must be tough writing code in Europe - computers only use decimal points, not decimal commas. And how do you make an int…

[deleted]

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#38
post #7
post #2

This is a follow-up to discussions on "mechanical doping" in cycling. The first story I recall on this topic was in 2010: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/may/19/cycling-motors-... This is now 6 years later, and we finally have the first pro cyclist banned based on being caught red-handed at an event with a motor in her bicycle. The type of motor she used was a Vivak, one of these: http://www.vivax-assist.com/en…

"It was controlled by a Bluetooth switch installed underneath the handlebar tape." (in the article)

They should install Bluetooth sniffers before steep sections, it would be cool to see a little ping on the radio and then watch one of the racers magically pull ahead.

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#39
post #17

This is unrelated, but that has to be the most confusing way to write a price I've ever seen: 2.699,00 - a period for the thousands separator, and a decimal comma for the cents. I am aware of decimal commas - but a period for the thousands? I thought they used a space, or an apostrophe? 2'699,00 It must be tough writing code in Europe - computers only use decimal points, not decimal commas. And how do you make an int…

That's common. 18 hits in:

http://www.thefinancials.com/Default.aspx?SubSectionID=curfo...

Writing code is not that tough in Europe - just use a proper i18n library.

Re: Hidden motors in cycling: Van den Dreissche banned for 6 years, titles stripped

#40

Are there any competitions where this sort of motor assist is legal? It seems like that might be an interesting sport.

I think it would be interesting to have a league where these are legal, but you have to start the race with a dead battery and change it with resistive breaking.

Mostly, I'd like that league to exist so that there would be an incentive for high-end innovation.

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