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The Nightmare Bicycle

geoffreylitt.com

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Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#61

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

aredox wrote: post #56
makeitdouble wrote: post #25

The author is advocating for simpler single-purpose products I guess. The microwave example just doesn't make sense when what you have isn't a single "just push the power button" machine, but a combined microwave/oven for instance. You'll want clear mode management, temperature management when defrosting meat, pre-heating and convection when cooking a whole chicken etc. Anecdotally, a lot of people don't really under…

>Anecdotally, a lot of people don't really understand/care about bicycle gears, and stick it to the heaviest and call it a day (on city bikes it's not that heavy, they can dance when it's tougher, and just get off and push the bike when it's really hard). We've seen the same cycle for cars, where people only caring about going from A to B will enjoy automatic transmissions better. ...Where do you live? This is comple…

> I havent seen anyone stuck to one gear (except hipsters on fixies, making a fashion statement)

Fixed wheel cycles aren't just for hipsters - there's a fair few cyclists who enthuse about them for teaching cyclists to have a smoother pedalling style which can help with higher cadences. I've only ever used fixed wheels on unicycles (which to be fair could be described as making a fashion statement) as they don't lend themselves to having gears.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#62

Post by MarkusWandel »

I know this isn't really about bike gears, but... "people will get it" - yes and no. Since the shift-of-least-resistance is the one to smaller sprockets, a lot of clueless cyclists with 3x gearing are riding around in small-small gear combinations which are the worst - least efficient and most wear-prone.

Maybe that's why the bike industry went to 1x drivetrains. That, or being able to sell you $250 cassettes where a $20 one used to do.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#63

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

I recently bought myself a mini "smart" rice cooker from Aliexpress. Works really well, but the buttons are just labelled in chinese as it's only meant to be sold in that market. Even the app needed to have its location changed so that it would pair with the device, but at least it let me keep "English". The app has a whole list of different rice varieties so that it presumably customises the process for different grains, but it's great as I choose either the quick or the slow cooking method and let it do it's thing.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#64

Post by jajko »

makeitdouble wrote: post #53
pxndx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the author is advocating for the simple two dial (power and time) microwaves, which give you all the control at the cost of having to understand how it works. The author is saying that in the effort to "simplify" stuff, microwaves now add a potato button and a chicken button, but then you want to cook an eggplant and don't know how.

I think we're in agreement. To me the two dial microwave is the single purpose tool. As a user I just happen to have very little kitchen space, so I ended up with a microwave/oven combination by necessity, and as it does exponentially a lot more than the two dial microwave, it also requires more complex modes and buttons and dials and I'm fine with it, as that's exactly why I paid for it. The "chicken" mode isn't som…

Man, most folks will never go through oven manual. Usually new oven means new kitchen, and more focus is ie on induction hob, fridge, dishwasher etvc.

I am one of those that just wants simple clear stuff like a lot of people here mention. Whats more important is the consistency between various products - if I am used to a recipe that requires 15 mins at this setting and this temperature, let it be consistent across all products. Which is never the case, more sophisticated cooks struggle in new environment.

But yes the specific use case of mixed products you mention this won't be enough. I'd say thats fringe part of the market and folks knowing they are getting something special take time to understand the tool.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#65

Post by IshKebab »

robertlagrant wrote: post #58
IshKebab wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's because it doesn't make any sense to do that. It would add a ton of complexity for no benefit.

It does make some sense: if I have some apples, and I ask a child to count them, they'll address each one starting with the number 1, not the number 0.

Indexing/addressing is not counting though. Look at a ruler. It doesn't start at 1.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#66

Post by robertlagrant »

IshKebab wrote: post #65
robertlagrant wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does make some sense: if I have some apples, and I ask a child to count them, they'll address each one starting with the number 1, not the number 0.

Indexing/addressing is not counting though. Look at a ruler. It doesn't start at 1.

Yes, indeed. But when indexing to an element in an array you aren't measuring from a zero (well, in memory you are, but not conceptually). You're conceptually pointing at an apple.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#67

Post by f4c39012 »

locallost wrote: post #49
f4c39012 wrote: post #28

bike gears are numbered now? Is 1 high, or 8? I press the little button at the front to pop one gear up, and push that big thumb lever to push the chain back up the cassette, it's intuitive. If I need to check if the bike is in the right gear (not concerned exactly which one) I pedal a little. What product manager added _numbers_ to bike gears?

I don't understand the complaint. It's useful especially for people not riding every day or dozens of km on weekends. Sure, press or rotate to go up or down, but then you end up cross-chained on the largest chainring and largest cog. I have had bikes that did not have numbers, but at least had indicators giving you an approximation where you're at. I sometimes miss that on my road bike when I'm not sure if I should c…

i guess i ride enough - not dozens of kms or daily, but over many years - to intuit the gear, which is helped by the gear mechanism jumping to discrete positions. The first bikes i rode with gears were Marins back in the 90s which had no indicators, there was an old 3-speed Sturmey Archer (had to Google this one) where the gears are within the hub, I don't recall a gear indicator for that, but perhaps there was

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#68

Post by makeitdouble »

jajko wrote: post #64
makeitdouble wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we're in agreement. To me the two dial microwave is the single purpose tool. As a user I just happen to have very little kitchen space, so I ended up with a microwave/oven combination by necessity, and as it does exponentially a lot more than the two dial microwave, it also requires more complex modes and buttons and dials and I'm fine with it, as that's exactly why I paid for it. The "chicken" mode isn't som…

Man, most folks will never go through oven manual. Usually new oven means new kitchen, and more focus is ie on induction hob, fridge, dishwasher etvc. I am one of those that just wants simple clear stuff like a lot of people here mention. Whats more important is the consistency between various products - if I am used to a recipe that requires 15 mins at this setting and this temperature, let it be consistent across a…

Yes, it comes down to what people care about, and I'm sympathetic to not wanting to care much for people who don't enjoy cooking.

On consistency...I think it's just not possible. Even for super simple things like blasting something at 500W for 30 sec, we quickly realize that some microwaves ramp up faster than others, and at the same power they don't all diffuse the power evenly (flat floor microwaves are pretty different from the rotating plate ones for instance).

Doing trial and error for any new model feels like a fact of life, and I assume pros are more severe regarding properly knowing how their tool actually behaves, same way we'd benchmark a new computer to get an idea of its actual performance profile with our exact installation.

Re: The Nightmare Bicycle

#70

Post by IshKebab »

robertlagrant wrote: post #66
IshKebab wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indexing/addressing is not counting though. Look at a ruler. It doesn't start at 1.

Yes, indeed. But when indexing to an element in an array you aren't measuring from a zero (well, in memory you are, but not conceptually). You're conceptually pointing at an apple.

> But when indexing to an element in an array you aren't measuring from a zero (well, in memory you are, but not conceptually).

Yes you are!! In memory, and conceptually. You're conceptually moving your finger 0 spaces from the start of the apple array.

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