Indeed, great reference material. Once upon a time, I typeset his site in LaTeX for better printing.
Sheldon Brown's Articles
31–40 of 46 posts
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#32Sheldon Brown's site is amazing but I'm afraid it's going to get increasingly stale now that he's passed on. I've thought it'd be neat to turn the site into a wiki that can be maintained by bicycle enthusiasts.
The bicycle industry is not changing that quickly, however. Sure, I'm sure Campagnolo now has a 12 speed drivetrain with a chain made from nanotubes and Shimano probably has a derailleur that posts each gear change to Twitter, but the way parts fit together hasn't changed much in the last 20 years. You still start the bike in the same way he describes. You still inflate the tires in the same way he describes. And 99% of bikes still have the same brakes and shifting mechanisms he describes in detail. And of course, all the bikes that existed when he was alive and writing didn't magically vaporize; there are still perfectly functional bikes from the 1900s around, not to mention the 70s and 80s.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#33Sheldon Brown's site is amazing but I'm afraid it's going to get increasingly stale now that he's passed on. I've thought it'd be neat to turn the site into a wiki that can be maintained by bicycle enthusiasts.
The bicycle industry is not changing that quickly, however. Sure, I'm sure Campagnolo now has a 12 speed drivetrain with a chain made from nanotubes and Shimano probably has a derailleur that posts each gear change to Twitter, but the way parts fit together hasn't changed much in the last 20 years. You still start the bike in the same way he describes. You still inflate the tires in the same way he describes. And 99%…
True, but one thing I can only hope we have in the future is compatibility charts like http://sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html#indexing and the neat rerouting trick that's described below it...
edit: just found this whole page on brand mismatching, written by John Allen on the site in 2011, so there is someone doing updates. http://sheldonbrown.com/drivetrain-mixing.shtml
more edit: @zecho notes that family, friends, and bike shop are updating the site
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#34One of the best sources on the net for cycling esoterica. I practically lived on this site when I was putting together and fixing up older bikes. Especially good information on practical fixed gears and three speed hubs. Before he passed, I sent an e-mail asking a few questions and Sheldon responded personally, with fairly detailed responses. It was pretty rad. There's a lot of really useful information on there. Som…
I love his page on wheel/tire sizes, http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html
Agreed. That's one of my favorites. Sheldon was such an awesome guy. It's really cool seeing all these positive comments here!
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that specific example isn't true: http://sheldonbrown.com/headsets.html
Ah, good spot. I wonder if someone is updating the site because I could have sworn I didn't see that last time I was fettling with a headset.
I remember seeing stuff about threadless headsets on the site a few years ago, but yes apparently the site is being updated
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#36I love this guy. He was the only place online that I could find an explanation for why the left pedal of a bike screws on opposite to normal direction. Everyone that fixes bikes knows the left one screws on "wrong", but no one at any bike shop could explain why the left . Because on a first analysis, it seems that it should be the right one that needs reverse threading to keep from getting unscrewed. http://sheldonbr…
Ha, I had the same experience.
I also loved imagining people's left pedals falling out, until it happened to me (well, it was the right). Make sure you screw your pedals in tight!
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#37I always liked his shoutouts to the other Sheldon Browns of the world at the bottom of his personal page: http://sheldonbrown.com/home.html
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#38Love this site - I've used his stuff for several bike mods.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#39This is a great example of a mature vanity website. I mean that in the best possible way. It's a throwback to the early web days, pre-geocities even, when people would make unique websites about themselves and their hobbies. The UI and the information architecture might follow some best practices, or mimic slightly the arrangement of another site, but they were fundamentally unique to the site in question.
Brown's in particular is full of personality, not only in his writing, but in the layouts, color choices, photo choices, quotes, et cetera.
I also have benefitted from many hours spent reading through Brown's site. What a great resource and gift.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Articles
#40I'm impressed this popped up hn.
Thanks to Sheldon my bike workshop grows and grows and I basically can do all aspects of bike maintenance myself.
He's a true DIY pioneer for real!