Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

sheldonbrown.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 117 posts

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#31

Post by marttt »

keithjl wrote: post #4

This website is such a treasure. When I was first getting into bicycles in 2013, it was a mix of Sheldon Brown and the local volunteer-run co-op that taught me everything I need to know. He is himself a generous spirit, advocating for DIY tooling, repair, and reuse. I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.

Yeah. There's probably tens of thousands of internet users worldwide with that same story. Myself included: when I was fixing my Bianchi retro road bike's derailleur etc some 20 years ago as a univesity freshman, this site was a definite gold mine, immensely helpful, and taught me a ton. One of my favorite procrastination rabbit holes as well back then. :) And -- a prime example of 1990s era internet and information freedom and layman-level enthusiasm -- selfless sharing of knowledge (and, I wonder if he also used Notepad to write the HTML :). Thanks, Mr Brown, for everything, all the way from Estonia!

PS, interesting to note that Mr Brown seemed to be quite a fan of sci-fi books: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/org/books.html

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#32

Post by dan-bailey »

foco_tubi wrote: post #9
hackingonempty wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and his widow, Harriet Fell, is a CS Professor (emerita) at Northeastern[0], and an accomplished cyclist who completed Paris-Brest-Paris (a 1200km ride and to qualify you have to complete 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km rides in the 8 months leading up to it.) 0: https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/fell/

For PBP2027 you have all of 2026, as well as 2027 leading up to registration, to complete the required BRMs. I'm riding my qualifying 300k tomorrow!

Oh thank god. I was planning on a 200km, 300km, and 400km this year, all as mental preparation, and then having to blitz next year by traveling to warmer locales. I I'm doing my 200km at the end of April, and my 300km in early July, followed by a 400km gravel in early August. Going to be a grind.

Good luck tomorrow!

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#33

Post by marttt »

klum wrote: post #24
keithjl wrote: post #4

This website is such a treasure. When I was first getting into bicycles in 2013, it was a mix of Sheldon Brown and the local volunteer-run co-op that taught me everything I need to know. He is himself a generous spirit, advocating for DIY tooling, repair, and reuse. I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.

This is my favorite kind of website. An individual going into depth on a topic they're passionate (in the true sense of the word) about. Another example is Dan's Motorcycle Repair Web page [1]. A collection of such websites would be awesome. [1] http://dansmc.com/

Here's another, ultimate bike derailleur geekery -- Disraeli Gears: https://www.disraeligears.co.uk/site/home.html

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#36

Post by eschneider »

dan-bailey wrote: post #32
foco_tubi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For PBP2027 you have all of 2026, as well as 2027 leading up to registration, to complete the required BRMs. I'm riding my qualifying 300k tomorrow!

Oh thank god. I was planning on a 200km, 300km, and 400km this year, all as mental preparation, and then having to blitz next year by traveling to warmer locales. I I'm doing my 200km at the end of April, and my 300km in early July, followed by a 400km gravel in early August. Going to be a grind. Good luck tomorrow!

Nice! Old me and my old bike are sticking to 200kms this year. :)

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#37

Post by steve_adams_86 »

hackingonempty wrote: post #3
carabiner wrote: post #2

Random tidbit, his daughter is a researcher/mathematician at OpenAI.

...and his widow, Harriet Fell, is a CS Professor (emerita) at Northeastern[0], and an accomplished cyclist who completed Paris-Brest-Paris (a 1200km ride and to qualify you have to complete 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km rides in the 8 months leading up to it.) 0: https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/fell/

I tried qualifying for PBP with some friends and we were fried on the 600. We did some longer rides, but never so intensively and without rest. Such good times. Maybe one day (likely when my kids are grown) I'll try again. I still dream of eating so much French food after annihilating myself on a bicycle. It sound incredible.

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#38

Post by zampano »

klum wrote: post #24
keithjl wrote: post #4

This website is such a treasure. When I was first getting into bicycles in 2013, it was a mix of Sheldon Brown and the local volunteer-run co-op that taught me everything I need to know. He is himself a generous spirit, advocating for DIY tooling, repair, and reuse. I would highly recommend anyone into bicycles to try building their own wheel using his article.

This is my favorite kind of website. An individual going into depth on a topic they're passionate (in the true sense of the word) about. Another example is Dan's Motorcycle Repair Web page [1]. A collection of such websites would be awesome. [1] http://dansmc.com/

Me too! I'm a big fan of Rob Robinette's guitar amp page [1] for similar reasons

[1] https://robrobinette.com/Amp_Stuff.htm

Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

#39

Post by bookstore-romeo »

This is an incredible ressource without which I feel so many bikes and bike parts would go to waste. At the bike coop I volunteer at we’re trying to follow Sheldon’s footsteps by collecting information and procedures that are about making bikes & parts last for as long as they possibly can. What’s truly amazing is that all that documentation is amazing for both low-resource repairs on the cheapest of old parts and vintage part enthusiasts.

I think Sheldon Brown’s impact is a valuable lesson on sustainable engineering and the enormous role documentation plays in it

Post reply on HN