RIP Sheldon Brown. His enthusiasm for and ability with bicycles - and his clear and engaging way to communicate both to you - were a large part of getting me back into cycling as an adult.
Legends Never Die.
Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
71–80 of 117 posts
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#72Random 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/
Let's hear it for Harriet! Keeping the website going. I wonder if it has a long term plan?
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#73[dead]
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#74I once posted in rec.bicycles.misc that I had just completed a 6 week solo bike tour of France. Someone asked me a series of questions about riding and camping in France and I spent about 10 minutes writing a response. Francophile Sheldon Brown asked if he could put it on his website and I was thrilled to say yes. He did so, formatting it and adding links and photos for the places I mentioned. (The page is still there but the photos and links are gone). Years later, a co-worker stopped by my cubicle and asked if I was the person who wrote that article -- he said it had inspired him to start bike touring ... I was again thrilled.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#75I wished more of the web was like this. if you like this you may also like: https://outspokencyclist.com/tag/harriet-fell/
> I wish more of the web was like this.
A devious genie maliciously interprets your wish, and…
Poof!
This website’s content is now regurgitated across dozens of AI slop websites.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#76R.I.P. Sheldon https://www.wired.com/2008/02/sheldon-brown-w/
> Sheldon Brown, a beloved iconoclast bicycle tech guru, died Sunday from a heart attack. He was 68 63. Curious, what does "He was 68 63" mean. Is it a bicycle gear joke about his age at death?
Probably just a typo. He was 63.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#77If you liked Sheldon Brown (who was a treasure but the content is out of date now), definitely check out the Park Tool videos on YouTube. Calvin Jones, their director of education, recently retired after building an incredible library of instructional videos. As an amateur bike mechanic, I wouldn't have been able to build or maintain my bikes without Calvin's videos.
When I very briefly worked at a bike shop even some of the pros said they basically learned everything from Park Tool's Youtube videos!
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#78This 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.
Same. I built my first wheel according to his specs. His whole website is so helpful and thoughtfully written. RIP.
My quick story: I built up an old 90s cyclocross bike and his website was the main reason I have this beast of a frankenbike gravel bike. I found his article "8 of 9 on 7" and it changed my life: Take a 9 gear cog, remove one, and it fits perfectly on a 7-speed cassette body.
Then I found his other article on an alternate wiring for a shimano mountain bike RD-310 7/8 speed drive train (which unlocks 9-speed ability), which thus let me use the rugged 7/8-speed derailleur for the cassette WITH shimano dura-ace indexed bar-end shifters (which use, get this, 9-speed spacing on an 8-speed index because it made their system "proprietary"). All of this works together flawlessly <3 <3 RIP sheldon brown.
Re: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info
#79Highly recommend using his way of locking your bike - you can secure both the frame and rear wheel easily with a small U-Lock (harder to pry open)
Front wheel is still vulnerable but if you don't use QR skewers you have a huge leg up