Bike blog thread

Tarckives Bikes
16961

The 7506 is a studio mainstay for a reason, they’re solidly built and like many circumaural headphones will be comfortable for all-day wear. Some heads and headphone combinations can get sweaty. But unlike earbuds, nobody will talk at you and wonder why you can’t hear them, and if you want to convey “I’m focusing, state your need and leave” you can make eye contact and lift one ear cup off briefly.

Senn 280s are good but sweaty, Beyer 770s are good if a little thin, AKG K240, K271 have a history of being very comfortable and good but since production moved from Austria to somewhere else they have had some QC issues. I’ve had both my older Audio-Technica active NCs and my nicer, open headphones (modified Senn 580 and AKG K7xx) at the office for varying degrees of isolation.

16962

Thanks for the recommendations. The place I work will actually let us expense noise-canceling headphones up to $250. I just want something that will drown out the loud-ass engineers who think nothing of having discussions in middle of our area.

Open plan office layouts are the Surly dropouts of the software industry.

16963

[quote=yonderboy][quote=Rentable Faxmachine]I need something to drown out co-workers’ conversations in our glorious open-plan office. Came across this article:

Anyone tried the ones listed? Other recommendations? Will be using primarily with my iPhone.[/quote]
I wore out a pair of the HD280. The build wasn’t as good as my Sony MDR 7506.

I scored an abandoned pair of MDR V6 in an office move that needed a little rehab. On really noisy days, I’ll wear those with a pink noise generator playing.[/quote]
Same with the HD280. The sound quality was pretty good although I can’t remember how isolating it was. But the build quality lacked considerably.

16964

[quote=Rentable Faxmachine]Thanks for the recommendations. The place I work will actually let us expense noise-canceling headphones up to $250. I just want something that will drown out the loud-ass engineers who think nothing of having discussions in middle of our area.

Open plan office layouts are the Surly dropouts of the software industry.[/quote]

MDR-XB950N1 are pretty great, and there’s an Amazon seller that shifts refurbs for cheap.

16965

Damn. Cheaper than walls, I guess.

16966

Damn. Cheaper than walls, I guess.[/quote]

Yeah, go figure. There was a time when I would get more done between 5pm and 8pm than between 8am and 5pm (simply because of the reduced noise and fewer interruptions).

16967

:applause

Software companies can’t seem to learn from (numerous) failures of others. My current company just “upgraded” to a fancy new open floor plan office…that all the engineers hate already because sales / support people talk all the time. And we’re pretty small too (< 20 people total)

16968

:applause

Software companies can’t seem to learn from (numerous) failures of others. My current company just “upgraded” to a fancy new open floor plan office…that all the engineers hate already because sales / support people talk all the time. And we’re pretty small too (< 20 people total)[/quote]

Not in software, but my office is laid out with the customer service dept in the middle of our open office. Despite not being a part of that department, it still feels like I work in a call center.

It does bring the lulz sometimes, getting to overhear absurd customer complaints without bearing any responsibility for managing them.

16969

There are failures all around in that conversion process. Older building shells that had traditional office plans need rigorous space planning to make the new layout work, and often significant sound attenuation and sightline control. Low 36-42" modesty walls don’t do enough, sit-stand desks or folks talking on the phone compounds the problem. There are acoustic partitions you could advocate for.

16970

Ask me about working in an open plan office in an old curved-ceiling 20s warehouse. I can hear anyone on the phone from any point in the office, it’s uncanny.

16971

That sounds horrible (no pun intended).

16972

I work in a 1969 international style tower poorly converted last year for open office.
I feel like livestock in there.
there are never available meeting rooms and everything needs a meeting room because everyone can hear everything and people butt into conversations and oh my god I hate it.

16973

[quote=turpencat]I work in a 1969 international style tower poorly converted last year for open office.
I feel like livestock in there.
there are never available meeting rooms and everything needs a meeting room because everyone can hear everything and people butt into conversations and oh my god I hate it.[/quote]

So much this

16974

I tested/reviewed a bunch of flat pedals (link). TL;DR - Race Face Chesters are mighty good. A little narrow for me, personally, but fine for commuting. For MTB use, I liked the iSSi Stomp XL, Crankbrothers Stamp, and Spank Oozy.

16975

Ya’ll have no idea how bad it is on the private Elephant NFE google group.

[quote]My NFE experience… 2,000 miles or so since October 2016… (Minnesota, I only ride 6 months of the year)…
Steve Hed (HED CYCLING PRODUCTS INC https://www.hedcycling.com/about-us/ wrote an article about 2 cross spokes some years ago. I am paraphrasing here – he implied 32 spoke 2 cross is the “no reason not to” spoke lace pattern. That was for 700c, and I feel it is even more relevant for 650b with low pressure/high volume tires and wide flange hubs with 135mm rear axle.

My wheels are this – and I very much like them…
Sapim cx spokes, 32 by 2 cross, front and rear
Onyx Racing hubs (made in Minnesota, OOoohhhh… yes they are that good) with Sram XD drive
Velocity 650b Blunt SS polished rims
Sram 1X with 38 tooth ring and 10x42 X-DOME Cassette.

Light and tight… yet, with high volume tires (38mm at 35psi, not 25mm at 120psi) I get the compliance I need for comfort. However - crosswinds are more dynamic than on my 700x32 cx bike… (Koga-Miyata) Is it the low trail geo or the tire/rim/spoke profile ??

I have Compass 650bx38 Extra Light - and Compass 650bx48 Extra Light tires… easy to change without tools, in just a few minutes (with the wide Velocity rims) both get caught in the wind. I fear this is the mechanical (geometry) disadvantage to an unloaded low trail bicycle.

I have to say – also – I cannot get used to not seeing my front wheel while riding with a front bag. Every pothole, every tree branch or pieces of broken glass…. I just feel more comfortable seeing my front tire and directing it (and me, and my back tire) away from the road hazards. I do like low trail for slow technical trail movements, though most of my time is on county roads, with no front load… so at county road speed, the low trail geo is very twitchy – understandably.

I have had both the original bi-wing fork (recalled, never a problem) and the replacement unicrown fork (thank you to all who made that happen). As I said once before it’s the very best unicrown fork I’ve see or ridden… Most of my rides are on county highway. Low trail bicycle geo is not optimized for this, in my opinion… (I know – I bought the bike… ). I currently have mounted a Surly Straggler 650b fork on the NFE. This allows me just a bit more trail (16 mm or so, I don’t know, somebody with some CAD software – please correct me) with my 38mm tires. I have over 200 miles on the Straggler fork so far. I like it. I place my bag weight in my rear pannier (one is usually enough). FYI – I file off the “lawyer tabs” on all my fork drop-outs… sooo much nicer for wheel / disc rotor fitment.

Just sharing my NFE experience… take care all…[/quote]

16976

what the fuck

16977

I just read that. I literally can’t even.

16978

lord-i-was-born-a-ramblin-man-lyric-1.jpg620×800 40.4 KB

16979

Anyone who rides looking at the ground eight inches in front of their tire shouldn’t be riding a bike

16980

Alphabet soup and word salad