Re: Disc brake maintenance tips

Am Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:29:14 -0400 schrieb Joy Beeson
<jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid>:

On Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:57:58 GMT, Roger Merriman <roger@sarlet.com>
wrote:
>

That’s kinda the issue with it isn’t it, it reduces the cyclists to
essentially brave confident male roadies,

>
>
No, it reduces the cyclists to people who are aware that there is
something to learn, and are willing to invest a few hours learning it.

IMO it takes much longer than just a few hours.  But that's not a
problem if you start early enough.  Many people in Europe, male or
female, start before or shortly after entering elementary school. Our
kids certainly did. 

>
>
I've no idea how many sixteen-dollar hours it took me to learn how to
drive a car -- I swore not to count.  (Sixteen dollars was a lot of
money at the time.)

Twelve hours are currently mandatory for a drivers permit, here in
Germany.  The actual number depends on the person.  It is said that it
needs about seven years of practice in order to get proficient.
Insurance seem to agree, the first years of a young driver are
expensive.

A child who starts riding a bike at the age of five will have seven
years of practice by their twelfth birthday.

>
Formal bike training was two Saturday mornings.

Unfortunately, official formal bike training is mostly crap, here in
Germany, because it mostly trains bad habits, often different and
sometimes opposite to what official driver education teaches: "drive on
the right, overtake on the left, get into the lane before turning" and
such.

>
(Disclaimer:  the course was for people who had already invested the
time to learn the rules of the road from a car-driver's point of view.
For a twelve-year-old, I'd suggest four six-week courses spaced a year
apart, with several supervised outings in between.)

Given that we both have drivers licenses - I have an unlimited
motorcycle license too - and quite some years of practice with both cars
and bicycles, just combining practice with teaching was more
comprehensive and less overhead.


--
Wir danken für die Beachtung aller Sicherheitsbestimmungen