Ooh, what’s the sparkplug trick??

I’m really bad at letting go of bikes, but I’m also bloody good at getting new ones. That means I have around 12 fully working bikes in my garage, and could likely build up a couple more from the various bits and pieces I can bring myself to let go of.

That might sound shallow, consumerist or like I have no restraint or discipline, but it’s actually quite the opposite. I form really strong bonds with every bike i’ve ever had, and I can’t bring myself to sell them or move them on.

A bicycle is something really special in the human experience, it is transport, it is sport, it is recreation, it provides a moving meditation, health benefits, it save money, it’s the most energy efficient form of movement know in the animal kingdom. They allow a freedom and self actualisation that almost nothing else in adult life can.

They transcend categorisation and provide more to the person that rides them than anything I can type can describe.

They’re also just fucking fun.

Keep the bike, but don’t let it stop you from getting a new bike. Turn this one into a commuter, a pub bike, a bike for special occasionally rides, poach parts off it for other bikes, eventually hand the frame on the wall of your garage so you can remember all the great times you shared.

Wow, this should be celebrated, held up as one of the crowning achievements of Australian democracy and political life. It’s a shame that I’m learning of this here on Lemmy.

No I don’t think so, that would be a good test though I agree.

Based on the fact that the result was put down to the physical difference in the chain material, I’d think that it would still last longer, but maybe it wouldn’t turn out to be cheaper by the km, as potential the grime could rip through a coating pretty quickly.

You might find the opposite is true actually. I saw something (maybe on youtube?) recently where someone tested chain wear on a range of Shimano chains by setting up a jig and running it for ages, measuring it at intervals until it got to .5 wear (which is when most recommend changing the chain).

The XTR/Dura Ace chain lasted the longest. No only that, on a dollar per kilometre basis it was also the cheapest chain overall!

They put it down to the added treatment or coating on the rollers that the other chains don’t have.

I have two suggestions. First is YR weather, is is from the Norwegian bureau of meteorology, and I find it really reliable and accurate in a lot of places. I actually had it recommended to me by a farmer in the middle of bowhere North East Victoria, Australia who said it was the most accurate for him in his area which actually turned out to be really true!

Second is Peak Finder, which I think is a one time paid app, but I’ve had it for ages so cant remember. It is an augmented reality app that you hold up to the horizon and it will tell you what all the mountains that you see are.

City mapper is excellent for bike riding too! It lets you use bike share bikes confidently knowing that it’s routing you on safe bike lanes and roads, rather than sending you down heavily trafficked ones like Google does.

It only works on some cities though, which is a bummer.

I haven’t had a chance to read the study yet, but I wonder if they were trying to narrow the focus in on impacts on “regular people” rather than all humans.

I know people that rise bikes as serious amateur athletes and they regularly consume 90g of carbs for 5-6 hours multiple times a week while training, and I’m sure some serious athletes push carb intake even higher. They have very specific reasons for doing this and maybe that might skew data so athletes have been excused?

I’ve often wondered if there is more to it that is classified or whatever. Albo was not a fan of it, then got a briefing and very quickly signed onto it without any public or even party debate. That stood out to me at the time, and has everytime it comes up since.

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Yep, needs a good 30min shakedown ride. Than maybe even a sealant top up. Some tyres are really thirsty on the initial sealant drink

I don’t see many issues that the nationals and Labour align on the the greens or liberals don’t, maybe threading the needle on land access issues that satisfy farmers, in that they don’t hand land over to resources companies or lock it up in protected parks? But I don’t see that as significant enough to justify the split.

It just feels like all tactics and no strategy, at the meta level they have to be in coalition to form government in the medium term. I could see a liberal party moderate resurgence over a longer horizon by going it alone, but I just don’t think tjat their significant funders actually care or would tolerate that, they just want to maintain the current lasse faire regulatory system that allow them to rip cash out of the ground and pockets of Australian consumers in the short term.

Surely they will reunite, it’s political death for both parties if they don’t. It gets significantly more difficult once the shadow ministries are handed out. They have to do it now or face aninternal riot.

I’d like to see a comparison between labor and coalition governments, if 66% is the average across government and this one achieved 70% and the Gillard/Rudd one “similar levels” then I assume the Coalition ones statistically break more promises.

It would be good to see the actual results though, as it might show that both parties are in fact not the same after all.

I had a huge house party back in the late 90s when at uni. Filled the bathtub with ice, bought 4 cases of the cheapest beer I could get to make sure people didn’t go without even though it was byo. Party was huge. Band in backyard, cops coming, fence pailing going in the fire huge. About 3am we ran out of beer and so it wound down and everyone crashed out or went home.

Got up in the morning and there was at least two cases worth of this beer still in the tub. Went out back to pick up all the empties and almost every opened can of this beer was still almost full but had been abandoned.

This beer was so utterly bad that a bunch of rowdy drunk brike uni students wouldn’t even drink it!

That beer was Tasman Bitter.

The coalition literally does this every election. “Trust us, we’re better economic managers” is all they say. No specifics, then when they win they gut services used by people they don’t like, aka health, education and welfare services.

Never forget the 2014 liberal budget.

Classic Texas.

If you are in a position to be able to pay for Escape Collective they have a whole bunch of podcasts, as well as incredible high quality written articles mostly focused on road riding and racing, but have other stuff too.

Look up Iain Treloar he had done some amazing investigative journalism into all kinds of things, such a great writer.

I think this is really insightful analysis, great post. I often wonder why some of you key points around the headwinds that Labor faces (and progressive politics in general) don’t really get much of an airing.

It’s so obvious that LNP’s messages get boosted and the Labor ones get blunted when you pay attention to it. Sam happens when LNP are in Govt, so it’s not just a "going the opposite a voice- type thing.

Don’t even start on the amount of dark and dirty money, backroom influence and corporate interference.

Feels bleak sometimes, but sanity will prevail at some point. 🤞

As someone who grew up in NSW and moved to Vic after driving for a decade, I can say that in my experience a lot of people in NSW consistently drive at 15- 20 over on the freeway (especially Pacific hwy to Newcastle) and consistently 10 over on other roads. During double demerits they drop down in speed a bit.

In Victoria people seem to not drive at the same amount over the speed limit. More like 10 over on freeways and 5-10 over on other roads.

I always thought this was to a difference in policing. In NSW I never heard of anyone being booked for less than 10km over. In Victoria I have heard of people being done for as little as 4km over, and when I first moved here I got done for doing 6km over in an 80 zone (old habits died that day).

An additional observation, post COVID it feels like Victorians are driving faster, not to the same level as NSW but headed towards it.