By admin, on August 25th, 2010%
Gears are one of the most basic transmission devices. You have heard about gears in cars, bicycles, and many types of machines. If you are not a mechanical engineer, you will be amazed by the extent to which gears affect our daily life. As any student of mechanical engineering will tell you, gears are at the heart of any machinery. This is a basic article to tell you what gears actually do.
 There are two basic functions that gears perform.
First, they make power travel from one part of a machine to another. For instance, when you are pedaling a bicycle, it is the arrangement of gears that causes the transmission of power from your leg movement to the rotation of the wheels. Likewise with most other forms of gear based machines.
Second, gears act as reducers. Thereby, they reduce the output speed but increase the torque. To understand this, once again consider the example of a bicycle. If you are climbing up a slope, you move to a smaller gear. This reduces the speed at which the cycle moves, but it increases the power generated by the rotation of the wheels. Hence, on the whole cycling-up the slope becomes easier. A similar example could be considered for a stick-shift car, whereby, you climb up steep slopes in a lower gear.
And to think that in their simplest form, gears are nothing but an interlinked pair of toothed wheels. But, gears can get more complicated. For instance, we could have a chain of gears when gear-one rotates gear-two, which rotates gear-three and so on. Likewise, we could have a situation where one of the toothed elements is a cylinder, while the other is a disc. Also, again going back to the example of the cycle, we could have the two gears separated by some distance, but interlinked by a chain, or other transmitting device.
By admin, on August 18th, 2010%
 For most of us, well-intentioned but casual bike riders who secretly believe we might be Lance Armstrong’s heir if we only had a few more hours a day to spend on our bicycles, buying a new road bike is tantamount to buying a road bike frame. The frame is what we’re thinking of, something new and shiny and colorful, something we suspect even car drivers envy when they see us flash through the snarl of traffic. Truly, a road bike frame is a beautiful thing and part of the reason we love bicycling.
When you have the good fortune to be looking at new bicycles, though, you definitely want to look at a few elements besides the color of a road bike frame. Face it. When you’re on your way back home from a long Sunday ride and you’re riding your thirty-fifth mile smack into a stiff headwind, the fact that your frame is cobalt blue or even Bianchi green is not going to help you. The length of your seat tube is going to help you and the length of your top tube and even the angle of the three main tubes all put together is going to help (or hinder) you, but color is not.
If you shop at a discount store or even a general purpose sports store, if you get any help at all in choosing a bike that fits you, it will probably consist of a clerk instructing you to stand over the top bar of the frame and see if you can comfortably straddle it with your feet on the floor. This is not really particularly helpful, especially if you happen to have anything unique about your physique, like long legs combined with a short torso. If you have long legs, you can straddle almost any bike, but will your body be able to relax comfortable in the stretch between your saddle and the handlebars? The whole geometry of the road bike frame matters a lot to fit. And fit matters excessively to comfort.
If you’re a racer, comfort will not be your only consideration. Indeed, it may be down among the last elements you consider. Speed is not usually built from comfort, and the road bike frame that promotes speed is built of different materials than one used primarily for recreational riding. Frames can be made of titanium, chrome-moly, aluminum or steel, and each metal has different advantages of weight and strength. Frame geometry varies, too, with touring bikes featuring a longer vertical base and top tube than the skittish racing models.
So when you’re looking at road bike frames, think beyond the paint. Get a frame that fits both you and your purpose. Whether you do your research online or in a good bike store, you’ll be glad you took the time.
By admin, on August 11th, 2010%
 The helmet is probably the only thing that can save the person who is involved in an accident. This is because the outer shell is made of strong material that can probably withstand the impact of a collision.
When people buy a helmet, putting it on the head wont keep it from coming off if the biker stops suddenly or goes too fast. The only way this can be prevented is having the right lock securing the straps from one end to the other.
The right helmet lock should be the kind that has two rings that fasten together. This is because snap fasteners have a tendency to come off during an accident.
If the dealer doesnt have a helmet that can fit the size of the owners head, the one the person got should be brought to a decal dealer so the original locking mechanism can be replaced.
Once this has been changed, it will be a good idea to wear it on for the next 30 to 45 minutes. The individual should shake the head from one side to the next or look up then down to make sure it wont come off and is securely fastened.
If everything is ok, the bike owner can already leave the store and enjoy driving down the open road.
The right lock for the motorcycle helmet may come in black, blue or any other color that the customer wants. This will usually sell for about four to six pounds a piece that can also be purchased online for almost the same price.
People who know how to put on the lock after purchasing the item online can do the changes at home. Those who dont can ask a friend or family who are familiar with motorcycle helmet straps for help.
The person must remember to change the motorcycle lock after a few months or a year since this is prone to wear and tear. The same thing goes for the helmet that should be changed every 5 years.
The motorcycle helmet is the only thing that can protect a person who is involved in a motorcycle accident. This may not protect the other bones in the body but this can surely protect the owners head. It is essential then to get the right kind of lock for the helmet because this could mean save the individual from serious brain injury or death.
By admin, on August 4th, 2010%
I can still remember the day I went and picked up my very first bike. I didn’t have a motorcycle jacket period so I used an old leather jacket that I had hanging in the closet. Little did I know that motorcycle jackets aren’t just made to look cool but that they have many life saving protective features built in to them. That is to say at least the ones that are made for sport bikes. Most of your traditional leather jackets like Fonzie used to wear don’t offer much real protection in the way of impact, however they do protect your skin from road rash if you actually buy a quality leather jacket that is made from thick leather.
 Since that first day I have bought several motorcycle jackets. I bought my very first one made by Fieldsheer from an online site that sold used riding apparel. It cost me about 250. That seems like a lot but I have had that jacket for 8 years now and its still in great shape, besides that it offers re enforced panels and body armor in all the contact areas making it much safer for me if I do go down. For a quality motorcycle jacket that is made from a high grade leather and is properly stitched and re enforced 250 to 350 is a very reasonable price. You can find cheap generic no name jackets for much less, however the quality of those is really bad. I will tell you a story about buying one of those generic made in Pakistan type riding jackets in a sec. Anyhow I would go with a Quality name brand when it comes to motorcycle apparel. Icon motorcycle jackets and gear are probably the most popular these days and Icon doe make quality stuff that is always stylish to boot. The nice thing about Icon is that you will likely be able to find boots and gloves as well as a pair of riding pants to go with the jacket. Icon also makes some really nice jackets made from a Kevlar mesh that offer about the same protection as their leather counterparts but are great for riding in warm weather. If you live in a place like Houston like I do you know that most of the year its super hot so having a mesh jacket is a big plus. I have one of each myself. Ok back to the cheap jacket part. A few years back I bought a classic motorcycle jacket for one of my girlfriends. We were riding on my chopper a lot so it made sense to go that route. I went to a local place and found a jacket for about 100 and bought it. I thought I got a good deal. Well no I got a really cheap motorcycle jacket. The leather ended up tearing on the jacket within a month around the zippers. Then the zipper went south. That is the last time I bought a generic jacket.
When you start looking for a motorcycle jacket at a cheap price start looking on the web. You are much more likely to run in to a good deal then at your local dealer unless you have a friend at the dealership you are going to pay full nut there plus tax. Most online motorcycle shops will carry quality apparel by companies like, Joe Rocket, Alpinestars, Icon, AgvSport and Arlen Ness to name some of the more popular ones. Most online shops will offer the same jackets at a discount off somewhere around 10 to 15 percent off and unless they are in your state their is no tax to be paid. I know some people are still leery of buying stuff online, however rest assured that most online merchants are quite reputable. If you have any doubts some of the things to look for is that they give you a phone number to call, their is a contact us section that lets you email them, when you go thru the checkout process make sure the little lock appears at the top or at the bottom of your browser showing that the checkout section is encrypted. If you do run in to a place that is way cheaper then anyone else always ask yourself why. Most of the dealers online buy their products from the same source so if one guy is super cheap that may be an indication of something shady going on. Also on a side note if you don’t mind buying used stuff cheap you can try ebay. I have bought some really good stuff from there for next to nothing.
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There are two basic functions that gears perform.
