FAQ Location and Weekly posting for Rec.Bicycles.*

Last updated: April 30, 2003

Weekly Posting for Rec.Bicycles.*


This is the weekly posting to Rec.Bicycles.*.  In it, you will find
information on how to get a copy of the FAQ (in case you missed it
when it was posted to rec.bicycles.misc/news.answers) and some tips on
nettiquette when posting articles to rec.bicycles.*.  

The FAQ was last updated on April 30, 2003.


Mike Iglesias
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


Gopher and Web access to rec.bicycles archives and FAQ
------------------------------------------------------

I've made the rec.bicycles ftp archives available via gopher and the Web,
and have split the FAQ up into individual files for easier access via
gopher.   The FAQ is available via the Web as listed below.

You can access the FAQ and archives via the Web using these URLs:

   <http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/>
   <http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/bicycles-faq/top.html>

To connect to the gopher server, use the hostname draco.acs.uci.edu and
port 1071.  Please don't ask me how to use gopher or how to configure
your gopher client; I don't know how to use all the available gopher
clients, nor do I have access to them.  Please talk to your local gopher
gurus.

Again, please ask your local gurus for information on how to use Web
clients.


Posting Guidelines
------------------

The rec.bicycles subgroups are described below - please try to post your
article to the appropriate group.  The newsgroups were designed to minimize
cross posting, so please take the time to think about the most appropriate
newsgroup and post your article there.  Most postings to rec.bicycles should
not be cross-posted to groups outside of rec.*.

rec.bicycles: DO NOT USE THIS NEWSGROUP - it should have been dropped
   from news servers, having been replaced by rec.bicycles.misc.

rec.bicycles.marketplace: Bicycles, components, ancillary equipment and
   services wanted or for sale, reviews of such things, places to buy
   them, and evaluations of these sources.  Not for discussion of general
   engineering, maintenance, or repair -- see rec.bicycles.tech.

rec.bicycles.tech: Techniques of engineering, construction, maintenance
   and repair of bicycles and ancillary equipment.  Not for products or
   services offered or wanted -- see rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.rides: Discussions of tours and training or commuting routes.
   Not for disussion of general riding techniques -- see rec.bicycles.misc.
   Not for products or services offered or wanted -- see
   rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.soc: Social issues, cycling transportation advocacy, laws,
   conduct of riders and drivers; road hazards such as potholes, dogs, and
   sociopaths.  Not for products or services offered or wanted --
   see rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.racing: Race results, racing techniques, rules, and
   organizations.  Not racing equipment -- see rec.bicycles.marketplace
   or rec.bicycles.tech.

rec.bicycles.misc:  General riding techniques, rider physiology,
   injuries and treatment, diets, and other cycling topics.
   Not for products or services offered or wanted -- see
   rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.off-road: This group is moderated.  Discussion of riding 
   on unimproved roads, gravel, dirt, grass, sand, single track or 4x4 roads.
   Also discussion of environmental issues related to mountain biking, trail
   issues, backcountry travel, how to handle conditions
   (technically and evo-sensitively), off-road magazines and other media.

Nettiquette
-----------

Here are some tips to remember when posting to rec.bicycles.*:

  * Check your line lengths.  Most readers use 80 column terminals, and 
    articles with longer line lengths are hard to read.  72 characters per
    line is a good length, since it allows others to quote you without
    running over 80 characters.
 
  * Trim down your quotes.  Delete parts of the article that you are not
    responding to.  Less to read from previous posts is better.  And please
    don't include the signature of the article you are responding to.

  * If you are asking a basic question, please check the FAQ first.  If the
    FAQ is has expired on your system, see the "Archives" section below
    for information on how to get a copy.

  * If someone posts a question about something that was resolved recently,
    please answer the poster via email.  Rehashing something that was just
    discussed is a waste of bandwidth unless you have something new to add.

  * Please don't flame someone if their posting should have been restricted 
    to a certain region (for example, california only).  Most people are not 
    the news admin on their system, so publicly flaming them does no good.
    A nicely worded email message to them that there may be a problem
    would allow them to notify their news admin.  Please remember that
    it may be some other site somewhere along the line that is leaking
    articles out of its region and the poster may not have any way to
    solve the problem.

  * Along the above lines, please try to restrict your postings to your
    site/region/state/whatever.  People in Australia may not want to see
    bike-for-sale ads from the U.S., for example.

  * Make your subject line informative about the content of your article.

  * If you are following up an article to create a new article, please
    remember to delete the "References:" line in the header.  This will
    help the readers who use a threaded news reader; otherwise your new
    topic will be mixed in with an old one.

  * Please don't flame others.  We're a somewhat opinionated group, and
    there are many diverse personalities here.  This is especially true
    in the never-ending helmet wars.

  * Speaking of helmet wars, let's try to stay away from them.  Most
    everything that could be said pro and con for wearing helmets has
    been said at least once in rec.bicycles.  There is some evidence that
    wearing a helmet can help prevent head injuries.  There are people that
    wear a helmet all the time, people that wear a helmet some of the time,
    and people who will never wear one.  Everyone has their own reasons
    for their decision, and most will not change it in the middle of a
    flaming helmet war.  Questions on types of helmets, what ones are
    coolest (temperature and otherwise), etc are always welcome.


Archives

I've made available via anonymous ftp a copy of the current FAQ and a
few other items on draco.acs.uci.edu (128.200.34.12).  This is the
workstation on my desk, so I'd appreciate it if people would restrict
their use to 7pm-7am Pacific time.  The files are in pub/rec.bicycles.

For those without Internet access, you can use the ftpmail server at
gatekeeper.dec.com to get copies of items in the archives.  I really don't
have time to email copies of files to people who can't get at them easily.
To use the ftpmail server, send an email message containing the line

help

in the body of the message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]  You'll get
a help file back with more information on how to use the ftpmail server. 

Here is an example of what to put in the body of a message to to get the
README file:

connect draco.acs.uci.edu
chdir pub/rec.bicycles
get README


Here's what's available at this time:

                README for Rec.Bicycles Anonymous FTP area

arnie.light     Arnie Berger's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) "Ultimate bike light"

bike_gear.sea.hqx
                Lawrence Hare's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) copy of a
                Hypercard stack to calculate gearing.  Lawrence says
                there is a newer version on major bbs systems.

bike.lockers    David H. Wolfskill's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) summary of
                bike locker vendors.

bike.painting   Sam Henry's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) collection of articles on
                how to paint a bike.

bike_power.*    Ken Roberts program to calculate power output and power
                consumption.  See bike_power.doc for more info.
                updated by Mark Grennan ([EMAIL PROTECTED])

biking_log.*    Phil Etheridge's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) hypercard stack
                riding diary.  It keeps track of dates, distance, time,
                average speed, etc., and keeps running weekly, monthly,
                and yearly totals.  See biking_log.read_me for more
                information.


CA-veh-code     A directory containing the California vehicle code sections
                that pertain to bicycles and gopher bookmarks.  See the 
                README in that directory for more information.

camera.tour     Vivian Aldridge's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) collection of articles
                on cameras to take on a bike tour.

competitive.nutrition
                Roger Marquis' ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) article from the
                Feb 91 Velo News on nutrition and cycling.

computer.calibrate
computer.install
                Sheldon Brown's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) universal bike 
                computer calibration chart and installation suggestions.

cyclesense      Larry Watanabe's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) copy of
                the "Cycle Sense for Motorists" ready to run thru LaTeX.

faq.*           The current Frequently Asked Questions posting

first.century   Pamela Blalock's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) tips on training
                for your first century ride.

frame.build     Terry Zmrhal's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) writeup of
                a frame building class he took.

gear.c          Larry Watanabe's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) program to
                print gear inch tables.

glossary        Alan Bloom's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) glossary of bicycle terms.

lab.info        Erin O'Brien's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) article on the 
                League of American Bicyclists.

lights          Tom Reingold's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) collection of 
                articles on bike lights.

lights2         More articles from rec.bicycles.* on lights.

mtb.faq         Vince Cheng's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) MTB FAQ.

pam.bmb*        Pamela Blalock's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) report on her 
                Boston-Montreal-Boston rides.

pam.pactour*    Pamela Blalock's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) writeup of her PAC tours
                across the country.

pbp.info        Pamela Blalock's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) information 
                on her Paris-Brest-Paris ride.

pictures        Bicycling gif pictures.

prof.sched      Roland Stahl's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) list of 
                scheduled professional races in many countries.

pwm.regulator   Willie Hunt's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) design notes
                on a pulse width modulated voltage regulator.  Originally
                designed for caving, this design is adaptable to bike
                lighting.  The author has parts available in kit form.

ride.index      Chris Hull's/Bill Bushnell's ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
                explanation of a way to "index" rides and compare the 
                difficulty of different rides.

ridelg22.*      Found on AOL by Gary Thurman ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), a
                ride diary program.  The .exe file a self-extracting archive 
                for PCs.

spike.bike      Bob Fishell's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Spike Bike series.  
                They are numbered in the order that Bob posted them to
                rec.bicycles.  All the Spike Bike stories are 
                "Copyright 1989 by Robert Fishell, all rights reserved."

spokelen11.bas  Roger Marquis' ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) spoke length 
                calculator, written in Microsoft Quickbasic.

spokelen.c      Andy Tucker's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) port of 
                Roger Marquis' spokelen11.bas to C.

spokelen.hqx    Eric Topp's [EMAIL PROTECTED]'s Hypercard stack that 
                computes spoke lengths.

studded.tires   (Name removed by request) compilation
                of messages on studded tires, including how to make your
                own.

tandem.boxes    Arnie Berger's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) notes on how
                he built a box to transport his tandem to Europe and
                back.  It's taken from a longer travelogue on his trip - if
                you want more information, contact him at the above
                address.

tech.supp.phone Joshua Putnam's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) list of technical
                support numbers for various manufacturers.  This list
                used to be in the FAQ but now is too long to include there.

trailers        A summary posting of messages about bike trailers.  Good
                stuff if you're thinking of buying a trailer.

wheelbuild.txt  Sheldon Brown's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) instructions on 
                how to build a wheel.

wheels.*.hqx    R. Scott Truesdell's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Hypercard
                stack to calculate spoke lengths.  See wheels.readme
                for more info.

wintertips      Pete Hickey's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) notes about
                how to cycle in the winter.

wintertips.pam  Pamela Blalock's ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) winter cycling tips.