Makes a huge difference. I do touring and long distance bicycling (specifically randonneuring, unsupported timed rides up to 1200km). The reduction in mental fatigue because of less wind noise is invaluable. Also, if using bone conduction headphones, you can run a lower volume further reducing mental fatigue. The lower volume and reduced white noise also lower the threshold for situational awareness.
The Airstreamz site has a guide on how to "finger test" if Cat-Ears will be effective with your ear shape and helmet design.
Ignoring the safety concerns, your criteria are unclear. Are you trying to block wind noise that you hear while riding or wind that your caller hears? Regardless, wind noise is a super tricky issue.
In the case of wind noise you hear, laminar and turbulent flow over the earphones will be conducted to your ear canal. Your best option is to use something like Cat-Ears, made by Airstreamz, to disrupt the laminar flow over your ears.
Wind noise heard by the caller is handled by mechanical means (something like a windsock or "dead cat," yes that is what they're called), advanced microphone design, and DSP. These are features poorly implemented (if at all) in budget headphones or earbuds. The Cat-Ears can help with this. Coupled to an open design (such as Sena headsets, very spendy) or bone conduction headsets (as mentioned by Seb the goblin), you can get very good results.
I use an OpenRun headset + Cat-Ears for listening to audiobooks on long rides, but never tried a phone call. My partner and I use Sena Nautitalk headsets on our sailboat, and those are pretty good (not perfect) in storms. The mic is on a boom with a windsock to help block wind, plus there's a whole lot of DSP going on. We wear bump helmets when sailing in gnar, however the fit with the helmet straps is a bit fiddly though.
Edit, edit: holy hell, typing on mobile; apologies
I was conflicted on commenting, since I'd just be echoing what everyone else said. But whatever... This is a seriously cool kludge to get you down the road.
Do the QR skewer end bits hit your ankle bones and shoes?
Where I live now and most places I've lived, this is the really scary part of being a vulnerable road user in most of the United States.
But Pike Place Market... between the cobbles, the high density, and the street convolutions to get to the pictured location, vehicular attack by senescence or willful malice would present a serious challenge. There are much softer targets and way "better" areas for confusing elderly drivers.
I use a magic arm originally meant for photography work, e.g. holding a reflector or camera highlight flash. Brand mostly doesn't matter, but at the weight of a Steam Deck, you don't want garbage. Specifically, I use a Newer because I've had great luck with their stuff has been consistently good over the years. To hold the Deck, I have a Ram Mounts tablet X-Mount, which keeps the vents and buttons juuust accessible. I usually use a Bluetooth game controller. Works great anywhere I can clamp the base.
Not sure what you mean by leading edge here. Those are calipers for a pocket bike, e.g. 50cc motorcycle. If this is for a pocket bike, you might have better luck on a motorcycle forum. That said, each caliper can only fit in one direction when the rotor and wheel are installed. The actuation arm dictates which is front and rear (or left and right for dual front rotors) by where the cable is coming from on the bike. Provided those calipers aren't seized and the actuation arms are pictured in the neutral position, the cable must pull the arm away from its neutral position, i.e. counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively (L-R, as pictured).
Maybe you know this, but just in case: you're missing a cable stop on the left caliper and you'll need cable-fixing bolts. Also, I get that you're trying not to spend any money, but check the brake pads before installation. Even if the pads have a bunch of material left, looking at those calipers, my guess is that the pads are contaminated or worse glazed. You will never get the squeal out of contaminated pads.
In some of the books I've read so far, Asher does okay with backfilling some details if you skipped previous novels. But there is definitely a whole lot of backstory you might be missing on Orlandine, the Jain, the Prador, and the complexities of... everything. There are long-running plots within plots, and more than a couple conspiracies.
For the Old Man's War flavor, I recently finished Neal Asher's Agent Cormac series, which is a subset of his Polity series. The stories are stellar, excellent character development, and deliciously complex moral issues. I'd say it's interstellar James Bond (Daniel Craig's version) having a love child with The Culture, early Tom Clancy, and "Heart of Darkness." My one caution is that Asher's sentence structure sometimes almost feels like reading Thackeray.
I am now going back and reading the rest of the Polity novels in order. I am quite pleased. I kinda wish I started from the beginning, but it's also been fun to have that "foresight" on events now that I'm in the earlier novels.
My experience with high desert daily thaw-freeze cycles is that it tends to produce hard ice "sculptures" in the bike lanes. If you get a hard ice base, studded tires are just about the only thing that will keep you upright. If you get crusty ice, studded tires are mostly optional. If the ice sculpture is particularly gnar, consider full suspension. I went full suspension with studded tires. It was overkill except for those ~5 days per year I absolutely needed to get to work, and the ice in the bike lanes was bad enough to be unwalkable.
If you get hardpack snow, aggressive tread blocks might be enough. I've played around with smoother center tread with aggressive cornering blocks, Nokian Mount&Ground/Hakkapeliita tires, narrow slicks, hardpan tread patterns... it's all a matter of matching the tire to the surface. No single solution will cover all possibilities, and it's critical to match your tires to your most frequently encountered condition. Be mentally prepared for some trial and error.
IMO, a narrower tire is better than wide, within reason. Narrow tires tend to push through snow and crust.
As to why fixies are superlative foul weather bikes:
drivetrain components wear together: run it until the everything is worn to a nub (if you aren't into maintenance); replace everything together maybe every 7 years; clean and lube the chain when it gets noisy
way fewer fragile moving parts
dead simple drivetrain that performs perfectly even when neglected, always works regardless of sand, ice, snow, salt, foul language, or bad hair days
gravel gets into the drivetrain with the snow and ice? fixie DGAF, unlike belt drive and cassettes
on rim brakes, less road grit abuse of your braking surfaces because can stop with the rear wheel
fixies are generally a much lower cost bike to start and you can have yourself a winter beater that will take all the abuse and keep going; tons of choices on the used market
cheap chains, chainring, and cogs
changing gear ratio is cheap
direct connection to the rear wheel acts like traction control: easy to start and stop when slippery; when your front brake becomes useless because of low traction, you can still control speed through the pedals; inertia in the drivetrain carries your stroke through TDC/BDC, making it easier to maintain a smooth stroke in slippery conditions (helps keep you moving and upright); easy to feel when the rear wheel is losing traction, if your rims get iced over (and they will), you still have some braking capability
you'll feel like a kid again doing massive skids down huge snowy hills
easy trackstanding at stops: no unclipping/clipping back in (less chance to clog up the pedal and cleat), no putting your foot down into car snot, no putting your foot down in an ice patch and slipping
the time and money you save on maintenance adds up quickly; get yourself a couple sets of wheels and keep them ready for various conditions; use the same rims for rim-brake bikes to keep your sanity intact
disc brake fixies are a bit more rare, e.g. Salsa Stormchaser 1x with a White Industries ENO hub; disc brakes expand your capabilities, ease wheel swaps when using different rims, and improve all-conditions braking
^that said, I only ever owned a rim brake fixie and never missed my discs even in the gnarliest snow and ice; unlike all my other geared bikes, I've never fallen when winter riding my fixie; actually, I've never fallen on my fixie, period, and I credit that fixed connection to what the rear wheel is doing
climbing hills is like being on an escalator: because the inertia of the drivetrain carries the pedals over TDC, a fixie just rips up hills; on a 25 mile one-way work commute, my top speed was down 3.5 MPH, but overall average speed was up ~1.8 MPH, with 1400 feet of climb each way
I resisted fixies for a long time despite hearing all the benefits. The story of that fixie pictured in my previous post is here: https://lemmy.world/post/27619326/16157725. VT, OR, UT, WA, MA, and CO winters have never given me any troubles on my fixie with the correct tires for the conditions.
There are a lot of factors that will affect the details of your selection:
snow type, high desert fluffy, northeast boilerplate and snot, PNW icy wet slop...
daily thaw/freeze cycle
salt and/or sand used on the roads
how much car snot will you be hitting on your commute routes
Without details of your snow conditions, all of the details of any commentor's suggestion will be guessing.
I can offer these generalities; IMO, fat bikes confer no advantage when it comes to snow. They sound great on paper, but if you're floating on top of snow, that's a recipe for garbage traction. For the broadest range of winter road conditions, nothing beats a fixie. I could write you a novella why, but I'll spare you.
Notice that I'm riding road slicks in that pic (25 mile commute one-way).
The next best choice in my experience is a rigid 26” disc brake mountain bike. With a 26" winter wheelset, you can have snow tires, studded ice & snow tires, plus tires for summer trails. Most 26" disc mountain bikes can also fit 700c with clearance for as much as 32C. With fenders! Get yourself a decent 700c wheelset, and you have some summer zippyness. That's a lot of use case in one bike. Tons of choices for this style, but my all time fave was the Trek SU200, same frame as the 4300.
I can't find my pictures of this in winter configuration. But here it is in ultralight touring mode. Winter tires were Nokian on the stock 26" wheels.
I'm also running a Frankenstein's Monster drivetrain: 105 shifters, Deore XT rear, Deore (XT? can't recall at the moment) 11-48 cassette. To make things even dicier, I'm using a Wolftooth Roadlink to fit that cassette. When I first set up this drivetrain, it worked flawlessly (shockingly :D). I share that context as empathy for your shifting woes, and I apologize in advance if the following is obvious/already been tried.
Quite suddenly, rear shifter started exhibiting the exact behavior your describe; I suspect someone messed with my barrel adjuster as a prank because all of my riding group suddenly had shifting issues after that bar stop. I couldn't get the shifting solid again until I loosened the pinch bolt and performed the cable pull adjustment as if it was first install. And with my sketchy setup, I have to follow the steps very strictly.
Absolutely. I do this all the time for lighter camping trips. I still can make hot smashburgers without packing a flattop and propane tank. Separate them with parchment or wax paper for easy portioning.
I also do this with bacon. Cook off five pounds at a time, freeze, and have bacon ready to go anytime. Added bonus: you get a bunch of bacon fat.
I'm starting to think comedians are top of the food chain.
This is also becoming my perception. In Ty Franck and Wes Chatham's podcast, Chatham's general role is that of describing the craftsmanship of acting which is one of his obsessions since childhood. In one episode, Chatham goes into some detail on the challenge of comedy acting. Basically, it's Jedi Master acting to do it well, and from there all other acting is just a matter of desire to do it.
Kinda. For people like you and me, sure this sense is common. How many normies do you know that have your level of technical paranoia?
Here's an outlier example: I recently bought a carded, new micro SD card from the local brick and mortar because urgent reasons that don't matter for this story. I went to load up the card, and its capacity was only 8MB, rather than 256GB. More than that, it was also loaded with 3 different auto-run malware. I was prepared for something like this (well, not the inconvenience of a counterfeit card). How many here are genuinely prepared to deal with brand new card that came from a trusted retailer with malware? Do YOU genuinely expect malware in this context?
I think a little empathy and education can go much further than "I'm smarter, just git gud."
It's called
moiré, a form of interference pattern:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moir%C3%A9_patternEdit: not moirè, but rather a form of diffraction grating interference because of the minute differences in distance between the two surfaces.
It is also the why DVDs and CDs have rainbow reflections.
Makes a huge difference. I do touring and long distance bicycling (specifically randonneuring, unsupported timed rides up to 1200km). The reduction in mental fatigue because of less wind noise is invaluable. Also, if using bone conduction headphones, you can run a lower volume further reducing mental fatigue. The lower volume and reduced white noise also lower the threshold for situational awareness.
The Airstreamz site has a guide on how to "finger test" if Cat-Ears will be effective with your ear shape and helmet design.
Ignoring the safety concerns, your criteria are unclear. Are you trying to block wind noise that you hear while riding or wind that your caller hears? Regardless, wind noise is a super tricky issue.
In the case of wind noise you hear, laminar and turbulent flow over the earphones will be conducted to your ear canal. Your best option is to use something like Cat-Ears, made by Airstreamz, to disrupt the laminar flow over your ears.
Wind noise heard by the caller is handled by mechanical means (something like a windsock or "dead cat," yes that is what they're called), advanced microphone design, and DSP. These are features poorly implemented (if at all) in budget headphones or earbuds. The Cat-Ears can help with this. Coupled to an open design (such as Sena headsets, very spendy) or bone conduction headsets (as mentioned by Seb the goblin), you can get very good results.
I use an OpenRun headset + Cat-Ears for listening to audiobooks on long rides, but never tried a phone call. My partner and I use Sena Nautitalk headsets on our sailboat, and those are pretty good (not perfect) in storms. The mic is on a boom with a windsock to help block wind, plus there's a whole lot of DSP going on. We wear bump helmets when sailing in gnar, however the fit with the helmet straps is a bit fiddly though.
Edit, edit: holy hell, typing on mobile; apologies
She's entitled to her opinion, even if it is stupid and wrong.
I was conflicted on commenting, since I'd just be echoing what everyone else said. But whatever... This is a seriously cool kludge to get you down the road.
Do the QR skewer end bits hit your ankle bones and shoes?
12 hours and $35k? Stop your bullshit. I've dealt extensively with healthcare in the US. It's more like 10 months and $110k.
My partner is literally waiting 10 months to see a rheumatologist for debilitating joint pain. A virtual visit, no less.
The United States was founded on principles of liberty and equality for all.
Where I live now and most places I've lived, this is the really scary part of being a vulnerable road user in most of the United States.
But Pike Place Market... between the cobbles, the high density, and the street convolutions to get to the pictured location, vehicular attack by senescence or willful malice would present a serious challenge. There are much softer targets and way "better" areas for confusing elderly drivers.
I use a magic arm originally meant for photography work, e.g. holding a reflector or camera highlight flash. Brand mostly doesn't matter, but at the weight of a Steam Deck, you don't want garbage. Specifically, I use a Newer because I've had great luck with their stuff has been consistently good over the years. To hold the Deck, I have a Ram Mounts tablet X-Mount, which keeps the vents and buttons juuust accessible. I usually use a Bluetooth game controller. Works great anywhere I can clamp the base.
Not sure what you mean by leading edge here. Those are calipers for a pocket bike, e.g. 50cc motorcycle. If this is for a pocket bike, you might have better luck on a motorcycle forum. That said, each caliper can only fit in one direction when the rotor and wheel are installed. The actuation arm dictates which is front and rear (or left and right for dual front rotors) by where the cable is coming from on the bike. Provided those calipers aren't seized and the actuation arms are pictured in the neutral position, the cable must pull the arm away from its neutral position, i.e. counter-clockwise and clockwise respectively (L-R, as pictured).
Maybe you know this, but just in case: you're missing a cable stop on the left caliper and you'll need cable-fixing bolts. Also, I get that you're trying not to spend any money, but check the brake pads before installation. Even if the pads have a bunch of material left, looking at those calipers, my guess is that the pads are contaminated or worse glazed. You will never get the squeal out of contaminated pads.
And Bookwyrm too: https://joinbookwyrm.com/
In some of the books I've read so far, Asher does okay with backfilling some details if you skipped previous novels. But there is definitely a whole lot of backstory you might be missing on Orlandine, the Jain, the Prador, and the complexities of... everything. There are long-running plots within plots, and more than a couple conspiracies.
FWIW: this is the reading order I'm now using: https://www.readingorders.info/the-neal-ashers-polity-universe-reading-order/
For the Old Man's War flavor, I recently finished Neal Asher's Agent Cormac series, which is a subset of his Polity series. The stories are stellar, excellent character development, and deliciously complex moral issues. I'd say it's interstellar James Bond (Daniel Craig's version) having a love child with The Culture, early Tom Clancy, and "Heart of Darkness." My one caution is that Asher's sentence structure sometimes almost feels like reading Thackeray.
I am now going back and reading the rest of the Polity novels in order. I am quite pleased. I kinda wish I started from the beginning, but it's also been fun to have that "foresight" on events now that I'm in the earlier novels.
My experience with high desert daily thaw-freeze cycles is that it tends to produce hard ice "sculptures" in the bike lanes. If you get a hard ice base, studded tires are just about the only thing that will keep you upright. If you get crusty ice, studded tires are mostly optional. If the ice sculpture is particularly gnar, consider full suspension. I went full suspension with studded tires. It was overkill except for those ~5 days per year I absolutely needed to get to work, and the ice in the bike lanes was bad enough to be unwalkable.
If you get hardpack snow, aggressive tread blocks might be enough. I've played around with smoother center tread with aggressive cornering blocks, Nokian Mount&Ground/Hakkapeliita tires, narrow slicks, hardpan tread patterns... it's all a matter of matching the tire to the surface. No single solution will cover all possibilities, and it's critical to match your tires to your most frequently encountered condition. Be mentally prepared for some trial and error.
IMO, a narrower tire is better than wide, within reason. Narrow tires tend to push through snow and crust.
As to why fixies are superlative foul weather bikes:
I resisted fixies for a long time despite hearing all the benefits. The story of that fixie pictured in my previous post is here: https://lemmy.world/post/27619326/16157725. VT, OR, UT, WA, MA, and CO winters have never given me any troubles on my fixie with the correct tires for the conditions.
There are a lot of factors that will affect the details of your selection:
Without details of your snow conditions, all of the details of any commentor's suggestion will be guessing.
I can offer these generalities; IMO, fat bikes confer no advantage when it comes to snow. They sound great on paper, but if you're floating on top of snow, that's a recipe for garbage traction. For the broadest range of winter road conditions, nothing beats a fixie. I could write you a novella why, but I'll spare you.
Notice that I'm riding road slicks in that pic (25 mile commute one-way).
The next best choice in my experience is a rigid 26” disc brake mountain bike. With a 26" winter wheelset, you can have snow tires, studded ice & snow tires, plus tires for summer trails. Most 26" disc mountain bikes can also fit 700c with clearance for as much as 32C. With fenders! Get yourself a decent 700c wheelset, and you have some summer zippyness. That's a lot of use case in one bike. Tons of choices for this style, but my all time fave was the Trek SU200, same frame as the 4300.
I can't find my pictures of this in winter configuration. But here it is in ultralight touring mode. Winter tires were Nokian on the stock 26" wheels.
I'm also running a Frankenstein's Monster drivetrain: 105 shifters, Deore XT rear, Deore (XT? can't recall at the moment) 11-48 cassette. To make things even dicier, I'm using a Wolftooth Roadlink to fit that cassette. When I first set up this drivetrain, it worked flawlessly (shockingly :D). I share that context as empathy for your shifting woes, and I apologize in advance if the following is obvious/already been tried.
Quite suddenly, rear shifter started exhibiting the exact behavior your describe; I suspect someone messed with my barrel adjuster as a prank because all of my riding group suddenly had shifting issues after that bar stop. I couldn't get the shifting solid again until I loosened the pinch bolt and performed the cable pull adjustment as if it was first install. And with my sketchy setup, I have to follow the steps very strictly.
This Park Tools video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkZxPIZ1ngY) will be old hat for you, but I include it for anyone else trying to dial in their rear derailleur.
Absolutely. I do this all the time for lighter camping trips. I still can make hot smashburgers without packing a flattop and propane tank. Separate them with parchment or wax paper for easy portioning.
I also do this with bacon. Cook off five pounds at a time, freeze, and have bacon ready to go anytime. Added bonus: you get a bunch of bacon fat.
This is also becoming my perception. In Ty Franck and Wes Chatham's podcast, Chatham's general role is that of describing the craftsmanship of acting which is one of his obsessions since childhood. In one episode, Chatham goes into some detail on the challenge of comedy acting. Basically, it's Jedi Master acting to do it well, and from there all other acting is just a matter of desire to do it.
Kinda. For people like you and me, sure this sense is common. How many normies do you know that have your level of technical paranoia?
Here's an outlier example: I recently bought a carded, new micro SD card from the local brick and mortar because urgent reasons that don't matter for this story. I went to load up the card, and its capacity was only 8MB, rather than 256GB. More than that, it was also loaded with 3 different auto-run malware. I was prepared for something like this (well, not the inconvenience of a counterfeit card). How many here are genuinely prepared to deal with brand new card that came from a trusted retailer with malware? Do YOU genuinely expect malware in this context?
I think a little empathy and education can go much further than "I'm smarter, just git gud."
Starting at "only" €1.65M (https://nemo-submarine.com/about/). At that price I'll take two as long as I can get them his and hers customized.