Take cover, I have been thinking again

Yeah, Ha Ha, I have been thinking again, about stuff. Lots of stuff, but mostly about camber control and lots of wheel travel on the TGS2, or rather the TGS2.1. The TGS2 has a straight tube front suspension with too much brake for the tire, The TGS2.1 has IFS with VW uprights and disc brakes and suspension geometry inspired by Trophy Trucks.

Starting from the beginning I went back to first principles and my weight and balance for the car and divided up the car into two halves. Then I figured out what tire to use on a car that weighed twice as much as either half. The back half was easy, I was looking at a car that was slightly under a ton with 240 HP, similar to a modified early Miata. The current hot tire for the Miata is the 245/40-15 size from a number of different manufacturers. It fits a 15 X 8″ wheel that is very easy to track down. The front is another kettle of fish completely as there are not many hot street cars weighing in around a thousand pounds or a little less running a 15″ diameter rim. There were two divergent characteristics of the cars I found that fit the model for the front half of the TGS2.1. Either they were very stiffly sprung with basically no suspension travel and wide tires, or they were very softly sprung with several inches of travel and skinny tires. Ideally I would run something as sticky as the 245/40 but 122 mm wide, but that is a non-existent tire size. Also ideally I would run something very close to the 22.7″ diameter of the 245/40, so looking for 22.5 to 23″ finds me the 195/50-15 at exactly 22.7″ diameter and available in compounds running from 100 UTQG wear to 540. The 245/40 are available in UTQG wear ratings of 100-300, so a compatible grip level is attainable.

The design inspiration I mentioned, Trophy Trucks, are off-road racing vehicles with more than 20″ of travel at the front end. As part of the design the front suspension has both pivots on a single lower frame rail for both sides of the car. There is a single frame rail in the center of the car with the lower A-arm inner pivots on either side, and a triangular bulkhead running up from that, that carries the upper A-arm inner pivots. The purpose of such long suspension arms is camber control over the long travel of the front suspension. Well camber control is really good for short suspension travel as well, but lightweight cars with limited suspension travel need more camber change than 2½ ton trucks trying to maintain a straight line through the desert at over 100 MPH. So while the suspension arms on a Trophy Truck are nearly the same length to minimize camber change over 20+” of travel, the TGS2.1 will have a large difference between the upper and lower suspension arms to get more camber change with body roll and limited suspension travel of a road car. I’ll have to run it on my suspension spreadsheet to find the actual length of the upper arms and the location of the inner pivot vertically.

As I was finishing up this post I started getting Twitter notifications about something that had gone down in Las Vegas other than Saturday night’s truck race. Some idjit decided to shoot up a country music concert from a sniper’s nest in another hotel a quarter of a mile away, and brought a freaking arsenal of 10 full and semi auto weapons, dozens of magazines, and thousands of bullets. In the process of spraying the audience at the concert with bullets he hit about 600 people and killed 58 or basically proving the “9% fatal” statistic for small arms fire. I’m assuming because of the lack of cover and no return fire the number of hits far exceeded the 20% of shots fired that is normal for a firefight, but I haven’t seen a report on the number of spent brass found yet. And yet this mass shooting has fewer fatalities than the Nice truck attack, again proving that motor vehicles are the perfect murder weapon.

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Someone used a motor vehicle as a murder weapon in VA

I have seen the video and I’m in shock. Something fell from between the weapon vehicle and the one it crashed into, something that looked like cloth over flesh but I couldn’t get a good look at it to make sure. I’m getting most of my coverage from Twitter as I missed the TV news shows. I’m going to have to quit now because typing is causing my back to spasm like I’m dying. I’m going to publish this and lie down

The weirdness continues

I woke up yesterday to let the cats out of their room and it looked like a crime scene. Blood everywhere and of course my first instinct is to assume the cats got into a fight with each other and look for injuries. Neither cat has so much as a scratch visible… So I’m taking a closer look at the clumps of hair that’s mixed in with the blood and it’s much darker than either of the cats’, not that they have any missing in those amounts. But hey, don’t take my word for it, I took pictures.

All that blood and there’s not a mark on the cats, either of them. It’s a for-real locked room murder mystery, only in this case we have two suspects but no ID on the victim. I mean I know it was one or both of the cats, but what did they kill? There wasn’t enough blood for a human, so it has to be an animal of some kind, but how did it get in their room and WTF was it?!?

And I thought yesterday’s post was strange…

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable

About that K’zoo wreck

The wreck in Kalamazoo has been dominating my social media, so I will make a comment on it myself.

It sucks.

But wait there’s more. The driver should be tried on 5 counts of murder, and 5 more counts of attempted murder for the 4 surviving cyclists and the pedestrian who was grazed just before the cyclists were hit. I’m serious about this. This was just as much a mass murder as the Santa Barbara shooter last year, with the added caveat the “shooter” in this case was only stopped by the failure of his weapon, which he then abandoned in an attempt to escape.

Seriously, this asshole needs to be looking at multiple consecutive life sentences without parole, along with seizure of assets to pay back victims’ medical bills and confiscation of any proceeds he gets from prison industries beyond one bar of soap a month and a new toothbrush every Christmas. I’m serious on this one, the survivors (aside from the one pedestrian who was only grazed) are looking at medical bills that will run into the millions of dollars between them. I speak from experience on this one. My bills from 15 years ago were $250K for the initial stay, with another $45K to $50K for each of the subsequent operations required to fix the things that were either missed in the initial carnage or had to wait for some healing to take place before they could be done, like removing my hardware after it was no longer needed to hold my leg together. Add 15 years of medical inflation on to that…

Billed @€0.02, Opus

Still just plugging along and nothing much happening, and the Feed

I’m still prowling the web for raw stock to build the Mini Sprint-T after failing to find local sources for single-project size lots of sheet, rod/tube, and strip polystyrene. None of the local hobby stores carry anything in plastic raw stock, and the local plastics distributors won’t sell anything resembling hobby lots of supplies. Deja vu all over again, this was the same thing that happened a few years ago when I was buying raw stock for making custom bicycles that I couldn’t get by cannibalizing bikes left on the side of the street.

Up first, NYPD decides hit-and-run is legal. Cyclist killed in Brooklyn hit-and-run and Brooklyn Cyclist Killed By Hit-And-Run Rental Truck Driver also NYPD: Still Defending Hit-and-Run Drivers to the Press [Updated] Why is it that when a crime is committed with a car NYPD falls all over itself to absolve the driver of criminal charges? This wreck was a hit-from-behind wreck after the cyclist crossed the intersection with no escape route. the way to the left was blocked by the truck, the way to the right was blocked by a high curb.

Still in NYC is this counting of accumulated death and injury for last month. DOT: 1,445 Pedestrians and Cyclists Injured, 16 Killed in December [Updated] Vision Zero only works when LEO is signed on to enforce laws, but as we saw in the previous paragraph NYPD actively works to not enforce traffic laws that protect vulnerable users.

Our Daily Ted part one. Morning Links: Possible murder on Irvine bike path; public meeting tonight to discuss traffic in Griffith Park

That murder Ted was talking about. Police: Irvine man’s death on bike path is investigated as a homicide

Daily Ted part two. 69-year old bike rider killed in Calexico; first bicycling fatality in Imperial County since 2012

Still in CA. Caltrans seeks 5,000 volunteer motorists for mileage fee pilot program The proposed program will extract user fees from vehicles proportional to the damages done by the vehicle without depending on a gas tax since electric vehicles don’t use gas.

Also still in CA, red light running cyclists are a menace, drivers doing the same thing… [Update] State Senator Seeks To Reduce Fine For Red-Light Violation So the year after raising the red light fine on cyclists they reduce it for drivers who actually killed dozens of people in CA from failing to stop before making a right on red. RIiiiGHT

Seeing the MO flag on a 15 foot pole bill as the victim blaming it really is. WHY THE MISSOURI BICYCLE FLAG BILL IS NOT AS FUNNY AS YOU THINK

Up in the Great White North. Quebec coroner issues 3 recommendations after 2014 cyclist death

From Jolly Olde what appears to be a punishment pass. Maidstone cyclist captures near miss in Dean Street

Still in Jolly Olde, today’s our day for murder/attempted murder on the roads. Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after woman found injured in the road Don’t you just hate when the news outlet feels compelled to tell people that the person inside the light armored vehicle used to seriously injure someone was unharmed during the commission of the mayhem?

And burying the Big Story way down in the post, deliberate assault in Oz. Female cyclist injured in road rage attack on Beach Rd, Beaumaris and Coke bottles thrown at cyclists in shocking Beach Road attack also Woman hospitalised after shocking road rage incident Chuck a full bottle of cola soft drink at someone’s head should be classified as an assault, if not a terroristic act.

Are you worried that you are not as green as you could be on your bike? Is there such a thing as eco-friendly bike lube? As pointed out in the article, riding a bike is already seriously green even using the “worst” bike lubes, there is only a tiny bit to be gained by going to another kind of bike lube.

One thing heavily touted about driverless cars is eliminating drunk driving, but now you’re telling me that won’t happen? Are self-driving cars legal? And if so, can I drive home drunk in one?

More stupid infrastructure tricks. 12 of America’s Biggest Highway Boondoggles There are an uncomfortably large number of TXDoT projects on that list.

High hopes for e-assist bikes’ future. 1 in 3 bicycles will be an e-bike by 2023: Study Possibly too high hopes, the projections seem unrealistic.

Last link is something that is on every parent’s mind when their kid(s) is(are) out on two wheels. What to Do When Your Kid Crashes a Bike

And that’s all I got today. Apparently I missed Penguin Awareness Day, not that I need any more awareness of penguins with my name. More tomorrow.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Another day another $0.70 after Medicare and SS, and the Feed

For the self-employed even when we don’t make enough money to actually pay taxes, we still have to pay taxes on income specifically the Social Security and Medicare taxes, which come to roughly 30%. Interestingly enough if I made enough money I wouldn’t have to pay any SS or Medicare taxes… But my income is so low that I’m almost off the bottom of the scale for paying it. My income from wages is so low that I’m not actually paying all that much in SS or Medicare, I think maybe $2 or $3 a year, and the rest doesn’t count as “wages”. Kinda like those hedge fund guys that pay a fraction of the income tax and none of the SS and Medicare tax on their incomes because they don’t count it as “wages”. I mean really, the amount quoted in the headline is about how much I make in “wages”.

Up first, a TX man gets so drunk he forgets that he has the perfect weapon and uses a gun instead. Texas man went on deadly shooting spree while drunk driving in Oklahoma, killing two motorists I would say he’s a dumbass, but he would have to gain about a dozen IQ points to get that smart.

Meanwhile in Sin City. Car Mows Down Pedestrians On Las Vegas Strip, Killing 1 And Injuring Dozens and Driver who mowed down crowds on Vegas Strip asked valet to call 911, police say More than 50 injured or killed, and people scoff at me when I call motor vehicles WMD.

The driver that ran down a cyclist in S.F. CA is in court on murder charges. Man accused of murder in Tenderloin car theft collision back in court

Since we are in CA anyway, here’s Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Hard-hitting real-life safety PSA, and Big Blue Bus leaves bike-riding boy stranded in the rain

Still in CA. On the Mobility Plan and rush hour bus bunching: equity for bus riders? Good transit helps make streets safer for cyclists, too.

Over in KY. Family of Lexington cyclist killed in accident donates bikes to kids

US infrastructure on the Federal level. U.S. Gov’t. May Get More Serious About Cyclist/Pedestrian Deaths in 2016 They still don’t know if the problem is huge, really huge, or enormous, and when they find out they might actually do something about it. Or they could just buy the CROW manual and follow that and everything would be wonderful.

Low information article about a bike wreck in the Great White North. Cyclist struck, injured at Dufferin and Davenport The headline contains most of the actual news in the article, which is kinda sad, really.

Three years, and they still haven’t reached sentencing yet? Man in 2012 hit-and-run that killed cyclist could face year in jail The really annoying thing is the maximum sentence is still less than half the time the cyclist has already been dead. He died more than 3 years ago, the maximum sentence is 18 months, which he won’t even start serving until next year.

More on the insane suggestion that cyclists should be charged congestion fees when there are too many cars for the roads. ‘Cyclists should be considered for a Cambridge congestion charge’, says highways boss Since you can move 8 people on bicycles in the same space as one in a car, if there is a congestion charge for bicycles it should be ¹/₈ as much as for a motor vehicle, or since bicycles are smaller than motorcycles charge what they would charge the motorcycle, which was nothing. And that right there shows the hypocrisy of charging bicycles for congestion. It has been suggested the “expert” who said bicycles should also pay congestion charges was Keith Peat, noted anti-cycle motorist.

Meanwhile in Oz, they are almost s insane but they carried through. Cyclists in NSW can now be hit with massive fines and have to carry photo ID and NSW cycling laws: metre passing laws a win, but others are bewildering I’m trying to figure out why “raising of the fine for riding without a helmet from $71 to $319 – an increase of 350 per cent” is a good idea while the fine for failure to wear a seat belt remains the same… What is it about the Aussies and their weird compulsions about bicycle helmets?

And that’s all I got today.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Mrs. the Poet is out of town again, and the Feed

Mrs. the Poet decided she missed seeing the leaves turn colors as the seasons changed, so she’s taking a week to do some leaf-peeping on her relatives’ dime. So I’m batching it again for the next 8 days. Fortunately we have frozen pizza and ramen and plenty of dry beans and brown rice in the pantry, and since I’m the only one going to eat them I can make beans and rice as spicy hot as I want. So I will tomorrow. I had to make sure Mrs. the Poet had some spending money for her trip so I had to spend about 90 minutes going 7 miles round trip to the bank. But I got her the money and everything is hunky dory financially for her.

The Big Story today was the cyclist hit from behind by a bus in SF. Berkeley Cyclist Killed in Market Street Collision With S.F. Muni Bus and Cyclist Dies In Market Street Collision With Muni Bus also Muni Bus Hits & Kills Cyclist On Market Street [Updated] At this point I still don’t know what really happened except the cyclist fell and the bus ran him over from behind. We will all know more when the video from the bus is released, if it ever gets released.

Still in CA and still in SF. Cyclist Injured In Collision At Haight & Steiner The cyclist was observed by several witnesses to run a red light and hit an SUV waiting to make a left turn.

And still in CA our Daily Ted. Guest Post: A detailed look at commuting mode share in Los Angeles, and how bikes lanes fit in Gee I wish I could get guest posts instead of just leaving dead air when I can’t post.

Experiments in how to prevent bus wrecks ongoing in CA. Driverless Bus Testing Coming to Bay Area I don’t know how it would handle a bicycle falling over in front of it. The wreck from earlier this week would have been an interesting test for the AI.

Not out of CA yet. Cyclist Injured in Coast Highway Collision Survivable right hook situation, but only just barely.

Yep, more news out of CA. Murrieta Cyclist Killed by Suspected Drunken Driver in Lake Elsinore Another drunk runs another cyclist from behind 😛

Closer to home a cyclist rides up on a murder in progress on a bike path in Dallas. Cyclist witnesses man hacking at a jogger on a popular Dallas biking, jogging trail I have ridden this trail many times day and night and can vouch for how scary it is at night where the homeless people have broken the few trail lights. That underpass is especially dark and scary at night, and not all that nice during the day.

On the subject of cyclists and edged weapons, they grow some seriously hardy cyclists in KS. Lawrence man seriously injured in apparent stabbing, rides bike to hospital Yeah, that is like comic book tough there.

More on the OH cyclist killed in a hit-and-run. 70-year-old cyclist killed in hit-and-run and Lorain County fatal hit-skip witness: ‘The driver absolutely knew that he had hit this gentleman’ I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that this driver has stated that instead of passing cyclists safely by slowing down and waiting for oncoming traffic to clear he would just run over the cyclist. I have seen too many people put that in public under their real names to not think it could happen IRL.

One of the good guys in the religious debates was hit by a car while riding his bike. Richard Dawkins debate organizer Larry Taunton injured in bike wreck The narrative sounds like a left cross wreck.

Over in MO we get a hit-from-behind wreck. Southwest Missouri bicyclist killed in collision with car Not much more information than that in the link.

Moving over to LA we get more information about that cyclist run over from behind on the shoulder of the road. Police identify cyclist killed in crash and Update: Baton Rouge police identify bicyclist struck, killed Sunday while riding on Plank Road; pickup truck driver accused of DWI Not much new information here.

Over in GA a cyclist is killed with a busload of school kids. Atlanta cyclist, 21, killed in collision with school bus and Bicyclist struck, killed on Ga. 400 Report is that this was a salmon cyclist going the wrong way on a freeway exit ramp for some reason. I just wish he hadn’t done it in front of a bus full of kids.

Moving up to MA. Cyclist seriously injured after pickup, bike collide on Bernardston Road Monday afternoon The wreck almost didn’t happen. Notice the lack of damage to the bike, the one good picture of the bike it looks like the chain is still in place. The driver in this wreck just barely tapped the cyclist. Kudos to the driver in this wreck on making it much less worse than it could have been.

This VT wreck was caused by a guy bombing a MTB trail and not knowing where the road crossings were. Cyclist injured after being hit by car in East Burke I know it’s fun, but you have to do a reconnoiter of the trail so you don’t go blasting through a road crossing in front of a car or worse.

When I filtered this NYC wreck they still didn’t know what happened. [UPDATE] Woman Killed By Tractor-Trailer Driver While Crossing Bushwick Street Now we know the victim was crossing with the light in the crosswalk when hit by a truck making a left turn.

Still in NYC, a person waiting at a bus stop is killed in a pinball wreck. Pedestrian Killed By Truck Driver “Didn’t Have Time To Run” SUV hit the truck, truck jumps the curb, the lady waiting on the bus is sitting on the bench where the truck went after it jumped the curb.

Hit-from-behind wreck in IL. ‘Incredibly energetic’: Belleville teenager riding his bicycle killed after car struck him I’m still trying to figure out how hitting a cyclist from behind is not a violation on the part of the driver.

Injury wreck in NV. Cyclist Injured in Accident With Car They say he ran the stop sign, but the geometry of the wreck says the cyclist misjudged the speed of the weapon vehicle. The bike was almost all the way across the intersection when the cyclist was hit.

Infrastructure changes at an intersection where a through cyclist on the main road was hit by a truck turning right. Improvements coming to intersection where bicyclist died Note that they don’t put a cop there to write ticket after ticket until the truck drivers stop running the stop sign at speed, they put in a bigger stop sign like the truckers couldn’t see the other one. And this one just floors me,”Carroll County asked the state to reconsider the bike route designation for Route 75.” Don’t make it safer for people who are using it, try to keep the bicycles away.

And final link is a bit of uncommon sense from Oz. More people will cycle when everyone accepts cyclists’ right to be on the road

And I’m done for today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet