Petzl Nomic and Ergo.."danger danger will robinson"

Petzl's answer on 12/21..less than a week after Petzl France got a look at the first pair of damaged tools.



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//12/petzl-issues-recall-for-new-nomic-and.html







"I have always been of the belief that the pommels needed to be as strong as the leashes they replaced since climbers will be betting the farm on them, like they did the leashes."







It should be obvious I am a big fan of the Petzl line of tools. I'm been using Quarks and Nomics from almost day one of production.













One of the few weak points on a Nomic is the lower Delrin pommel and the upper grip support. The upper grip support has been known to break off on occasion and generally a warranty issue at Petzl where they have in the past simply replaced the tool.



If you have read the "Old Nomic, New Nomic" comparison you have seen how the pommel male/female interface differs on the old and new model. I had written about and speculated thatthe sloppyfit on the pommel/shaft interface would likely bean issue. But I had thought the tools would make it through more than a few days of climbing.



The pictures here are from Daniel Harro'snew set of Nomics with less than a dozen water icepitches total on them. As in less than a total of 12 full pitches of climbing and the pommel is stripped on one tool and about to go on the second.



My new Ergos are seeing similar wear issues with the interface and already dinged and showing prematurewear. Petzl says they will warranty them but replacement isn't going to stop it from happening again. It is obvious we will need a better fix asap. The metal inner face between shaft and pommelis 3mm on the pommel with one tooth and 6mm on the aluminum shaft end so it is not full strength and the harder stainless is cutting through the softer aluminum shaft with relative ease. Before anyone criesfoul and that it must be climber abuse, my original Nomic pommels are going on FOUR full winter and alpine seasons, hundreds of pitches by nowand nevera bobble as we start on the 5th season.



If you have the newest tools Nomic or Ergo and have climbed on them...check your gear now.. as you likely already have somewear happening. Only two of us in our small climbingcommunity that are on the newest tools, and we do.



Less teeth, and rounded teeth are making the new pommel much, much weaker in comparison to the older style tools with full width interface and a square cut interface. Add to that the serrated "spike" digging into the ice, loosing the ability to slide around a bit under that kind of force applied with each swing of the toolandfailure seemsassuredon the newest Nomic and Ergo pommels.



The only answer I have at the momentis set the pommel in one position and use some very good steel based epoxy to keep it from moving and hopefully give yourhandles some added life. But I don't know if that will void the warranty at Petzl yet. (12/07/2001update.. Petzl says it will void the warranty..so don't do it)



No easy long term fix, but worth thinking about as well, is pull the new pommels off completely and bolt on the older pommels. (they bolt right on but only in a "BIG" size) The grip will be bigger but at least that way you will strip a plastic part and not your aluminum shaft and need a new tool. That way if Petzl does come up with a quick answer your shaft won't be totally useless when they do.



Update directly from Petzl this morning 12/07/



This is info I gatheredfrom a conversation withRick Vance @ Petzl. For those that wonder Rick is a climber just like the rest of us. You can take him at his word.



These are the first failures Petzl has seen. They are on to the problemnow and working to identify the exact issues that caused the failure and most importantly along term fix. Broken tools will be covered under warranty. So no worries there. Don't start modifying tools or adding epoxy. Give Petzl a chance to solve the problem first. Petzl will give a public update once they know what caused the problem and their proposed solution.

Oliebollen Gebakkraam

It’s past 10PM in the Netherlands and in less than 2 hours it will be !

This afternoon I went to the centre of Utrecht to buy oliebollen for the new year’s celebration and this is what greeted me when I stepped out of Hoog Catharijne: an Oliebollen Gebakkraam with quite a long queue of customers.


In the Netherlands, oliebollen (oliebol - singular, fried doughnut balls with raisins and apple bits, usually sprinkled with powdered sugar on top) is the symbol for New Years. New Years Eve and New Years Day are not complete without oliebollen.

I bought 2 packs of oliebollen and a bottle of Prosecco (boycotting champagne this new year for a change). Hmm, I think its time to warm up the oliebollen...

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

Oliebollen and Appelbeignet, taken at work last week.

When Does a Customer Turn Designer?

[image via OAC]

I want to tread carefully here, because it is not my intent to offend independent artisans, whose work I support wholeheartedly. But this issue is on my mind from time to time, and a couple of days ago I had an email exchange with a reader that brought it back into focus. Here is the gist of the story - and I don't think it's important who the players are, because the situation is generalizable:

Clyde the Cyclist approaches Alistair the Artisan, inquiring about getting a custom Bicycle Accessory made. Clyde has a very particular idea of what this accessory should be like.Alistair the Artisan says "Gee, I've never made one of those before, but sure, I'll give it a try." And he does. The Accessorycomes out great, and when Clyde the Cyclist goes on a group ride, 200 of his riding buddies see it. "Hey, where did you get that neat Accessory?" Clyde the Cyclist tells them, and the cycling buddies contactAlistair the Artisan asking for the same thing. Several months later, Alistair the Artisan has a website where the Accessory is featured prominently and given a catchy name. He shoots a friendly email toClyde. "Thanks man! That Accessory is my best seller!" Clyde the Cyclist feels taken advantage of and emails me to ask what I think.

Well,I think it's a tough one. On the one hand, if a product really is based on a customer's distinct design, an argument can be made that the "moral" thing to do, would be for the artisan to ask the customer's permission to use it, and to offer some compensation for the idea. On the other hand, if the customer made no stipulations to protect their design, it can be said that the fault is with them.



While this has not happened to me in the bicycle industry, I experienced a similar incident in a different setting a few years back and have since been more careful. If I think of an idea or design as "mine," then I'll approach the artisan presenting it in that manner from the start: "I have an idea for a product. Would you like to collaborate?" This establishes the relationship as a partnership, and fosters an acknowledgement of the fact that design input has real value. But unless that approach is taken from the beginning, it is bound to be difficult to backtrack and reframe a relationship that started out as customer-artisan, into one of designer-manufacturer.



To be clear, I by no means wish to imply that anyone ordering a bespoke item is a de facto "designer." It is only natural that the customer will give a set of requirements to the artisan as part of a custom order, after which there will be an exchange of feedback. For example, should "make it kind of like this one, only in red velvet and with larger buttons" be considered design input or just standard customer feedback? I think the latter. But if the customer has a concrete and clearly expressed idea of the item beforehand, and if the idea differs substantially from the other products made by the artisan, then both parties may want to consider the intellectual property implications of that - before proceeding with the order.

Tombstone Tuesday :: William & Sophia Wise

WILLIAM P. / 1852-1935 / SOPHIA E. / 1850-1916 / WISE
William and Sophia (Dunfee) Wise are my 2nd great grandparents. They are buried in Scott-Keister Cemetery in Etna-Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana alongside three of their four children as well as several grandchildren. Photograph taken July 14, ...

Detroit Tigers Baseball Game

One of the first things we did as a newly married couple years ago was to go and watch the Detroit Tigers play. And we have never been back to see them since then. Until today. We remembered that they do their spring training in Lakeland and bought tickets and headed out to cheer them on.



The stadium was really nice. The crowd was really nice. The weather was really nice. The game was pretty good. There was a lot of this:









We were in awe watching things like this:





I mean, seriously, how is that even humanly possible? Mind boggling is what that is. Still...the score was not all that exciting until this bit of magic happened:



And the score got very exciting:



After that, it was pretty much more of this:




And when all was said and done, we were very excited about the score! So neat!



Living the life in sunny Florida!

Summer's Eve at Hollow Rock

This is the first image I've made at Hollow Rock in quite some time. Hollow Rock is one of my favorite places to photograph in winter, but for some reason I don't go there much in the summer. I don't know why, since it is a great place to shoot no matter what the season. At any rate, this image was made at 9:37 p.m. It is a 30 second exposure shot with the aid of a 3-stop reverse-graduated neutral-density filter. The hardest part about making this image was tolerating the mosquitoes. They were AWFUL!

Wear and Tear

I've been spending a lot of time road cycling lately, and suddenly it seems like all of my gear is falling apart at the same time: Socks are pilling to the point where they no longer look decent. Gloves are developing holes in the fingers. Baselayers are growing threadbare under the arms. A piece of the zipper broke off on my cold weather cycling jacket. And my thermal winter tights are fraying everywhere. The damage to the last two garments is particularly frustrating, because these are "big ticket" items that I was hoping would last for some time. While the jacket is a year and a half old that's still not a terribly long life span. And the tights I've only started wearing this October. It doesn't seem right for things to be wearing out at this rate. Aside from the financial aspect, I am simply too exhausted to start the search for the right gear from scratch. When it comes to cycling clothing, finding the fit and functionality that work can be a nightmare. I don't want to look for new stuff; I want the "old" stuff to last.



Are my expectations unrealistic? I would love to hear from roadcyclists what the typical life expectancy of their clothing is - jerseys, shorts, jackets, etc. If you cycle, say, 5,000 miles a year, what kind of wear and tear do you consider normal?

Lockport, New York to Holley, New York

Rare Old Beast: a Very Early Brompton

Brompton folding bikes have remained virtually unchanged since they entered into production in the late 1980s. But before that happened, there was a small pilot run and the machines from this early batch were just a tad different. Only several hundred of these were made. Two of those recently ended up passing through Harris Cyclery on their way to the Brompton museum. And one of those I had the opportunity to photograph and ride. Pictured here is the 358th Brompton ever produced. Red and black 3-speed with upright handlebars, dynamo lighting, rear rack and fenders.





The most striking difference between the Brompton we know today and this early model is the "humpback" frame construction. As the Brompton history page explains it, "this feature had come about for the simple reason that standard pipe-bending tools could not produce the gentle radius desired. Change would only come with expensive retooling." By the time the bikes went into full production, the capital investment required for this had been secured and the bend of the main tube became more elegant.





Other differences are more subtle. For instance, the handlebars are welded(?) to the stem.






Here is a close-up. I take it this means the early handlebars were steel.






Likewise, the rear carrier is welded to the rear triangle.





Like so.






The bike comes with a wide, sprungplastic Brooks saddle.






Fitted onto a set-forward seatpost.






The dynamo lighting functions via a bottle generator on the rear wheel. The rear fender has a special cut-out to accommodate it.






The cable routing is interesting.






If I understand this correctly, it appears that several cables are gathered into the same housing and secured to the frame and stem at various points to facilitate the fold?






Here it is passing over the bottom bracket.





The fold itself is mostly identical. Same process, with similar bolts on the frame and stem as on the current production model.






Only the pedal fold is different.





Levers are involved; it is more complicated and bulky than the current snap-fold.






Finally, it looks to me as if the frame construction itself is different in places - the way the tubes are joined.The other differences are mainly in the components. The retro lights. The fender stay attachment. There is no front block system, and instead some of the early models were fitted with front racks. Brompton experts will no doubt notice a myriad of other differences that I haven't picked up on. As far as weight, the bicycle felt a bit heavier to pick up than current production models built up with equivalent specs, but not by much.




I rode the older bicycle carefully and briefly - not wanting to ruin its pristine condition (it had barely been ridden by the previous owner). The first thing I noticed was that there was much less room in the "cockpit" compared to my own Brompton; it felt a bit cramped. The difference seemed too great to be explained by the older bike's saddle being more forward; it seemed that the frame itself was shorter. Later I asked about this at Harris and was told it was indeed the case. Unfortunately I had no time to measure the two bikes, but it appears that when they got rid of the bend in the main tube, they also lengthened it.





However, the front-end handling of the older bike felt very similar, if not identical to modern Bromptons. Overall, riding it felt like riding an older and more upright version of the same bike.Reading Brompton's history and hearing about it firsthand from those in the know, it is striking how little the bicycle has been tweaked since its initial development. Aside from straightening out the bend after the pilot production run, they've mostly just worked on getting the weight down a bit and improving the components. The fold and the handling have remained the same.






For locals who'd like to see the pair of early Bromptons, they will remain on temporary display at Harris Cyclery until September. Many thanks for the opportunity to photograph and ride the #358! You can view more close-ups of ithere, and Elton Pope-Lance has photographed both bicycles here.

Jackson Visitor Center - Final Weekend to Visit!

Yup, the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center (JVC), whose design has been loved, hated, and debated since its opening in 1966, will welcome its last visitor on Sunday, September 28. It is closing to prepare for the demolition and move to the new JVC, which will open at 10:00 a.m. on October 10th. Between September 29th and October 9th, the Paradise Ranger Station (in the upper lot) will serve as the main NPS contact point at Paradise.

Here's some background on the now infamous "space saucer" of Paradise. The NPS commissioned its construction as part of a 10-year effort called MISSION 66. MISSION 66 set out to improve infrastructure and visitor services for NPS in time for its 50th anniversary in, guess what, 1966. The Paradise visitor center was originally known as the "Paradise Day Use Facility" until 1987, when it was re-named in honor of Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. "Scoop" had originally secured congressional funding for the project and personally selected the architects.

The future of the oldJVC is significantly less promising. With the initiative to build a new visitor center came the $880,000 contract to demolish the JVC and rehabilitate the lower parking lot. Sometime late next year, you should be able to park your vehicle near the current information desk or bookstore. If the weather holds, this fall the contractor intends to start salvage operations of reusable materials and also carry out removal of fuel tank and hazardous materials. Final demolition will begin in the late spring of and will be completed by the end of the summer.

NOTE: If you're visiting the park this weekend, September 27 and 28, there are no entrance fees. The NPS is waiving fees on Saturday in celebration of National Public Lands Day and on Sunday in honor of newly naturalized United States citizens. The JVC at Paradise will be open from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. through Sunday the 28th. Come on by, because it's your last chance to lounge in those creamy orange couches and chairs.