Monthly Archives: September 2016

S2 Topic Proposal

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We all know how important bicycles have become in modern society. They are useful in transportation and save money on fuel and in return are a great investment. Now I am interested in the topic of exactly how the San Francisco bike shops play an interesting role in the SF bicycle culture. I want to know if they are part of the SF bicycle coalition or not and how long they have been established here in the city and if their prices for parts and repair match that of other competing stores. My plan to investigate and gather research is to make a personal appearance at at least three to five bike stores and conduct a series of approaches to gather evidence. My first idea is to interview workers and owners of stores of each shop I attend to accumulate so more information. My another idea is to create a survey with questions like if shops are part of SFBC and how long they’ve been there. This way all owners and workers are being asked the same questions and there won’t be any bias questions. I’ll still use the interview approach to get information such as prices of things, I still haven’t decided if I will take notes or record the interviews. Thanks!

Carlsson and Zimmer

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Over the weekend I took the time to take a walk around the city near campus. It didn’t take me long before I decided that I would do my Spatial Observation expedition on an up coming intersection. This intersection looked like any other intersection in the city and I thought how could any one person find their way home in place that looks so similar. However I noticed that this particular intersection was a four way stop and not a street light. Along the road in every direction were single lane roads with cars parked up and down the sidewalk that was raised a few more inches off the ground. There was no bike lane. It seemed that along the sidewalk were little plot of 2×2 land and trees that separated the houses that were right next to each other and attached to the adjacent house. Most houses had a garages for more car parking and had to drive over the side walk to access it. Like in the author Zimmer’s essay he makes a great point of how much our society is built around cars, I noticed that parked cars took up most of the space on each side of the roads. I also remember how much the garage took up a lot of space in the houses and how much of a waste of room I thought it was. There also was not much of a lawn or garden to see in front of house because most of the area in front of the house is for the street and cars. In connection with Carlssons essay, society has been so built on cars and public transportation that it is arguably faster to ride your bike instead of driving in traffic.

Some bikes are more for fashion than transportation

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bike

http://www.redbull.com/uk/en/bike/stories/1331752112140/the-most-expensive-mountain-bikes-on-the-planet

Bikes over the last hundred years have advanced so much that they are more than a mode of transportation. So much time has been put into the bikes look that it is also a fashion statement. The mountain bike above is one of the most trending models out there. I think the better the bike looks then the more confident I feel riding it.

Speech Organization

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I usually arrange my writing by the main ideas. First I use an introduction that includes the topic of the paper and tell the audience the main ideas of the upcoming paragraphs. After the reader knows what I am going to write about I use on of the most interesting main ideas to keep them reading. End with a good conclusion after.

Module 1 S1 Speech 1 Self Reflection and Peer Evaluation (Disc Wheels)

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Thank you my fellow classmates and peers for being a great audience during my speech this past Tuesday.  I was noticeably nervous for this speech because I had not recently done any presentation that did not include a lengthy slideshow or have an accompanying video. However it had also been an extended period of time since I had to do a presentation solely by myself and I actually enjoyed that. I think that the rehearsal videos were useful and helped me to memorize my speech and build confidence. The exercise at the beginning of class Tuesday where we recited our speeches for 3 minutes, then two minutes, and one minute really helped me to condense my speech so that I would be able to deliver it in the allotted time. I feel as though the speech itself went well overall but can acknowledge that I forgot to mention some key points and parts I wanted to include. I also tried to use my notes as minimally as possible and used it only as a reference when I needed to and it felt good to do that. Everyone seemed to have their own personal ways of being a good speaker. I think it was very effective for Helen to use a research experiment to assess the credibility of a helmet and worked great for her speech. I also think Mathew’s eye contact made me feel more involved in his speech. Some classmates like Koko used their phone or electronic device as a note system and they seemed very comfortable with it.

“Write Out” of Credibility Assesment

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Jack Norgeot

COMS 195-03

Professor Jonathan Hunt

9/6/16

Credibility Assessment Speech

 

Hello I am your classmate Jack Norgeot and thank you for coming to listen to my speech. Today I would like to discuss my investigation into the argument of how credible are disc wheels over the traditional spoke wheels. There is a lot of conflict about whether or not disc wheels are worth the extra aerodynamics at their price. It is common for disc wheels to cost anywhere from $500 and upwards of $2000. Although there is evidence that they can increase speed and airflow or even reduce drag, they can come with a towering pile of disadvantages. Unlike a spoke wheel, disc wheels are far more expensive, come noticeably heavier and affect your uphill on a hilly course and are difficult to handle and almost impossible during crosswinds.

 

Disc wheel receive a lot of backlash because of their price and experience needed to handle, but still they are spotted in competitive races such as Olympic Track Cycling. They can also be seen in record breaking instances such as when Francesco Moser, a well known road bicycle racer from Italy traveled 50.8 kms becoming the first person to travel that far in one hour in world record called the Hour Record, sporting full disc wheels.

 

Some riders will use only one disc wheel in the back to reduce weight and increase maneuverability. This is much more popular in the common and local races.

 

A very good alternative to solid disc wheels with the same idea is wheel covers, they are much less expensive around $200 and are weigh much less. This also makes it much more friendly to remove and put on your bicycle to match with environmental conditions of  the course. This also stops things from entering your spokes and damaging them.

 

Although disc wheels have support showing they can increase your speed and lower your times, professional organizations have reviewed how dangerous they are for inexperienced bikers. The organization from Switzerland UCI, International Cyclist Union is the governing entity of cycling rules, standards, and events around the world. Although they are in charge of important matters such as disciplining athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, they also have a lot of rules about disc wheels. For an example they do not allow riders to add any devices to their bike that’s sole purpose is to reduce air resistance, this includes the cheap and easy to use wheel covers from seeing any action in a real competitive cycling event. The committee also requires spoke wheels in any mass start event where many participants start the race at once because it is much easier to recover from a bump from another bicyclist on spoke wheels and minimizes trampling. To Olympians though the disc wheel is just another one of the many technological innovations for them to take advantage of.