UPCOMING EVENTS Mar 9-13 - School Break Tues Mar 17 - OSCA Board Mtg 7:30pm at the Firehall Tues Mar 17 - Top of St Patrick’s Day To Ye’ Mon Mar 23 - Lansdowne Park Public Consultation Mtg, Assembly Hall, 6-9:30pm Tin' Mar 26 • Budget Open House, 7-9pm, Champlain Room, RMOC Headquarters, 111 Lisgar OSCAR VOL. 25, NO. 7 THE OTTAWA SOUTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION REVIEW MARCH 1998 BUYING A “CHEAP” BIKE BY DAVID HOFFMAN ith the bike season only some contractors use assembly line weeks away, thousands of teams. Earnings can’t support a family people are planning to buy and for a single individual, merely a new bike, especially for basic living costs. the kids. Although bicycle With competition, shops and the pricey bikes there is plenty of we’d like to have get the incentive to cut media attention, most new corners. Most bikes bought in this town consumers don’t see are low-end models from cut comers because sports departments of big they are not name and big box stores. well-versed in bike repair. If These bikes are the target of forewarned is forearmed, then here's derision; poor quality, they fall apart or what to look out for in assembly. Bert Hopkins at the wheel of “Cat Tales”. Photo B. Hopkins don't weak properly. However, the only HANDLEBARS bad thing about them is they are rather Start with the slightly-bowed DAD, YOU'RE IN! heavy. The problem is not the handlebars of a multi-speed adult hardware, but the way the bike was mountain bike. Do they appear to THEY NEED ANOTHER CREW! assembled. droop? Do the hand brake levers extend Low-end bikes ($50-300) sold at straight out at the front and gear shift BY BERT HOPKINS Canadian Tire, Zellers, Walmart, Toys lever handles hanging back. This The OSCAR presents a multi-part series on sailing adventure on the Atlantic R Us and even Home Hardware and ergonomic nightmare could result in undertaken by an Old Ottawa South resident. We hope you enjoy it and invite you Price Club, with few exceptions, have wrist pain. This is the way handlebars to read Part 2 next month. the same variety and quality because come from the factory and the way bike PART 1 they are all built by the same domestic assemblers tend to leave them. Here’s rom various points along the wind speed and direction, boat speed and foreign manufacturers. how it should be: eastern Seaboard, mariners and direction, water depth and Canadian-made bikes use frames Sweeping back, the handlebars deliver boats from temperature. The two hulls house a pair built in Quebec by Procycle for should bow slightly up from 5 to 35 manufacturers to customers by of 18 horsepower diesels engines and Zeller’s, the former Bay Pathfinder or degrees, depending on seat height. assembling crews of varying four surprisingly spacious sleeping CCM at Canadian Tire. Brake levers should point down and experience willing to make the trip for sections fore and aft. the diesels Canadian-made bikes at Walmart are forward 45 degrees. They should be fun and/or experience. Last December, provide a quarter of the energy needed also built in Quebec. clamped tight enough so they don’t my son Matthew had been part of a for the journey. Low-aid frames are adequate for all slide about. The shift levers should be delivery team for an ocean going sloop A main sail can be raised up or but the extreme cycling. Even the canted forward so that the little clamp from Fort Lauderdale across the down so all or only parts are exposed to wheels, brakes and gears are suitable screws point straight down. All of these Bermuda triangle to Tortola in the the wind. We can sail single, double or for all but gonzo riding. Some are quite adjustments take a few extra minutes British Virgin Islands. When I told him triple reefed (wrapped onto the mast); good, such as the Procycle 1997 CCM using several wrenches, Allan keys and I would be willing to do the same, I the latter presenting the smallest aluminum; at $499, one of the cheapest a high-torque screwdriver but this is never thought it would actually happen. amount of sail. The jib is wrapped on a aluminum-framed bikes equipped with virtually never done in these stores. front suspension folks available in Two 38 foot catamarans, Cyberite long spindle so that all or none can be BRAKES Canada. and Cat Tales, arrived from France and deployed. Unlike smaller inland boats, Hand brakes come in two types. The Most people are bewildered by the woe to be delivered from Annapolis to the jib is 80% the size of the mainsail. caliper brake, which looks like a horse choice. But they do know they want a Tortola. Weather permitting, we would The sails are so large, the heavy ropes shoe, is cheaper. The pricier is the good deal. With tight budgets, this try to stay together on our twelve days working them (called sheets for reasons cantilever, with separate brake arms on means buying cheap. But...there's more out on the Atlantic. Each crew pays known only to antiquity) are pulled by either side of the wheel pulled together to it than that. their way to the point of departure a number of two-speed hand winches, by a bare cable. Caliper brakes have None of these stores hire staff to (Annapolis for me) and the captain allowing us to multiply human force by been around for about fifty years and build or repair bikes. They hire pays most expenses including airfare at least ten. The size of a beer mug, the cantilevers since the ‘80s. Bottom-end winches must be absolutely reliable and contractors who either hire or back. bikes usually have caliper brakes. subcontract the work. Stores may OUR YACHT so are surprisingly expensive - well Grab a front wheel brake pad with charge $7 to assemble a bike and few Our sea-going, glass fibre over a thousand dollars each. each hand and wiggle than fore and aft. customers take the bike home in the catamaran (or cat) had twin hulls Fibreglass being lighter than water, You shouldn't be able. If you can, the box. The store pays the contractor connected 20 feet apart on wl .ch is our cat cannot sink even if it turns brake pivot lock nuts are left as they upside down. Unlike more common about $5 and the mechanic may get as housed the galley with stove, fridge and came from the factory, usually with too single hull boats, they ride upright - little as $3.50. large table with comfortable round much play in the brake arms behind crawling up one side of waves and Assembly starts in late February seating, completely protected from them. down the other, rather like a skier. and ends in July. A mechanic weather. Outside two sliding doors is (continued on page 4) (Continued on page 4) assembles one bike at a time although the cockpit with seat, steering wheel, autopilot and various instruments for INSIDE... DEADLINE FOR THE ECO Notes Stretching Between the Neurons Saving Money on Child School News Southminster APRIL ISSUE IS Raising Trustee’s Report Bye Bye Birdie FRIDAY MARCH 20 Come to the Stammtischl Random Firehall Notes Walk on the Wild Side Library News Wacky Web Sites And Much, Much More. 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