Laurent Noir wrote:
>OK, I missed most if the thread here being 74 degrees in Nov and keeping ol'
>folk and ol' bikes going at the shops.
>
>I am capable of error,
>I recall there being Normal and Short reach brakes.
"Normal" is a slippery term, subject to change as norms change. It's a bit like "ordinary" or "regular."
You still occasionally see misguided folks refer affectedly to high-wheelers as "ordinaries" even though that style of bike went out in the century before last.
I'm sure you've had customers come into your shop saying they just wanted a "regular" bike, an adjective that probably had some specific meaning for them, but didn't communicate much to you unless you're more clairvoyant than I am.
I would submit that the terms "standard reach" and "normal reach" have become useless for purposes of communication, and should not be used in any context.
I now use "short reach" to refer to the 39-49 mm size commonly supplied with newer racing bikes, and "long reach" for the 47-57 mm size that fits older bikes.
I also speak of recessed mount vs external nutted mounting bolts.
>While on the subject of nomenclature, I believe a brake 'hood' is usually
>made of metal and/or composite The 'hood covers' are made of rubber
>or similar material.
This was a distinction that was of some importance 40 years ago when some English bikes used the same brake levers for upright or dropped bars, with no provision for putting your hand on top.
Since the early 60s nobody has used non-hooded levers on drop bars, using the old sense of the word. Current standard terminology in the industry uses the word "hood" to refer to the rubber cover.
One I've had trouble letting go of is "thumb shifter." I'm sorry to see this term disappear, but it can no longer be used without confusion, as too many people think the term means below-the-bar shifters, such as RapidFires. Consequently, if you care about avoiding confusion, you don't say "thumb shifters" any more, you say "top mounts.
I'm fighting a rear-guard action to try to maintain the traditional meaning of "platform pedals" but I'm not sanguine for the future, now that there's only one real platform pedal in production, the MKS GR-9.
I'd like to bring back the use of "'traps" for toe clips, but nobody understands this idiom anymore, hélas.
I'm still standing firm in my condemnation of "brake arch" and "crank arm!"
Sheldon "Mutatis Mutandis" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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