[demime could not interpret encoding binary - treating as plain text] >Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 12:14:47 -0400 From: "Michael Daly" <michaeldaly_at_home.com> > >I also wonder whether the hybrid is a worthwhile technology in the long run compared to the >coming fuel-cell electrics. Fuel cell still needs substantial work before they become a real world item. Remember, everyone thought pure electric cars would be here solidly by now. Those were a big flop. Hybrids are a real world compromise. Honda has one (and intends to expand it), Toyota has one, and at least Dodge has one planned to come out (a Durango). I could bitch about how only Dodge is whining to the government for tax breaks on their hybrid while Toyota and Honda are already selling theirs but I have a friend who's an engineer for Dodge so I won't... >From: "Mel Grindol" <grindol_at_my-deja.com> > >> The rack rubs the metal where it grips the car. My biggest complaint is that the extender >> (had to use it on the short two door roofline) works its way backwards on long trips. >> I have started attaching straps from the front fixed bar to the back bar just to keep it >> from shifting backwards. Plus a trailer would let me get a much larger spread between the bars. > >I haven't had such a problem on my Civic with the short roofline adapter. Have you been tightening >it enough? I haven't been shy of cranking it down as hard as I can without resorting to tools. >The extender bar is slightly bent is use on mine. Went home and checked how I install my rack. I put it on tight enough that I can grab the rack and rock the car by pulling/shoving on it. I crank that puppy down pretty tight but I'll try tightening it up more. My problem with the extender kit is that it is basically a square bar sliding in channel steel. There is no real way to lock the length into place. The roof line on my Integra has a pretty good curve that drops off towards the back. Maybe it's a steeper curve than your Civic? (Especially if you have the Civic hatchback, it has an almost straight roofline.) I'm one of those engineers who very methodically follows the directions for installations. :) I don't have a problem with it over short trips (< 100 miles). It's the 800+ mile trips where I have found that the rear bar held on by the extender will slide back from 1 to 2 inches. Disconcerting. Maybe it's the speed (I cruise at close to 80 mph) and buffetting from semis on the highway. >PS - Too much attention is paid to big vans/cars. Even the Outback gets poor fuel economy >to my tastes. You breath what comes out the back end of your vehicle. We've only got so >much atmosphere and our kids don't want to inherit a polluted desert. If you don't pee >in your water, don't pollute the air. Hmmm, I don't have very much complaint about most modern vehicles. Current emission regulations on new vehicles are stringent enough that they don't pollute enough to make a large impact. Read an article on modern (new) car emissions. Once the vehicle is up to normal operating temperature it basically doesn't pollute. The engineers are now working on that first few minutes after starting the car before it hits the normal operating temperature. It's the out of tune clunkers from the 70's that are the problem. But if you talk about removing them from the road that's class warfare... Enough ranting from me. :) Mel *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
From: "Mel Grindol" <grindol_at_my-deja.com> > Fuel cell still needs substantial work before they become a real world item. Yet Ballard & friends are claiming that they'll be commercial and twice as efficient as today in two or three years. > Went home and checked how I install my rack. I put it on tight enough [...] My Civic has a strip of plastic in the almost-a-rain-gutter where the foot of the rack mount sits. Perhaps this is generating more friction than yours. I thought the Integra had a similar roof design though. If the clips are sliding on the extender bar, perhaps you could squeeze a piece of rubber (bicycle tire piece?) into the gap and get some friction in there. Or sandpaper. > > >PS - Too much attention is paid to big vans/cars. Even the Outback gets poor fuel economy > >to my tastes. You breath what comes out the back end of your vehicle. We've only got so > >much atmosphere and our kids don't want to inherit a polluted desert. If you don't pee > >in your water, don't pollute the air. > > Hmmm, I don't have very much complaint about most modern vehicles. > Current emission regulations on new vehicles are stringent enough... I include CO2 as pollution and that's directly proportional to fuel consumption. Most western countries have committed to lowering CO2 emissions as per international agreement. Canada's nowhere close to meeting the limits. Consider as well that we are currently consuming four barrels of oil for every barrel of oil found in exploration. Canada has only nine years of oil left; the US (I forget) 12-15(?). Then we depend on either finding some that we can develop or being entirely at the mercy of middle eastern oil exporters. How about a $10,000 kayak? Remember that epoxy and resin costs soared in the '70s, causing some problems for boat builders. That stuff comes from oil! Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
[demime could not interpret encoding binary - treating as plain text] >Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 22:01:17 -0400 >From: "Michael Daly" <michaeldaly_at_home.com> >Yet Ballard & friends are claiming that they'll (fuel cells) be commercial and twice as >efficient as today in two or three years. They said that about electric cars too... I'm of the mind that if you don't have a solid, practical, production vehicle I'm skeptical. >My Civic has a strip of plastic in the almost-a-rain-gutter where the foot >of the rack mount sits. Perhaps this is generating more friction than >yours. I thought the Integra had a similar roof design though. It does but the foot of the rack does not sit in that pseudo rain gutter. Per the directions the feet spacing places the foot on the metal roof (between the edge and that rain gutter). That places a smooth plastic pad on smooth curved metal. Slides real easy. >If the clips are sliding on the extender bar, perhaps you could squeeze >a piece of rubber (bicycle tire piece?) into the gap and get some friction >in there. Or sandpaper. Not the clips sliding. I'm talking about the sliding portion of the extender bar. The square bar within a U shaped bar. The extender just flat extends an extra inch or two over long trips. This pushes the back bar back (or really the back bar slides back pulling the extender bar apart farther). Where the extender bar mounts to the car stays stationary. Where the Q tower attaches to the extender bar doesn't move. A picture... http://www.yakima.com/products/dynamic/8000120_7.html That inner rod just right of the Q tower holding the extender bar can slide farther out. There is no way to lock that inner bar into place as delivered from Yakima. Jamming something in there may work but then you could end up with something becoming permantly jammed in there. I've found that a strap from the front bar to the rear bar on either side of the rack just inside the Q towers works well. >Canada has only nine >years of oil left; the US (I forget) 12-15(?). The catch here is that is the reserves we know of and can currently reach. Exploration is becoming more advanced and better along with the ability to drill where in the past we physically couldn't. I don't believe that oil is an endless resource but neither do I buy into the scare tactics of all of the oil being consumed in a very short time in the future. >Remember that epoxy and resin costs soared in the '70s, causing >some problems for boat builders. That stuff comes from oil! Well considering that I wasn't old enough to paddle in the 70's (yes, I'm one of those freaky younger paddlers that are rare on this list) I'll take your word for it. :) Mel "When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl." *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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