Roving Thoughts archives

Bike parts I've replaced (as of 2013)

For no particular reason I feel like running down all of the bits of my bike that I've had to replace due to wear since 2006. Please note that I bike a lot. People who bike less will replace less stuff.

• brake pads: repeatedly. They wear out.

• the entire drivetrain (with the exception of the front derailer, it's still original): repeatedly. Chains (and gears) wear too.

• tires, both front and rear (repeatedly). See the sidebar.

• wheels, both front and rear. Although I don't do any extreme biking I seem to be very harsh on rear wheels; I've gone through at least five.

  (The death toll: two broken axles, two used enough that the rims started cracking around spokes, and at least one that just started breaking spokes too often.)

• pedals (repeatedly): either the physical pedals got damaged (when I was using plastic pedals) or the bearings inside the pedals got too worn. I've had two pedals actually break, with the pedal falling off; fortunately both times happened on commute rides with bike stores open and nearby.

• brake and shifter cables. The most memorable time was when my rear shifter's cable snapped, immediately dumping me into an inconvenient gear. Fortunately it was on my commute ride.

• pedal crank arms (I forget why).

• the actual brake arms (sometimes called calipers): these have springs inside (to force them open when you release the brake levers). Mine seize up sooner or later.

• the bottom bracket. This was replaced as part of chasing something else but really, it was time; it had apparently basically rusted into place.

• the headset. The bike came with an adjustable headset (that I never adjusted the angle on); eventually the adjustable joint basically broke. It was replaced by a perfectly good non-adjustable headset which I expect to last forever.

• the (add-on) rear rack. If I remember right, a welded joint eventually separated.

Surprisingly I haven't replaced the bike seat. It's still the original, although it's definitely getting a bit worn by now.

(I think that's everything. If I remember something else I'll update this entry.)

Sidebar: my experience with bike tires

For most of the time since 2006 I've replaced tires when they started to get too many flats. A few years ago I wound up with midrange Continental tires (I believe one step below Touring Plus's), which I've now replaced merely because they looked like they were getting too worn; my rear tire actually wore the tread pattern completely away without, I believe, basically any flats. I currently have Touring Plus's on both front and rear so I'll have some opinions on them in a few years.

In general, either I've had very good luck with my tires or I've got much more relaxed standards of when to replace them because my tires seem to last much longer than most people's. For the front and rear Continentals I replaced this year, the rear lasted over 10,000 kms (carrying a relatively heavy load, since I keep lots of stuff in my panniers) and the front likely ran over 15,000 km. This seems to be well over the usual distance ratings.

The Railgun and her friends in Railgun S

One of the criticisms I've seen leveled at Railgun S is that Mikoto passes up involving her friends. Evirus says:

For example, Mikoto spends most of the first cour of Railgun S sneaking around rather than enlisting the help of her roommate, the teleporter.

I can't say that Evirus is wrong because it's up to the show itself to convince its audience that events make sense and clearly the show hasn't sold Evirus on this. But what I can say is that the show did sell me on Mikoto's actions.

(There are about to be spoilers.)

First off, let's note that Mikoto does hardly any sneaking around in the first cour. She does about 90% of her work in a phone booth (and might have managed to do all of it if she wasn't impatient, but then if she had there wouldn't be much of a show) and much of the rest of it seems to have been less 'sneaking around' and more 'walking in casually'. In short, for almost all of the time she steamrollers everything in sight. The only time she actually needs any help happens when actual opponents appear (in the only actual fight) and this catches Mikoto completely by surprise when it happens.

(The show doesn't bother spending much time showing her steamroller stuff because it kind of lacks excitement.)

Beyond this, the show has sold me on a collection of reasons that Mikoto doesn't and can't involve her friends, especially Kuroko. In no particular order:

• Mikoto repeatedly talks about this being her fault and her problem to deal with. This is somewhat irrational but the show sells me on it being her heartfelt attitude, due in part to the horror of the situation.

• The situation is genuinely horrible (and it only gets worse as it goes along). Mikoto sees someone die in front of her and finds out that thousands of people have been systematically killed, with more happening every day. This is a huge trauma to dump on your middle school friends who are enjoying an innocent life in the sunshine. I can completely see not wanting to drag them into the nightmare.

• Kuroko is effectively a member of the police and Mikoto is busy doing all sorts of lawbreaking. It's at least uncool to ask your police buddy to help you commit a crime; you've put them in a really awkward spot no matter what they choose.

• Mikoto is not actually a member of Judgment and Kuroko has been shown as repeatedly trying to keep her from getting involved in Judgment operations (generally unsuccessfully, which results in Kuroko sighing a lot). It thus seems very likely that if Mikoto brought the whole problem to Kuroko officially she would immediately get sidelined (quite possibly very firmly, as Anti-Skill moved in). Mikoto is not exactly a sideline girl.

  (Of course, what we know in the first cour and what Mikoto finds out later is that going to the authorities wouldn't help anyways. Academic City is fundamentally corrupt and brutal.)

• If confronted by a choice between friendship (to Mikoto) and duty (to Judgment), Kuroko would probably choose duty. I say this because shortly after the end of the first cour (if I remember episode numbers right) the situation actually gets so bad that Mikoto probes Kuroko about this (phrased as a hypothetical) and Kuroko gives an unhesitating answer. Mikoto doesn't seem surprised.

(Mikoto actually seemed relieved, which felt right for me. Kuroko's answer meant that Mikoto didn't have to even consider dragging her friend into the darkness with her. Of course Kuroko might have made a different choice in a non-hypothetical situation.)

Brief early impressions of the Summer 2013 anime season

As before this is my (slow, delayed) impressions of the summer's crop of new shows, or at least those that I've watched so far. I will skip trying to explain why these 'early impressions' are in fact rather late.

Things I am enthused about (so far):

• Uchouten Kazoku (aka Eccentric Family): If this was a western work I'd call it urban fantasy (of the old fashioned Charles de Lint sort, not the new variety with vampire romance) and as it happens I'm quite fond of that (sub-)genre. Other people have lots of interesting things to say about the show's themes and stuff. I'm too distracted enjoying all of the characters bouncing off each other and the setting.

  (A resigned frog down a well. How could I not love it?)

• Gatchaman Crowds: So far this is fast-moving, weird, and decidedly playing against cliche and genre expectations in all sorts of nice ways. Hajime is an excellent character in a cast of good ones and I can't wait to see what happens next. Oh, by fast-moving I mean that this show gets stuff done; more happened in the first three episodes than some shows manage in a season (although mostly in the second and especially third episodes).

  (GC is a show that probably can be analyzed a lot but I'm not going to attempt that right now. I'd rather watch and enjoy cheerfully.)

By the way, as a general rule the more I'm enjoying a show the less I have to say about it in the beginning. Like many people I find it easier to write useful criticism than interesting and coherent praise.

Okay (so far) but not enthused:

• Monogatari Series Second Season: I think that the appeal of the Monogatari series is fading for me (the love story of Bakemonogatari was my personal highlight). It's okay, but I keep kind of thinking that it's too clever for its own good and that it could be more tightly edited. Still I'm invested in it so I'm going to keep watching for now.

  The absence of Araragi improves the show.

On the edge:

• Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu: This is not Girls und Panzer by any stretch of the imagination but it's decently okay. I'm not sure it's going to sustain my interest over its entire run if it stays with just the themes of the first three episodes. One of the ways that it's not Garupan is that so far there is a lot less of a focus on the action and tactics and much more on character issues (which I find less interesting).

  (The climax of the fourth episode could be the start of a significant pivot that would make the show much more interesting. On the other hand it could equally be a one-time 'ghost story' with the show returning to standard form. My usual use of Occam's razor here biases me towards the latter view.)

• Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: This is a perfectly decent modern self aware magical girl series aimed primarily at adult fans. But I don't think there's going to be anything substantial here and I'm not enough of a Type-Moon fan to enjoy it for the injokes. I don't know if the show will have a good enough execution to keep me amused and watching for much longer.

Not watched yet but hopefully soon:

• Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen: Although I enjoyed the first two seasons of Rozen Maiden, I wasn't initially planning to watch this for various fuzzy reasons. I've been hearing quite good things about it, though, and I'm now going to watch at least enough of it to form an opinion. But I haven't yet and I'm four episodes behind and if I wait to watch it, these 'early' impressions will be even less early.

  Check back later.

Shows where I'm going to try the manga instead:

• Silver Spoon and Watamote.

  While widely praised, both of these shows are in settings and genres that almost never click with me regardless of how good the show is. After thinking about it for a while I think I'm much more likely to enjoy their manga versions so I'm going to try those; among other things, I'm much more tolerant of several of their elements in manga form. I also find that manga generally goes by faster.

  (I tried to watch the first episode of SS but slammed to a halt less than a minute in. Having skimmed the whole episode, I think there's a bunch of things that would work in manga but that are too time-wasting or annoying for me to watch animated. Also, I've actually read a bit of the Silver Spoon manga in passing and found it decently interesting.)

Possibly excellent but I can't watch:

• Senki Zesshou Symphogear G: People say good things about this season of Symphogear but I never finished watching the first season so I'd have to do that first.

Miss:

• Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (aka Sunday Without God): As I basically put it on Twitter, the first episode was only interesting because it was mysterious and then the second episode was rather a letdown. The show is also based on an as-yet-unfinished light novel series which suggests that we are extremely unlikely to have any major aspects of the story resolved in a satisfying way. All in all, no.

On continuing series, I'm actively watching Majestic Prince and still theoretically watching Railgun S (but I don't expect to watch the last arc of the latter, which is apparently going to be an anime-original segment of basically fanservice to increase Blu-ray sales).