Sheldon Brown

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thirdcrank
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Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Sheldon Brown

Post by thirdcrank »

I speak as an admirer of the late Sheldon Brown: clear, easy to follow instructions, loads of practical advice with a dash of humour to make every word interesting to read. And above all comprehensive - everything covered. Or so I thought. While preparing to post on the chain dropping off a folder, I found this small but significant gap:

Folding Bicycles

*****

In the meantime does anybody know if the site is being updated? It would be sad if the eventual move to the 17 speed cassette etc made it seem dated.
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Mick F
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by Mick F »

I think the late SB was fantastic. Great reading, full of knowledge and info, plain and simple, humourous but at the same time serious.

Updated?
I doubt it.

I know he had a team working for him, but with no driving force, it must surely die.

Sad.
Mick F. Cornwall
cjchambers
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by cjchambers »

One of my friends was holidaying in Boston last year and made a pilgrimage to Sheldon's shop, the Harris Cyclery. He had a good chat with the staff and they were quite touched that someone had come all the way from England to say hello! Sounds like he was the life and soul of the place and still very much missed.

My friend was determined to buy some souvenirs to bring back home and after finding a "Harris Cyclery" branded T-shirt for himself, he found a similarly branded water bottle for me. When he mentioned it was a for another Sheldon fanatic back home, they said they'd throw it in with the T shirt, as a gift from Sheldon's friends to one of his admirers! So I now have my own little connection to the great man - it's a very nice bottle, too, but I daren't use it in case it has some sort of magical powers which might be diminished by filling it with water . . .

As for the question of updating the site - it would be nice if there was an up-to-date resource but those would be big shoes to fill. I suspect what would be required is a community effort, maybe using Sheldon's information as a starting point but simultaneously preserving the original site as it was at the time of his death as a sort of living memorial.
byegad
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by byegad »

Difficult!
I too am an admirer. The site is left online by the Harris Cyclery and will, I imagine, remain there as long as the shop is running. How to keep it up to date is a poser, as a previous poster said, big shoes indeed! The site links to the shop and so as things mechanical change more up to date details could be put in by other people within their work force. As it is the basics of bike maintenance remain the same so a lot of the site will be relevant for a long time. Where future weaknesses will show up is in the changes of top end kit, so 11 speed cassettes are on the way and are not mentioned, other advances will come and not be mentioned but for many years to come the stock answer on forums (fora??) around the world will be As Usual Sheldon Has The Answer.

Personally I'll miss the April Fool. I can still reduce myself to helpless laughter by recalling the ShelBroCo method of cleaning chains and I always wanted to try out an Iron Man saddle if only to say I once had.


Sheldon is my Stoker.
glueman
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by glueman »

Shops, and by inferrence websites, are rarely the same once the hand that shaped them dies away. Sheldon's good sense will prevail while ever the components he refers to are used and the general advice will stand for much longer, but his was a window on time as is all our lives.
Don't dwell on what's gone, live it now - as Sheldon might have said.
reohn2
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by reohn2 »

glueman wrote:Shops, and by inferrence websites, are rarely the same once the hand that shaped them dies away. Sheldon's good sense will prevail while ever the components he refers to are used and the general advice will stand for much longer, but his was a window on time as is all our lives.
Don't dwell on what's gone, live it now - as Sheldon might have said.


I couldn't agree more.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
thirdcrank
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by thirdcrank »

I'd like to think it could be maintained and updated. Obviously, the style would change. I presume that as the site grew over the years, Harris Cyclery must have invested more to support it. I'm not denigrating their support when I say that I assume they got a good return in terms of publicity, goodwill etc., that no amount of traditional advertising could have generated. I suppose SB may well have indicated what he would like to see happen. I assume that his aim in running the site was to help people to enjoy their cycling, rather than self aggrandisement. On that basis, the site's purpose would be best served by continued updating, so long as that could be done to a good standard. Looking at it from the memorial angle, there's not much worse than a memorial that falls into disrepair through neglect. It's important that some memorials assiduously preserve things exactly as they were - Oradour is a good example on another current thread - http://www.oradour.info/ - but a fund of advice that becomes unreliable through the passage of time does not do much to celebrate somebody's memory.

Historically, this sort of thing has applied to major reference books where the original author's name has been preserved under a succession of new editors. (Some on here will know that Moriarty was not only the name of Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy.) There's no obvious reason why it should not apply to a website, which must be cheaper to maintain than a printed version.
random37
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by random37 »

Just as a thought, I wonder if the CTC could have a Wiki page with technical advice? With the accumulated knowledge of this forum, we could make a wonderful resource. Some of the most knowledgeable people in cycling post here all the time.
thirdcrank
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by thirdcrank »

chris667 wrote:( ...) Some of the most knowledgeable people in cycling post here all the time.


And some of the rest of just us know which bits of SB to link to :oops:
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Paulatic
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Re: Sheldon Brown concerns

Post by Paulatic »

Harris Cyclery closes and concerns over the future of the site.
https://road.cc/content/news/concerns-o ... ite-284033
Whatever I am, wherever I am, this is me. This is my life

https://stcleve.wordpress.com/category/lejog/
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simonineaston
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by simonineaston »

Jeepers - still my go-to gear calculator - there are others, I know, but...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Bonefishblues
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by Bonefishblues »

simonineaston wrote: 13 Jun 2021, 8:48am Jeepers - still my go-to gear calculator - there are others, I know, but...
Mine too.

I also like the slightly 'home-brewed' nature of the SB site.
LollyKat
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by LollyKat »

simonineaston wrote: 13 Jun 2021, 8:48am Jeepers - still my go-to gear calculator - there are others, I know, but...
Just save the page (as html) to your PC - the calculator still works, presumably using Javascript or similar. It's probably possible to download the whole site. I'll be very sorry if it disappears altogether.
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simonineaston
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by simonineaston »

LollyKat wrote: 14 Jun 2021, 1:36pm Just save the page (as html) to your PC - the calculator still works, presumably using Javascript or similar.
Good tip - thanks :-)
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
Jdsk
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Re: Sheldon Brown

Post by Jdsk »

LollyKat wrote: 14 Jun 2021, 1:36pmIt's probably possible to download the whole site.
eg: "How to Copy a Website":
https://www.wikihow.com/Copy-a-Website

Other tools are available.

Jonathan
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