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Marlon Menezes wrote: You also mention above that you dont mind being taken for a ride. I believe you dont mind being spanked either - after all you did ask the women to bring along their brick bats. However, I believe this is not a topic to be discussed on goanet.
Cecil: Agreed! There are better places for such discussions.
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Marlon: The solution to both of the above is have the wheel intentionally rotate a little bit. Hence the invention of ABS. My suggestion to you is do the right thing and spend the additional 40,000Rs on your 20,000Rs bike and get ABS installed on it.
Cecil: ABSolutley brilliant idea. I will immediately sell off my fifth-hand, fifteen year old Maruti Omni van to get the Rs. 40,000/-
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Marlon: Melinda, err, a "hat" will not protect you from injury. I suggest you wear a helment. Cecils is the defacto expert on helmet safety - your statement unwittingly only adds weight to his arguments regarding the alleged unsafe driving habits of women.
Cecil:
Thanks Marlon for that superb introduction to my third-most favourite topic - Mandatory Helmet Laws. Melinda keep in mind it is what is in your head, not what's on your head, that will protect you. And nothing on earth can protect us from what's in Marlon's head.
---- Marlon: I think the implementation of some sort of a device that losens a woman's skirt, sari or blouse to increase wind resistance could serve as an auxilary braking device in the case of an extreme emergency.
Cecil:
Too late Marlon. A similar system has already been tried in India but not proven successful. Women here are constantly trying to use their dupattas and sari pallavs to stop their bikes. It doesn't always work though. The entanglement in the bike spokes, or chain, does stop the bike but the results for the rider are sometimes fatal. But still they continue to ride (or ride pillion) with dupattas and saris dangling dangerously near the wheel.
Incidentally experiments was carried out in Moira in March 1957 at the Attafondem based Centre for Alternative Braking Systems for Women.
Thick heeled clogs were tried (and stilletos for a short while only). By placing both legs simultaneously on the ground, on both sides of the bike, a braking effect could be attained but the sudden loss of momentum for the bike rider was so much that the bike would shoot ahead and the rider would be left standing (or flat on the face sometimes). The Moidekars found this quite acceptable as it was the woman's life that was more precious than the bike.
After multiple test runs only did a brilliant Aldonkar point out to the Moidekar scientists that most women rode scooters which had a spare wheel (stepney) screwed on at the back. Now what was happening was that the clogs could brake the woman's body but the scooter itself would continue moving forward. Then from behind the stepney would impact the woman and she suddenly would find herself riding pillion with a riderless bike totally out of control. The experiments were abandoned in 1959 after a curious incident involving a woman test rider named Steffany who had a slight paunch and a boyfriend named Tommy. The incident has gone into Moira folklore, best represented by this wonderful Konkani song 'Steffanycho stepney". It loses in the translation into English, and doesn't rhyme any more, but please understand the subtle play of words and names, and the technical finesse of those Moidekar song composers from another era.
--------- Steffany had a spare tyre It was part of her anatomy And there was another stepney Screwed behind the bike By her an' a Tommy Which also was a spare tyre Go figure. Now Steffany spread her legs To stop herself from banging And the screwed up stepney Collided with her derriere Which meant she was sitting behind On her behind When she should have just Changed gears instead And applied both brakes Simultaneously! -------
For those wanting to know more about braking systems please check out: http://www.familycar.com/brakes.htm
For the technically inclined a nice essay is at: http://www.teamscr.com/grmbrakes.htm
And for caste conscious Goans http://auto.howstuffworks.com/brake.htm
Cheers! Happy Dussera!
Cecil =====
