RIP Clive Sinclair

[95438756]

What else can I say, as one time owner of the 48k rubber wonder ZX Spectrum. Where I did my first 'Hello Program' Played Elite. Space Harrier was a great game too on the thing.
He has turned up in his favourite C5 as the pearly gates.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58587521

[kadman]

What else can I say, as one time owner of the 48k rubber wonder ZX Spectrum. Where I did my first 'Hello Program' Played Elite. Space Harrier was a great game too on the thing.
He has turned up in his favourite C5 as the pearly gates.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58587521

I still have my Sinclair ZX81 from decades ago, as well as the enormous memory ram pack that came out after.
Boosting the capacity from 1K all the way up to 16k

[CelticRambler]

Another ZX owner here - 16k Spectrum, still in working order although difficult to use without a UHF receiver! Never bought a single game for it - wrote them all myself, so I'm definitely one of those that Mr. Sinclair got started on the road to computering.

[Banshee Bones]

Many, many happy hours spent on my cousins 48k. I see kids these days unable to figure to figure out anything with their xbox beyond powering it on and think back to what we used to do just to get a game to run on a speccy

A reminder of an era where eccentric boffins made things happen rather than marketing depts.

[95438756]

By Paul Jenkinson Mentions the Cambridge Z88 and the Sinclair QL. What was'nt mentioned was the nightmarish hardware issues with the QL. (speak well of the dead)

[marhay70]

Another invention worthy of mention, although not in such complimentary terms, is the C5. Clive said he used one himself and having driven HGVs in the UK in the 1980s, I can only say it's a miracle he got to the age he did. Thankfully it bombed, probably because it was a terrible design.
Still, RIP Clive, he really was the epitome of eccentricity.

[490808]

Another invention worthy of mention, although not in such complimentary terms, is the C5. Clive said he used one himself and having driven HGVs in the UK in the 1980s, I can only say it's a miracle he got to the age he did. Thankfully it bombed, probably because it was a terrible design.
Still, RIP Clive, he really was the epitome of eccentricity.

The way the bike has taken off in the last 10 years I don't think it would do so badly if it was released now particularly with improvements in battery technology.

[marhay70]

The way the bike has taken off in the last 10 years I don't think it would do so badly if it was released now particularly with improvements in battery technology.

Unless modification included making it the size of a bus, you'd still need to have a death wish to use one on the open road.

[dawg]

Unless modification included making it the size of a bus, you'd still need to have a death wish to use one on the open road.

No more so than many other alternative cycles






Would penny farthing bicycles be safer than the average bicycle due to height ?

( Would be handy being at same height as bus and truck drivers )

[marhay70]

No more so than many other alternative cycles






Would penny farthing bicycles be safer than the average bicycle due to height ?

( Would be handy being at same height as bus and truck drivers )

Possibly, if they had four wheels. You need to be an athlete just to get on one of the two wheelers.

[dawg]

Possibly, if they had four wheels. You need to be an athlete just to get on one of the two wheelers.

Hmm, yes. I'd say you are right about that

Would this solve the issue ?

penny farthing tricycle.jpg (7.55 KiB) Viewed 3452 times

Just thinking about it, there is no reason why a gearbox couldnt be put in the front hub. Perhaps also a hub electric motor ?

Battery in cradle between rear wheels. Regen from rear wheels. Actually redo the rear with fat tyres.

Scratch the hub electric motor in the front wheel and put motors with regen on each rear wheel.

Add a sensor to the handlebars and use the input to alter the relative speeds of the rear wheels. This should provide steer vectoring without front wheel steer

Something needs to be done about the C of G

[marhay70]

Hmm, yes. I'd say you are right about that

Would this solve the issue ?

penny farthing tricycle.jpg

Just thinking about it, there is no reason why a gearbox couldnt be put in the front hub. Perhaps also a hub electric motor ?

Battery in cradle between rear wheels. Regen from rear wheels. Actually redo the rear with fat tyres.

Scratch the hub electric motor in the front wheel and put motors with regen on each rear wheel.

Add a sensor to the handlebars and use the input to alter the relative speeds of the rear wheels. This should provide steer vectoring without front wheel steer

Something needs to be done about the C of G

Alternatively, you could save all the bother and buy a car.

[nlgbbbblth]

I missed this news.
End of an era.

I had a ZX81 which I sold in 1984 to help buy a 48K Spectrum. Many happy hours spent with both. Used to buy ZX Computing (published every two months) so would often type in games and hope they saved properly.

[95438756]

Aww....Spare a thought for poor Alan Sugar, he's had to go a bit 'grey rock' , like the Spectrum + 2a "specstrad"

https://www.amshold.com/social_media/th ... _story.htm

[dawg]

Alternatively, you could save all the bother and buy a car.

Pick me up off the floor.....Turns out that these things now exist

[marhay70]

Pick me up off the floor.....Turns out that these things now exist

Those guys are cheating, using a stepstool to get up on the saddle. The original riders would have called them wimps (while probably wishing they had thought of it).
Fair play to the guys for their ingenuity but I still have to ask "Why bother"?

[Norman Breaks]

Had a Spectrum and Sinclair in the house growing up. I remember typing out games.
There was one game that sticks out. Mazogs.
I was really good at it and I think I even finished it. I may have been 4 or 5.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazogs

[dawg]

... I still have to ask "Why bother"?

Suppose because its there to do

I mean, why do people listen to Joe Duffy ?

Isnt riding an electric penny farthing much more useful/fun/educational/improving of the mind ( delete as the whim takes you ) than listening to Joe ?

[marhay70]

Suppose because its there to do

I mean, why do people listen to Joe Duffy ?

Isnt riding an electric penny farthing much more useful/fun/educational/improving of the mind ( delete as the whim takes you ) than listening to Joe ?

Probably, but then so would gazing at your navel and a lot less risky to boot.