sports

Need Some New Sunglasses? Try Tifosi Optics

Health

I need to replace a pair of wrap-shades I’ve recently lost. Over the years, I’ve found myself buying Tifosi Optics again and again as a function of budget and comfort.

Tifosi manufactures mid-grade sports eyewear that hits the sweetspot of middling price and more than adequate performance. The build quality is solid; the pair I’ve just lost would’ve held up years longer. Congrats to the person who has found them and not turned them in at Lost-and-Found!

Unfortunately, Tifosi no longer makes that model, called the “Pave.” I try on over thirty (no joke!) different models, at three(!) different bike stores, to no avail. The newer designs don’t fit my face well, at all. Not even their new “Asian Fit” line for smaller, rounder faces feels good.

I ultimately throw up my hands and buy the pair the bike store manager is wearing, simply because they look cool on him. Tifosi calls these the “Dolomite 2.0”

Tifosi Dolomite 2.0 2015

I choose the Dolomites with the photochromic lenses. In the end they feel great on my face. The new, adjustable nose pads are a real improvement and keep them from sliding down my mosly bridge-less, Asian nose. The only problem: the photochromic lenses only darken about halfway. According to the Tifosi site, they should get much darker. I nearly return them.

Thank goodness my wife suggests the lenses might need a “break-in” period. She means repeated exposure to sun then shade, sun then shade. Sure enough, the photochromic properties improve over the course of a week. They’ve now become my favorite pair of glasses in recent memory.

ONE CAVEAT

Avoid, at all costs, the Tifosi single-lens design, like this one:

Tifosi single-lens style 2It’s a design fiasco. Durability of Tifosi frames comes from its flexible nylon material. The nylon admirably bends without breaking. HOWEVER, the lens is made of very un-flexible polycarbonate. So, even just a small amount of flex to the bridge (above the nose pads) will crack the lens. A cracked single-lens will forever fall out of the frame.

SAS vs. NBA: Basketball Bodies

Health, Media

Spurs_on_court

Many NBA stars are built like NFL players.  That is, except for the San Antonio Spurs.

Kawhi Leonard actually has some pretty beefy muscles.  But he’s the “biggest” on the team, by far; his built-up muscles are atypical for San Antonio.

Compare a few famous physiques:

NBA                                                                                     NFL

SF  Lebron James — 6-8 / 260 lbs.                  DE  J.J. Watt — 6-6 / 240 lbs.

SF  Larry Johnson — 6-7 / 250                          LB  Lawrence Taylor — 6-6 / 250

SG  Derek Fisher — 6-1 / 210                              RB  Reggie Bush — 6-0 / 203 lbs.

 

Think about those numbers.  Compare Michael Jordan’s height / weight:

SG  Michael Jordan:  6-6 / 216 lbs.

SG  Dwyane Wade:  6-2 / 220 lbs.

And Jordan was big for the league of his day.  When he first entered the league, MJ weighed only 200 pounds.  He bulked up after the Pistons manhandled him in both the 1989 and 1990 Eastern Conference Finals using their new defensive strategy, the “Jordan Rules.”  Jordan himself attributes his 1991 success in defeating the Jordan Rules to his increased power and bulk from off-season strength training.  (See ESPN Films, 30 for 30 Bad Boys.)

This seems to mark the beginning of the arms race in ever more massive NBA bodies.  The trend’s logical conclusion?  Shaquille O’Neal, heaviest (and, some would argue, most overrated) NBA star of all-time.  Shaq scored a lot, passed the ball little.  If you’re seven feet tall, have explosive strength, and you weigh 100+ pounds more than the individual guarding you, why wouldn’t you?

Shaq offensive foul

 

Too many NBA teams today feature an incredibly powerful superstar, give him the ball, and have him fly at the rim, scattering smaller defenders like bowling pins.  It makes for some eye-popping individual player highlights.  But I prefer team ball.

Ball movement is NBA conventional wisdom.  But it’s also something of a lost art.  The TV-announcer euphemism for high-time-of-possession individuals is the “go-to” player; NBA coaches use the term “ball stopper.”  That term indicates the stoppage of ball movement on offense, not on defense.  While there’s nothing about built-up muscles that prevents a player from passing the ball, if you were bigger, stronger, and faster than nine of ten players on the floor, it would seem a rational choice to keep the ball and score 35 points.

It’s a legitimate choice, I suppose.  But is it merely a distraction from the true team-nature of basketball?  Is it just a coincidence that Coach Popovich has put together his team without any players that could pass for an NFL linebacker?

Some of the league’s current young guns:

eric bledsoe_576x324Eric Bledsoe — 6-1 / 200 lbs.
dwight-howard-mens-healthDwight Howard — 6-10 / 265

 

7-corey-magette

Corey Magette — 6-5 / 225

This is a shoe the Spurs just don’t fit.

 

Spurs championship team larger

 

Am I right?  I mean, think about this collection of guys.

Tony Parker — 6-1 / 180 lbs.

Manu Ginobli — 6-6 / 200 lbs.

Danny Green — 6-6 / 205

Kawhi Leonard — 6-7 / 225

Matt Bonner — 6-10 / 235

Tim Duncan — 7-0 / 250

Of their amazing 2014 Finals dominance, Manu Ginobili commented on how “differently” the Spurs play.  In the Bleacher Report piece “Passing stats Illustrate Spurs Dominance in Finals,” Ginobili says “if you don’t have as much talent, you still can do it. You can move the ball and put a lot of pressure on the defense.”  He may as well have said “if you don’t have as much muscle . . .”

Judging from their bodies, as a team, the Spurs don’t just play different.  They are different.

 

Commuter Bikes and the Trek Soho Deluxe

Health

trek soho deluxe

My friend Tony asked if I’d have a look at this bike.  Tony lives in DC and commutes by bike, escorting his wonderful daughter to school every morning, all by DC bike share.  He’s become a bike-share-system savant — the hackles on his neck rise the closer he gets to the thirty-minute bike-share quota.  But his daughter is graduating to middle school this year, where there isn’t a convenient bike-share station to switch bikes.

So Tony needs to buy a new bike.  His commuting needs neatly mark out the boundaries of the no-maintenance bicycle market — namely, internal gear hubs (IGH) and carbon belt-drives.  So it’s no surprise he’s put his finger on the Trek Soho Deluxe.

In researching this bike, I’ve done my usual eval, all the while not realizing the model has been discontinued.  So I’ve also done a quick and dirty search for “city bike,” “belt drive,” and “disc brakes.”  That’s turned up a decent list of some drool-worthy machines for 2014-15.

My evaluation of the discontinued Soho Deluxe is still relevant, though.  Not only are the components of bikes in this narrow market segment very similar.  There are probably a number of Soho Deluxe’s still in showrooms in every major city, and at closeout prices, to boot.  So I’ll just include that here, while adding the list of current-model bikes at the end.

MISC. NOTES Re. the TREK SOHO DELUXE

1) If you find a “new” model, it’ll likely be a great deal, with “closeout” pricing.  (The model was discontinued for 2014.)  But what year is the specimen you’ve found, 2012 or 2013?

Consider the following:

a) Normally a year or two sitting in a showroom makes no difference.  But with internal gearing, lubrication can leak out or settle in ways detrimental to the parts.  So if you find a 2012 Soho Deluxe, ask if the bike shop will re-lube the hub upon purchase.  Sheldon Brown discusses lubrication issues, here:  http://sheldonbrown.com/nexus-mech.html

b) Internal gearing has come a long way in recent years, and the different iterations of the Nexus 8-spd. hub are no exception.  I don’t have the specifics on whether or not the 2013 is significantly better than the 2012.  Might be something to research further.

c) Similarly, the newer Gates belt drives are reported to be much better than older versions.  I’m not sure what the timeline is, so that’s something to look into, as well.

2) No quick release rear wheel.

a) Much more difficult to change a flat on the fly.  Here’s a somewhat daunting tutorial.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCREx_q55mw

b) I’d recommend upgrading to a flat-resistant tire, at least on the rear.  (May as well do both.)  Ask dealer for if you can trade out the tires for some credit towards the purchase.  Kevlar is good (though more expensive).   I haven’t had a flat on Kevlar tires in 4 years, riding 300 days/year.

3) Test drive it:  how’s the lowest gear on your local terrain?

a) Find a decently steep hill.  My wife rides internal gearing, the Shimano Alfine 8-speed hub, and here on the modest yet significant hills of Madison, Wisconsin, her lowest gear is perfectly doable.

b) Note:  one mustn’t shift internal gearing under load.  That’s something the LBS might forget to tell you.  This is certainly not a deal-breaker.  It just takes some dexterity to let up the force when shifting.  Definitely don’t want to stand up pedaling when shifting an IGH.  Some user reviews claim the NuVinci N360 hub is the exception to this rule.  (See the Novara Gotham, below.)

4) Misc. questions:  Rack mounts, front and rear?

One reviewer called the Soho Deluxe a “thief magnet” because it has a “flashy appearance.”  I think it’s the opposite.  It’s got a low-key, even stealthy, paint job.  Plus, theoretically, it may be even less likely to be stolen, for the fact of the belt-drive.  Rational bike thieves avoid specialty bikes because pawn shops may balk at buying such easily identifiable items.

COMMUTER-BIKE ALTERNATIVES for 2014-15

The market for low-maintenance commuter bikes (belt drive, internal gearing) seems to be shrinking in the middle ($1000 – $1400), while growing at the lower end ($600-900) and higher end ($1500 – $2500).  Back in 2012-13 there were many more models in the middle price range.  I had to really hunt for these:

Raleigh Misceo 4.0 2013

Great closeout deals

— Alfine hub (an upgrade over the Nexus hub of the Soho Deluxe)

$1100 closeout

http://www.rei.com/product/848626/raleigh-misceo-trail-i11-bike-2013

Raleigh City Sport DLX

$1100

http://www.bicycling.com/gearfinderProductDetail?gfid=78254

Breezer Beltway 8

$1500

http://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/bikes-and-gear-features/best-urban-bike-breezer-beltway-infinity

Novara Gotham

$1400

http://www.rei.com/product/857590/novara-gotham-bike-2014

— NuVinci N360 hub

Scott SUB 10

$1300

http://www.rei.com/product/865741/scott-sub-speed-10-bike-2014

Focus Planet 2.0

$1400 (not widely avail. in US)

http://www.paragonsports.com/shop/en/Paragon/focus-bicycles-usa–inc-belt-drive