tritosomal

Yeah, trying to google that acronym would have been utterly futile.

Why do smart people assume that their own familiarity with a subject is a suitable guideline for tossing around opaque acronyms without prior definition? Why are people just supposed to know the acronym?

Wow, you know, this is probably the most accurate conclusion. I've probably put about 20 or 30 ten mile trips on it, and the frequency of failure cropped up maybe every 5 trips.

I chalked it up to poor assembly by a new guy on a Monday morning.

Considering this model of assessment, I realize that department store bikes aren't measured with the same sort of warranty ratings as perhaps cars. Too bad bikes don't use the same sort of 100,000 mile power train warranty as a mark of quality or durability.

My original comment was detached and hellbanned due to unseemly sentiment and use of profanity. But it's not inaccurate.

Use the "show dead" function to find it.

The long and short of it is that the word is simply a code for pejorative insults.

I bought a bike from Target over the summer for $100.

It has:

  broken one chain

  suffered multiple rear brake failures 

  unfastened the handle bars so they dangle from the fork

All of these things happened while miles from home, and required tools for repair.

When one thing was fixed, another thing broke. The brakes failed repeatedly, and warranted full replacement.

The handle bars are especially treacherous, because putting weight on them risks failure, and then steering becomes impossible.

Accessories and repairs now outweigh the original cost of the bike, meaning I'm looking at over $300 all-in. Meanwhile, this thing feels like it will eventually cost me some teeth.

At this point, it's pretty tough to feel good about a circus modeled around 19th century nostalgia.

We all kind of know that we're well beyond sheer domination of all things earthly and bestial. There's not much to revel in, and it's not valuable to teach your children to revel in such displays.

Maybe it'll put a smile on their face, and they'll talk about it for weeks afterward, but there are other things going on in the world right now, and it's probably a good idea to figure out how to entertain our kids more wisely.

And so, please cue the self-driving-car argument, because everybody knows that the suffering would stop, if only these buses could drive themselves.