View Poll Results: Imperial or Metric
Imperial
41
59.42%
Metric
18
26.09%
Units...I don't need no stinkin' units
10
14.49%
Voters: 69. You may not vote on this poll
POLL for Americans...What kind of units do you use?
#51
Clark W. Griswold
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: ,location, location
Posts: 13,280
Bikes: Foundry Chilkoot Ti W/Ultegra Di2, Salsa Timberjack Ti, Cinelli Mash Work RandoCross Fun Time Machine, 1x9 XT Parts Hybrid, Co-Motion Cascadia, Specialized Langster, Phil Wood Apple VeloXS Frame (w/DA 7400), R+M Supercharger2 Rohloff, Habanero Ti 26
Mentioned: 54 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4253 Post(s)
Liked 3,866 Times
in
2,579 Posts
I use Smoots, Tatums, Sagans and MegaFonzies. I also find Potrzebies and Banana Equivalent Doses to be acceptable as well. The silly Murican and EuroDisney measurements aren't really worth using, I mean they are so outdated.
Likes For veganbikes:
#52
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
Posts: 40,865
Bikes: Specialized Tarmac, Canyon Exceed, Specialized Transition, Ellsworth Roots, Ridley Excalibur
Mentioned: 68 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2952 Post(s)
Liked 3,106 Times
in
1,417 Posts
For cycling distance, big distances are in miles, smaller ones in meters. I lived in a metric country for awhile, so I'm fairly comfortable with it, but for daily life it's pretty much imperial.
#53
Occam's Rotor
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 7,248
Mentioned: 61 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2366 Post(s)
Liked 2,331 Times
in
1,164 Posts
Likes For Cyclist0108:
#54
Senior Member
Bikes are sort of a lawless Wild West of measurements. We happily weigh components in metric units of mass, not force, and then list the weight of the complete bike in Imperial units of weight, which is a force. One psychological advantage of the metric system is that speeds read higher and your weight reads lower, on the dials.
Likes For Pratt:
#55
High Plains Luddite
Like most Americans, I think, my mind thinks in Imperial simply from a lifetime of using it. I think in miles and pounds and gallons.
I can understand volume and length in Metric without too much trouble, but Metric weight is something I can't seem to grasp.
They say a paperclip weighs about a gram. So a kilogram weighs as much as a thousand paperclips? I have a hard time imagining how heavy or light that would be. And when you get into lots of kilograms, I'm just lost.
Metric tools are no problem at all.
I can understand volume and length in Metric without too much trouble, but Metric weight is something I can't seem to grasp.
They say a paperclip weighs about a gram. So a kilogram weighs as much as a thousand paperclips? I have a hard time imagining how heavy or light that would be. And when you get into lots of kilograms, I'm just lost.
Metric tools are no problem at all.
#57
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Ann Arbor Michigan
Posts: 152
Bikes: miyata 83 1000,84 1000,83 610,88 ridge runner ,Schwinn 84 high sierra,88 Cimmeron,86 Passage,84 Stumplumper ,83 Mt Whitney,83 Trek 850,Merckx Century,PX10, RB1,XO 1 XO 4,bunch of stuff like that
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 57 Post(s)
Liked 51 Times
in
42 Posts
mm cm
When ever I see something in kilometers , meters , cm, mm, celsius, I have to convert in my head into miles , feet , inches, pounds degrees, before I can determine what size it is or how far away it is or how cold it really is.I dont know how big ten meters is until I convert in my brain
#58
Zip tie Karen
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Fair Oaks Ranch, TX
Posts: 7,006
Bikes: '13 Motobecane Fantom29 HT, '16 Motobecane Turino Pro Disc, '18 Velobuild VB-R-022, '21 Tsunami SNM-100
Mentioned: 26 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1465 Post(s)
Liked 1,542 Times
in
806 Posts
WAIT!!! Who cooks with their wife? I come to a recipe and it calls for "ounces" of an ingredient...
Is that "ounces - mass" or "ounces - volume"? She rolls her eyes. Am I the only one?
Is that "ounces - mass" or "ounces - volume"? She rolls her eyes. Am I the only one?
#59
Advanced Slacker
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 6,187
Bikes: Soma Fog Cutter, Surly Wednesday, Canfielld Tilt
Mentioned: 26 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2749 Post(s)
Liked 2,516 Times
in
1,422 Posts
Does the rest of the world need to two sets of wrenches like we do?
#60
I am potato.
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 3,073
Bikes: Only precision built, custom high performance elitist machines of the highest caliber. 🍆
Mentioned: 28 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1764 Post(s)
Liked 1,578 Times
in
910 Posts
Our relationship now exceeds 40 MegaFonzies.
Last edited by base2; 02-19-21 at 01:43 PM.
#61
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Norman, OK
Posts: 839
Bikes: Casati Laser, Colnago Tecnos, Ciöcc Exige, Black Mountain Cycles Road
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 129 Post(s)
Liked 177 Times
in
78 Posts
I spent most of my adult life living overseas and simply got used to thinking in metric units. Since returning to the US about ten years ago, I have constantly had to "translate" in my head to make sense of imperial measurements.
#63
Senior Member
#66
Old fart
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Appleton WI
Posts: 24,936
Bikes: Several, mostly not name brands.
Mentioned: 153 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3571 Post(s)
Liked 3,367 Times
in
1,916 Posts
Furlongs per fortnight, FTW.
Likes For JohnDThompson:
#67
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
Posts: 40,865
Bikes: Specialized Tarmac, Canyon Exceed, Specialized Transition, Ellsworth Roots, Ridley Excalibur
Mentioned: 68 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2952 Post(s)
Liked 3,106 Times
in
1,417 Posts
I happen to have an old 19/32 wrench from my wife's grandpa's toolbox that's a perfect pedal wrench. Like it was made for the job.
#68
Randomhead
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times
in
2,497 Posts
U.S. customary units are defined in terms of metric units. So I suppose I can say I'm using the metric system.
#70
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: location location
Posts: 3,033
Bikes: MBK Super Mirage 1991, CAAD10, Yuba Mundo Lux, and a Cannondale Criterium Single Speed
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 343 Post(s)
Liked 292 Times
in
205 Posts
I’m comfortable working in both. On one of my first jobs out of college I had to convert a load of house dimensions from the feet and inches on the plans being provided to the public, into millimeters for the brickies who would be building the walls. The most efficient way to do this was to pull out a tape measure that had both, to the length required.
When I first came to California, I found out that engineering here is done in feet as the base units, and 10ths and 100ths of feet. It was a true facepalm moment.
in fairness, I will say that when I go home to Ireland and see the newly developed roads, buildings etc that weren’t there when I was younger, I see a bit more sterility in the modern designs there than in the US, and I wonder if it’s that things there are built to decimal ratios of 10 and 5 and 2, versus the more organic ratios of 2, 3 and 4 that can more easily be done with feet and inches.
When I first came to California, I found out that engineering here is done in feet as the base units, and 10ths and 100ths of feet. It was a true facepalm moment.
in fairness, I will say that when I go home to Ireland and see the newly developed roads, buildings etc that weren’t there when I was younger, I see a bit more sterility in the modern designs there than in the US, and I wonder if it’s that things there are built to decimal ratios of 10 and 5 and 2, versus the more organic ratios of 2, 3 and 4 that can more easily be done with feet and inches.
#71
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: location location
Posts: 3,033
Bikes: MBK Super Mirage 1991, CAAD10, Yuba Mundo Lux, and a Cannondale Criterium Single Speed
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 343 Post(s)
Liked 292 Times
in
205 Posts
Like most Americans, I think, my mind thinks in Imperial simply from a lifetime of using it. I think in miles and pounds and gallons.
I can understand volume and length in Metric without too much trouble, but Metric weight is something I can't seem to grasp.
They say a paperclip weighs about a gram. So a kilogram weighs as much as a thousand paperclips? I have a hard time imagining how heavy or light that would be. And when you get into lots of kilograms, I'm just lost.
Metric tools are no problem at all.
I can understand volume and length in Metric without too much trouble, but Metric weight is something I can't seem to grasp.
They say a paperclip weighs about a gram. So a kilogram weighs as much as a thousand paperclips? I have a hard time imagining how heavy or light that would be. And when you get into lots of kilograms, I'm just lost.
Metric tools are no problem at all.
Likes For Leinster:
Likes For Hank195:
#73
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 490
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 252 Post(s)
Liked 67 Times
in
48 Posts
I find for normal general use, measuring tapes should be solely imperial. I stopped buying those that also have metric side to them since depending from which side you need to read the tape, the metric side of it gets in the way. Metric on measuring tapes is for nerds or geeks, and for European mentalities. Big difference between the two worlds, Europeans like to have their appliances knob controls marked with fine divisions and give way too many choices while North American appliances have fewer knobs with much fewer choices, so you don't need to read the manual when doing your laundry. It is a totally different mindset.
And mind you, I grew up in Europe but live long time in Canada.
#74
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 490
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 252 Post(s)
Liked 67 Times
in
48 Posts
in fairness, I will say that when I go home to Ireland and see the newly developed roads, buildings etc that weren’t there when I was younger, I see a bit more sterility in the modern designs there than in the US, and I wonder if it’s that things there are built to decimal ratios of 10 and 5 and 2, versus the more organic ratios of 2, 3 and 4 that can more easily be done with feet and inches.
#75
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 7,767
Mentioned: 37 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6882 Post(s)
Liked 10,873 Times
in
4,637 Posts