Stepper gears 164 (for real this time)

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

Great to see the sense of humour on this Digest is as strong as ever. For
those
concerned citizens who were ,shall we say, unappreciative, please accept my
apologies for misleading you.

Stuart Heather was not one of the Digesti taken in by my attempt at humour. So
far as I can determine he is not at all offended either as an Australian or as
the purveyor of stepper gearsets superior to the factory issue. Response to
the
metal gears has been uniformly favourable according to the tech discussion
bulletin board. Not surprising since Aussies have proved many times they know
what they're doing when it comes to technology (Dennis Conner, are you
listening?). 

Australians know they're a bit over the top.. they're the only country in the
world able to turn sailboat racing into a spectator sport more exciting than
watching paint dry, for the uninitiated try watching some extreme sailing from
Sydney... it all started with the eighteen foot skiffs, world's fastest single
hull racing sailboat (for a while, now there are forty foot versions with
insanely big crews etc!!!)

It is tough to offend an Australian. If you try to denigrate his beautiful
country he automatically assumes you must be joking, or ignorant, or just
plain
mad. Work hard enough though and you can get yourself into trouble. Oh BTW,
never ever try to disparage an Australian Rugby Team, or any part thereof,
even
as a joke,...you might have to play an impromptu game... and that's one field
of conflict all but South Africans and New Zealanders hesitate to enter
(wisely, as it has proven).. makes American Football look like something from
Disneyland.

As for the wasted bandwidth I make no apologies, I was provoked. Someone
expressed surprise that no one had tried to defend the factory's choice of
plastic stepper gears. Even though he must have been joking, I couldn't resist
responding to the challenge. 
Michael Smith
Calgary Alberta
Canada

Alfa 164 L 1991, since new.

------------------------------