Longbikes Slipstream / Ryan Vanguard Comparison Part 2

 Contunued from Longbikes Slipstream First Impressions.

After, almost a year of riding the Longbikes Slipstream I am still very impressed by the Slipstream. This is a great long distance, self contained touring bike. As I get ready for my first long ride (>1000 miles) on the Slipstream, I find myself discovering nice touches that I’ve missed before.

In Part 2 of the Slipstream/Vanguard Comparison I will be discussing how the Slipstream addresses the Vanguard weaknesses. The Ryan Vanguard is a great touring bike and the Longbikes folks seem to recognize that. They have maintained what was great about the Vanguard, comfort, reliability, and stability. But they have also recognized the Vanguards weaknesses and improved the bike significantly.

Why Jeanne will be buying our next router

I am happy again. I now have a working wireless internet connection in my office. The last few days while my router was out have been mean days. I couldn't feed my addictions and it made me an evil person.

I spent my time seething about "Why Jeanne should buy the new router." and "Why I should be the one with an internet connection today.". So when I put a new router in I also installed a wireless NIC in my desktop.

I picked the Belkin Wireless Pre-N because I was so impressed by their router and because the Linksys I tried didn't have enough range to work in my office.

Belkin uses their PCMIA wireless card in a PCI motherboard for desktops. It a neat arrangement and works like a charm if you don't make the mistake I made. I inserted the PCMIA card in what seemed like the obvious way with the writing up and nothing happened. My PC didn't see anything.

A Wireless Router with Reach

eBent has been quieter than usual for the last few days because my router failed on Thursday. Jeanne had web sites to get up so I couldn't do much except plug her directly into the cable modem on Friday. Meanwhile I was doing a little homework on what to buy as a replacement.

I have used several generations of the Linksys 54G series and always felt Linksys was the leader in home office routers. A router in my house seems to last about 2 or 3 years. I am not sure why they fail that soon but possible some type of cross linking with the power line is bringing surges in.

However, I have never really happy with wireless LAN in my house because the range with my Averatec 3700 laptop was only about 30 feet (the Averatec is know to not have much range so I always partly blamed the Laptop) although speed on the latest version was much better than in the past. That limited range meant poor coverage in the bed rooms and no coverage on the deck or in my office. My lab, where I keep the meters I'm working on and work with beta software, the room above the room with the wireless router has always had marginal reception using a Mirosoft wireless PCI card.