Al, I appreciate your thoughtful comment very much, just like I do with your work in keeping this forum running smoothly. I didn't come her to interfere with that.
It saddens me to read, that you think of the outcome of an exchange in a forum like this as "someone won" vs. "someone lost". That's not the way I go about it, and I don't even think that way. Rather, I expect that people meet here to exchange ideas, or be inspired by new or alternative ideas. I strongly believe in everybody's right to his/her (its?) own opinion, and expressing it. If I talked someone down, I regret that and extend my sincere apologies to them.
On the other hand, I don't subscribe to the concept of "safe spaces". Among grown ups, everyone should be able to "take" being exposed to different approaches to problems. As far as the solution to technical problems/questions goes, I also strongly believe in the superiority of the math/science based approach. Because of its reliability, predictability, reproducibility and, most important of all: openness to verification (or falsification, if applicable). Hearsay doesn't have any of that. Hearsay also typically consists of single pieces of information, which may be true or not, but typically make sense only in a very specific context. While methods typically empower people, to apply them far beyond a current and very specific situation. You may have heard the quote by Confuzius: "Give a fish to a man, and you feed him for one day. Give him a basket full of fish, and he'll have one week's worth of food. If you teach him how to fish, he'll never go hungry".
There is a reason, why the engineering approach has ultimately prevailed in the construction of any serious mechanism. The design of a motorcycle front brake, for instance, is not open to a majority vote, and not to anyone's "feelings". What can happen, if non-technicians interfere for non-technical reasons, became sadly visible with the Boeing 737 MAX. A similarily spectacular mishap occurred in 1682 to the Swedish ship Vasa, for very similar reasons.
You also correctly pointed out, that I'm rather new and "position myself" as an expert. I can tell you: I'd love to be challenged, so maybe I could expand my knowledge, too. Alas, it just hasn't happened.
OK, I'm digressing. I will try, to not wantonly violate anybody's feelings.
it is indeed not very likely that we'll ever meet in person, as I'm located in Switzerland, since seven years, after being born and raised in Germany. I have acquired Swiss citizenship by now and prefer to think of myself as being Swiss. I was fortunate enough to have been given the exposure to the US during my senior high school year as a foreign exchange student (Burbank Senior High School, Cal), while I was 16-17, which gave me some good exercise of the English language. That's all.
Chris, sounds like all good experiences. I have two good friends in Switzerland who you may cross paths with one day even if you and I don't. Roland Sandmeier and Daniel Mignot. They can be found on the Edelweiss Riders and Friends site. Also, here on this forum, another German expat is a frequent contributor. He goes by Peter Pan, Sven Peter. He's in Costa Rica now. Taught himself English. There are others who I haven't seen on here for a long while. Daniel and Roland are not sidecarists so they won't be found on here. They are bikers though and we stay in touch.
Chris,
Thank you, we look forward to your future contributions.
A.
