Oil tops $55 a barrel level

[trof]

Oil tops $55 a barrel level; Goldman ups price outlook By Ciara Linnane
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures climbed back above the $55 a barrel level in premarket trade Thursday, extending the prior session's late gains, after Goldman Sachs raised its oil price outlook. "We believe oil prices have entered the early stages of a superspike period," said analyst Arjun Murti, who raised his superspike range to $50-105 a barrel from $50-80. Investors are also awaiting the release of weekly natural gas supply data. The crude contract for May delivery was last trading up 2 percent at $55.09 a barrel. May natural gas was up 1.1 percent at $7.55 per million British thermal units. Enercast analysts are expecting the Energy Department to report a withdrawal of 49 billion cubic feet.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/pulseone.asp?siteid=mktw&guid=
{58510034-772F-421F-A133-B270CE138CD4}&dist=bnb

Holy shite! $105 a barrel? I better go buy a good bike.

[mhr]

1. "Holy shite! $105 a barrel? I better go buy a good bike."

Better Prepare For The Second Great Depression Instead!

[ClintonTyree]

2. Hey, there's PLENTY of oil..................

and we'll kill anyone who stands in our way of getting it. It's called "The Bush Doctrine". So gas up those Hummers and drive like there's no tomorrow. There may not be.

[cliss]

5. Yes.

Also, HE WHO HOLDS THE OIL HOLDS THE POWER. That's all that's necessary to rule the world.

You have a wrench and a spigot, and you control energy. Energy is power. Power is life. Oil is the essence of life.

That's why they're so afraid of Hugo Chavez. Chavez has more power than Washington right now, and they know it.

[southernboy]

3. a real kick (in the gas) eom

[progressoid]

4. Boy I'm glad I got rid of that gas hog of a car I had

[LifeDuringWartime]

6. "a good bike"

how much would a "good" bike cost? i never thought about getting one until i read that.

[happyslug]

8. About $500-1000

I would go with a Cannondale or a Trek (These are the best American Made bikes today). Europe has some better bikes but the difference is less minor.

Please stay away from low end "High Tensile" Steel bikes, you will see the difference in pedaling once you try a high end bike, (i.e. Chrome Molybdenum Steel or Aluminum bike). People tend to not realize that you can lose up to 70% of your pedaling power in the frame of a bike. The only way to minimize this lost is to go with the stiffest bike frame you can get. In order of Stiffest the list goes this way:

1. High Tension Steel, the wonder material of 1900, it is a very flexible material easy to repair, but not very stiff and as such harder to pedal than the following materials:

2. Chrome Molybdenum Steel (Cr-Mo or Chrome-Moly), the wonder steel of the 1930s. Chrome-Moly is a huge jump in stiffness compared to High Tension steel. So large a jump that almost all of your racing bikes have been of this material from the 1930s till today (Aluminum and Carbon Fiber are slowly pushing Cr-Mo out but Chrome-Moly is still holding its own in the market even at the high end racing market). It is still a good material and the lowest level of Material I would go with in a bike.

3. Aluminum, the wonder bike material of the 1980s. Stiffer than even Chrome Moly light weight and strong. Cannondale dominates this material (Cannondale starts at about $700 and goes up, you can get cheaper Chinese made Aluminum bikes but the quality is not up to the standards of Cannondale, through I have heard good things of Giant Bicycles, A Chinese Brand.

4. Titanium the wonder Material of the 1990s, even stiffer and stronger than Aluminum, but expensive compared to Aluminum. Had a big push in the early to mid 1990s and than slowly faded away as the price of Aluminum dropped and Titanium increased since about 1995. Titanium bikes go for $800-1500 JUST FOR THE FRAMES (With parts add another $500-1000 dollars).

5. Carbon Fiber, the wonder material of the last ten years. Stiffer and lighter than Aluminum and Titanium, but expensive (Going Price abut $3000).

Piece of Advice, buy the best FRAME you can, you can always replace the components with better parts, but the Frame is the base you are struck with. Most companies sell their top notch frames with Cheap Components thus the $500-800 bikes, knowing that you will upgrade the parts over the next few years.

Advice as to Front and Rear Shocks. Rear shocks are design to help the back wheel stay on the ground while you are racing over hills (Notice I did NOT say dirt road, when I say hill I mean hills). Thus unless you plan to go cross-country (i.e. even avoiding Dirt Roads) you do NOT need a rear shock, in fact it reduces the stiffest of the Frame so it will make it harder to pedal. Thus for commuting I do not recommend rear shocked bikes.

As to front shocks, as a general rule NOT needed, but given it is in the front you do not have the increase pedaling penalty caused by Rear Shocks (The near to be able to steer works against making the front end to stiff). I do not think front Shocks are worth the extra weight such shocks weigh compared to non-shock absorbing front forks, but if the bike I like has one it would NOT be grounds in my mind NOT to take the bike (Unlike Rear Shocks which you should avoid if you are using the bike for commuting).

[TexasLawyer]

7. Terri Schiavo , Terri Schiavo ,Terri Schiavo ,

Michael Jackson, La La La La La... No story here, guys. Move along.