It is bizarre.
NO! It is not that conservatives associate bicycle riders with environmentalists. It is that bicyclists don’t share the road, but they hog it. They go ten miles an hour while vehicles go 40, so you have to practically stall if you are behind them. They don’t let you pass because their attitude is - ‘We are equal to cars.” Well, no they are not. And then the cities add bicycle lanes and take out a traffic lane to do so. Let’s see, what else? Oh yes, they are arrogant. They drive through intersections without stopping, and they ignore other vehicle laws. I cannot stand bicyclists.
They should ride on side streets and not on main arteries. !!!!!
In my city they have replaced two good 10 foot wide lanes on the major thoroughfares with two 8 foot wide lanes and a 4 foot wide bike lane.
Sadly, I think somebody is going to be killed.
After visiting Amsterdam, these guys would have a coronary if they went there. Bicycles rule there.
They are nothing but happy hunting grounds for the Trayvon Martins of this world.
I don't mind the people who ride bikes at all. The kind of people that I don't like are the ones who want to use any form of government action to force me (or anyone else) to ride one against my will.
They're usually the same people who are decrying "urban sprawl" in the name of "sustainability".
if they paid for their own lanes and not taxpayers no one would care
government owned bikes - of course we oppose socialism
After hearing numerous accounts of horrific injuries sustained by bicyclists and by pedestrian struck by them — I believe in common sense bicycle control.
I’m saying that bicycles should be banned altogether. Just regulated so as to eliminate the threat they pose to public safety.
Any extremist who actually wants to own a bicycle need only register it with a local government run velodrome. And keep it there.
Whenever they want to ride their bicycle they can go to the government run velodrome and ride it in circles for as long as they please.
It is only common sense.
“Will sneered. Alter says that, to some pundits, cyclists are “a powerful force trying to squeeze cars off the road,” and “every advance by the cyclists is seen as an attack on the suburban way of life.”
Will,is right, but he underestimates the destruction that bicyclists and the bike lobby afflict upon the suburban way life and ultimately the American way of life and Christian values.
They use the roads that we pay for, they slow us down on our daily commutes to work, depriving us of freedom and profit, they attack our values in a manner similar to the homosexual lobby.
They deny business to our auto and oil industries and put our lives at risk.
I like bicycles. Sometimes, you need a little extra power, so they should have engines on them. They are also a bit unstable, so they should have four wheels. I’m all for four wheeled bicycles with gasoline engines. And sometimes it rains or snows, so they should be enclosed. Enclosed, four wheeled gasoline powered bicycles. I think there might be a market for those.
Fort Worth, Texas has a rent-a-bike program. I thought it was cool we had it before NYC.
Ping to Mr. Mercat.
Here are some of our more critical national problems:
Obesity.
Lack of exercise tending to poor health.
Traffic congestion.
Overuse of fossil fuels providing resources to those who want to kill us.
Wear and tear on roads.
Oddly enough, more use of bicycles would help to mitigate all of these concerns.
Would also have negative side effects. 8 years ago broke my pelvis in five places while bicycling, which is FAR more dangerous per mile traveled than auto travel.
BTW, I share the disdain for the fluorescent spandex types. I wear shorts and a T-shirt. I always ride on side streets when available, but I don’t think many drivers realize the extent to which many cities make it impossible to get from point A to point B without traveling major streets.
I have no problem with bikes unless they are clogging up the major roads. Don't cause traffic backups and I don't have a problem.
Bike riders are like dogs. Nice enough individually but horrific when in packs. It’s not big riding per se - it’s the gang mentality when they’re all together and think they can take on the world.
I don’t mind bikes in the city...I kind of expect them there. What I do mind is a gaggle of spandex-clad bikers, sloooowly winding there way up a canyon road in the mountains, forcing car after car to slow down and then cautiously pass them.
Read the whole thing before calling me names
I would suggest that the people complaining about cyclist ride a bike for a few days and then consider an apology
Q: Why do cyclist ride a bit out into the lane?
A: because if they hug the curb you will hit them trying to squeeze past. They are using the oncoming traffic to keep you from accidentally killing them. If you want them to move over don’t squeeze past them
Alternately to above some cities have storm drains gratings with holes or slots that are about 3 inches wide. These don’t bother car tires but will literally kill a bicyclist. Riders have to ride far enough out to avoid obstacles like that.
Q: Do you complain every time you see a motorist slightly breaking the law or call for the abolition of autos when you see a rude driver? I didn’t think so. So why when you see one out of 50 or 60 cyclist doing something rude do you complain?
Believe me. Being polite on a bike does not help. I still have idiots throw things at me. Yell at me and try and run me off the road
Cyclist have much more valid grips about the problems rude ignorant Fat-a**ed drivers cause them than drivers ever will about cyclist. I am hard press to think of how a cyclist can ever put a person in an automobiles life in danger yet I have PERSONALLY spent 15 days in the hospital because a driver came onto the SHOULDER of a road to hit me with his pickup truck when I would not have come closer to 6 feet from him if he’d stayed in his lane.
I realize that posters here will deny that this kind of thing ever happens because all car drivers are simply misunderstood good people that never complain unreasonably or threaten anyone who as in my case CANNOT legally drive a car due to medical issues
That said, I agree with some of the comments.
1. Bicycle riders should have to have their rigs inspected for safety once a year.
2. Bicycle riders should have to display a license tag or sticker like a license plate if they are used on the road that says they have paid a road use tax.
3. A lot of bikes used by bicycle messengers in large cities should be illegal as the fixed gear bikes have no brakes. In fact I think most of the bicycle messengers in large cities should be abolished. The way they are paid encourages them to break the law and do dangerous things.
Conversely:
4.Drivers should get their car towed for parking in a bike lane.
5. The biggest problem with bike lanes is that they do not allow cyclist to cross intersections. This is simply a design issue that should be fixed
For what it is worth to the person that complained about “riders on bikes that cost a $1000.00” I wish! The bike I have and their approximate cost are listed below. There is not a speck the hated carbon fiber on any of them and only the Vitus is aluminum!
Cinelli Super Course w/Campagnolo Super Record $2800.00 in 1978
Battaglin Triathlon frame with Sun Tour Superbe Pro about $3800 in 1991
Sam Hillborne touring bike with NOS Suntour XC Pro About $3200 in 1999
Vitus Stag built from dead parts about $600 in 2001(I can lock this one outside)
Soma San Marco Campagnolo Centaur 10 speed about $4000.00 July 2013
A thousand dollar bike is entry level.
Most bike riders are libs
Most apple users are too
Most pot smokers outside Dixie...ditto
Most Subaru drivers.....Prius too
Most people non white or non Christian....liberals
Fact based generalizations
Exceptions do not make a rule
A notion lost on folks under 45 today unlessa generalization about white and Christian
The knee jerk impetus to form political thought on exceptions is crippling
I want to print up a bunch of stickers to put on the Colorado signs that say, “Share the road,” with a picture of a bicycle next to a car.
These stickers will say:
“SHARE THE TAX BURDEN!”
We have thousands of miles of taxpayer-funded bicycle paths out of the way of traffic in Colorado.
They should use those.