Posted on 05/02/2023 1:57:36 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas. 🚴‍♂️👍
The JET Bicycle - The most dangerous unsafe bike EVER (YouTube)
On Workers' Day, it is worth reflecting on how and where the best bicycles are made. The bicycle frame is paradoxically simple and complex. In principle, every bicycle is simply two triangles joined together, with axles at each end, for wheels to slot into.Despite the bicycle's design elegance and simplicity, production has remained mostly unautomated. For metal bikes, master welders still join the tubes to make those frames. And since the advent of carbon fibre, specific composite layup skills have become even more important.
Electric bikes, or e-bikes, are one of the hottest trends for people looking to spend more time outdoors. But before you buy, you want to make sure it's right for you.Lindsay Keith loves riding her e-bike, and nowadays, selling them too at Reser Bicycle Outfitters. She says the appeal of e-bikes is simple: less work.
"An e-bike flattens those hills," she said.
They're a big help in hilly areas, especially for older riders.
"So you are still pedaling like a regular bike," she explained, "but it is up to doubling your power."
Still riding my 2010 Yeti 575.
David Byrne has been riding a Commuter for decades. Impressive, really.
When I was a kid they used to call that style of bicycle in English racer, my sister’s had 3 speed “Hercules” bicycles and one of them was relegated to me as I grew with a top bar welded into place at a local bike shop. Sadly as frequent moves were dictated by my father’s job relocations half the bicycle made it during one of those moves the other half disappeared some place in the ether. I kept the remaining pieces around for years, they were quite ornate.
Before I went off to college I scored a Schwinn Varsity for very reasonable price (with a well worn brown Brookes) and peddled my way through the gas crisis of the early seventies. Those were good times. I’ve always kept a bike around but after several pretty serious injuries I no longer ride much. My Long Haul Trucker is mounted on a back wheel exercise contraption now, and I have an under-the-desk-set of pedals to keep my knee in shape, which has been a nagging effort.
The good thing is that people who are not in shape to ride a road or mountain bike can handle an e-bike...and that gets them on the road to fitness or at least more exercise.
I have spoken to many e-bikers and, despite the fact that the pedaling is easier, some ride for many hours a day. I spoke with a guy last week who said that he and his wife had ridden for over 3 hours exploring the park. That's a lot of exercise for otherwise sedentary people.
But there is a problem. A big problem.
Many if not most e-bike riders I see are not wearing helmets. I even see young people carrying children without helmets. I have seen some people carrying babies in backpack carriers...no helmets.
The Bike Industry Is Going Down In 2023!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRBW726KoXQ&ab_channel=DailyMTBRider
Shimano Is Predicting A 21% Sales Drop in 2023!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dr7aDBVPQ&ab_channel=DailyMTBRider
Even More Bike Industry Layoffs & So Much More!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cmk-VDH9tI&ab_channel=DailyMTBRider
Finally ditched my 1984 Trek 400 Series road bike last week. Dropped $2500 on a Trek Checkpoint ALR5. Wonderful machine. Built like a road bike with drop handlebars, but thicker rims and tires to take off-road with some confidence. Aluminum frame, carbon fork. Hydraulic disc brakes, 22 speeds with 11! cogs in the back.
I have long considered the $349 I spent on the Trek the best $349 I ever spent, but must admit that nearly 40 years of technology development have produced a far better machine. With inflation the new Trek is about twice the price but feels like more than twice the bike.
I have several e-bikes. Several are sold by Pedego, and one is a Magicycle 4-inch fat tire bike with a 48V 21 AH battery. The Pedegos cost more than twice what the Magicycle did, but their software is far better, and the electric motor seems to blend with the pedals seamlessly. With the Magicycle, and other cheaper e-bikes, the power comes on abruptly and you are often left ghost-pedaling. My favorite bike is a Pegego Conveyor, a mid-drive e-bike with a belt drive and an internally geared rear hub. It’s smooth, light, nimble, and hits every sweet spot. The Pedego Conveyor is a joy to ride and stand-out bike in any category. I get about 35 to 55 miles per charge, depending on the terrain. Hills drain the battery quickly.
I myself am not really interested in expensive bikes. In the low-income (American definition) densely populated city the kids and teens -whose bikes I have done basic free (labor) repair on for many years - usually ride old bikes that they outgrow after a couple years or either get stolen (buy a strong U-lock and cable as a deterrent I tell them) or left behind or thrown out if they move. By age 14 many (whose parents have more $) graduate to SE bikes (before, BMX were the trend thing) and or move on to motor bikes, before cars. In this transitory scenario I recommend a $125-150 Walmart bike.
Tour de France champion Gino Bartali's secret missions have now been set to music in London's West End
Until I saw the Roberto Benigni film "Life is Beautiful" I was blissfully unaware that Mussolini had had his own mini-Holocaust (but there were far fewer Jews in Italy for him to persecute). I find it gratifying to see one of the cycling greats was involved in trying to relive their persecution.
A couple of "issues" of The Bicycle Thread ago, I raised some cager hackles by stating I blew through Stop Signs whenever I pleased. That is a bit cavalier because it only pleases me when I have surveilled the conditions and logically deduced that doing so poses no risk to the greater public and might in fact be the safest option for me. Cagers, as is their habit, fail to comprehend the subtleties of my logic.
Then just last week I came across this.
In a study from 2017 with 18,000 respondents, 77% of motorists admit to breaking traffic laws in order to save time. 70% of cyclists admit to breaking traffic laws in order to stay alive.
I am horrified that I could have overlooked study's existence for so long because his validates the way I've chosen to ride for a coon's age.
Decades ago I was living in a small town where the Mayor ordered all the Stop Signs (except those at the village's two 4-lane intersections) removed and replaced with Yield Signs. The local paper posted a message from him stating that so long as everyone keeps their speed in check and abides by the purpose of a Yield Sign, there is no need for Stop Signs. The switch makes everyone's trips quicker, saves on fuel and brake maintenance. And at no cost to safety, provided the law-abiding predominate.
That was near 40 years ago and last I was there the two 4-lane intersections had had their Stop Signs replaced with Stop Lights because the Stop Signs had proved inadequate to persuading the cagers to obey the law (even Mayberry has its law-breakers), but the 2-lane intersections are still almost entirely Yield Signs.
That got me to thinking about the purpose (and effect) of all traffic control measures (traffic signs and lights). Specifically, which are rational and which are only needed because motorists can't be trusted to abide but the rational ones. And the sad truth is the traffic planner's default position is that motorists cannot be trusted to abide by the rational, which makes the more draconian measures universally necessary. Ergo, Stop Signs where less restrictive Yield Signs should suffice, if only motorists could be trusted to abide by the traffic code.
More's the pity, motorists can't be trusted. Ever. If you ride a 2-wheeler, regardless whether it has an engine, you're asking to be murdered if you don't ride with the view that everything with 4 (or more) wheels is trying to kill you.
Point of fact, the only significant threat to the life of cyclists ... is motorists. Cagers. Not because cyclists flaunt traffic laws but because motorists seem to have lost all regard for the humanity of everyone else on the road.
What the cagers don't seem to "get" about this is that cyclists (virtually all of them) are also motorists, so it is only we who see this issue from both sides of the street. The cagers have only the one view, and that view starts with the "othering" of cyclists. "We" are not "they," therefore "we" are inherently bad. We are nothing but a nuisance to them and they by choice pay no heed whatsoever to our extreme vulnerability. And if we get killed, they figure we had it coming.
The best, surest way to avoid being killed by a motorist is to never have a conflict with them. But you can't ride the roads and not have the occasional conflict with motor vehicles, so the question becomes one of, "How do I minimize my interactions with cagers?"
This is especially important at intersections because cyclists have far less control over the other circumstance when they must interact with motorists, that being when they're being overtaken. Cars obviously are much faster, so the most common interaction between car and cyclist is when the car overtakes the cyclist. There's nothing much you can do in that regard except hold your line. Ride wherever in the lane you think gives you the most safety, but ride predictably, because you never know when some asshole is going to "punish pass" you.
Intersections, however, are a whole 'nother subject. There's lots you can do there to avoid conflicts with cagers. Start by never trusting them. Think of them as steel assassins, looking to kill you if ever they get the chance. Which means that the ONLY way to safeguard YOUR safety (AND LIFE) is to make the motorist's judgment (piss-poor as it is) completely irrelevant.
How to do that? Look both ways. If you're certain (underscore certain) that no motorist could run over you, EVEN IF THEY STEPPED ON THE GAS, blow through the intersection like you're running from police. That completely eliminates the relevance of the so-called "judgement" of the cagers.
That, in effect, is what the Idaho Rule is (now adopted by a few other states and several municipalities). Cyclists may treat Stop Signs like Yield Signs and treat Stop Lights like Stop Signs.
Because traffic laws were not created with a rational view of the capabilities and vulnerabilities of bicyclists in mind. That's why I and 70% of all cyclists ride according to the Idaho Rule, regardless whether that complies with local ordinance.
The greater significance of this study is something that is manifestly self-evident to all operators of 2-wheeled conveyances: that it's motorists who are the scofflaws, and with utter disregard for the impact of their actions on others. Yet they choose to project their lawlessness on 2-wheeler operators who are behaving as their logic tells them they must to survive the cager's inattention to the cyclists' safety and humanity.
Protesters show just how bad traffic would be if they approached intersections like cars
by Danielle Mueller Published: Aug 5, 2015
Be careful what you ask for. On July 29, San Franciscan drivers—who often complain about cyclists flouting regulation—got a taste of what happens when cyclists strictly comply with traffic laws.
Across America, the law stipulates that cyclists and drivers follow the same traffic regulations, like following all street signs, signals, and markings. However, it’s no secret that some cyclists ignore road signs by yielding at stop signs or traffic lights instead of coming to complete stops. Captain John Sanford of the San Francisco Police Department gained notoriety last month after calling for a crackdown on cyclists who ignore these rules and, in doing so, endanger others. In response, protestors took to the streets to show just how bad traffic gets when bicyclists comply.
At 5:30 p.m. in the heart of popular urban bike route “The Wiggle,” dozens of cyclists organized via a Facebook page rode single-file into the street. They proceeded to stop at every intersection along the mile-long route and wait patiently for their turns—one-by-one. Traffic slowed immediately. Not too long after, a parade of cyclists rode up from Duboce Park, filling the streets with hundreds of law-abiding protestors. According to SF Weekly, frustrated drivers caught in the traffic had to wait at least 10 minutes to clear the city block and—in a damning twist—were caught breaking the law themselves, weaving into oncoming traffic and dangerously gunning straight through intersections.
“The thing you say you want—every cyclist to stop at every stop sign—you really don't want that,” protest organizer Morgan Fitzgibbons told SF Weekly. “You’re going to destroy traffic in every neighborhood that has a heavy dose of cyclists.”
What people should want, the protestors say, is adoption of the progressive “Idaho Stop Law.” In 1982, the State of Idaho enacted a law permitting cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and red lights as stop signs. The Idaho Stop Law allows cyclists to get in front of traffic and become more visible, thereby improving their safety. (emphasis added) There has been debate over whether the law negatively impacts safety, but statistics show no increase in cyclist injuries or fatalities in places with this law.
https://www.bicycling.com/rides/a20042135/what-happens-when-bicyclists-obey-the-law/
The bicycle looks a little more mandane then a Walmart cute specials unless they have moved up the ladder, The bicycle looks like it has Disc Brakes on the front.
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