Posted on 10/08/2007 12:35:56 PM PDT by Caleb1411
Critical Mass, the loosely organized bicycle group that ties up rush-hour traffic once a month in Minneapolis, has demonstrated who rules our streets. But Minneapolis isn't the only place where the Mass mob has strong-armed the police and City Hall, and left outraged motorists fuming but impotent. Today, Critical Mass cyclists cow commuters in more than 300 cities, from Denver to Rio de Janeiro, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The ride got its start in San Francisco (where else?) in 1992 with about 50 cyclists. Authorities there looked the other way as riders ran red lights and snarled traffic. Soon, the event was drawing hundreds, even thousands, of riders.
And therein lies a cautionary tale for Minneapolis.
Today, ugly confrontations are a fact of life in the City by the Bay, and traffic is a bad trip on the last Friday of the month. Cyclists sometimes scratch or beat on cars, taunt or spit at motorists, and come close to running down pedestrians.
Nevertheless, police maintain a hands-off stance, acting as little more than bystanders.
In March 2007, a mother who had brought five young girls to the city for a birthday party wandered into the path of 3,000 Critical Mass cyclists. Hundreds swarmed around her minivan, circling wildly and pounding on its windows. As the terrified children sobbed, one rider threw his bike and smashed the van's rear window. Damage totaled more than $5,000.
The incident provoked citizen outrage. But Mayor Gavin Newsom -- after a few empty threats -- declined to order arrests or more controls, and merely beefed up the ride's police escort.
How did San Francisco get into this state of anarchy?
The city ran up the white flag 10 years ago, after a pitched battle in July 1997 set a pattern of capitulation.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
You're out of date. Carbon fiber is the frame material of choice these days. Aluminum frames have fallen into the sub $2,000 value bike lines. Even Ti is yeilding to carbon fiber.
For the record. Most of us do obey all the traffic lanes. This is a tiny minority causing all the trouble.
$3,000 is far from top of the line, especially for a road bike. It's easy to pass $10,000 on a road bike. I have a $2,500 road bike, and I regularly get the nose up from the bike snobs. A good full suspension mountain bike can easily run from $5,000 to $7,500, and a good hardtail mountain bike can top $2,000.
Hell, then there are botique bikes like Colnagos, and they can cost as much as a Mercedes. However, you're not paying for performance at that point, but art.
Riding on the sidewalk is actually more dangerous. I’ve seen more bikes totaled by a car coming out of a driveway or an alley than I have from accidents on the road. You shouldn’t be riding your bike on the road or the sidewalk anyway. It’s a mountain bike, it only shines in the dirt.
I have bikes for almost every purpose. A hardtail mountain bike set up for racing. A full suspension mountain bike for aggressive trail riding. A full on commuter bike with a dynamo hub that provides light, full fenders, racks and panniers. An aluminum road bike for training. A full carbon road bike for the occasional bike rally. A foot foward town bike for neighborhood jaunts, and a little $500 beater bike as a buddy bike.
Riding on the sidewalk is actually more dangerous. I’ve seen more bikes totaled by a car coming out of a driveway or an alley than I have from accidents on the road. You shouldn’t be riding your bike on the road or the sidewalk anyway. It’s a mountain bike, it only shines in the dirt.
I have bikes for almost every purpose. A hardtail mountain bike set up for racing. A full suspension mountain bike for aggressive trail riding. A full on commuter bike with a dynamo hub that provides light, full fenders, racks and panniers. An aluminum road bike for training. A full carbon road bike for the occasional bike rally. A foot foward town bike for neighborhood jaunts, and a little $500 beater bike as a buddy bike.
What do eco-cyclists do when winter comes to Boston?
I don't know a single serious or even semi-serious mountain biker (I'm first and foremost a mountain biker) who doesn't have a road bike as well.
Hey if you can pull it off more power to you. It's going to be impossible to pass a competent roadie on a mountain bike though. The gearing just isn't there. 44x11 with a 26" wheel is your tallest gear on a typical mountain bike. A semi-decent roadie can cruise along at speeds untainable by a mountain bike with his 53 x 12 gear with larger wheels.
Now, the important question: Why do you hate us so much? Bicycling just happens to be the sport I enjoy. I don't get why it offends some people so badly.
Great job. LOL.
That's just crazy. Pedestrians moving at 3mph and cyclists moving in excess of 20 don't mix. Someone is going to get hurt. It's conceivable that I could be moving at 10 times the speed of a pedestrian. If you're moving 10 times faster than me on the road, you're a maniac in a Ferrari.
Well, in the two states where I've taken drivers license tests, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk is a ticketable offense (i.e. it's illegal). Bicycles have to share the road, and they have to follow the same rules as any other vehicle. Of course, with their slower speed, they're supposed to allow cars to pass them when safety and traffic permits. I know that I've gotten a bit impatient while waiting to try to pass a bicyclist, but as long as he or she follows the rules of the road it's no problem.
But then I've never encountered riders such as are described in the article. I know that if I were in the same position as the woman in the van, once a window was broken out of the van, one or more bicyclists would have been run over, and it would have been justifiable homicide.
Mark
I'm not even going to ask why you've got those in your car, but please remind me to politely decline any rides you offer me...
Mark
Portland is one of those freak cities where the mayor & city commissars encourage divisiveness between motorists & bicyclists.
“For the record. Most of us do obey all the traffic lanes. This is a tiny minority causing all the trouble.”
I am a very long term cyclist, and I agree. Most riders on streets do NOT hamper motor vehicle traffic, at least in my area.
My attempt at a clever post was probably misunderstood by several. I was not too pleased some said that cyclists should be run down, or shot.
“For the record. Most of us do obey all the traffic lanes. This is a tiny minority causing all the trouble.”
I am a very long term cyclist, and I agree. Most riders on streets do NOT hamper motor vehicle traffic, at least in my area.
My attempt at a clever post was probably misunderstood by several. I was not too pleased some said that cyclists should be run down, or shot.
Cycling group’s West Coast antics could be replicated here [Minneapolis]
The people I'm talking about aren't competent, they're jackass wannabe-posers, and I have pulled it off on more than one occasion.
Now, the important question: Why do you hate us so much? Bicycling just happens to be the sport I enjoy. I don't get why it offends some people so badly.
I'm not talking about everybody. I rode about 1000 miles myself last year (hardly got out at all this year), some of it on roads and some of it on trails. The people I'm talking about are the ones who disobey traffic laws and ride three abreast so they block traffic.
I was hauling a horse trailer and came upon an organized valley to coast bike rally once. All was going well, the bikers stayed to the side and I went down the center (couple of them on the wrong side of the road) at a very slow speed, just enough to get by them. Suddenly one of them swung around and came right at me. I had to brake hard, knowing I could be giving one of our horses a bloody nose. The jerk had a real stupid smile on his face, knew what he was doing.
Same thing coming around a blind corner in the Portland hills (no trailer, just a car). I stayed towards the center & was alert for bicyclists. A Jerk on a bike purposely swung out in front of me, same stupid smile.
I have had two encounters with these bike jerks, multiply that by the rest of the motorists out there. I personally knew the person that organized the valley to coast ride. I and a lot of other people discouraged him from ever doing that again.
I have a mountain bike and a “skinny tire” bike. When I haul my bikes in my pickup I make sure the handle bars are down so people don’t think I’m one of “them bicyclists” Organized bike clubs need to publically dis-own these protest rides and the individual bike jerks.
Fair enough. I've little love for those who make cyclists in general look bad myself.
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