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Concerning commuting by bike



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 24th 20, 07:39 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

In the local craigslist I have been sort of surprised at the numbers of e-bikes that have been turning up. I think that people with good intentions have bought these things as commuters and then discovered to their dismay that distance and not effort is the real problem. People do not want to spend a hour in the morning and an hour in the evening doing physical efforts to get to or back from their place of employment.

I don't think that there are many people like Jay who are willing to go 10 miles or more to work and return the same distance all sweaty and disturbed by the treatment at the hands of auto commuters who would as soon drive you off the road were it not for possible observers getting their license numbers and reporting them for a felony.

I do very low traffic routes as much as possible but on a ride yesterday I must have been threatened by cars traveling at very high rates of speed and taking very close passes at me. I am almost but not quite used to that and it is especially egregious when the perpetrator is a woman in a very large SUV that gives you plenty of reason to believe that she cannot handle the thing.

Too bad that the police don't react to such things even when they see them.
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  #2  
Old June 25th 20, 12:19 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
JBeattie
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 11:39:46 AM UTC-7, wrote:
In the local craigslist I have been sort of surprised at the numbers of e-bikes that have been turning up. I think that people with good intentions have bought these things as commuters and then discovered to their dismay that distance and not effort is the real problem. People do not want to spend a hour in the morning and an hour in the evening doing physical efforts to get to or back from their place of employment.

I don't think that there are many people like Jay who are willing to go 10 miles or more to work and return the same distance all sweaty and disturbed by the treatment at the hands of auto commuters who would as soon drive you off the road were it not for possible observers getting their license numbers and reporting them for a felony.

I do very low traffic routes as much as possible but on a ride yesterday I must have been threatened by cars traveling at very high rates of speed and taking very close passes at me. I am almost but not quite used to that and it is especially egregious when the perpetrator is a woman in a very large SUV that gives you plenty of reason to believe that she cannot handle the thing.

Too bad that the police don't react to such things even when they see them.


BTW, my mandatory commute is only five miles. Longer distances on the way home are elective. I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.

Lots of people around here commute by bike when there is no lock-down. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7579/2...2609f756_z.jpg Its no NL, but we do our part.

Speaking of law enforcement, it works both ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFUWiI2yA0

Ladds Addition is a neighborhood in the close in eastside and home of the Ladds 500: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9U60iFwoIw You can go around a traffic circle 500 times. It's what you do if your a Bohemian and there is no simulated zombie apocalypse to attend.

-- Jay Beattie.
  #3  
Old June 25th 20, 01:06 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wed, 24 Jun 2020 11:39:44 -0700, cyclintom wrote:

In the local craigslist I have been sort of surprised at the numbers of
e-bikes that have been turning up. I think that people with good
intentions have bought these things as commuters and then discovered to
their dismay that distance and not effort is the real problem.


Naaah, it is they still require effort and that the assist is only useful
at high speed.
  #4  
Old June 25th 20, 01:09 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 4:19:10 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 11:39:46 AM UTC-7, wrote:
In the local craigslist I have been sort of surprised at the numbers of e-bikes that have been turning up. I think that people with good intentions have bought these things as commuters and then discovered to their dismay that distance and not effort is the real problem. People do not want to spend a hour in the morning and an hour in the evening doing physical efforts to get to or back from their place of employment.

I don't think that there are many people like Jay who are willing to go 10 miles or more to work and return the same distance all sweaty and disturbed by the treatment at the hands of auto commuters who would as soon drive you off the road were it not for possible observers getting their license numbers and reporting them for a felony.

I do very low traffic routes as much as possible but on a ride yesterday I must have been threatened by cars traveling at very high rates of speed and taking very close passes at me. I am almost but not quite used to that and it is especially egregious when the perpetrator is a woman in a very large SUV that gives you plenty of reason to believe that she cannot handle the thing.

Too bad that the police don't react to such things even when they see them.


BTW, my mandatory commute is only five miles. Longer distances on the way home are elective. I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.

Lots of people around here commute by bike when there is no lock-down. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7579/2...2609f756_z.jpg Its no NL, but we do our part.

Speaking of law enforcement, it works both ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFUWiI2yA0

Ladds Addition is a neighborhood in the close in eastside and home of the Ladds 500: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9U60iFwoIw You can go around a traffic circle 500 times. It's what you do if your a Bohemian and there is no simulated zombie apocalypse to attend.

-- Jay Beattie.


Bicycles absolutely should NOT be ticketed for running stop signs unless someone else has right of way. Coming to a complete stop and accelerating away can put a bicyclist in an intersection for an extended amount of time and increase his danger. This isn't as if running stop signs is a clear and present danger to anyone other than the cyclist himself. Now it would be a different thing if I were given a ticket for running red lights which I have recently done twice because of my concentration on people creeping into the intersection and my missing the changed light.

Are you telling us that you stop at every stop sign?
  #5  
Old June 25th 20, 01:13 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 6:19:10 PM UTC-5, jbeattie wrote:
I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.

-- Jay Beattie.


If his commute is on rail trails, they are FLAT. Rail trails are always old abandoned railroad right of ways/tracks. And those are always flat because trains cannot climb more than about a 2% grade at best. So how is he grinding up rims every few years? He CANNOT be braking much on his commute because it is FLAT. Yes the rail trails are maybe gravel/sand and not paved, like mine are. And its rainy where you live. So the rain and gravel dust create an abrasive. Which gets ground into the rim when braking. But he should not be braking at all if his commute is on flat rail trails.
  #6  
Old June 25th 20, 02:30 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On 6/24/2020 7:19 PM, jbeattie wrote:


BTW, my mandatory commute is only five miles. Longer distances on the way home are elective. I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.


Russell's comment on that brought up a good point, rail trails shouldn't
require much braking at all. Is the rest of the guy's commute super steep?
Speaking of law enforcement, it works both ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFUWiI2yA0


I'm curious: That was 8 years ago. What's happened since with
enforcement, and with bicyclist behavior?

I'm also curious why they don't just make it a yield-on-entry roundabout.

As Tom said in another post, a full stop on a bike often is more
dangerous than just yielding, and unless traffic is really heavy, it can
often be omitted by judicious timing. I'm particularly reluctant to do a
full stop on our tandem, if I can safely avoid it.

It's my understanding that Idaho's law (bikes need only yield at stop
signs) actually adds safety. It's a bit tricky to lobby for that law,
though. Many politicians see it as a pathway to anarchy.

--
- Frank Krygowski
  #7  
Old June 25th 20, 02:45 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
jOHN b.
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wed, 24 Jun 2020 21:30:27 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 6/24/2020 7:19 PM, jbeattie wrote:


BTW, my mandatory commute is only five miles. Longer distances on the way home are elective. I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.


Russell's comment on that brought up a good point, rail trails shouldn't
require much braking at all. Is the rest of the guy's commute super steep?
Speaking of law enforcement, it works both ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFUWiI2yA0


I'm curious: That was 8 years ago. What's happened since with
enforcement, and with bicyclist behavior?

I'm also curious why they don't just make it a yield-on-entry roundabout.

As Tom said in another post, a full stop on a bike often is more
dangerous than just yielding, and unless traffic is really heavy, it can
often be omitted by judicious timing. I'm particularly reluctant to do a
full stop on our tandem, if I can safely avoid it.

It's my understanding that Idaho's law (bikes need only yield at stop
signs) actually adds safety. It's a bit tricky to lobby for that law,
though. Many politicians see it as a pathway to anarchy.


I suspect that not requiring cyclists to stop at stop signs and red
lights will probably encourage a certain percentage of riders to
believe that they never need to stop at all and will likely increase
bicycle accidents.
--
cheers,

John B.

  #8  
Old June 25th 20, 03:44 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joy Beeson
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wed, 24 Jun 2020 21:30:27 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

It's my understanding that Idaho's law (bikes need only yield at stop
signs) actually adds safety. It's a bit tricky to lobby for that law,
though.


Cars perform Idaho stops all the time, and if they are performed
correctly, there is zero chance of getting a ticket.

We don't need a special exemption for bicycles.


--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

  #9  
Old June 25th 20, 05:08 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
JBeattie
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Default Concerning commuting by bike

On Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 6:30:30 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/24/2020 7:19 PM, jbeattie wrote:


BTW, my mandatory commute is only five miles. Longer distances on the way home are elective. I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.


Russell's comment on that brought up a good point, rail trails shouldn't
require much braking at all. Is the rest of the guy's commute super steep?


Some rollers but mostly flat, but the guy has to be 250-300lbs. He told me he was going through rims every two years or so. He doesn't have any reason to make it up or prove any point. He's not doing guerrilla marketing for disc brakes.

Speaking of law enforcement, it works both ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFUWiI2yA0


I'm curious: That was 8 years ago. What's happened since with
enforcement, and with bicyclist behavior?


The law changed, for one thing. https://bikeportland.org/2019/06/25/...-yields-301829 I've been blowing stop signs since the beginning of the year.


I'm also curious why they don't just make it a yield-on-entry roundabout.

As Tom said in another post, a full stop on a bike often is more
dangerous than just yielding, and unless traffic is really heavy, it can
often be omitted by judicious timing. I'm particularly reluctant to do a
full stop on our tandem, if I can safely avoid it.

See above. I don't know why its stops and not yields. It's an old piece of road and probably followed an old convention. https://tinyurl.com/y9qjy74u

It's my understanding that Idaho's law (bikes need only yield at stop
signs) actually adds safety. It's a bit tricky to lobby for that law,
though. Many politicians see it as a pathway to anarchy.


We do anarchy. We can also pass on the right and blow stop lights if they don't change, which was new last year, IIRC. I don't think I've stopped for anything in almost a year.


-- Jay Beattie.
  #10  
Old June 25th 20, 04:53 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Posts: 10,538
Default Concerning commuting by bike

On 6/25/2020 12:08 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 6:30:30 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/24/2020 7:19 PM, jbeattie wrote:


BTW, my mandatory commute is only five miles. Longer distances on the way home are elective. I work with a guy who is overweight by any measure, and he commutes 12 miles each way every day. He's in his 50s. A lot of his commute is on a rail-trail. BTW, he switched to a disk bike because he was grinding up rims every few years.


Russell's comment on that brought up a good point, rail trails shouldn't
require much braking at all. Is the rest of the guy's commute super steep?


Some rollers but mostly flat, but the guy has to be 250-300lbs. He told me he was going through rims every two years or so. He doesn't have any reason to make it up or prove any point. He's not doing guerrilla marketing for disc brakes.

Speaking of law enforcement, it works both ways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFUWiI2yA0


I'm curious: That was 8 years ago. What's happened since with
enforcement, and with bicyclist behavior?


The law changed, for one thing. https://bikeportland.org/2019/06/25/...-yields-301829 I've been blowing stop signs since the beginning of the year.


Cool! I'll be interested in safety data, once it's available.

It's my understanding that Idaho's law (bikes need only yield at stop
signs) actually adds safety. It's a bit tricky to lobby for that law,
though. Many politicians see it as a pathway to anarchy.


We do anarchy. We can also pass on the right and blow stop lights if they don't change, which was new last year, IIRC. I don't think I've stopped for anything in almost a year.


We got an exemption for non-changing red lights a couple of years ago. I
was one of the crew behind that change.

BTW, I sort of agree with Joy, that motorists do "Idaho stops" all the
time. I can watch a stop sign outside my windoe, and I've counted that
50% of motorists don't do full stops. I've done my not-quite-full stop
in front of a cop car at a congested four way stop intersection plus
other intersections and had no reaction.

If it weren't for occasional unreasonable hassles and crackdowns, I'd
say the law is fine as it is. So changing it here might be nice, but
it's low priority.

--
- Frank Krygowski
 




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