Cycling in Canada

[Airboy]

Riding with a guy on a Penny Farthing here. You can get quite the head of speed on it. We were doing 2-3% grades and he had no issues. The stopping was interesting. He had worn out his shoes in a season. We were averaging 30k/hr on the flats which is a good average speed.

On downhills he would get off his seat and drag his foot on the wheel. No real braking.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by Nashe

A Penny Farthing in the wild! You don't see those... ever. Glad he has his helmet on.

Ah, didn't know that's what it's called. Someone would have to pay me a lot of money to try one. I feel like I'd break several bones.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by megadude

With these I'll see if there's anything I can do to make them a little better before donating. Unless they're garbage. Then I'll cannibalize for parts like I did with my old 1996 Nakamura the last two summers.

There's a shop in Hamilton that takes donated bikes, fixes them up, and gives them to charity. I had an old Trek mountain bike that I hadn't ridden in about 20 years and had sat on a balcony in all weather for 10, so the steel parts had rusted (mostly screws and the chain). I hope someone is getting great use out of it now!

[Airboy]

No better way to burn out the bike than race a gravel race in the rain. Especially if Sodium Chloride was sprayed on the roads earlier to control the dust.My bottom bracket was cemented and I could not turn the cranks the next day.

[Acajack]

E-bike users, I get that you don't want all of your stuff to get stolen, but would it be possible to not take up the whole bloody rack?!?

It's happened several times in recent weeks that there aren't enough spots for everyone because an e-bike is locked sideways along the rack, taking up the space that could be used by 5-6 regular bikes or more.

Even in places with lots of racks, two or three e-bikes parked this way greatly cuts down on the space available for everyone.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Acajack

E-bike users, I get that you don't want all of your stuff to get stolen, but would it be possible to not take up the whole bloody rack?!?

It's happened several times in recent weeks that there aren't enough spots for everyone because an e-bike is locked sideways along the rack, taking up the space that could be used by 5-6 regular bikes or more.

Even in places with lots of racks, two or three e-bikes parked this way greatly cuts down on the space available for everyone.

E bikes are causing a bit more of an issue here now. The powered drive. (ones you don't have to pedal). are getting into trouble on the trails here. Guys are thinking they are motocross and hitting the single tracks. But they have been crashing when guys realise they don't have the skills necessary. I have no issues with Pedal assist but the straight power ones should be banned. If you want a motor bike get one.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Acajack

E-bike users, I get that you don't want all of your stuff to get stolen, but would it be possible to not take up the whole bloody rack?!?

It's happened several times in recent weeks that there aren't enough spots for everyone because an e-bike is locked sideways along the rack, taking up the space that could be used by 5-6 regular bikes or more.

Even in places with lots of racks, two or three e-bikes parked this way greatly cuts down on the space available for everyone.

That's why the individual bike "ring and posts" are better for locking bikes than bike corrals.

Once we hit a critical mass of bikes, which might be coming soon, we should move to the Dutch model of having self-locking bikes that you can park anywhere.

When it comes to cycling adoption, we've only focused on the physical infrastructure (bike lanes, signals, etc.) part of the equation. There's also "regulating" how bikes are designed and how they run so that they all behave in predictable, controllable ways similar to road legal cars. In the Netherlands bikes are single or, at most, three geared models with relatively fat tires that work well as slicks, fenders, and relatively few exposed moving parts. They're like the Toyota Corollas of bicycles, and bike traffic is predictable even at huge volumes. It's very hard to pass the slowest rider on your bike at, say, four times their speed, or other forms of behaviour that limit throughput and turn more timid people off cycling.

Meanwhile, over here, the sheer variety of bikes on the road would be like if our highways had everything from Formula 1 cars to tanks to cars people built themselves. Obviously, the dangers/stakes are lower with bikes than with cars, but the outcome is that it hinders truly widespread adoption of cycling because bicycle behaviour is a free for all.

[niwell]

^Yep. The ring and post design is great and one of the better pieces of street infrastructure to come out of Toronto. The only criticism I'd have is that they can be overwhelmed by sheer volume in many areas but the City has been relatively good at adding new ones, plus supplanting them with larger bike parking structures in summer months. I'll always take a ring and post if possible (and it usually is) as it's also easier to get a U-lock around the frame and rear wheel.

The point about variance in type of bikes is a good one, though I personally haven't had too many issues as a faster cyclist. If I'm stuck behind someone for a bit so be it, but I also recognize that as someone that's been doing this year-round for close to 20 years I'm not really representative of the average. It helps that bike share is increasingly common which is also pretty standardized.

The biggest concern by far is the increased prevalence of E-bikes used by food delivery services which tend to be very unpredictable and tend not to follow *any* rules of the road. Also a lot of sketchy bikes themselves with huge variances in speed. I'd be in favour of speed-limiting them like the Bike Share E-bikes.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Acajack

E-bike users, I get that you don't want all of your stuff to get stolen, but would it be possible to not take up the whole bloody rack?!?

It's happened several times in recent weeks that there aren't enough spots for everyone because an e-bike is locked sideways along the rack, taking up the space that could be used by 5-6 regular bikes or more.

Even in places with lots of racks, two or three e-bikes parked this way greatly cuts down on the space available for everyone.

If it was one of the racks that you insert you wheel into, it may have just been that their tire was too thick. Some ebikes have thicker tires to help support the weight of the battery and motor and to improve stability, but some of those rack slots are too narrow. That can be an issue with non-ebikes too, especially fat-tire bikes and certain mountain bikes.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

If it was one of the racks that you insert you wheel into, it may have just been that their tire was too thick. Some ebikes have thicker tires to help support the weight of the battery and motor and to improve stability, but some of those rack slots are too narrow. That can be an issue with non-ebikes too, especially fat-tire bikes and certain mountain bikes.

I know but these racks have both thin and wide slots. Their tires could definitely fit in the wide slots.

[Acajack]

I counted the number of slots taken up by a e-bike parked and locked sideways this morning: 15!

Now, obviously with regular perpendicular bike parking most people leave one slot free in between bikes.

That's still a huge amont of space though.

[Nashe]

I'd leave a note on that one. Or if I were mean, lock my bike to the stand through their bike.

[MonctonRad]

Soon-to-be 67 year old here. I have been seriously mulling over getting an e-bike for the last couple of years.

I used to enjoy biking, but have gotten out of the habit over the last 15-20 years. I actually also had a moped when I was a teenager, so I am familiar with motorized bicycles.

Am I getting to old to be getting into this?

Thoughts???

Moncton has a surprisingly good network of bicycle trails. I would like to be able to explore them.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Soon-to-be 67 year old here. I have been seriously mulling over getting an e-bike for the last couple of years.

I used to enjoy biking, but have gotten out of the habit over the last 15-20 years. I actually also had a moped when I was a teenager, so I am familiar with motorized bicycles.

Am I getting to old to be getting into this?

Thoughts???

Moncton has a surprisingly good network of bicycle trails. I would like to be able to explore them.

Go for it!

An e-bike will encourage physical movement and recreation because it gets you out there. An e-bike is perfect for someone who's physically able to ride but may not have the stamina of a twenty year old to go on long distance rides. You can explore local trails with the power off, and then, if you encounter a steep hill or you're tired and you want to go home, you can just turn the power on and cruise back. With a normal bike, you might be reluctant to leave the house at all, and then you'd ironically be less fit as a result!

I'd say the only thing to watch out for is that e-bikes can accelerate pretty quickly and top out at 32 km/h, which is faster than most people can regularly cycle who don't use road bikes. I have an e-bike that I use to schlep my kids around, and I'm used to this speed and they're used to this speed, but if you're afraid of your reaction time or what might happen if you take a tumble, keep the bike in a lower power mode.

[Acajack]

I don't want to sound like I am anti-e-bike. I may get one someday in the future but I'm in my mid-50s so don't need one yet. Though I see lots of people my age with them.

My dad is close to 80 and still says he doesn't need an e-bike.

[PoscStudent]

I’m curious as to how common bike racks are in other cities and towns when going to smaller businesses?

Cycling is still a very minor mode of transportation in the St. John’s area, especially for commuting as opposed to going for a ride on a trail, but I’ll ride my bike to some nearby shops and restaurants. I’m in Conception Bay South, which is the second largest community in NL and just west of St. John’s. The annoying thing I’ve found when taking my bike places is there are no bike racks around.

I went to Shoppers one day on bike and had to stand it up on side of the building while I went inside. A&W is in the same parking lot and I don’t believe they have one either. I went to a gas station and convenience store after leaving Shoppes and once again I had to stand my bike up outside while I went in. Earlier the week I went to a local restaurant and had to stand my bike up outside, which wasn’t easy because their parking lot is small and on a weird slope.

I’m always a bit nervous going into places when there’s no bike racks so I’m less inclined to ride it for that reason. I have thought about contacting the town regarding this as I wondered if there’s any by-laws in place requiring certain businesses to have bike racks available.

Do other places have this same issue?

[Acajack]

Bike racks and parking are hit and miss in Ottawa and Gatineau, even though we're probably one of the more bike-friendly regions in the country.

As a ballpark guess, I'd say about half the places I go will have some sort of bike accommodation. Most strip malls and big box stores will have them, as do most grocery stores. In many cases these are for employees as well as customers. Smaller stand-alone businesses may not.

It's not a big impediment for me as most anywhere will have a no parking sign or some other sign on a post nearby, or a tree, that I can lock my bike onto.

(My local Pharmaprix, which is what Shoppers is called here, has a small bike rack.)

[niwell]

I rarely cycle out to the suburbs but it's pretty much guaranteed to find a ring lock or dedicated bike rack where I mostly go. Sometimes I'll bike to big box stores in the Stockyards area (which isn't in the suburbs but still) and while it's a bit trickier to find parking there are still a number of dedicated bike locks. I imagine for employees as well as patrons.

Regarding E-bikes I'd be in favour of limiting speed to 25km/hr or so, which would be in-line with the bikeshare pedal-assist ones I've used in Toronto and other cities. 30+ just seems too fast for many riders who don't seem particularly familiar with cycling in urban areas. Saying this from the perspective of someone who cycles, walks and drives (albeit not as often) in the city.

[Kilgore Trout]

There's a perennial shortage of bike parking here in Montreal. That's partly due to municipal oversight – my entire block doesn't have a single municipal bike rack, for whatever reason, although I've made an official request to 311. But it's also because there are just so many bikes. For the most part, there are municipal racks of varying designs on every block, none quite as good as the Toronto standard, but good enough. There are also a number of businesses that have taken it upon themselves to install racks if they have a setback or a bit of extra space where they can do so.

In more suburban areas, like in a strip mall, there's almost always a bike rack, but it's usually the terrible grid-style one that only allows you to lock your front wheel – fine for a couple of minutes but a guaranteed way to get your bike stolen if you leave it for long.

As for e-bikes, I think they're amazing for everyday activities, and even though I'm barely 40 I would get one if I moved somewhere slightly more suburban or with more challenging topography. But hipster duck has a great point in that it's basically the Wild West right now. When I am out doing my regular activities everyday, usually on bike, I encounter everyone from small children going to school to elderly people riding slowly on e-bikes to sport cyclists trying to go as fast as possible. People in cars don't need to think about child drivers on their commute. It's kind of weird. The main solution is to have wide bike paths that can accommodate all sorts of users, but there also needs to be a culture shift where people start becoming more considerate of others.

I haven't cycled in Amsterdam since 2018, but I hear there's a ton of e-bikes there now, so I'd be curious to see how they're managing it in their more homogenous cycling culture where almost everyone has a heavy Dutch bike and you don't have the diversity of bikes you see here. In the recent past it was already a big problem that people riding electric or gas-powered scooters would use the bike paths and go much faster than anyone else.

[Nashe]

I'll not try dissuade you from getting an eBike, MonctonRad, but the great thing about our city is that it's not excessively hilly. There are some streets with hills and grades (Melanson, Chartersville, Gunningsville, Findlay, Mapleton to name a few) but overall Moncton is pretty flat and easy to get around on an un-powered bike. I commute to work on my road bike generally 4 days a week from late April to early November. The powered option is great though if you want to see more of the trail system (the NW trail and riverfront are great) without worrying about getting back from a 30-40km ride.

Tide and Boar on west Main or Classic Burger on the riverfront are great half-way stops for beer and grub.