Urban Cycling Developments

[SIGSEGV]

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8139...7i16384!8i8192 this part looks especially precarious.

Good luck fitting here on the sidewalk! https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8126...7i16384!8i8192

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by cabasse

i'm starting my new commute into the office tomorrow, and planning to bike. part of my route is going to be on a very bike unfriendly road; potholes, hyper aggressive buckhead betties. i feel like i should bike this short portion on the sidewalk, but is this ever appropriate? (i know it's not legal, but that seems to be unenforced) also - how do you guys feel about helmets in general? i picked up a couple of cheap retrospec helmets but they look incredibly dorky - something much more low profile would be preferred, i dont think they need to be 2" thick...

Unfortunately a lot of the South is like this. I lived two places in Tennessee (Knoxville and Nashville) and it's really tough to ride a road bike in those places since you need to seek refuge on the sidewalk pretty often.

I'd ride a mountain bike so you can jump off and on the sidewalk mid-block as needed. If you have a commuter bike get Kevlar tires. Don't ride a road bike. You're going to be pinned up between traffic and gravel and glass that collects along the curb.

If you get a helmet don't skimp on a cheap one. The ones that are upwards of $100 or over are way better than the cheap ones. They aren't any safer but they're much more comfortable and the aero features of the road helmets keep your head from being pushed sideways during wind gusts. I didn't believe that it made a difference until I broke down and bought a good helmet.

Also, helmets are really useful for mitigating the annoyance of light rain showers and they help keep your head warm during the winter. Don't wear anything with a hood because when you turn your head left and right the hood doesn't move and you're just looking into the hood.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8139...7i16384!8i8192 this part looks especially precarious.

Good luck fitting here on the sidewalk! https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8126...7i16384!8i8192

yeah, the southbound side is even worse - i've been on the sidewalk on the northbound (east) side a few times, making a loop. this city is ridiculous, we have a looong way to go, especially in the northern quadrant/buckhead...


@jmecklenborg - definitely the truth on that. i'll look into a better helmet too for sure. any particular brands you recommend?

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by cabasse

@jmecklenborg - definitely the truth on that. i'll look into a better helmet too for sure. any particular brands you recommend?

Actually I don't even know what brands I have (I have one road helmet and one mountain bike helmet). I think one is Gyro.

I'd also pay as much or more attention to your pedals and footwear. I have cages on my commuter bike so I can wear whatever type of shoe, but new people usually don't like them.

Don't wear shoes with a lot of tread (like hiking boots) with flat pedals. They won't grip. This matters A LOT if you have to brake suddenly, aside from more comfortable ordinary riding.

Get pedals with "teeth" on them or pins and wear flat shoes like skateboarding shoes if you don't want to buy dedicated bicycling shoes.

There is a lot of online fussing about saddles and helmets, but I think the pedal/shoe issue is huge.

https://www.evanscycles.com/crank-br...edals-EV274463

[SIGSEGV]

I bike in flip flops... it's great until you lose one and have to turn around and go find it...

[Busy Bee]

I wear an old Weber grill I cleaned up and added straps to. I look a bit like Dark Helmet but that's okay.

[cabasse]

pics or it didn't happen

[M II A II R II K]

Stuttgart

[M II A II R II K]

New York City to 'break car culture' and build more than 250 new bike lanes

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...es-car-culture

.....

- New York is set to build more than 250 new bike lanes and add 1m sq ft (92,903 sq meters) of pedestrian space in a landmark move designed to “break the car culture” of the city. The city council passed legislation this week that will see $1.7bn invested in road infrastructure over 10 years in a move that it is hoped will transform city streets and dramatically improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The New York city council speaker, Corey Johnson, who introduced the “streets master plan” bill and is anticipated to run for mayor in 2021, said after the vote: “The way we plan our streets now makes no sense and New Yorkers pay the price every day, stuck on slow buses or risking their own safety cycling without protected bike lanes … I want to completely revolutionise how we share our street space, and that’s what this bill does. “This is a roadmap to breaking the car culture in a thoughtful, comprehensive way, and I am so proud to pass this bill today.”

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Federal Panel Seeks Mandatory Helmet Laws

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/11/...y-helmet-laws/

.....

- A federal safety board issued a surprise recommendation for mandatory bike helmet laws in all 50 states unanimously approving a last-minute resolution that had not been recommended by the board’s own staff. — The National Transportation Safety Board voted 3-0 to recommend helmet laws even as staff members reminded panelists that such laws may reduce overall cycling, and lead to the “unintended consequence” of more road fatalities because fewer cyclists will mean less pressure on local officials to build the kind of protected infrastructure that is proven to improve cyclist safety.

.....

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Federal Panel Seeks Mandatory Helmet Laws

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/11/...y-helmet-laws/

I will never wear a helmet.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I will never wear a helmet.

Congress may never pass a law requiring it. The NTSB has powers to investigate accidients and make recommendations, but it does not have the power of the legislative branch of government - it can not make laws.

[muertecaza]

Infuriating.

I understand there are concerns in the bicycle community that this could reduce the number of bicyclists,” she said, “but the NTSB’s mission is not about bicycle use. Our mission is safety. It’s the National Transportation Safety Board. Our goal is zero deaths. The way we go about doing that is by issuing recommendations that prevent crashes, that prevent injuries and that save lives. … We know the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt and the NTSB issued recommendations on seatbelt use. … That’s the power of the NTSB. We set the safety bar.

"Just stop riding bikes so much and you won't get hurt!"

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I will never wear a helmet.

You are welcome to do what you want but given the importance of a healthy, functioning, brain to just about every single life activity, this is not a choice I will make. Even going 12 - 15 mph, if you fall from four or five feet up and hit your head on pavement, you can cause serious head injuries.

Also, if you get a serious brain injury, I hope you are willing to pay for the medical expenses by yourself and that you don't expect insurance to cover the cost of treatment.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by muertecaza

Infuriating.



"Just stop riding bikes so much and you won't get hurt!"

Zero deaths? Have everyone stay home 24/7. What a ridiculous statement. I understand cities making those goals, we know they're not attainable but that absolutely should be our goal. Goals aren't always meant to be reached, their meant to be raced towards.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

You are welcome to do what you want but given the importance of a healthy, functioning, brain to just about every single life activity, this is not a choice I will make. Even going 12 - 15 mph, if you fall from four or five feet up and hit your head on pavement, you can cause serious head injuries.

Also, if you get a serious brain injury, I hope you are willing to pay for the medical expenses by yourself and that you don't expect insurance to cover the cost of treatment.

I made that statement full of emotion. We all know this will hurt bike usage in the US A LOT. What I meant is I would be pissed if they made a law requiring them. Would I wear a helmet as it is? Sure. I wouldn't want to, but I would if I saw fit.

Right now I use my bike to commute to school. Its 9.5 miles round trip and is 95% on my city's urban bike trail. The other 5% are on roads that are 25 mph or less.

If I moved somewhere and had a rougher commute, I would wear one. It's not my current reality though.

[Steely Dan]

^ I'll preface my comment by saying that I have very little tolerance for both the pro and anti helmet Nazis. I generally detest hardliners of most stripes.

That said, as a daily bike commuter here in Chicago for the past 12 years, I have twice been struck by motor vehicles while riding and been thrown to the ground with enough force to put big nasty cracks in the helmets I was wearing on both occasions. Were it not for the helmets cracking, it very likely would have been my skull, with the commensurate serious brain injury to go along with it.

Needless to say, I will wear a helmet while riding in car traffic til the day I die.

[jmecklenborg]

I just discovered a small crack in my mountain biking helmet from hitting a branch I was passing under. The things are definitely one-and-done, but even a $125 bike helmet is a lot cheaper than a single doctor's visit.

Mountain biking is WAY more dangerous than riding in cities but nobody talks about it. For starters, you're typically pretty far from medical care even in a county or state park whereas a road bike is almost always easily accessible by an ambulance. So a relatively minor accident can easily turn into a serious situation, especially if you spend the night out in the middle of nowhere.

[muertecaza]

This is a hard thing to discuss, because people understandably tend to discuss their own opinions about helmet use when discussing mandatory helmet laws. I personally think my own decision to wear a helmet has basically zero relevance to the question of whether it's a good idea for a federal safety agency to propose to make it a federal crime for adults not to wear helmets on bicycles.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ I'll preface my comment by saying that I have very little tolerance for both the pro and anti helmet Nazis. I generally detest hardliners of most stripes.

That said, as a daily bike commuter here in Chicago for the past 12 years, I have twice been struck by motor vehicles while riding and been thrown to the ground with enough force to put big nasty cracks in the helmets I was wearing on both occasions. Were it not for the helmets cracking, it very likely would have been my skull, with the commensurate serious brain injury to go along with it.

Needless to say, I will wear a helmet while riding in car traffic til the day I die.

As I said, right now my commute is extremely comfortable and calm. Heck, I have only one intersection that has a traffic light on my entire commute. If I were fighting in traffic I am certain I would end up getting a helmet really quick. I just don't want to be forced to get one if I don't want one(like right now).