So Denmark?
This is what's wrong with The Industry™
- Thread starter Electric_City
- Start date
-
- Tags
- e-bike
When in Boston I used to commute roughly thirty miles a day to work and school and for errands. Raleigh three speed with steel drop bars. For fun, maybe Cambridge to Concord to Sudbury, then back home. A few interactions with motor vehicles that were interesting.
I tried a flat bar road bike and it was alright for pub trips and stuff but after an hour or so it was too bloody harsh on my stupid broken hands and I wanted to be able to shift positions. Got a drop bar thingy now with a carbon fork on it and its a notice improvement on that regard although I prefer the flat bar handling. Both bikes came with discs. I'm not going backwards on that front.
Yeah might need a shorter stem, its too late in life to be trying to pedalling curled up.
Cars suck. Well more specifically, stupid people in cars suck. There's always some dumb bogan who wants to fuck with you even when you're miles off the side of the road. I specifically went with a bike suited to gravel roads because there's plenty of those around here with almost no traffic and some decent views. Aussie roads tend to be pretty screwy anyway so unless you're riding around the city mixed surface tyres are the go.
I had the same experience with flat vs drop bars. I thought drops were stupid, then after I spent some time on them I found I can’t stand flat bars when I’m going straight for an hour. My commuter is flat but I wish I had built it as a drop bar bike as it’s just more comfortable.
Yeah I got a Commencal FCB and put slicks on it for dipping my toes into roadie lyfe. But anything over an hour long ride and my hands were getting numb spots no matter what grips I used. Was a bloody fun little bike though - there's like 4 of them in our riding crew now being used as commuters and pub bikes.
I don't ride on road anymore. I am tempted, tho. But I live out in the sticks where the rednecks will run me down, versus the well educated, in town, that will usually give me space.
We have the "arm length" law. I think it is state wide, not sure. Meaning if some bicycle rider on the side of the road were to stick their arm out, that's how much space you should give them when passing via automobile.
I mean, it's great in concept. But not so great when you still end up being a red stain on the asphalt because people are people.
We have the "arm length" law. I think it is state wide, not sure. Meaning if some bicycle rider on the side of the road were to stick their arm out, that's how much space you should give them when passing via automobile.
I mean, it's great in concept. But not so great when you still end up being a red stain on the asphalt because people are people.
We have a "stay wider of the rider" 1.5 metre law, which I think the cops and coroner would use to charge the driver responsible for my death but its still not gonna help me much then.
Back when I was teaching a friend to ride motorbikes and she said the light was green so she went to accelerate without looking I explained the concept of being "dead right".... that's the attitude I apply to riding any bike on the road.
Exactly. I think it's kind of humorous that mountain biking is considered an extreme sport, but plenty of people wearing nothing more than spandex will go roll the dice every weekend on the same windy, hilly country roads that every kid with a rice rocket / techbro with a Lambo are going on to "test" their ride. Usually while texting and/or livestreaming their driving "skills."
I commute about 70 miles per day in a pickup, so I get a pretty good view down into peoples' cars. The amount of people still on their fucking phones is appalling, to say nothing about the idiots weaving through traffic at 40 mph over the speed limit. I hate riding a bike for any length of time on any road with cars on it. FTS, I'll take my chances with trees and rocks that aren't moving.
I commute about 70 miles per day in a pickup, so I get a pretty good view down into peoples' cars. The amount of people still on their fucking phones is appalling, to say nothing about the idiots weaving through traffic at 40 mph over the speed limit. I hate riding a bike for any length of time on any road with cars on it. FTS, I'll take my chances with trees and rocks that aren't moving.
What you are hearing is the actual sound of grip. Like sandpaper.
^^^ Exactly. I stopped arguing with my roadie colleagues at work. They just don't get it.
I keep telling them that I greatly prefer collecting (relatively minor) injuries while I'm in command on my mountain bike. Ending up with my brain splattered on the road after getting hit by a Karen texting or fixing her hair while driving sounds like a shit way to end my life. Redneck assholes throwing empty cans/bottles and cigarette butts at me while I ride my bike are also situations I like not happening to me.
Last edited:
This thread is now what's wrong with the industry
Another thread for people who don't even own. Nevermind ride a particular type of bike to moan about riding that particular type of bike?
Just seems very very Ridemonkey to me.
For the record, I do own a road bike. Always have, always will.
I just think it is way more dangerous than mountain biking. The chance of dying on the road due to someone elses fault is very real. In the mountain, you'd have to be very unlucky, to say the least.
I just think it is way more dangerous than mountain biking. The chance of dying on the road due to someone elses fault is very real. In the mountain, you'd have to be very unlucky, to say the least.
Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame inductees announced
The seven inductees will be honored at a ceremony ahead of Unbound Gravel.
www.velonews.com
The problem with laws like that is that they aren't really enforceable, there's not a cop out there following every rider and if they happen to see something, it's likely they won't even do anything unless the rider is actually hit. Those laws are meant to be post-getting-hit, one more thing they can "tack on" to say "well, obviously the car was less than arms length if it hit you, and that's against the law, so there!".
Yeah. Our perception of danger is personal and based on our own fears, experience and pre-conceptions. Do you think you feel safer when mountainbiking partly because you do that more?
I commute on the road in traffic a minimum of eight journeys of between 10-20 miles each every week and happen to feel pretty safe when doing so. So much so that I choose not to ever even wear a helmet.
I'd say you also have to be pretty unlucky to die while cycling on the road.
Did you realise per billion miles travelled, more pedestrians are killed than cyclists?
But over here approximately 60% of the UK public consider cycling on the road too dangerous a risk to take.
What you are telling me is that they never break the law. I think that's a different matter than making a law and having to enforce it to ensure it's not broken. What you are talking about wouldn't even require a law, if they are trained from the get-go not to do that.
It's like trying to enforce not using a cell phone in the car. Unless they make it physically impossible, as in the phone can't do it, people will do it. There's a good chance they'll get away with it, more than a good chance, pretty much a near certainty.
That's really it, we have no control over vehicles.
When I'm driving and I see how many idiots drive with their body in the center of the road, basically with the right side of their vehicle on the bike lane line, I know there's no hope. All it takes is for one of these assholes to be distracted by a text, their vehicle, food, whatever-it happens all the time. The cyclist never stands a chance.
How would you know if the law is followed?
What exactly? How are they measuring this?
Well that explains a lot. I mean, really, it explains nothing, but I think that was the point...
I'm road bike bombing some descents in Switzerland today and you can bet my seat will be all the way down. Probably putting a dropper on this bike in the next year.
I have a few local road DH KOM’s (now trophies) on Teton Pass/Old Pass Road, I never even thought about installing a dropper…(maybe because it is a D-post, it never crossed my mind as a possibility)
I'm (unfortunately) riding on the roads doing hill climbs this time of the year getting ready for Whiskey Off Road. So at least 3x a week. Luckily, it's a pretty short season for me. There's a few gravel races I do that share roads for a bit and have traffic. If I'm just trying to get miles, I'll stick to the paths and stay off the roads. For the hill climbs I go to a few select roads in low speed areas where I know traffic isn't bad or overly dangerous. There are plenty of places that I won't ever try riding on the road due to how dangerous the traffic is, in addition to when I see someone riding on the road when there is a perfectly good BIKE path set apart from the road. I'll never understand that one.
Funny that's the example of extreme position. Her bars are barely lower than her saddle. You want to see a good 10-11" drop to know a roadie means business:As a mountain biker, you're simply not conditioned to being bent over ready to take the seat up your {insert body part here}. Give it time, you'll come around.
Heck, my XC bike has more bar drop, do you even uphill sista?
Given how many cars hit and kill pedestrians and cyclists around here...it's at least monthly, I'd rather be part of the problem of not getting killed.
Gary, how many drams tonight, eh?
You loowkin’ for a FIGHT
You loowkin’ for a FIGHT
