Gosh, almost as if cyclists need safe spaces to ride. How about we just drastically reduce the number of 2 ton deathmachines on the roads.
Why
Seriously, go look at a notjustbikes video
Can’t
Loads of reasons really, but let’s start with reductions to rates and severity of asthma in children.
Nah
Living in a big Dutch city. Cyclists just be like: I have to be careful not to hit any more dumb suicidal tourists. For fuck sake, I have had to repair my bike twice this week already.
And in these modern times everyone needs to be careful of young kids on fat bikes.
Fuckin’ tourists. Get off the fietspad! And I wish they would just say no e-bikes for under-16.
Yeah, plus no fat bikes at all!
Why no fat tires? I’m thinking about getting some just because they look easier to maintain
Then get one at the black market because then you pay what they are worth. Also, they are perfect if you like to maintain your bike, as you have to do it often. They break down often, especially breaks. Easy to maintain? No. Lots of sensor errors, software issues, etc. It’s fancy looking (well, I find them ugly AF) Chinese junk which have increased accidents exponentially since they arrived on the market. Next to that they are getting banned now, with Amsterdam as a first banning them at certain places. They also want to change regulations to make helmets mandatory for them and raise the minimum age.
Want an electric bike? Get a non-smart one. No Vanmoof or anything like that. They are junk (I had one, they are awful and insanely overpriced).
Best advice I can give you is a Gazelle or similar brand, with a Bosch middle motor (so not in the wheels, as they suck). They are easy to maintain, don’t have weird electronics hidden in impossible places, no smart mullshit which requires an app or the bike won’t work, normal commercial off the shelf parts you can get anywhere.
why would they be easier to maintain?
Because they should get fewer flats. Larger surface area and all that.
That mKes it more likely to get flats though.
Larger surface area surely increases the risk as there is more area that could run over glass shards.
I have 700x35, or 38, can’t remember. Had 1 flat on the front wheel in the entire lifespan of the outer tread. Second outer tyre now and nothing so far.
i’ve got 20 and 24 inchers and i live in goats head country. i cannot keep them inflated for the life of me. I am this close to just putting solid rubber blocks on my wheels
Meaning more surface area to hit something sharp. Yeah the larger area means lower pressure on the contact surface but I don’t think that’s the deciding factor in whether something punctures your tire. Best way to prevent punctures is tougher tires rather than larger ones. The lower pressure just helps with stuff like loose gravel or sand.
There are also puncture self repairing tires now. They have a gel like layer on the inside which gets pushed out into the hole sealing it. I have them and haven’t had a flat in over 5 years.
Everyone warned me about the bikes in Amsterdam when I went to visit. When I got there and stepped outside for the first time, oh yeah the bike lane is painted a different colour to the pavement so I will walk on the pavement bit. Hang on, how the fuck do people struggle with this?
I have some sympathy here for the tourists. You know how you can identify a tourist very easily? They are looking upward or even pointing upward while looking upward. The walking goes on automatic as the slightly tilted facades and red windows draw attention. Difficult to see the color of the fietspad if you aren’t ever looking downward.
What about fat kids on young bikes?
Fat kid is child abuse (unless medical condition) and the young bike needs to be rated for the weight otherwise it’s also child abuse (/jk). But older bikes usually have steel wheels while younger bikes have aluminium bikes, so the weight capacity is larger with older bikes (not that it matters for kids though, but it does matter when having someone on your luggage carrier).
My issue is if you want to bike in the streetlike a car, then you have to obey car rules. Like stopping at stop lights and stop signs. If you want to ride on the sidewalk then you have to obey pedestrian rules, like crossing at the correct times. Thr number of cyclists I’ve seen blow through stop signs and stop lights is staggering.
Man, it’s almost as if we need a third thing. A sort of, road for bicycles (or long, skinny concentration camp, if you prefer) which is suited to bicycling without getting in the way. Get those bloody cyclists off our roads and footpaths, those are for us!
Dutch people: “both of those are dumb and dangerous”
A significant portion of accidents involving cyclists is from others not paying enough attention to them - which can be mitigated by proper bike infrastructure.
Unfortunately we cannot mitigate the recklessness of cyclists this way, another big contributor to the accident statistics.
Some places you don’t have to. Here, a stop sign is a yield for bikes, and a red light is a stop sign, legally. It works really well imo.
to be fair, it’s not like fewer cyclists are following the rules than drivers
When cycling like a pedestrian here, such as on a shared bike/footpath, you do follow pedestrian rules at crossings. So lights are only advisory and you may cross at any time if you want to.
angry boomer noises
When I’m not biking I drive a delivery truck and make sure I stop for and/or let pass every cyclist in order to drive every other car brain on the road insane and it gives me great pleasure.
my mindset when biking now is mostly to inconvenience bad drivers as much as possible and ensure that if they hit me it results in as much damage to their car as I can without harming myself.
I will aggressively take my right of way. one of the most common places is a bike crossing nearby where drivers routinely blow the stop line on their red light - I start up quickly so that if they blow the stop and go into the crossing, I may not be able to stop before crashing into them (you often can’t see them approaching the stop line because they are behind traffic in the middle lane). I don’t mind my shitty bike taking some damage if it leaves them with a dented door panel. another common occurrence is roundabouts - drivers vastly underestimate the speed at which a bike can navigate a tight roundabout, and they routinely cut me off. unfortunately, I’ve avoided collisions every time that a driver has nearly hit me, because my reaction is to not get hurt. but god damn did I ever want to slam into some of those cars and leave a lasting impression
I feel you but you only have only one fragile body.
I spent months of horror and multiple hospitalisations because I braked too hard on my bike at low speed, didn’t fall but landed too hard on the saddle. My username comes from that horrendous experience.
Of course it was because a car ran a red light, that was hidden to the inattentive car driver by a truck parked like an asshole.
There’s a shitload of studies showing that cars break far more rules than bikes everywhere it has been measured. You don’t have to put your body in the line to make a point.
Please just be safe for your own sake. You certainly deserve it.
thankfully my reflexes still prioritize my own safety, and most times I leave a near collision pissed off at the shitty driver and regretful that I couldn’t leave them a lasting mark. but when I get to the chance to, say, let my cargo bike basket scrape a car that pushed me into the curb, I’m gonna try to take it.
and thankfully (?) my health issues are unrelated to biking injuries (at least, unrelated to sharing the road with drivers — I’ve got a completely self-inflicted road injury from long ago and injuries from mountain biking lol).
*Drivers: I have to be careful by not texting gibberish or not watching this entire 7 second TikTok clip
Yeah… I hate to say it but cyclists take to the sidewalks in my neighborhood even though we have bike lanes everywhere. Obviously they are trying to be safer from cars which I can’t fault them for, but they do become a danger to pedestrians. Basically pedestrians are in a lose lose situation. Unless we want to start counting the bugs they step on.
Today, while I had the green light, had another car blatantly run a red light and almost hit me. I turned left to catch up with him, pounded on his window and told him he was a jackass. When he rolled his window down I recognized him as a state assembly member. Hoping he doesn’t recognize me when he eventually calls the HR office because he’s at the dentists office and doesn’t have his insurance card because he’s a fucking spoiled man-child.
I live! I die! I live again!
Cyclists: every pavement is a shared space if you’re going fast enough.
I’ve had two bicyclists run a red light right in front of me as I was pulling out on a green.
One was horrified and apologic.
The other yelled at me for almost hitting him.
This is me but only bc I’m bad at biking lmaoooo
Pedestrians don’t even look up from their fucking phones when they cross the road. I even saw a dude doing it while pushing a pram once.
why would I need to?
my crossing signal turned green and I glanced both ways before stepping out. there’s no need for me to be constantly aware as I cross, nobody should be driving at me.
You’re more trusting than I am.
Edit: I’m hoping it’s sarcasm
I see it all the time and I can’t stand it. It’s not even cars, sometimes a sidewalk is lifted, low tree branch, literally any number of potential hazards in the way, and people are just letting iPhone Jesus guide them through life.
Anyone driving a car has already made the decision that their minor convenience is worth the possible death of someone they don’t know and also worth the definite degradation of the shared environment everyone needs to live.
Expecting such a person to give any more of a fuck about the people around them than is necessary to avoid the “hassle” of hitting a pedestrian or cyclistsl is a laughable concept.
Good people don’t drive cars as personal transportation.
Honestly, this is such a fucking privileged take that it hurts. How do you expect people to get to work? I cannot bike 25 miles to work in 107F heat. I will literally die. I fully support making cities completely walkable, and making public transportation make more sense. I also can see that tons of GOOD people only own cars because they have to. Cyclists, however, always seem to have a stick up their ass while also unapologetically breaking every road rule as they cry about car people. I think at least half of the times I’ve collided with something while skateboarding, its been a bicycle. I dont automatically assume that every cyclist is a bad person, even though my anecdotal evidence seems to support it.
this is such a fucking privileged take that it hurts.
From where I’m sitting the privilege belongs to the people making zero changes to their daily lives in response to climate change. Why the fuck do think it’s ok to live 25 miles from work? Why not move? Bcs it would be inconvenient, got it.
People should not live in places where a car is required. Unless they are doing jobs that have to be done outside of the city. You wanna live like a modern hermit? Ok, but you need to get a job working on a farm, in a mine, or at a logging camp.
Otherwise, move your ass to a denser area with good transit or stop pretending that anything but selfishness and a desire to avoid inconvenience motivated you to stay in suburbia.
Good citizens don’t have such absolutist takes like this. I hope you see how this attitude is just as dumbed as someone who thinks cars are the only solution.
“People should just move.” 🤯🤯
My guy, the people I know that actually cycle, and are about that life, are either privileged enough to exist in a neighborhood that has enough tax funds to bother with any cycling infrastructure (see: privilege, biking is more convenient in these areas) or are so beaten down by the system they cannot purchase a vehicle, maintenance, insurance, and biking is their only option.
You are not only shifting the responsibility of climate change from the uber wealthy to the average citizen trying to not starve themselves or their families in this capitalist hellscape (that doesn’t disappear by the good feels of well meaning people), but are detached from reality while doing so.
I’m guessing you’re not part of any active revolution against your state to change things because it’s inconvenient and bitching about normal people gives you some comfort that you’re actually doing something… but even though the odds are against you, I recommend you go try and change the world from the top with those grandiose ideals, those slim odds are higher than whatever it is you’re doing.
I hope you see how this attitude is just as dumbed as someone who thinks cars are the only solution.
Nope. Bcs at worst I’m annoying some people who’ve embraced ecocidal narcissism. Carbraims are people who are embracing ecocidal narcissism. If you don’t see the difference there, I don’t think there’s much hope for you.
I drive 25 miles to work because I cant afford to move closer. Closer would mean property values skyrocketing and quadrupled rent. I have a very specialized skill set and these jobs do not exist everywhere, but unfortunately I’m also not making six figures. There is also basically no public transit in my state, city or not. Hard to believe if all you’ve known is big city privilege, but there’s a whole world of people like me and your utopian fantasy cant work for us unless someone foots the bill.
Maybe instead of attacking people who drive cars, you could focus that energy on the giant corporate polluters who are the ACTUAL cause of our climate crisis and show absolutely no signs of letting up. I think youd be surprised to learn that you and I probably agree on what needs to be done, and yet here you are angry at me for some bullshit that makes no difference in the bigger picture.
There is also basically no public transit in my state, city or not.
And yet you still choose to live there. That’s the problem.
Hard to believe if all you’ve known is big city privilege,
And as hard as it is to believe with terminal carbrain, I grew up in the suburbs and lived for a while in rural Appalachia before moving to “the big city”. And it was a sacrifice to move here, it sucked for a few years. But now I don’t have to destroy the environment to get to and from work. You should try it. When nobody is willing to stay and pay taxes in car dependent shit holes, the assholes who run them will start “footing the bill” for decent transit infrastructure. Til then, staying just means you value your convenience over a habitable planet just like every other carhole on Earth.
Get off the internet.
Get a bus pass
No, my bike is cheaper, and depressingly, faster.
No, get off the internet and learn empathy. People exist outside of your pre-constructed idea of how the world should work. Get off the internet and go talk to people. Stop posting in that stupid brainwash cult.
Which ones would you like me to talk to. The family of the guy killed by a speeding driver when he was walking out of a supermarket down the road from my house? How about my former neighbour who is still in pain while walking because of a reckless driver.
Or should I talk to the children who are seeing improved lung function after measures were brought in to reduce traffic and lower emissions?
Translation: it really hurts my feelings when you point out all the factual reasons relying on a pollution powered people crusher for my personal transportation is bad for society and the environment, please stop!!
Edit: no empathy for ecocidal narcissists. Learn some basic human decency before you go asking for empathy from others.
You’re either a troll or just a chronically online teenager because you don’t have any world experience if you’re spouting nonsensical buzzwords together to make yourself feel better about some half-cobbled together idea based on a world that exists only in your mind.
I’m not engaging with you any further. Grow up.
Translation: I still can’t rebut anything you actually said, but I hate how it made me feel, so I’m going to dismiss it and stick my head back in the sand now.
