Bicycle Blog Cyclelicious

Bike Hut on Tunitas Creek Road is officially open! Even more about the Bike Hut and other Potrero Nuevo Farm activities. Rain cover bicycle rack Nice, but I thought that's what the motel shower caps were for. Looks a little over-engineered to me! Plastic bag and a rubber band works just as well :)

- ozz Wow, cool. I would built a rain cover for my head, but thats just me :) First thought is that there must be a lot more leather saddle people there. Second is that there is what looks like an umbrella loop (I know, it's for locking the seatpost/rear wheel/saddle but hey...) on the post holding the rain cover. thats minor compared to my bicycle canopy, it waterproofs and weatherproofs the whole rider and bike at the same time and even while travelling from the top of the head to the top of the legs and compltete hand and arm coverage as well!
see my design plan kit to build yuor own on your own bike at home:
jillnerkowski.weebly.com Dana Point bike lane Awesome signage! Now they need one to tell the cyclists to look out for signs! Is it real or is it Photoshop? Maybe they were worried that if they put it between the road and the bike lane somebody in a car would hit it? Did they not expect cyclists to use that lane?? This is definitely real. I passed this segment of Highway 1 at around 8pm one night. If anything, the sign should read "Watch for cars" as cyclists are forced to ride around it. Unreal. But totally believable that someone would do that. Here's the explanation. The sign belongs to the new median construction contractor who was warning vehicles of the median construction and lane narrowing further up ahead. Coincidentally, the City was also installing new bike lanes on PCH. The bike lane striping subcontractor striped the bike lanes at night and then moved the other contractor's sign to the location you see it. (Not smart.)The City inspector then noticed the sign and had it moved. The good news is that the majority of PCH is now stiped in Dana Point. The striping was done in concert with the California Association of Bicycling Organizations who reviewed the plans.
PW Director and fellow cyclist Thanks to the Public Works director for being on top of the situation - and thanks to him for giving CABO a chance to review the plans, even though we agreed to disagree on some of the plans. Ah, thanks for the explanation. That makes sense and props to Dana Point on this. Stupidest bike lane followup Imagine if Main Street or Mary Peter's favorite highway was designed this way. You think, just maybe, it would be headline news?
Bottom line: Cyclists get no respect.
Jack ...oh god...i shouldn't laugh at the plight of we, the beleaguered cyclist but you're quite right, that is funny stuff... Bike Lanes Become Traffic Battleground:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/04bikes.html?hp

Respect? Law enforcement?
Jack Thanks for posting this. Strangely enough, the very first example in the video is right by my house here in LA, and I ride on all 275 feet of it every day on my way back home. Unfortunately, this whole city is full of half-assed "bike lanes" just like it. Guess it's time to move back to the Bay Area... Stupid bike lanes Traffic lights and bicycles: The technical explanation I'm sure he can make it work for my 32 pound steel Gary Fisher mtb which I use as a commuter. But how about my friend's 16 pound carbon-frame wonderbike? I asked Bob-the-traffic-engineer. According to him, the wheel material is the important part, so metal wheels should be fine. If your friend has carbon wheels, though, he's out of luck.

For carbon wheels, Bob suggests winding a thin insulated copper wire around the rim (under the tire) a couple of times and splicing/soldering the ends together so it makes a continuous circuit. Hey, how 'bout this idea? Lose traffic lights?

Red lights "CORK" flow. Motorists speed between the lights, just to catch the red.

Solution: Allow continuous, CONTROLLED flow at the intersections, and REDUCE speed limit within city limits to 25 mph. Until most traffic lights are designed better, you might try the idea in this video to get lights to turn green. It involves attaching a neodymium magnet low on your bike.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/987/ I think most cyclists are aware of these magnets. Since the poster is anonymous, I'm a little suspicious about the spammish nature of the link. Please disclose your relationship to the advertiser in the informercial. I truly don't mind if you ARE the advertiser as long as you're honest about it. I wondered if strong magnetic fields on my bike or shoe would frig up anything important, like my personal electronic gadgets, or make me suddenly veer toward steel posts holding up road signs and traffic signals. Okay, maybe I don't worry about the latter, but somewhat about the former. If I toss my magnetized shoe down next to something I don't want to worry about side effects.

At the few lights I deal with here in the back woods I just wait for a "red light buddy" to drive up or go ahead and run the light (with all due caution). Logged in this time. I posted the ecogeek video link. I found it during my own searches after hearing about the magnet idea elsewhere. There are several lights along my usual riding routes that don't trip green for me, and I am sick of rolling up onto the curb to push the crosswalk button. To cafiend, you should definitely keep these things away from electronics. Thanks Brutus; sorry about my suspicious nature!

Someday I intend to try these magnets in a methodical manner. Brian suggested using a magnet to trip actuated traffic signals.

Sorry, but a loop detects conducting metal. They work like the metal detectors people use to find coins at the beach. Of course, a loop at a traffic actuated signal needs a larger piece of metal than a coin, but not more massive, such as the bottom of a car.

A piece of conducting metal causes an decrease in the inductance of the loop and therefore an increase in the resonant frequency of the oscillator circuit in the detector. Sorry, but there is no way that a permanent magnet can cause a change in the inductance of a loop in an oscillator circuit. Just ask any electrical engineer or physicist.

So you want to try a magnet anyway but can't tell when you have been detected by a loop at a signal? Buy a metal detector at your local outdoor store and see if it detects your magnet. I would be curious to learn what you find out.

If you really want to increase your chance of being detected at a traffic signal, then wrap several turns (the more turns the better) of insulated magnet wire (try Radio Shack) around your front wheel and splice the ends together, insulating the splice. You can use thin magnet wire (size does not matter) under the rim tape of a clincher rim with electrical tape around the splice. Then stop with your front wheel directly over the slot of a loop, if you can see it. If you cannot see the loop, then stop about 3 feet from the edge of a 12 foot travel lane. Or you can try asking your local friendly traffic engineer to paint a bicycle detector symbol over the loop slot.

If you cannot see the loop slots, do NOT stop in the middle of the lane!!! That is where most loops are LEAST sensitive to vertical pieces of metal such as a bicycle wheel. (There is an exception with figure-8 shape loops, but if you can't see the loop, how do you know what shape it is?) Bike lane passing lane I often think about why we will never reach the same level of acceptance of the bicycle in our culture as lets say... china or copenhagen

part of the issue is that cyclists are looking for exercise in their commute
instead of just plugging along

the great collections of one speed bikes move at roughly the same speed
no one looking to break a sweat
no one training for anything

that is part of what makes it work

in our US culture there is such a wide variety of riding styles that a mass of cyclists can be a dangerous thing

this passing lane is a good idea Motorist's brilliant suggestion to improve bike lanes At least that person means well... I think. I think this shows you the level of people out there. Bicyclist are second class citizens, its obvious by the way people treat us and the laws that protect us (or lack there of). John Forester speaks at Google do you work at google? Looked pretty clear in the books to me - It's a trail. They don't have to make it useful or safe. Heavens, why would they want to be responsible for that ?!? It's not like we're drivers or anything... Cycle paths are NOT cycle lanes. To spend legal funds to change the original purpose is self-defeating. But of course many things John attempts to support damages the integration of cycling into our transportation solutions.

Forester's perceptions and observations on how history has dictated our transportation layout is accurate in some respects but misleading in others. No doubt STOP signs are overused and thus the CA stop is dominant. His attempts to question with questions or with "have you ever heard of a scientific study on it" would apply to many of his personal observations as well.

John's prescriptions and idea are a product of an era in our history that created some peculiar solutions. His take and interpretations are understandable but misleading... many "counter-actions" were from that period. In the USA, the car culture has become so dominant that it is hard for "experts" like John to think constructively any longer.

Euro-cities are purposely designed to be not auto-centrict. Yes many people there are "in love with cars" and they are becoming more prevalent. However, city planners there continue to favor cyclists and pedestrians as they recognize the value of people and culture in improving quality of life issues.

John also claims that bike lanes don't increase cycling. This is obviously incorrect as proven by Bogota and other cities. As pointed before, leadership exhibited by such men as Enrique Penalosa, has transformed transportation through the use of bike lanes, bike paths and other infrastructure decisions.

Rational policy making benefits all road users. This is the purpose of "complete streets" and I suggest that is what you should be linking to increase the level of debate and understanding.

Jack I know Forester has his own agenda, but this suit was funded and supported by the California Association of Bicycling Organizations, the California Bicycle Coalition, and the League of American Bicyclists. The leaders of these groups have put aside their animosity towards Forester in this case.

The public has been led to believe that Bike Paths (Class 1 bikeway transportation routes, paved and separated from car traffic) are built with safety in mind partly because California Highway Code establishes minimum safety standards for Bike Paths. But the reality is that municipalities such as the City of Los Angeles are hiding from their responsibility behind a claim that Bike Paths built for transportation are the same as unpaved trails opened for recreation. People are being baited by the promise of a safe Bike Path, but switched to the “ride at your own risk” exposure of an undeveloped trail.

See for details on why California cyclists supported Prokops suit. Fritz,

Thanks for the link to the Appeal and I look forward to reading it.

I wish CA cyclists well and hope issues of responsibility can be made "clearer" by the case. Too often local municipalities use immunity when in fact they have been aware of problems for many years.

Jack

P.S. A recent case in Kansas City Mo about a pedestrian being killed and the city held liable can be found here:
http://www.courts.mo.gov/courts/pubopinions.nsf/ccd96539c3fb13ce8625661f004bc7da/d7393a58aba3b8e7862572ce004f45d7?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,bicycle Thanks Fritz for posting this. Any reader of his Effective Cycling--as I had the misfortune to do (well, as much as I could stomach) when I was certified as a League Cycling Instructor (LCI#1237)--understands Mr. Forester's tendency to massage facts in support of his "old paradigm" argument, which is becoming increasingly marginal and obsolete. Mr. Forester is an engineer, not a political scientist. He may have contributed to bicycling knowledge, but he contributes nothing to bicycling advocacy.

One example in this Google presentation is his overly quick dismissal of Davis, a city where I presently am employed. (Me thinks he doth protest too much!) Many college communities in the U.S. have similar demographics to Davis; none have similar infrastructure, none have a similar rate of bicycling mode share (even with some erosion in recent years.)

His understanding of how Davis became so bike friendly seems rather curious. Taking an aside from one of the city's early advocates--citing no public on-record comment--Mr. Forester suggests the goal was motorist protection from an invasion of pedaling hippies. The nation's first bike lane effort was intended to benefit motorists, he suggests. I don't find this credible; the result certainly hasn't benefited motoring in Davis: streets that dead-end for cars but allow through passage for bikes, generally minimal street widths (no 8-lane streets typical in other CA communities), the large campus area closed to vehicles, etc.

In general, I'm hugely skeptical of Mr. Forester's overall history: I doubt the highway lobby barely considered cyclists at all in the 1950s and 1960s. Freeways were the priority, not streets cleared of bicyclists. He seems to have taken comments from certain nefarious local traffic engineers in the 1960s and concocted a national conspiracy out of it.

One of the greatest deficiencies of Forester's argument is its exclusive focus on traveler behavior curb-to-curb. The larger bicycling environment doesn't seem to concern Forester at all. Bicycling enhancing factors such as trees, secure parking, multimodal transit access, close neighborhood retail, preventing sprawl (which extends distances between destinations), traffic calming, cultural encouragement--all serve to enhance the relative appeal of bicycling but don't incite much interest from Mr. Forester.

But what is most troublesome with Mr. Forrester is his general pessimism about the possibility of tackling America's auto-addiction, a pessimism shared by his thankfully diminishing number of acolytes. I don't share that pessimism. My optimism leads me to advocacy, which means coalition building. And this means making friends with advocates for transit, pedestrians, livable communities, historical preservation, wildlife, the environment, neighborhoods, children, and others. In short, we need to challenge car culture, not capitulate.

Certainly recent trends--energy costs, pollution, obesity, traffic frustration, growing demand for transit, objection to sprawl, etc.--mean it's easier to make the argument against auto-dependent transportation today than it was in the 1950s or 1960s. We need advocacy to meet this opportunity, not a lot of backward-looking sound and fury signifying nothing. Seattle to increase bike lanes 800% seattle cyclists such as myself can't wait for this to go through! of course it hasn't been without hiccups already; at the first few 'town hall' meetings on this topic, cycling cleats weren't allowed in the building! hopefully the organizers will get more in touch with actual cyclists..

btw the link in the article points to gmail, here's the original: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/309232_rudebikers28.html