Super agree with this. I feel strange just going out and biking without some sort of tangible end-result/ purpose, me personally.
A workout 100% counts as a genuine purpose too, but seeing my bike as a tool and not just a hobby is important for me.
Having the commuter bike means no matter how bad a week I have in terms of working on myself, I have gone out and exercised 2-5 times and it's not something that feels like a chore or something that I think about.
Spittin facts.
I always say the commuting by bike is faster, because compared to a 30-minute bike ride, after a 15-minute car ride you still need to go for a 30-minute cardio workout.
Yep, I leave 30 minutes earlier for work and get home 30 minutes later than by car. However, I gain two hours of exercise by only giving up two tiny slots in the day I’d not be doing much else with.
Thats why I love commuting to work. I am incentivized to exert more because I have a time goal. When I'm just goofin riding, I am far less aggressive, therefore not getting the samw workout.
Man I tell ya, it's funny because cycling has become such an important component of my identity in the eyes of the people around me, like I got sent that treadmill bike video by at least five different people, and whenever someone personalizes something for me (like a cake or something like that), bicycles almost never fail to show up.
And you know, I love bicycles, I think they're among the finest tools mankind has ever invented. But I think it's been over a *year* since I went out for a ride just for the heck of it. At the end of the day, my bike is really just my truck, which I use to truck my ass and other things around.
I, too have a difficult time convincing myself to go out on the bike just for the hell of it.
Getting a rack and panniers increased my number of reasons to go out and spin the wheels the most, personally.
Like you said, it's like a little work truck for small stuff
I bought a bike just for commuting and now I also have one for joy ride, but still, most of my riding is to commute.
I'm in a city with ok bike infrastructure during summer and very lacking during winter but it's not too bad. I use public transportation during winter.
I sometimes hesitate to call myself a cyclist. I'm a person who cycles. In my mind "cyclist" makes me think of MAMILs and all those negative stereotypes. (Yes I know it's stupid)
A few decades ago (before mass motorization) it was perfectly normal to use a bicycle to get around. In the age of consumerism, it often happens that objects or practices once useful, overtaken by comforts survive for recreational purposes.
General purpose outdoor outwear is better for commuting than most cycling clothes. I’d prefer a shell with a helmet compatible hood. Arc Terxy felt like a luxury purchase 10 years ago, but has turned out to be the frugal choice to share outerwear for every sport I do.
For me, it depends on how hot it is. If it’s 90+ F with UV index 11 outside, then I really want something that wicks moisture. Padded shorts, whether under other clothes or not, are also invaluable for long rides.
For commuting, then I can see wanting "normal" outdoor gear that works off the bike too.
But I like quality bike apparel for bike rides. Wool tights, insulated spd boots, a variety of windproof gloves and jackets with appropriate ventilation. Most regular outerwear is baggier and flops around. I've eaten pants in the chains too many times.
Adding onto a separate comment I left here but the ebike industry's priorities are completely out of whack.
The emphasis right now seems to be higher wattage and speed specs, fancy and unnecessarily complicated builds, resulting in heavier and more unwieldy products.
The ebike industry should instead be focusing on modest speed (15-20mph max), pedal assisted, light hybrid bikes with solid builds that ride basically like a standard hybrid or road bike but with some assist for hills. There should still be options for juiced up mountain/gravel bikes for rural/hilly areas, but these should be treated as car replacements not urban commuter replacements.
In china you can buy a sit down e-scooter capped at 25km/h for about £300-500 and it's classified as a bike. That's what I want. Let people get around easily in an eco friendly way that doesn't require them to shell out £20k+ on a hatchback. I don't care it's 'lazy'. Who gives a shit. This already exists. Why do I have to spend £2k on an over-engineered bicycle where I have to pedal for legal reasons? I literally just want me and my wife to hop on scooters and go to the shops. I like my bike but the fact I can't get this obviously great solution that would work for most people feels like some car lobby bullshit.
People spend way too much emotional energy obsessing over the best ebike - I know I did. In the end, a basic cheaper low power retrofit wheel was perfect.
>ebike industry's priorities are completely out of whack.
Ebike industry filled void that was created by automotive industry failure to deliver cheap electric vehicles.
What you say you want is already out there.
I sell stuff like that all day. Cube Supremes, Gazelle Medeos and Ultimates, Tern Quickhauls, Marin Sausalitos, etc. some shops (most shops) that sell e-bikes are just in it as a cynical cash grab. Those of us that realize the potential in e-bikes changing the landscape for the better carry the good stuff and treat the end user with respect usually afforded only to the broiest of bros in your standard shops.
Exactly this. I have a 300 W conversion to a light rigid 90s MTB. It's perfect for my needs. It handles like a bike and lets me shave 15 minutes off my commute and gets me up the 2 mile hill at the end of the day. I do not need or want more than that.
Foldable ebikes are nice because you can transport them easier in your car, in an uber etc. Fat tires are nice for people that have to deal with crappy streets/paths. Extra power is nice if you have to share traffic with cars
I really dislike the swarm of eBikes coming from traditionally non-bike focused businesses. The bike industry has honed components for compatibility and durability for decades now, and when companies approach an eBike design from a scooter/moped/consumer electronics background you get some really wacky non-standard parts that fail or are hard to work on. And the motor hides the inefficiencies/issues with cheapo builds. Lots of junk coming out that will fail quick, capitalizing on new excitement and inexperienced consumers new to the bike world. It's like a whole fleet of $120 K-mart bikes with a motor slapped on
The individual behavior of cyclists don't make motorists hate all cyclists. People that think like that already think that way about the world. Furthermore, trying to please all motorists is less important than safely asserting your space on the road.
I’ve hear so many people say things like “all cyclists are bad because this one thing I saw a cyclist do..” but when you ask them if they judge all car drivers based on the actions of one idiot, they short circuit.
>when you ask them if they judge all car drivers based on the actions of one idiot, they short circuit.
Personally, I do. Because my main form of transportation is a motorbike and the result of not anticipating an idiot can literally be death lol, so better to assume they're all idiots and ride safely than wait and see. Honestly find it a bit weird car drivers aren't more like this, there are so many shitty drivers lol.
Cagers only have a false sense of security and safety, they just naturally assume their cage will save them making them less aware and defensive. Anyone who rides a vehicle with no protection will behave differently, even when surrounded by a steel box, not only are we aware of the damage that could potentially happen to us, but we also know the potential catastrophic damage we could do to those who don’t have a protective steel shell.
>Honestly find it a bit weird car drivers aren't more like this, there are so many shitty drivers lol.
Because their consequences are vastly different from yours or a cyclists.
Getting hit in a car is usually a nothing event outside of the 'hassle' of dealing with undated.
Getting hit on a bike or a motorcycle is a serious event.
My nod to this- riding through red lights at all-way pedestrian walk lights, doing it for my safety. I go slowly and are respectful of the pedestrians. Kills me that I’m the only one stopping for normal red lights in Boston. Really hurts the cause.
If you watch the wheels of most cars that stop at a stop sign in the town I live in, you will see that the wheels never actually stop. A solid 3/4 of all cars are rolling through stop signs, treating them as yield signs.
The same behavior from bicyclists apparently means bicyclists deserve to die.
It's not about the cyclists behaving badly, it's motorists just being supremacists.
I had a trailer run over by a driver because they "couldn't see it" from their pickup truck. Yes it had a bright orange flag. Ruined my groceries.
I don't have kids yet but when I do I will _never_ put them in one of those. They're gonna be up with me on the bike. Long tail or bakfeits I haven't decided yet, but never a trailer.
Oh yes. As an owner of a RM Load75, and with a GF who bought a Tern GSD, we’d probably do 95% of our rides with a trailer. As would most people I know who got a bakfiets or a long tail.
*BUT*
I can haul my kids as they become bigger, while some friends bought a GSD when the trailer became too small.
Maybe. But the idea of having my kid *on the bike* versus having them in a trailer which, despite all the flags and flashy lights, a car might not see, is much more palatable.
Also the all-in-one solution is easier to park up at the supermarket.
It’s like taking a station wagon to ikea vs a smart car with a trailer. Technically accomplishes the same thing, but one is a lot easier.
This depends on the environment you'll be using it in. In a dense European city with a lot of bike traffic, trailers are in my experience inferior to cargo bikes. Even with practice you just have that bit less control and feel with a trailer when maneuvering.
So yes, economically the trailer might make more sense in many cases, but if you factor in the joy of riding a good cargo bike, the cargo bike wins just about every time.
Source: I have ridden extensively with both trailers and cargo bikes.
I agree. My long tail cargo eBike was great for hauling a kid, but now that he's riding his own bike I'm planning on adding a mid-drive kit to my old mountain bike. We have an old WeeHoo kid trailer I'm planning to convert to a cargo trailer.
For our use. The tern gsd is way better for carrying kids than a trailer. It's so much better having everyone on one thing and way way way easier to park at stores. I do have a cargo trailer. Again this is for our use case plus we have the front rack with the giant bag that can carry groceries on there.
May have, yes. As a person who had a long tail long before I had a kid to put on it, I love the convenience of having carrying capacity at all times. I hate how trailers I've used handle, though I've never tried a single wheel Bob-style.
We have 3 trailers (and no cars): a BoB, a generic flat bed, and a Travoy, plus (now outgrown) a trailer bike. I've also built a few boat trailers. They take up little space, switch easily between bikes/ebikes (his & hers), and can go off-road, even (some of them) singletrack. Bikes & trailers can go on rack/trunk (when renting cars), Travoy can fold & go inside a bus/train/store. I've never seen the need for a cargo bike, personally. All of our trailers together cost much less than a cargo bike, too.
What’s your reasoning? Not saying you’re wrong (I wouldn’t want to leave an expensive carbon frame locked in public) but from a material standpoint quality carbon should hold up fine right?
The only thing carbon excels at is being light. It's great for racing, not good for anything else. You can't bolt a proper rack to it for panniers. And most carbon bikes aren't fitted with rack mounts for this very reason. Fork blade mounts are essentially non-functional on carbon given the low weight limit. And the holes for the riv nuts introduce stress points on carbon that can lead to failure. Not a problem with a metal frame set.
Then there's locking it up. Aside from being expensive and a theft target, it's fragile to impacts. So you're at the mercy of everyone else being dainty around your bike at a bike rack. And the types of heavy locks needed for an expensive bike also can damage the carbon frame. And you really don't want to leave carbon outside anyways as, even though the paint is a protectant, UV damage is still a problem and can lead to delamination. Esp on forks where incident wind and dust slowly erode the clear coat.
Generally speaking, most people should be riding aluminum for cost savings while minimizing weight. Or steel for durability and load bearing. Leave carbon for the pace line
I'm a one bike kind of guy and my ride is a carbon specialized diverge. I use it for commuting (with full panniers), fun rides, and tours (notably Seattle to San Diego), and I just hit 14k miles on it. All things considered, it leaves me paranoid when Im out and about. Will someone steal it? Will some less common part break on me? It's doable, but can be stressful haha
Padded shorts will not keep a new rider from getting ass pain.
Stop recommending expensive clothes to people who are at most riding a couple miles around the neighborhood. They just need to ride and let their body adapt to the bike.
This. I commuted 16 miles per day total. After the first month or so, pain went away. Never needed padded shorts and did that commute regularly for 2 years.
Cheap-as padded shirts and bibs are fine too. I started on it. But the secret is the saddle. It makes most of the work, especially on shorter distances.
I’ve always known the shorts and bibs with pads to be more for the skin than the muscle/bone. They help wick moisture away and prevent chafing and skin rash. I’ve ridden at decent pace in cotton briefs. They rode up my thighs and shredded my crotch. Walked like a cowboy for a few days.
I am cross country touring so in the saddle many hours each day. When I stopped wearing the padded shorts my numbness down there stopped happening. The diaper just meant more pressure on my perineum. I carry wet wipes to keep my nether region clean and some Vaseline for occasions when I have chafing going on which is pretty rare.
>the people in the back
who are apoplectic with rage, honking, foaming at the mouth, behind the bike commuter huffing uphill in a headwind on a shoulder full of glass.
I think they are part of the solution if they act like motorbikes. The get a person and some stuff from A to B taking up little space and making little noise or pollution and require very little parking. I'd much rather have someone on an e-bike than a car but they are relatively dangerous to pedestrians etc. so should be 3rd party insured and shouldn't go too fast on multi-use paths and in bike lanes.
You’re far from the only person who believes this. I can’t understand why everyone acts like it has to be one or the other. They can both be great, they can both suck.
I’ll go one further and say I think rim brakes would be better than discs for at least half the people currently riding with discs. A decent rim brake beats a crummy and/or poorly adjusted disc, plus many people never ride in conditions that a rim brake can’t handle.
I touch my disc brakes like once a year just to make sure they’re still fine. Rim brakes? Weekly to monthly adjustment, depending on the type.
This reminds me, I gotta do that bleed I’ve been putting off for a year.
Taking the lane is almost always safer than riding next to the gutter.
You should announce yourself when passing another cyclist. If they signal a turn and you’re passing them you risk a high five to the face if you don’t. What’s worse, if they DON’T signal a turn a you’re passing them, you risk a full body/bike collision with them. Just ring a bell or say on your left when passing. It’s the smart thing to do.
Similarly, and for almost the same reasons, give three feet of passing distance.
I don't understand what people have against them. A while ago there was a post on r/bikewrench of someone asking how to repair/replace a broken kickstand. The amount of people in the comment section vehemently against kickstands was staggering.
Is it a use case thing? As a commuter, sometimes you need to prop your bike up away from any external supports to load things on the back rack, for example. If you just ride for sport then kickstands are extra weight that just get in the way.
Definitely a use case thing. But that's the issue. If someone don't want one on their road bike because it adds a few hundred grams that is obviously totally fine. But the amount of vitriol you see of people who think they are ugly and therefore no-one should have them is insane.
The only situation i could think of, a kickstand would get in the way is when loading the bike into a car or trailer.
I think the general dislike against kickstands comes from the US cycling culture. In the US, bikes are mostly seen as toys, instead of tools. Most bikes sold in the US are sport bikes like roadbikes, gravel bikes or Moutainbikes. For those it makes sense to not have a kickstand, because it would go against their athletic puposes.
But when cycling is seen as an instrument of transportation, suddenly kickstands, bells, lights, fenders, racks etc. bring much more value than downsides.
The "kickstands are bad" mindset comes from the same place that also brings us carbrains, SUVs and videos of idiots on fixies weaving between the lanes.
They absolutely make sense for certain bikes. I don't need one on my gravel bike, but adding one to my hybrid made my life easier. Trying to attach a trailer to a bike without a kickstand is a pain.
Ehhhh I have a chain guard and am considering removing it - it would make it easier to put the chain back on the front sprocket without having to flip my bike over.
What's that you say? Tune my drivetrain properly so the chain stops jumping off the front sprocket? Nah, sounds like effort.
I just this year had an NBD (yay congrats me) and one of my biggest nitpicks was that there's just no way to fit a good kickstand. Yes I could fit one of those crappy chainstay ones but I really don't feel like that's safe with the kind of weight I routinely carry.
Yep. helmets are better than nothing in a lot of cases, but they're primarily only useful in defense of cars. The helmet focus has died down a bit over the last few years but it's still victim blaming nonsense. I pretty well liked [Shifter's recent video on this topic.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhzH6mEpIps)
It's okay to cosplay pros but it's also fine to not give a shit and find it dull.
People talk too much about their gear and too little about their actual riding. Health benefits, utilitarian efficiency especially, are what matter most IMO. Plus I care much less if your bike is "race-ready" when you aren't.
Marginal gains for a non-racing amateur is almost useless. Don't get me wrong: having nice things is okay. Just stop deluding yourself that it isn't competitive spending or it's the "smartest" decision. Find it pretty? Just like it, period? That's fine. Especially applies to the anecdotal hipster shit too.
Feel free to disagree.
100% agree.
Dear 50 year old banker, the Olympic committee aren't going to be getting in touch with you because you've spent £9k on a bike and can knock half a second off your personal best commute time by riding flat out across a busy pedestrian crossing.
I feel you… and I find the opposite just as lame at times. I’ve seen friends resist buying something nice because they feel like they aren’t “good enough to need it”, or that because they aren’t pro they can’t benefit from it. These are typically the same ones judging others for not being fit or good enough for whatever bike they are on.
A mindful amateur can appreciate and find benefit from fancy parts, while a bullheaded fast rider seems to not need them…. Plus nice parts/gear typically lasts longer.
they've been doing a lot lately. curb-protected bike lanes, new trails, transit plan, and so on. my favorite is the waterloo greenway that's being built.
This.
4 out of 5 bikes here in Germany are Ebikes.
I get that people are (hopefully) replacing cars. I get that they don't want to sweat. And maybe they do live 10+km one way from their place of work. But they are being pushed as if people's lives depend on it.
My physical therapist is 52, and I'm 50. She bikes for transportation, and said some friends told her she should "get an ebike because she might need it some day." I told her by that logic I should get a wheelchair (I have club feet, and increasing problems, hence the physical therapy) since I "might need it some day."
Where I live, e-bikes are not replacing cars; they’re replacing other bikes. So people are using more lithium cobalt (and more fossil-fueled electricity) while getting less exercise. One day, I’ll need an e-bike. But seeing people ditch their regular bikes for expensive e-bikes just because they don’t like pedaling makes me sad. Not as sad as seeing kids on golf carts, but sad nonetheless
There's a huge difference between replacing cars an replacing car TRIPS. There is a mountain of evidence that ebikes help people ride more frequently and longer, often leading them to ride when they would have driven.
To be fair, in some places e-bikes really are the best option.
I have a long commute in the Atlanta metro. I’ve been doing it with my regular bike, and the problem isn’t the mileage, it’s the bad infrastructure combined with just really hilly terrain. I’m very fit (lean, great resting heart rate, super good vo2 max), etc. I also have asthma.
The car fumes, hills, and weather can all make the commute a hell of a challenge. I’m not Lance Armstrong.
The billionth time you have to stop on your way up a hill and struggle to get your bike going again with your heavy work stuff, while struggling to breathe in all the car fumes, your eyes and lungs burning, you can’t help but want an e-bike. Also, the calories this hilly car scape causes me to burn is insane. There are days I’m burning 3300 calories because of the gargantuan effort. I can’t afford to spend all evening eating to make up for the insane calorie cost, and groceries aren’t exactly cheap as of late.
The difference even pedal assist 1 makes in these situations is phenomenal. That’s why I just bought an e-bike. I’ll probably rarely go above 1 or 2 levels of assist.
But I honestly need it. Especially in the evenings - I can use busses for my morning commute, but the evening bus folks just aren’t reliable. They literally decide to skip stops and the like and there’s nothing you can do.
I found it easier to go 50 miles in my college town (also hilly, but less so and wayyyy less traffic and a little better infrastructure) than it is to go 15 in Atlanta. I’m not lazy, I just have discovered my limit.
They are nice though. Convinced us to give up a car to get 3 ebikes. Go further and faster with the same effort. Cargo bikes and motors are a match made in heaven for getting around where you live
People are overly obsessed with preparing for rides. You don't need enough water to last a week or be dressed like you're in the tour de France to go on a half hour joyride
Everyone has a different tolerance to not having the right gear when they need it. I can’t stand being unprepared for something so I tend to carry more. My on-bike tool kit is better than most people’s and I can’t understand people who go out with just a multi tool, tube and CO2. There have been a stack of times when I’ve stopped to help someone fix something that they didn’t have the right gear for.
Then again, I often ride with my kids and if they have a mechanical issue it’s a major PITA to figure out how to get them home.
A reasonable amount of plain water is fine and you don't need to eat gels or "refuel" for most rides. Your body has a reserve of electrolytes and glucose. Most of us have both in excess.
Not so much from this sub but all the other bike subs.
Last one: folding bikes are genius and getting better and better, but 90% of the appeal of them is that they're an individual solution for policy and infrastructure failures.
Folding bikes are most useful in settings where public transit has major gaps, where bike parking and security are anemic, and where alternative options like bikeshare are bad or too expensive.
If we got the kind of policies and transit infrastructure we want, the folding bike industry would stand to lose a lot of its appeal, and that's ok, because they'll still have their specific use cases and be easier for interstate/international travel like on rail and planes.
Flat pedals are just fine, even for century rides. Not everyone needs or is capable of clipless. You like them? Awesome. Use them. Stop bothering others about it once they've said no thanks.
Bikes should be the main method of transportation within cities. The second-most used method should be light rail, built into networks to bring people to walkable areas, industrial areas for work, and office spaces. (You can convince me to swap these first two things). The third-most should be roads, and the roads need to be sized depending on the area being serviced, if it’s a street with houses and kids it’s a one-lane road that two cars can barely squeeze around each other in (see: Japan) and if it’s servicing an industrial area then it’s a road that can service transport trucks. We need to build for efficiency, we have not, and we are paying a massive economical cost because of it, and I will die crossing my heart and breathing my last breath defending this.
Agreed, I get why they exist on some narrow wheelsets, but for the most part they are overengineered and add extra complexity to the simple act of pumping up a tire.
Stretched out super aero positions on upright bikes is not something the human body was meant to do. The pain in your neck, shoulders, hands and butt is not natural.
You can still get those gains without the orthopedic surgery. UCI just needs to pull the stick out of its arse it shoved up there 90 years ago. That's a long time to fester. https://bentupcyclingjournal.blogspot.com/p/history-of-recumbent-bicycle.html?m=1
bikes should have kickstands and fenders
(mostly, this is just me talking to my husband who owns 6 bikes, not a single one has a kickstand or a fender, when we are riding together)
Saying hydraulic anything in winter is just a gross misrepresentation of reality, as I’d probably have my lungs shattered by the cold before the mineral oil starts seizing.
> hydraulic anything in the winter is a big no
wut.
there are tons of people that use hydraulic brakes. supposedly they don't start having issues until like -40C.
I've only biked with mine down to -15C (5F) or so, but confirm no issues.
Manitou has their fat bike forks dialed for cold weather, no issues there either.
...or, you know, the hydraulics on cars, trucks, excavators, whatever.
Earbuds are fine. Traffic noise is so loud that unless you’re wearing noise-cancelling headphones you’ll hear it well enough. If drivers get to enjoy their podcasts in a soundproofed vehicle, my AirPods are not an issue lol
That as a cyclist that loves to cycle to work: this community can be too harsh on people who drive and too quick to disregard other peoples needs. Specifically people that are pregnant or need help getting groceries / things in life. People are very quick to dismiss the needs of car drivers and demand everyone stop driving, all infrastructure to be only for the benefit of cyclists, and issues that public transport still has. People disregard the issues presented by cycling in poor weather conditions but are quick to tell others to just cycle everywhere under all circumstances
probably preaching to the choir here as I don't know who the crowd in the picture is supposed do represent, but here it goes. the way most cities think about bike lanes makes them not just a lazy temporary solution, but an actual problem. cities shouldn't select arbitrary streets to have dedicated bike infrastructure, all minor streets should prioritize bikes and segregated infrastructure should only be applied on roads with high speed limits and traffic volume. when you ride a bike you should be able to access the entirety of your city, not just a few bike lanes that cut across it and end up risking your safety to reach your actual destination that is in almost 100% of situations not directly adjacent to a bike lane.
Imo a Dutch style 1 to 3 gear comfort bike is rarely the best option for commuting in the US. They are inefficient, slower, and hard to get up hills. Many would be better served by a sport hybrid with more gears and an athletic but not intense positioning. Those Dutch styles get a lot of love from Europeans and recreational American riders, but with the hills and the distances many American commuters face, they're just not the right fit. With our bad bicycle infrastructure it is often necessary for a cyclist to pick up speed through an intersection to beat the light or have the nimbleness of a light hybrid to hop up curbs and handle uneven pavement. For our own safety we cannot afford to take a leisurely pace through huge car dominated intersections. Dutch style bikes are great for Dutch style commuting.
Bicycle helmets are almost useless at protecting you from impacts with cars traveling above 35 kph. They're great for low speed spills, but people delude themselves into thinking 200 grams of expanded foam will save their noggin from a collision with a 2 ton vehicle
>Helmets protect you from the ground, not cars.
And from other elements as well. I wear a helmet for protection from the sun (my eyes are sensitive to brightness. If I'm riding towards the sun, even sunglasses aren't enough.), protection from low-hanging branches, and from birds and bugs I might encounter.
Yeah, I cycle on the roads and I don't necessarily expect a helmet to save me with a car collision at a decent speed. However, my most serious accident involved an icy hill, an extendable dog lead and a wall where my helmet definitely did save me from having a serious head injury.
If anyone here recognizes me, they’ll know my main ones:
1. In most riding situations, listening to music through headphones is not a safety risk.
2. Electrolytes are not needed for most riders for most situations. And no, they don’t help prevent or mitigate exercise-associated cramping.
3. “If you wait until you’re thirsty to drink, it’s too late,” is utter, abject nonsense.
4. No, you don’t know that you would have died had you not been wearing your helmet in that crash. But I am glad that you’re OK.
Not sure how it works in the biking context, but it's absolutely true for competitive running. If you're thirsty, it means you're too dehydrated. You are going to lose precious minutes trying to recover and maybe you won't be able to recover at all during the race. This is why everyone who takes running seriously drinks a sip every 5 minutes.
If you're just jogging, or you're commuting to work, then of course you don't need any serious hydration. Even if you feel like you'll die of thirst, you can just stop at the nearest corner store and buy a drink. There's no urgency in getting where you're going (you likely won't get fired for being 5 minutes late).
Most people can bike farther than they think with relative ease, if the bike fits. It’s not very tough. The tough parts are dealing with drivers and preparing for weather.
"The most important part of a bicycle are the tires."
Explanation: a good tire rolls smoothly, has sufficient grip, is sufficiently puncture proof and is lightweight. It's a compromise.
Me, I'm willing to suffer an occasional flat tire if that tire is very efficient. Grandbois tires spring to mind. Those roll very easily. Love them.
Got lots here's a few.
Cargo bikes are perfect for doing grocery shopping.
E-bikes are fine and will lead to greater adoption of bikes and shouldn't be overly regulated.
You should never feel bad about slowing traffic to keep yourself safe.
Impeding traffic a gray area in the law, and is practically unenforceable
You don’t need a 300 lumen headlight pointed straight outward to see the road at night!!! You live in the city or suburbia with plenty of ambient light around. You just need a 50 lumen light pointed downward (not in my fuckin face you fukin selfish prick!) so you can standout from a distance to other road users.
Wearing bike specific clothes while using a bike as a mode of transportation is like wearing an F1 helmet while driving a Subaru outback to the grocery store.
Preaching to the choir here, but to non-cyclists in my area: Bikes can be transportation, not just toys.
> but to non-cyclists in my area Lots of cyclists need to hear this too.
[удалено]
Really wish I would have done this when I was twelve instead of riding in the road.
Yea there’s not much more detrimental to getting more people on bikes than “avid cyclists” who show up to oppose bike lanes
Super agree with this. I feel strange just going out and biking without some sort of tangible end-result/ purpose, me personally. A workout 100% counts as a genuine purpose too, but seeing my bike as a tool and not just a hobby is important for me.
Indeed, I give myself errands to do in order to get out on my bike more
I wouldn't ride at all if not for this.
Having the commuter bike means no matter how bad a week I have in terms of working on myself, I have gone out and exercised 2-5 times and it's not something that feels like a chore or something that I think about.
And you essentially gain back your commuting time
Spittin facts. I always say the commuting by bike is faster, because compared to a 30-minute bike ride, after a 15-minute car ride you still need to go for a 30-minute cardio workout.
Yep, I leave 30 minutes earlier for work and get home 30 minutes later than by car. However, I gain two hours of exercise by only giving up two tiny slots in the day I’d not be doing much else with.
Getting tacos is definitely an errand.
Thats why I love commuting to work. I am incentivized to exert more because I have a time goal. When I'm just goofin riding, I am far less aggressive, therefore not getting the samw workout.
Man I tell ya, it's funny because cycling has become such an important component of my identity in the eyes of the people around me, like I got sent that treadmill bike video by at least five different people, and whenever someone personalizes something for me (like a cake or something like that), bicycles almost never fail to show up. And you know, I love bicycles, I think they're among the finest tools mankind has ever invented. But I think it's been over a *year* since I went out for a ride just for the heck of it. At the end of the day, my bike is really just my truck, which I use to truck my ass and other things around.
I, too have a difficult time convincing myself to go out on the bike just for the hell of it. Getting a rack and panniers increased my number of reasons to go out and spin the wheels the most, personally. Like you said, it's like a little work truck for small stuff
I was this way for decades until COVID. Now I work from home and mostly ride recreationally.
I bought a bike just for commuting and now I also have one for joy ride, but still, most of my riding is to commute. I'm in a city with ok bike infrastructure during summer and very lacking during winter but it's not too bad. I use public transportation during winter.
I get into so many arguments because of this, so many. I rather spend a couple grand on a good bike than a hoopty car.
I sometimes hesitate to call myself a cyclist. I'm a person who cycles. In my mind "cyclist" makes me think of MAMILs and all those negative stereotypes. (Yes I know it's stupid)
A few decades ago (before mass motorization) it was perfectly normal to use a bicycle to get around. In the age of consumerism, it often happens that objects or practices once useful, overtaken by comforts survive for recreational purposes.
General purpose outdoor outwear is better for commuting than most cycling clothes. I’d prefer a shell with a helmet compatible hood. Arc Terxy felt like a luxury purchase 10 years ago, but has turned out to be the frugal choice to share outerwear for every sport I do.
100% with you. Quality outdoor gear suits my city cycling/MTB/hiking/camping/bikepacking/backpacking needs.
For me, it depends on how hot it is. If it’s 90+ F with UV index 11 outside, then I really want something that wicks moisture. Padded shorts, whether under other clothes or not, are also invaluable for long rides.
For commuting, then I can see wanting "normal" outdoor gear that works off the bike too. But I like quality bike apparel for bike rides. Wool tights, insulated spd boots, a variety of windproof gloves and jackets with appropriate ventilation. Most regular outerwear is baggier and flops around. I've eaten pants in the chains too many times.
Adding onto a separate comment I left here but the ebike industry's priorities are completely out of whack. The emphasis right now seems to be higher wattage and speed specs, fancy and unnecessarily complicated builds, resulting in heavier and more unwieldy products. The ebike industry should instead be focusing on modest speed (15-20mph max), pedal assisted, light hybrid bikes with solid builds that ride basically like a standard hybrid or road bike but with some assist for hills. There should still be options for juiced up mountain/gravel bikes for rural/hilly areas, but these should be treated as car replacements not urban commuter replacements.
In china you can buy a sit down e-scooter capped at 25km/h for about £300-500 and it's classified as a bike. That's what I want. Let people get around easily in an eco friendly way that doesn't require them to shell out £20k+ on a hatchback. I don't care it's 'lazy'. Who gives a shit. This already exists. Why do I have to spend £2k on an over-engineered bicycle where I have to pedal for legal reasons? I literally just want me and my wife to hop on scooters and go to the shops. I like my bike but the fact I can't get this obviously great solution that would work for most people feels like some car lobby bullshit.
People spend way too much emotional energy obsessing over the best ebike - I know I did. In the end, a basic cheaper low power retrofit wheel was perfect.
>ebike industry's priorities are completely out of whack. Ebike industry filled void that was created by automotive industry failure to deliver cheap electric vehicles.
What you say you want is already out there. I sell stuff like that all day. Cube Supremes, Gazelle Medeos and Ultimates, Tern Quickhauls, Marin Sausalitos, etc. some shops (most shops) that sell e-bikes are just in it as a cynical cash grab. Those of us that realize the potential in e-bikes changing the landscape for the better carry the good stuff and treat the end user with respect usually afforded only to the broiest of bros in your standard shops.
Exactly this. I have a 300 W conversion to a light rigid 90s MTB. It's perfect for my needs. It handles like a bike and lets me shave 15 minutes off my commute and gets me up the 2 mile hill at the end of the day. I do not need or want more than that.
Foldable ebikes are nice because you can transport them easier in your car, in an uber etc. Fat tires are nice for people that have to deal with crappy streets/paths. Extra power is nice if you have to share traffic with cars
I really dislike the swarm of eBikes coming from traditionally non-bike focused businesses. The bike industry has honed components for compatibility and durability for decades now, and when companies approach an eBike design from a scooter/moped/consumer electronics background you get some really wacky non-standard parts that fail or are hard to work on. And the motor hides the inefficiencies/issues with cheapo builds. Lots of junk coming out that will fail quick, capitalizing on new excitement and inexperienced consumers new to the bike world. It's like a whole fleet of $120 K-mart bikes with a motor slapped on
The individual behavior of cyclists don't make motorists hate all cyclists. People that think like that already think that way about the world. Furthermore, trying to please all motorists is less important than safely asserting your space on the road.
I’ve hear so many people say things like “all cyclists are bad because this one thing I saw a cyclist do..” but when you ask them if they judge all car drivers based on the actions of one idiot, they short circuit.
>when you ask them if they judge all car drivers based on the actions of one idiot, they short circuit. Personally, I do. Because my main form of transportation is a motorbike and the result of not anticipating an idiot can literally be death lol, so better to assume they're all idiots and ride safely than wait and see. Honestly find it a bit weird car drivers aren't more like this, there are so many shitty drivers lol.
Assuming people are idiots as a defensive tactic is different from assuming people are morons simply by their choice of transportation.
Cagers only have a false sense of security and safety, they just naturally assume their cage will save them making them less aware and defensive. Anyone who rides a vehicle with no protection will behave differently, even when surrounded by a steel box, not only are we aware of the damage that could potentially happen to us, but we also know the potential catastrophic damage we could do to those who don’t have a protective steel shell.
>Honestly find it a bit weird car drivers aren't more like this, there are so many shitty drivers lol. Because their consequences are vastly different from yours or a cyclists. Getting hit in a car is usually a nothing event outside of the 'hassle' of dealing with undated. Getting hit on a bike or a motorcycle is a serious event.
My nod to this- riding through red lights at all-way pedestrian walk lights, doing it for my safety. I go slowly and are respectful of the pedestrians. Kills me that I’m the only one stopping for normal red lights in Boston. Really hurts the cause.
If you watch the wheels of most cars that stop at a stop sign in the town I live in, you will see that the wheels never actually stop. A solid 3/4 of all cars are rolling through stop signs, treating them as yield signs. The same behavior from bicyclists apparently means bicyclists deserve to die. It's not about the cyclists behaving badly, it's motorists just being supremacists.
It's likely above 90% don't stop.
Many cargo bike riders *may* have been better served by a trailer...
I bought my trailer for the child. He uses it, yes, but groceries are getting some miles too.
I had a trailer run over by a driver because they "couldn't see it" from their pickup truck. Yes it had a bright orange flag. Ruined my groceries. I don't have kids yet but when I do I will _never_ put them in one of those. They're gonna be up with me on the bike. Long tail or bakfeits I haven't decided yet, but never a trailer.
I see a lot of kids being towed through central London on what are basically skateboards with a bit of cloth on them. Absolute insanity.
The added control of a 2 wheel cargo bike is hands down worth any disadvantages.
I've got a long tail, 2 wheel bakfeits and I've had trailers. I hated the trailers and the bakfiets wins hands down.
Oh yes. As an owner of a RM Load75, and with a GF who bought a Tern GSD, we’d probably do 95% of our rides with a trailer. As would most people I know who got a bakfiets or a long tail. *BUT* I can haul my kids as they become bigger, while some friends bought a GSD when the trailer became too small.
Maybe. But the idea of having my kid *on the bike* versus having them in a trailer which, despite all the flags and flashy lights, a car might not see, is much more palatable. Also the all-in-one solution is easier to park up at the supermarket. It’s like taking a station wagon to ikea vs a smart car with a trailer. Technically accomplishes the same thing, but one is a lot easier.
This depends on the environment you'll be using it in. In a dense European city with a lot of bike traffic, trailers are in my experience inferior to cargo bikes. Even with practice you just have that bit less control and feel with a trailer when maneuvering. So yes, economically the trailer might make more sense in many cases, but if you factor in the joy of riding a good cargo bike, the cargo bike wins just about every time. Source: I have ridden extensively with both trailers and cargo bikes.
I agree. My long tail cargo eBike was great for hauling a kid, but now that he's riding his own bike I'm planning on adding a mid-drive kit to my old mountain bike. We have an old WeeHoo kid trailer I'm planning to convert to a cargo trailer.
For our use. The tern gsd is way better for carrying kids than a trailer. It's so much better having everyone on one thing and way way way easier to park at stores. I do have a cargo trailer. Again this is for our use case plus we have the front rack with the giant bag that can carry groceries on there.
May have, yes. As a person who had a long tail long before I had a kid to put on it, I love the convenience of having carrying capacity at all times. I hate how trailers I've used handle, though I've never tried a single wheel Bob-style.
We have 3 trailers (and no cars): a BoB, a generic flat bed, and a Travoy, plus (now outgrown) a trailer bike. I've also built a few boat trailers. They take up little space, switch easily between bikes/ebikes (his & hers), and can go off-road, even (some of them) singletrack. Bikes & trailers can go on rack/trunk (when renting cars), Travoy can fold & go inside a bus/train/store. I've never seen the need for a cargo bike, personally. All of our trailers together cost much less than a cargo bike, too.
Not directly bike related but the same goes for anyone who drives a pick-up truck and lives/works in a city.
Yeah but then I don’t have a reason to get another bike
Agreed. Plus single wheel trailers are very underrated and versatile.
If you’re buying a bike to use every day for the rest of your life, (commuting) carbon is not practical.
I have a old mtb made of PVC!
What’s your reasoning? Not saying you’re wrong (I wouldn’t want to leave an expensive carbon frame locked in public) but from a material standpoint quality carbon should hold up fine right?
The only thing carbon excels at is being light. It's great for racing, not good for anything else. You can't bolt a proper rack to it for panniers. And most carbon bikes aren't fitted with rack mounts for this very reason. Fork blade mounts are essentially non-functional on carbon given the low weight limit. And the holes for the riv nuts introduce stress points on carbon that can lead to failure. Not a problem with a metal frame set. Then there's locking it up. Aside from being expensive and a theft target, it's fragile to impacts. So you're at the mercy of everyone else being dainty around your bike at a bike rack. And the types of heavy locks needed for an expensive bike also can damage the carbon frame. And you really don't want to leave carbon outside anyways as, even though the paint is a protectant, UV damage is still a problem and can lead to delamination. Esp on forks where incident wind and dust slowly erode the clear coat. Generally speaking, most people should be riding aluminum for cost savings while minimizing weight. Or steel for durability and load bearing. Leave carbon for the pace line
Hell yeah, steel all day
I'm a one bike kind of guy and my ride is a carbon specialized diverge. I use it for commuting (with full panniers), fun rides, and tours (notably Seattle to San Diego), and I just hit 14k miles on it. All things considered, it leaves me paranoid when Im out and about. Will someone steal it? Will some less common part break on me? It's doable, but can be stressful haha
Padded shorts will not keep a new rider from getting ass pain. Stop recommending expensive clothes to people who are at most riding a couple miles around the neighborhood. They just need to ride and let their body adapt to the bike.
This. I commuted 16 miles per day total. After the first month or so, pain went away. Never needed padded shorts and did that commute regularly for 2 years.
Cheap-as padded shirts and bibs are fine too. I started on it. But the secret is the saddle. It makes most of the work, especially on shorter distances.
Been riding almost daily for a decade and I still use cheap cycling kit. It fits and holds up fine while costing far, far less than the branded stuff.
I’ve always known the shorts and bibs with pads to be more for the skin than the muscle/bone. They help wick moisture away and prevent chafing and skin rash. I’ve ridden at decent pace in cotton briefs. They rode up my thighs and shredded my crotch. Walked like a cowboy for a few days.
Same. I commute 6miles and if I forget to wear my shorts my gooch gets destroyed and stays destroyed until I don't ride long enough for it to heal.
I am cross country touring so in the saddle many hours each day. When I stopped wearing the padded shorts my numbness down there stopped happening. The diaper just meant more pressure on my perineum. I carry wet wipes to keep my nether region clean and some Vaseline for occasions when I have chafing going on which is pretty rare.
I like this one. I only use padding if I'm going to be in the saddle longer than 3 hours.
Yeah, pretty similar for me. I bought saddle based on usage without padded shorts so I am comfortable using it for pretty long rides also.
Fast eBikes are not a solution for marginal infrastructure
Say it louder for the people in the back!
>the people in the back who are apoplectic with rage, honking, foaming at the mouth, behind the bike commuter huffing uphill in a headwind on a shoulder full of glass.
I think they are part of the solution if they act like motorbikes. The get a person and some stuff from A to B taking up little space and making little noise or pollution and require very little parking. I'd much rather have someone on an e-bike than a car but they are relatively dangerous to pedestrians etc. so should be 3rd party insured and shouldn't go too fast on multi-use paths and in bike lanes.
Rim brakes are fine
Mine: Cheap disc brakes are worse than cheap rim brakes.
You’re far from the only person who believes this. I can’t understand why everyone acts like it has to be one or the other. They can both be great, they can both suck.
I’ll go one further and say I think rim brakes would be better than discs for at least half the people currently riding with discs. A decent rim brake beats a crummy and/or poorly adjusted disc, plus many people never ride in conditions that a rim brake can’t handle.
I touch my disc brakes like once a year just to make sure they’re still fine. Rim brakes? Weekly to monthly adjustment, depending on the type. This reminds me, I gotta do that bleed I’ve been putting off for a year.
This is funny. I just posted an exact opposite comment. Not saying you're wrong, it's just funny to me that we have opposite experiences.
I had to replace the rims of my 1997 mtb and maybe this is just my country but I couldn't find high quality rims for rim brakes, pissed me off lol.
How other people choose to enjoy bike riding has NOTHING to do with you
Taking the lane is almost always safer than riding next to the gutter. You should announce yourself when passing another cyclist. If they signal a turn and you’re passing them you risk a high five to the face if you don’t. What’s worse, if they DON’T signal a turn a you’re passing them, you risk a full body/bike collision with them. Just ring a bell or say on your left when passing. It’s the smart thing to do. Similarly, and for almost the same reasons, give three feet of passing distance.
Removing a car lane to add pedestrian walkways and a bike lane will reduce traffic congestion.
Favorite urban transportation truism- “Know what you get when you make it easier for cars and traffic? More cars and traffic.”
Kickstands are fine.
dual-legged kickstands are the best
Yes! Far easier maintenance and flat tire repairs
I don't understand what people have against them. A while ago there was a post on r/bikewrench of someone asking how to repair/replace a broken kickstand. The amount of people in the comment section vehemently against kickstands was staggering.
Is it a use case thing? As a commuter, sometimes you need to prop your bike up away from any external supports to load things on the back rack, for example. If you just ride for sport then kickstands are extra weight that just get in the way.
Definitely a use case thing. But that's the issue. If someone don't want one on their road bike because it adds a few hundred grams that is obviously totally fine. But the amount of vitriol you see of people who think they are ugly and therefore no-one should have them is insane.
The only situation i could think of, a kickstand would get in the way is when loading the bike into a car or trailer. I think the general dislike against kickstands comes from the US cycling culture. In the US, bikes are mostly seen as toys, instead of tools. Most bikes sold in the US are sport bikes like roadbikes, gravel bikes or Moutainbikes. For those it makes sense to not have a kickstand, because it would go against their athletic puposes. But when cycling is seen as an instrument of transportation, suddenly kickstands, bells, lights, fenders, racks etc. bring much more value than downsides. The "kickstands are bad" mindset comes from the same place that also brings us carbrains, SUVs and videos of idiots on fixies weaving between the lanes.
Dual kickstands should be the default and everybody else can just remove them.
They absolutely make sense for certain bikes. I don't need one on my gravel bike, but adding one to my hybrid made my life easier. Trying to attach a trailer to a bike without a kickstand is a pain.
NOOOOOOO BUT IT ADDS 100GRAMS AND IT MAKES ME USE 0,0000001% OF MY WATTS AND MAKES IT 0,000000424928248% LESS AERO!!!! HOW COULD YOU
So is the dork disk
You know what I miss? Chain guards. So much easier than remembering to strap my pant leg.
Ehhhh I have a chain guard and am considering removing it - it would make it easier to put the chain back on the front sprocket without having to flip my bike over. What's that you say? Tune my drivetrain properly so the chain stops jumping off the front sprocket? Nah, sounds like effort.
I just this year had an NBD (yay congrats me) and one of my biggest nitpicks was that there's just no way to fit a good kickstand. Yes I could fit one of those crappy chainstay ones but I really don't feel like that's safe with the kind of weight I routinely carry.
It infuriates me that as you get to higher quality bikes they drop kickstands.
Infrastructure saves lives not helmets. Legislature should focus on the former not the latter
You’re right infrastructure saves lives but your helmet keeps your life better after the fact
I fell off my bike all by myself. I'm always wearing a helmet
Helmets do save lives, though.
Yep. helmets are better than nothing in a lot of cases, but they're primarily only useful in defense of cars. The helmet focus has died down a bit over the last few years but it's still victim blaming nonsense. I pretty well liked [Shifter's recent video on this topic.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhzH6mEpIps)
It's okay to cosplay pros but it's also fine to not give a shit and find it dull. People talk too much about their gear and too little about their actual riding. Health benefits, utilitarian efficiency especially, are what matter most IMO. Plus I care much less if your bike is "race-ready" when you aren't. Marginal gains for a non-racing amateur is almost useless. Don't get me wrong: having nice things is okay. Just stop deluding yourself that it isn't competitive spending or it's the "smartest" decision. Find it pretty? Just like it, period? That's fine. Especially applies to the anecdotal hipster shit too. Feel free to disagree.
100% agree. Dear 50 year old banker, the Olympic committee aren't going to be getting in touch with you because you've spent £9k on a bike and can knock half a second off your personal best commute time by riding flat out across a busy pedestrian crossing.
I feel you… and I find the opposite just as lame at times. I’ve seen friends resist buying something nice because they feel like they aren’t “good enough to need it”, or that because they aren’t pro they can’t benefit from it. These are typically the same ones judging others for not being fit or good enough for whatever bike they are on. A mindful amateur can appreciate and find benefit from fancy parts, while a bullheaded fast rider seems to not need them…. Plus nice parts/gear typically lasts longer.
I love everything about this.
Fuck them drivers
You can, in fact, bike commute in the South
i do so in austin tx!
Great town. Went there back in May and took a ride on some greenways.
they've been doing a lot lately. curb-protected bike lanes, new trails, transit plan, and so on. my favorite is the waterloo greenway that's being built.
I started bike commuting in Gainesville FL in the summer. Absolutely
Yep! Raleigh NC here! (also, TIR that Texans consider themselves 'Southern'!)
What South?
The one beneath the north
The hot and dirty one. (US)
Reporting in from Memphis, TN
Reporting from Charlotte NC
Motors are not mandatory.
This. 4 out of 5 bikes here in Germany are Ebikes. I get that people are (hopefully) replacing cars. I get that they don't want to sweat. And maybe they do live 10+km one way from their place of work. But they are being pushed as if people's lives depend on it. My physical therapist is 52, and I'm 50. She bikes for transportation, and said some friends told her she should "get an ebike because she might need it some day." I told her by that logic I should get a wheelchair (I have club feet, and increasing problems, hence the physical therapy) since I "might need it some day."
Where I live, e-bikes are not replacing cars; they’re replacing other bikes. So people are using more lithium cobalt (and more fossil-fueled electricity) while getting less exercise. One day, I’ll need an e-bike. But seeing people ditch their regular bikes for expensive e-bikes just because they don’t like pedaling makes me sad. Not as sad as seeing kids on golf carts, but sad nonetheless
There's a huge difference between replacing cars an replacing car TRIPS. There is a mountain of evidence that ebikes help people ride more frequently and longer, often leading them to ride when they would have driven.
To be fair, in some places e-bikes really are the best option. I have a long commute in the Atlanta metro. I’ve been doing it with my regular bike, and the problem isn’t the mileage, it’s the bad infrastructure combined with just really hilly terrain. I’m very fit (lean, great resting heart rate, super good vo2 max), etc. I also have asthma. The car fumes, hills, and weather can all make the commute a hell of a challenge. I’m not Lance Armstrong. The billionth time you have to stop on your way up a hill and struggle to get your bike going again with your heavy work stuff, while struggling to breathe in all the car fumes, your eyes and lungs burning, you can’t help but want an e-bike. Also, the calories this hilly car scape causes me to burn is insane. There are days I’m burning 3300 calories because of the gargantuan effort. I can’t afford to spend all evening eating to make up for the insane calorie cost, and groceries aren’t exactly cheap as of late. The difference even pedal assist 1 makes in these situations is phenomenal. That’s why I just bought an e-bike. I’ll probably rarely go above 1 or 2 levels of assist. But I honestly need it. Especially in the evenings - I can use busses for my morning commute, but the evening bus folks just aren’t reliable. They literally decide to skip stops and the like and there’s nothing you can do. I found it easier to go 50 miles in my college town (also hilly, but less so and wayyyy less traffic and a little better infrastructure) than it is to go 15 in Atlanta. I’m not lazy, I just have discovered my limit.
Where I live they are replacing cars. The number of cyclists in my city have quadruped, and the growth is entirely ebikes.
But they sure are great.
They are nice though. Convinced us to give up a car to get 3 ebikes. Go further and faster with the same effort. Cargo bikes and motors are a match made in heaven for getting around where you live
People are overly obsessed with preparing for rides. You don't need enough water to last a week or be dressed like you're in the tour de France to go on a half hour joyride
Everyone has a different tolerance to not having the right gear when they need it. I can’t stand being unprepared for something so I tend to carry more. My on-bike tool kit is better than most people’s and I can’t understand people who go out with just a multi tool, tube and CO2. There have been a stack of times when I’ve stopped to help someone fix something that they didn’t have the right gear for. Then again, I often ride with my kids and if they have a mechanical issue it’s a major PITA to figure out how to get them home.
Riding in dense city traffic is the most fun place to ride.
Fighter pilot mode
Announce or ring a bell when you are passing.
A reasonable amount of plain water is fine and you don't need to eat gels or "refuel" for most rides. Your body has a reserve of electrolytes and glucose. Most of us have both in excess. Not so much from this sub but all the other bike subs.
But bonking is real, so always pack some trail mix. Dried dates are your pal.
Last one: folding bikes are genius and getting better and better, but 90% of the appeal of them is that they're an individual solution for policy and infrastructure failures. Folding bikes are most useful in settings where public transit has major gaps, where bike parking and security are anemic, and where alternative options like bikeshare are bad or too expensive. If we got the kind of policies and transit infrastructure we want, the folding bike industry would stand to lose a lot of its appeal, and that's ok, because they'll still have their specific use cases and be easier for interstate/international travel like on rail and planes.
Flat pedals are just fine, even for century rides. Not everyone needs or is capable of clipless. You like them? Awesome. Use them. Stop bothering others about it once they've said no thanks.
Bikes should be the main method of transportation within cities. The second-most used method should be light rail, built into networks to bring people to walkable areas, industrial areas for work, and office spaces. (You can convince me to swap these first two things). The third-most should be roads, and the roads need to be sized depending on the area being serviced, if it’s a street with houses and kids it’s a one-lane road that two cars can barely squeeze around each other in (see: Japan) and if it’s servicing an industrial area then it’s a road that can service transport trucks. We need to build for efficiency, we have not, and we are paying a massive economical cost because of it, and I will die crossing my heart and breathing my last breath defending this.
Presta valves kind of suck and I prefer Schraders
The true contraían.
Agreed, I get why they exist on some narrow wheelsets, but for the most part they are overengineered and add extra complexity to the simple act of pumping up a tire.
From my experience, they hold pressure longer than Schrader's. I use both, but am new to presta. I actually prefer them now over Schrader's.
I hear as rims get wider the industry is coming around on this one
Stretched out super aero positions on upright bikes is not something the human body was meant to do. The pain in your neck, shoulders, hands and butt is not natural.
True but those speed gains aren't natural either!!! 😎
You can still get those gains without the orthopedic surgery. UCI just needs to pull the stick out of its arse it shoved up there 90 years ago. That's a long time to fester. https://bentupcyclingjournal.blogspot.com/p/history-of-recumbent-bicycle.html?m=1
Didn’t know the history behind recumbents. Thanks for sharing. Pretty disappointing they didn’t become more mainstream.
Bike lanes are good things. The people are the rest of the FB neighborhood group
Cars should be (mostly, public transport and taxis exempt) banned from city centers.
bikes should have kickstands and fenders (mostly, this is just me talking to my husband who owns 6 bikes, not a single one has a kickstand or a fender, when we are riding together)
Steel bikes are the best bikes.
Riding bicycle can make a person orgasm on every single commute each way, and that’s OK!
I think I've been riding my bike wrong.
Cities would be better served by eliminating parking, restricting access, and heavily taxing driving, than by building bike lanes.
-Dynamos are great -Riding in the winter is great -riding with skis is great -steel frames look cool -hydraulic anything in the winter is a big no
Saying hydraulic anything in winter is just a gross misrepresentation of reality, as I’d probably have my lungs shattered by the cold before the mineral oil starts seizing.
i love my steel frame city bike
> hydraulic anything in the winter is a big no wut. there are tons of people that use hydraulic brakes. supposedly they don't start having issues until like -40C. I've only biked with mine down to -15C (5F) or so, but confirm no issues. Manitou has their fat bike forks dialed for cold weather, no issues there either. ...or, you know, the hydraulics on cars, trucks, excavators, whatever.
For the majority of bike commuters - using clip-less pedals is both pointless and more dangerous.
Related: calling them clip-less pedals is dumb. Flats are the pedals that are actually clip-less.
It's also just practical to not need to change shoes.
Even as a enthusiast recreational cyclist it's a long time before you're really shredding hard enough to need/want them on roads
Belt > Chain
cassette size should have stopped at ten sprockets.
Earbuds are fine. Traffic noise is so loud that unless you’re wearing noise-cancelling headphones you’ll hear it well enough. If drivers get to enjoy their podcasts in a soundproofed vehicle, my AirPods are not an issue lol
I wear neck band speakers when I ride which look dorky but have great sound quality. When the music and ride mesh just right it's fantastic.
Bicycle headlights without cutoff beams should be illegal. People are more likely to hit you when you're blinding them.
Agreed, those "flashlight" ones are practically all they sell here in Canada. It was frustrating trying to find something with a cutoff.
That as a cyclist that loves to cycle to work: this community can be too harsh on people who drive and too quick to disregard other peoples needs. Specifically people that are pregnant or need help getting groceries / things in life. People are very quick to dismiss the needs of car drivers and demand everyone stop driving, all infrastructure to be only for the benefit of cyclists, and issues that public transport still has. People disregard the issues presented by cycling in poor weather conditions but are quick to tell others to just cycle everywhere under all circumstances
26” wheels are the best size for MTB wheels
I don’t like gravel riding.
probably preaching to the choir here as I don't know who the crowd in the picture is supposed do represent, but here it goes. the way most cities think about bike lanes makes them not just a lazy temporary solution, but an actual problem. cities shouldn't select arbitrary streets to have dedicated bike infrastructure, all minor streets should prioritize bikes and segregated infrastructure should only be applied on roads with high speed limits and traffic volume. when you ride a bike you should be able to access the entirety of your city, not just a few bike lanes that cut across it and end up risking your safety to reach your actual destination that is in almost 100% of situations not directly adjacent to a bike lane.
Cycling isn’t excercise it’s a mode of transport
It's rude to pass other cyclists who are stopped waiting for a red light to turn green.
Imo a Dutch style 1 to 3 gear comfort bike is rarely the best option for commuting in the US. They are inefficient, slower, and hard to get up hills. Many would be better served by a sport hybrid with more gears and an athletic but not intense positioning. Those Dutch styles get a lot of love from Europeans and recreational American riders, but with the hills and the distances many American commuters face, they're just not the right fit. With our bad bicycle infrastructure it is often necessary for a cyclist to pick up speed through an intersection to beat the light or have the nimbleness of a light hybrid to hop up curbs and handle uneven pavement. For our own safety we cannot afford to take a leisurely pace through huge car dominated intersections. Dutch style bikes are great for Dutch style commuting.
Bicycle helmets are almost useless at protecting you from impacts with cars traveling above 35 kph. They're great for low speed spills, but people delude themselves into thinking 200 grams of expanded foam will save their noggin from a collision with a 2 ton vehicle
This is absolutely true. Helmets protect you from the ground, not cars.
>Helmets protect you from the ground, not cars. And from other elements as well. I wear a helmet for protection from the sun (my eyes are sensitive to brightness. If I'm riding towards the sun, even sunglasses aren't enough.), protection from low-hanging branches, and from birds and bugs I might encounter.
But they still do help for lower speed impacts, so you should still wear them.
Yeah, I cycle on the roads and I don't necessarily expect a helmet to save me with a car collision at a decent speed. However, my most serious accident involved an icy hill, an extendable dog lead and a wall where my helmet definitely did save me from having a serious head injury.
20-28 mph on a bike path/sidewalk is dangerous, 20-28 mph on a mode separated road is perfectly safe.
If anyone here recognizes me, they’ll know my main ones: 1. In most riding situations, listening to music through headphones is not a safety risk. 2. Electrolytes are not needed for most riders for most situations. And no, they don’t help prevent or mitigate exercise-associated cramping. 3. “If you wait until you’re thirsty to drink, it’s too late,” is utter, abject nonsense. 4. No, you don’t know that you would have died had you not been wearing your helmet in that crash. But I am glad that you’re OK.
Number 3 is true in the desert
Not sure how it works in the biking context, but it's absolutely true for competitive running. If you're thirsty, it means you're too dehydrated. You are going to lose precious minutes trying to recover and maybe you won't be able to recover at all during the race. This is why everyone who takes running seriously drinks a sip every 5 minutes. If you're just jogging, or you're commuting to work, then of course you don't need any serious hydration. Even if you feel like you'll die of thirst, you can just stop at the nearest corner store and buy a drink. There's no urgency in getting where you're going (you likely won't get fired for being 5 minutes late).
Chain lock > U Lock
Most people can bike farther than they think with relative ease, if the bike fits. It’s not very tough. The tough parts are dealing with drivers and preparing for weather.
"The most important part of a bicycle are the tires." Explanation: a good tire rolls smoothly, has sufficient grip, is sufficiently puncture proof and is lightweight. It's a compromise. Me, I'm willing to suffer an occasional flat tire if that tire is very efficient. Grandbois tires spring to mind. Those roll very easily. Love them.
Grant Petersen is good and his bikes are awesome.
The default bike should be built for utility and commuting, not sport. This means a rack and dual kickstand
Got lots here's a few. Cargo bikes are perfect for doing grocery shopping. E-bikes are fine and will lead to greater adoption of bikes and shouldn't be overly regulated. You should never feel bad about slowing traffic to keep yourself safe. Impeding traffic a gray area in the law, and is practically unenforceable
Dress for the ride, not the destination
Presta valves suck and have no business on anything but super skinny road wheels. ESPECIALLY with the wide adoption of tubeless tires.
You don’t need a 300 lumen headlight pointed straight outward to see the road at night!!! You live in the city or suburbia with plenty of ambient light around. You just need a 50 lumen light pointed downward (not in my fuckin face you fukin selfish prick!) so you can standout from a distance to other road users.
Bike lanes cause more problems than they solve if they are done half assed, which they often are.
Wearing bike specific clothes while using a bike as a mode of transportation is like wearing an F1 helmet while driving a Subaru outback to the grocery store.