General Bicycle Discussion

[StreetsOfOmaha]

This is a GREAT, important video for cyclists and motorists alike which outlines, very concisely and briefly, the rights and duties of cyclists. I think there is a lot of confusion from both sides as to how each should behave with regards to the other. I think often times, cyclists have an identity crisis as to where they belong on the roads, and motorists often get angry with cyclists operating on the road, expecting them to use sidewalks.

Give this short video tutorial a look, and please pass it on to others!

[youtube][/youtube]

[Admin]

Stickied.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

You rock! Thanks for being on top of things!

[ShawJ]

Nice. Thanks for sharing, streets.

[Goetzinger]

If there was a "like" button, I'd push it.

Thanks for finding and sharing this. I will do the same.

[Coyote]

If there was a "like" button, I'd push it.

How about a

[StreetsOfOmaha]

No problem, guys. I'm glad you appreciate it!

It was actually referenced in the recently published book Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities, by Jeff Mapes, which I'm currently reading.

I'm LOVING the book so far. Very well written in a user-friendly and informative narrative style, and extremely well thought out and researched. Required reading for any cyclist!

[cdub]

I thought all signals were made with the left hand, even the right turn.  Has that changed since I was 6?  :)

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Right turn can be indicated with either the left hand OR the right hand, depending on the the rider's level of comfort with riding with one hand over the other. Since most people are right handed, most people prefer to keep their right hand on the handlebar and signal a right turn with their left hand.

It's pretty much whatever you're comfortable with.

Here's a nice graphic showing left turn, stopping, and both options for right turn:

[Uffda]

This was in the Parade magazine in the Sunday paper

Free-Wheeling City

For a bicyclist, Darwin Hindman is rather nattily attired, wearing a crisp tweed blazer and an orange silk tie as he pilots his ancient mountain bike through the center of Columbia, Missouri. Hindman, 76, (pictured) is this Midwestern town’s mayor and a survivor of both esophageal and prostate cancer. As he glides along, coattails flying, he is savoring the streets of Columbia, which he’s transforming into one of the nation’s premier cycling cities.

http://www.parade.com/news/2009/09/27-a ... -city.html

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Thanks for posting that!

I wish Omaha had gotten in on THIS...

The Federal Highway Administration has launched a pilot program with an aim to make roads safer and more enjoyable. More than $90 million has been allocated to four communities—Columbia, Minneapolis, Sheboygan County, Wis., and Marin County, Calif. Each will receive about $22.5 million to make them more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly.

This guy is great. I wish he were OUR mayor!

We want bicyclists to feel as happy as larks out in the road.

Also of great note:

Congress is watching the Federal Highway Administration’s pilot program closely. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D., Minn.) is now pushing for the passage of a new transportation bill that reportedly could devote up to $1 billion a year to facilitate biking and walking across the country.

Wile Sen. John McCain further reveals his lunacy:

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) has decried “pet projects like walkways and bicycle paths,” saying they come “at the expense of our nation’s roads and bridges.”

Some great info about what Portland has done:

Since 1992, the city has spent almost $60 million—or roughly the cost of building one mile of an urban highway—to enhance its cycling infrastructure. The number of riders flowing across the city’s bridges has more than quadrupled, and on one bridge last year, more than 20% of all trips were made by bicycle. Portland, meanwhile, has become one of the few U.S. cities to decrease its greenhouse-gas emissions below 1990 levels.

Thanks again, Uffda.

[mrdwhsr]

Here is a link to an article in the OWH today, 'More Bikes More Awareness'

http://www.omaha.com/article/20091113/NEWS01/711139887

There is also a poll on the main-page

Should bicyclists be on the city streets with the vehicle traffic?

It is running NO about 2 to 1. Take time to vote....

Considering the ignorance displayed, maybe we should allow the cyclists to carry side-arms.

It would be self-defense if you have to shoot the SUV driver who thinks their vehicle is an assault weapon.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Thanks for posting that.

Of course I didn't have time to read through all the comments, but there seemed to be a pretty even mix of logical, reasonable people (cyclists and drivers), and absolute imbeciles who aren't familiar with the law, and who have probably never ridden a bike on the street, let alone even DRIVING their bike to the trail for recreational riding.

The more riders are on the streets, the safer it is for EVERYONE. There is safety and awareness in numbers.

[mcarch]

It doesn't take into account for when there is a bike path right next to the road!

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Here's a sublime video from StreetFilms looking at cycling in Copenhagen through the eyes of the North American. For me, I can't look at this kind of footage without feeling like I've seen the Promised Land just over the hill.

This is not pie-in-the-sky fantasy. This is real.

http://www.streetfilms.org/cycling-cope ... ican-eyes/

[StreetsOfOmaha]

And here's a wonderful example of how similar infrastructure is being put to use here in the US in Brooklyn, NY.

http://www.streetfilms.org/the-taming-a ... park-west/

[the1wags]

Cool vids Streets. With Omaha's streets being as wide as they generally are, this kind of thing could be implemented rather easily one would think.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Absolutely.

[Garrett]

I gotta say that would be awesome, but one small problem, Omaha is still too spread out for this to work well enough, and it would be hard to convince people because we love our cars, and our time. If we could get over all the hurdles and get a system like København it would be awesome. But it'll take a while, probably10-20 years if we began to push it now.

Edit: And after finishing the video, they said it took them 40 years to get to that point. And again, København is way more dense then Omaha, because in Europe, the rich live in the inner city and the poorer and middle class in the suburbs. But again, we might be able to do it. Maybe.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

This is an article by Alex Marshal of Governing.com (http://www.governing.com/about). Governing.com provides intelligence and analysis pertaining to management, policy, and politics geared toward governors, mayors, legislators, local council members, program directors, agency heads, CIOs, policy advisers and other senior governmental officials.

This piece appears in the site's "Economic Engines" column, which I think is very interesting and telling.

I am featuring the article here in full, and, just for fun, I've emboldened all the ideas, notions, and information that I have voiced on the forum - often greeted with ridicule, disbelief, and mockery by some forumers.

Again I say, call me a crazy, liberal, socialist if it makes you feel better, but at least take the word of venerated experts in the field.

Bicycles' Popularity Grows in Cities
Bicycling has become fashionable. Urban and transportation policymakers take note.

BY: Alex Marshall | December 2010
Link to article at Governing.com

Bicycling, the mode of transportation stereotyped by short-pants-wearing tykes or spandex-clad health nuts, has become fashionable. Not since the 1880s -- when the first bicycle craze hit the nation and produced some of its first paved roads -- has this two-wheeled, self-propelled machine been such a symbol of urbanity and style.

In September, The New York Times ran a cover story in its fashion section about fashionable women and the bikes they were riding as part of their stylish ensemble, not apart from it. They could even choose high-status accessories, such as a $365 leather and canvas bag for their handlebars.

“These daring young women, in their stylish attire, are turning heads as they roll by,” wrote Ruth La Ferla, the story’s author. “They are clad not in spandex but in fluttery skirts, capes and kitten heels.”

I don’t know what a kitten heel is, but it sounds nice.

The retail clothing company Banana Republic has been running full-page ads in national magazines showing a relaxed young man in a dark gray suit, red shirt, scarf and tie. And he’s not behind the wheel of an Italian sports car -- he’s on a bicycle.

As someone who’s been waiting for and urging along such a trend for about 20 years, I can only say, “Bravo!” I first fell in love with this type of cycling in Holland, where it’s common to see people in fine dresses and suits on bikes. It seemed so civilized.

Where I live in New York City, it certainly has become a real trend. I see fairly frequently now fashionable women on bikes, often with wicker baskets up front, sometimes wearing high heels and even elegant hats instead of helmets. Gentlemen riders, wearing pinstriped suits and carrying leather briefcases are a less frequent sight, but I do see them.

The Web, as always, amplifies this trend. There are countless blogs -- Urban Velo, Cyclelicious, Velo Chic NYC, Chic Cyclists, ­Bikes and The City -- dedicated to celebrating cycling in towns and cities. One is appropriately called Riding Pretty, which shows well-dressed women on bikes, often in heels and dresses, in and around San Francisco. The site says it is “dedicated to all the girls in the world who want to ride pretty on a bicycle. Here’s to living a bicycle lifestyle!”

So bicycling is a lifestyle! Who knew?

The significance of this trend goes way beyond fashion. It shows that bikes are once again becoming a means of transportation, not just for exercise or sport. And like that other mode of transportation, the car, bikes are becoming a means of expressing ourselves.

There’s little question that bicycling is coming back, whether as a pleasure spin, an outing to pick up milk or a practical roll to work. The venerable League of American Bicyclists, an organization that dates to the first cycling craze in the 1880s, reports that cycling to work grew 43 percent from 2000 to 2008. Selected cities have grown much faster. Portland, Ore., one of the nation’s cycling capitals, has seen a 238 percent increase in bike commuting.

This trend is happening both because and in spite of public policy. In New York City, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has practically, in the wink of an eye, created bike lanes all over town by painting new white lanes on streets. Our mean streets have become less so. But bicycling, perhaps even more so when clad in a dress or three-piece suit, requires a degree of bravery and assertiveness. It’s still rough out there.

For policymakers outside New York, the choice is whether to embrace or resist this trend. Embracing it would mean more bike lanes and even more importantly, changing the legal relationship between bicycles and cars so that a driver is, by default, at fault in any collision. My research has shown that this more than anything else would make cycling safer because it would change drivers’ conduct.

Places with an older network of gridded streets will have an easier time accommodating those fashionable young ladies and men on bikes. But more suburban cities, with swooping arterials and soaring freeways, can do what they can. They risk ignoring this trend at their peril. For cities that aim to be receptive to a creative culture, accommodating bicycles and fashionable urban riders may be just as important as having a light rail line or an abundance of coffee shops.

[Brad]

Interesting Bike.

Meet Denny, the bike for people who don’t ride bikes

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20141103 ... _autos_rss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Denny is a bike that aims to eliminate (or at least lessen) the hassles of biking. Hills are conquered with an electric assist, and greasy chain-and-derailleur setups are replaced with a belt drive and an automatic shifter. The front basket — a must for urban commuters – isn’t a basket at all, but a parcel shelf cantilevered over the front wheel, making steering stable with loads up to 50 pounds. Lights? Integrated and sensor-activated. Turn signals? Activated with the flick of a finger. Even the hassle of bike locks disappears, thanks to an ingenious handlebar that doubles as a beefy bar lock. And yes, this bike can even charge your phone as you pedal.

[E_L_Cut]

Interesting Bike.

Meet Denny, the bike for people who don’t ride bikes

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20141103 ... _autos_rss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Denny is a bike that aims to eliminate (or at least lessen) the hassles of biking. Hills are conquered with an electric assist, and greasy chain-and-derailleur setups are replaced with a belt drive and an automatic shifter. The front basket — a must for urban commuters – isn’t a basket at all, but a parcel shelf cantilevered over the front wheel, making steering stable with loads up to 50 pounds. Lights? Integrated and sensor-activated. Turn signals? Activated with the flick of a finger. Even the hassle of bike locks disappears, thanks to an ingenious handlebar that doubles as a beefy bar lock. And yes, this bike can even charge your phone as you pedal.

From the article it's unclear whether these are really going into production. Hopefully, though. I know I'd seriously consider buying one (dependent upon the price point, obviously).