Q4. Most cyclists drive motor vehicles at least sometimes, and some more frequently.
How has your cycling affected the way you drive? Are you slower and more careful? Do you do anything differently when encountering cyclists on the streets?
@ascentale@MartyCormack A4. Not so much changed as formed it - I've been cycling ever since I was old enough to ride a bicycle unassisted. I learned to drive when I was 15 - 16. So I learned to drive as someone who'd already done bicycle touring on busy streets and rural roads.
Driver education tells us to look around constantly but lots of ppl don't do it. I do. (cont'd) #BikeNite
@ascentale@RossA A3. When I developed a lunchtime exercise habit back when I worked a 9 - 5 job, it really put me in touch with seasonal changes, especially of plants. I had to take the same route due to lack of time for lunch. So I got to observe changes in the same front gardens over the weeks. I learned a lot!
So I'd say that plant and/or animal spotting can really make it more interesting. I also do infrastructure spotting - "reading" our sub/urban and rural landscapes. #BikeNite
@ascentale@RossA A3: I bike like most Americans drive BUT new routes (even minor variations) to the same places are good, so is finding other new ways to do things, e.g. my ongoing cargo trailer adventures and if you go far enough you might start making bike maps #BikeNite
Q2. I'm thinking of getting a folding bike on the cycle to work scheme, to help with each end of a mainly train-based commute once or twice a month. Any recommendations/avoids for a hefty 6ft3 chunky monkey? (Me)
Welcome to the May 17th BikeNite! Thanks for joining, and I hope we all enjoy chatting about cycle stuff! Feel free to answer whenever at your convenience. Anyone can join, now or later. Reply to what you like, and boost for visibility.
We'll start out with our introduction (with help from @jfparis)
Q1. Where are you posting from today? How long was your last ride? And how long is your usual ride to work/uni/school/whatever?
Call for questions: it is #BikeNite this Friday at 4pm Pacific time!
Reply with questions you'd like me to add to the discussion on Friday! You can add the BikeNitePQ hashtag so it's easier to find a Proposed Question. There are only a couple in the queue right now.
(BikeNite is a Q&A type discussion on the Fediverse.)
Late question for the #BikeNite crowd: Do you have recommendations for clear wraparound glasses to keep from getting beaned in the eyes by gnats and larger bugs when cycling at twilight? When it's sunny, I have sunglasses, but I need something for darker times of day when I still need eye protection. Something for big heads, hopefully with customizable fitting around the nose/cheeks. @bikenite
And the last question: I was riding earlier this week, and had just lubricated my chain, and had some very quiet tires on the bike I was riding. My pedaling felt like it was seamlessly converted to motion, with no clinking or rattling or any other sound. This is not usually the case 😅
Q8. What's a small but satisfying feeling that you experience via cycle?
@ai6yr@ascentale A8. Sep 9, 2018 was a good day to bike to work. This stretch had an unusual amount of traffic. I passed 85 cars and trucks, 5 busses, and 1 motorcycle.
I also cut the video too short; 1 more stop light would've raised that to 100 cars and trucks! #BikeNitehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMGZRES4yY8
Q6. It be a little niche, but my #BikeNitePQ is about hauling things. Can anyone speak from experience on the use of a bike trailer for hauling a kayak or SUP short (or long) distances? Especially if there were small hills involved.Thanks!
(And if you haven't, do you know of any other interesting purpose built hauling apparatus that connects to a cycle?)
A6. I bought a seat post hitch for my wife's kayak, but it turns out her rear rack keeps it from working. There is a set of wheels with a slight frame, they are strapped to the kayak just past the center point. In theory the kayak's front tow handle and strap would be held by the special seat post bar.
@epu@ascentale@carolski i don't know where you are but i'm in SF, i might come by the east bay some time and arrange something with #BikeNite folks perhaps?
Q5. Do you also ride when it's dark? And if so, what precautions do you take to be seen? Just what's legally required or much more? Battery vs dynamo lights? Multiple lights? Additional reflective clothes or stickers?
#BikeNite A5. On #eBikes, the danger of riding in the dark isn't so much about whether drivers see you as it is about correctly judging your speed. Two non-flashing headlights with distance between them, like on the fork and handlebar, seems to register more effectively than one. Similarly with spacing between tail lights, I get fewer sketchy passing attempts by drivers. Blinking lights make drivers perceive you as a stationary obstacle, besides blinding people on bikes. @ascentale@xtaran
@InkySchwartz@enobacon@ascentale@xtaran A5 Personally, I won't use lights that spend any time in an "off" state. Consider what happens if a light were to be on/off for 0.1 sec/1 sec. at 10 mph, you would disappear for 15 feet (4.5m). Some of the "help you be seen" lights use this pattern. Instead, I only buy lights that are always on but "warble": lo for 1 sec, hi for 0.1 sec. Examples: Light & Motion vis 360 taillight and CatEye (unknown version?) headlight. lmk if you want a video #BikeNite
@enobacon@InkySchwartz@ascentale@xtaran A5- I am also concerned with "bare LED" fixtures getting hidden behind a 2" sign post. If you buy one of these cheaper lights, prefer a horizontal one. A cheap hack: I bought two cheap chinese headlights, and just put one in steady and one in constant. I want to build some of those "halo" lights, and how to integrate that into a bike light setup i.e. 2" tall, 12" wide strip across the front of a basket, ~6-8" across the back of a rack #BikeNite
@trouble@InkySchwartz@ascentale@xtaran some COB (chip on board) LED strips do a good job of spreading a low (~3W) wattage over the surface, though I would rather have it half as bright (maybe just needs a better regulator, it seems to vary a lot given 10.7 vs 12.8V.) #BikeNite A5
@ascentale@jfparis A4: surprised no one mentioned Bike City Amsterdam, which is great on the actually difficult history of bikes in Amsterdam—good reading for days when one is frustrated about progress in your own city. https://bikecityamsterdam.nl/
On a weirder note, Bikes Not Rockets is a collection of intersectional science fiction shorts—about bicycles. And apparently now it is a multi-volume series! https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/8527
Locally, there's a proposal to remove a path on a long bridge for most days of the week, and convert it into a car breakdown lane. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that this would improve traffic, but it will require those who would have walked/cycled/rolled to take a 40 mile detour.
Q3. Have you ever seen cycle infrastructure removed or threatened? How was it preserved, or if it was removed, what were the reasons, and what were the effects?
@ascentale#BikeNite A3. We're just starting to convert lanes for bicycles, and I only realized (through a city transportation council meeting) that the local transportation engineers REALLY don't seem to be a big fan of bicycle lanes, and even mentioned making sure they had the "ability to re-use the roadway and remove the bicycle lane" in the future. 😡