Welcome to our BikeNite for the week of March (!) 1st! 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:
Q1. Where are you posting from today? Time flies and things happen. What did you not get to do that you wanted to this week?
Q6. We all know that we should support our Local Bike Shop but because 'reasons' perhaps don't always do so. I'm put off my nearest by the patronising owner, and the next nearest by the prices, so use them for perhaps only a quarter of my purchases. So how good a LBS customer are you? And why or why not?
@bettybarcode asks about riding when the sun is a potential hazard:
Q5. How do you handle biking when the sun is low in the sky and produces a strobe effect through trees? Do I need side blinders, like horses?
(Slightly relatedly, I've also felt apprehensive riding on some roads where there are stark tree shadows. It's sometimes hard to tell if you're going to ride over a pothole or a shadow. What do you do in this situation?)
Q7. For recreational cycling what is your favorite road, gravel, and/or MTB cycling route? What is your favorite route that you can get to by bike and/or public transit only without driving a car (if different from your answer to the first part of this question)?
@glightly asks a follow-up to some of our discussion last week:
Q4. Given the talk about cold weather gear, where are places that are putting winter cycling gear (or useful for cycling) on sale right now that we should rush and buy for cheaper now that Spring is approaching?
I'm open to recommendations for non-Amazon (hopefully indie, progressive) places to buy as well.
Q8. Have you seen any really great and effective examples DIY traffic improvements or "tactical urbanism"? Did these work well and last without bad unintended consequences? If the "improvements" weren't great, what made that the case?
Next is a question from @genex about rain jackets:
Q2. I have been wearing an old North Face jacket I've had but was interested in what types of jackets people use to commute in the rain (been looking at Showers Pass but they are also pretty pricey).
What have you used? What do/don't you like about it?
@scottsthoughts asks this question about interactions with drivers as they're organizing a training for a large group ride:
Q7. How, as a group, should we handle possible negative driver interactions? Has anyone had experience with an effective group policy for managing potentially hostile cyclist-driver interactions?
(And if not in a large group, have you received any helpful guidance, or do you have your own best practices?)
This question is related to one that @esnyder brought up a while ago and I think @glightly and maybe others have discussed:
Q5. Have you ever been to a gathering where you got a chance to try other peoples' cycles or gear? Last year in Alameda, CA, a bunch of families informally got together in a parking lot to offer test rides of their cargo cycles. If not, have you been to any other test-ride events? How was safety and other considerations handled?
What about other types of weather? We had a really windy ride to school this morning and it reminded me of a time where winds were so strong that I was being blown up a hill (albeit ever so slightly)
Q4. Have you had any weird or interesting experiences with severe weather?
Welcome to our BikeNite for the week of February 23rd! 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:
Q1. Where are you posting from today? What is it like near you right now?
Q6. What is the best looking bike shop or bike related business you've ever been in and why (even if the people were jerks or you never want to go back for whatever reason)? What was the vibe it gave off? Bonus points for pictures!
Welcome to our February 16th 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:
Q1. Where are you posting from today? Have you had any interesting cycle experiences this week?
This next question from @xtaran is about low-modification e-bike conversions:
Q2. Do you have any experience with nearly-no-modification plug-on friction wheel e-bike conversion kits like #Zipforce, #Rubbee X, Livall #PikaBoost (all propel the tire directly), #Skarper or #Bimotal (both propel your disk brake or nearby).
(Added by me: I've also seen videos of the "Clip Bike")
Most are friendly, but I have felt a little uncertain while riding by dogs in the past; my partner has been aggressively chased by one. @MartyCormack asks:
Q5. In the past 9 months I've been bitten twice by off leash dogs while riding my bike; one was quite painful. The prior year an off leash dog caused me to crash my bike; I fortunately escaped injury.
What techniques do you use to protect yourself from threatening dogs while riding your bike?
@bikescape has a question about local cycle organizations:
Q4. Do you belong to any local bike organization (advocacy, coop, etc.)? What’s the best membership benefit (service, swag, discount, etc.) those organizations offer?
Last week we talked a little about DIY cycle maintenance. Related to that, @daihard asks:
Q8. How do (or can) you keep your bike level while it is on a stand? A typical stand that you hook the chainstays onto will keep the rear wheel up an inch or two from the ground while leaving the front wheel in contact with the ground. As the result, the bike will always be tilted down by a few degrees. This doesn't help when adjusting the saddle angle, for instance. Any idea?
We have a couple questions about finding the right cycle. @kimu asks:
Q2. Does anyone have suggestions for resources to put in specific bike characteristics you’re interested in and that gives you a cross-manufacturer list that matches it? Info is so fragmented! I love my local bike shop, but they don’t stock many ebikes and it helps if I can go in with ideas.