@ascentale@trouble#BikeNite A8. Rear cargo rack I found at a garage sale for $2. AWESOMENESS! Now I'm thinking fenders and panniers for full utility bike geekery! WOOOHOO!
I always thought it was having a classic "snakebite" pattern and that other things don't use that term, but the shop I went to this week seems to use it differently (in a more rubbing situation maybe?), so I think my definition is maybe too restrictive.
@ascentale@SRLevine #BikeNite A7:
My best pinch flat story is the time that I first did a road ride in 95+F weather. I did not adjust the tire inflation to account to the heat and then I was inflating a bit too much back then anyway. It started getting really hot and when I hit a bump, "POP!" It was so hot that whenever I looked down to work on the replacement tube, the sweat rolled off my forehead like I turned on a faucet!
@ascentale@SRLevine#BikeNite A7. That would be the giant hole in the side of the tube I put in about the first 4 or 5 tires I changed when I was in high school... and not until recently did I figure out why I was doing tire changes wrong (thanks, YouTube!). I really could have used some help when I was a kid on these kinds of things, but I was basically a loner who had to figure things out myself.
@pete asks about group rides with electric + non-electric cycles:
Q6. We have problems making group MTB rides work when eBikers join us for fastish-paced rides: essentially they’re too fast on the ups and too slow on the flats for group cohesion. Anyone have any tips for making mixed eeb/regular groups work?
@enobacon@pete@meganL@AngelaAntunovic@ascentale my mental model has always been that mid drives just output more power through the chain than it’s rated for. The average human with no training can output a burst of ~500 watts, but will sustain much closer to 100-200 watts. A motor will sustain 750 watts or higher. That extra power dramatically shortens the useful life of most bicycle chains. #BikeNite
@younata@pete@meganL@AngelaAntunovic@ascentale power = torque * rpm, so it's a question of how the motor delivers that power, high torque vs high rpm. I've had a bbs02 on an xtracycle edgerunner for a decade, and gone through chains no faster than one should expect for rainy miles vs lube schedule, but I'm geared lower, ~100rpm climbing. Bosch torque-activated drive ads about one extra person standing on the pedal, if you're mashing hard enough to activate, it's 2x tension on the chain.
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?
I have many people very close to me that are convinced of such things as "bicycles have to be able to keep up with traffic to be on the roads." I have no idea where such things come from and even when I explain things from a cyclist's (and the actual law) point of view, they still think I am wrong.
@ascentale
As a cyclist my tolerance for traffic jams is super low. Whenever I'm driving I'll always be thinking about how if I had ridden my bike I'd be there—or at least having fun getting there—by now. @MartyCormack
@meganL@ascentale@RossA A3. That’s one of the superpowers of biking: you can actually observe and interact with your surroundings. This is a plus in some places and a minus in others, but, yeah, I do a lot of botanizing while biking. #BikeNite
@ascentale@RossA #BikeNite A3a:
During the height of the pandemic when we could not do group rides, but needed each other's support to be motivated to ride, we discovered a game called Bike Tag. You ride to a landmark in your city, well known or obscure, post a picture of your bike near it, and the first person who gets there on their bike to post their photo, gets to pick the next place. It got me on my bike every day trying to find the next tag.
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)
@ascentale A2 I think Bromptons are pretty solidly built but I also have a tall neighbour who afaik is still in the process of riding back to Europe from Malaysia on a Birdy.
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?
@ascentale@jfparis#BikeNite A1. Ventura County, California. My last ride was... long. I am sore. 8 miles... with lots of hills and dodging semis. Oops! I usually ride a fraction of that--3 miles, at most. I am tempted to take a hot shower and go to sleep, and it's only 5:22 pm today (ride was yesterday). Do not recommend, LOL.
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?
Because eBike, saying "t'hell with this, I'm Amazigirl now" and turning on assist going up a giant fuckoff hill at speed like it's flat, that's pretty good too xD
as is doing the same thing without assist, albeit with less steep hills xD
(we have a lot of hills, have I mentioned?)
showing up anywhere car people think bikes can't go. that's a good one too.
@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?)
@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?
@InkySchwartz@trouble@ascentale@xtaran the article I linked earlier goes into some studies target fixation, and it's just geometry that a single point of light approaching in a straight line gives no depth or speed cues. Blinking off just makes it vanish. That flashing bike lights are banned in some parts of Europe might just be because they're annoying to other riders.
@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 A8. This wasn't one I experienced personally, I think I heard it on the Family Pedals podcast a while back, but I can't remember. Whatever it was, the host described riding along with her kids on the back of the cargo bike and someone rolling down their window and shouting "Are you from the future‽"
I think about that driver a lot and how much I hope they're right!
@ascentale#BikeNite A8. I have a significant number of drivers who wave me through intersections or stop at one of the pedestrian crossings I use (which I use because there's a high speed section of road I have to cross and it has warning lights), which is great. (which is better than the people who apparently are blind to warning lights and speed through at 60mph). Also, have had at least one driver (with a bike rack on their car) drive by my bicycle TWICE to check it out slowly as they drove by, LOL. (apparently wondering what kind of brightly glowing steel road bike I was riding...).
And a follow-up, about more immediate responses also from @sam:
Q7. Is it okay to yell back at drivers after a bad interaction? If not, are you or have you done anything to try and have less road rage? Mindfulness exercises? A calming cup of tea? How do you train yourself not to react from a place of anger?
@ascentale@sam#BikeNite A7. I generally do not react, because 1. this is the US, and we've devolved to road rage with firearms involved 2. I think that maybe an aggressive response from someone on bike will likely mean "revenge" on someone else on bike who is not involved 3. I don't need my heart rate any higher after pedaling around town 🤪