How the Dutch created a casual biking culture • Hacker News Board

Post by mcv » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

u801e wrote: post #383

mcv wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cyclists can go between 10 to 20 mph. Some faster ones can go 25 to 30 mph. On a city street, you have cars going between 20 to 30 mph. On other roads, they may be going up to 40 mph. Given typical speeds, you have a 0 to 30 mph difference. Are you talking about cyclists or motorcyclists here? Racing bikes, recumbent bikes or e-bikes? Because regular cyclists do not get anywhere near those speeds. Average cycle spe…

> Are you talking about cyclists or motorcyclists here? Racing bikes, recumbent bikes or e-bikes? Because regular cyclists do not get anywhere near those speeds. I'm talking about cyclists. On a hybrid/commuter bike, I have no problem cruising at 15 mph (and I'm middle-aged and a bit overweight rider). Most people who regularly commute can maintain speeds similar to what I can. Could you cite your source about the av…

Average cycling speed depends a lot on how hard the cyclist is willing to work for it. Most aren not willing to work at all, and on a regular city bike, that means most people will go about 15 km/h. Speed maniacs (like me) will have an average speed of over 20 km/h (on a cargo bike) or even 30 km/h on a sport or racing bike.

I'm completely unable to not work myself into a sweat when cycling, but I'm not remotely average. Average cyclists include children, elderly people, disabled people. People with kids, people with cargo, and many, many people not in any kind of hurry.

  > There are many streets in cities that have multiple-lanes for same direction traffic.

In Amsterdam, there's about a handful, and some of those have higher speed limits. They're the main thoroughfares that you don't want obstructed with slow traffic. The vast, vast majority of streets have only a single lane for cars in each direction, and a bike lane or bike path next to it.