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Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

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Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#41

Post by adrianN »

zck wrote: post #39
cranekam wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wash your hands and try not to touch your face. Any virus that is on the bike isn't going to walk up your arms and down your throat. Personally I find it pretty easy to not touch my face. I doubt I am perfect at it but I catch myself a lot. Being outside has to be better than in an enclosed space (a subway car) holding onto handles that dozens of people touched in the last hour.

I mean, by the time I'm gone from a citibike to a place where I can wash my hands, I've had to touch a lot of other things. It's not like there are sinks directly next to the citibike stands.

Carry some disinfectant with you. Covid19 is easily killed by alcohols.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#42

Post by Alex3917 »

tjr225 wrote: post #35
thedance wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the whole problem with American bicycle culture summarized in a single post. There’s way too many carbon-fiber sports bikes and not anywhere near enough step-through town bikes with panniers, fenders and lights.

Eh, the trend now is for steel bikes that can ride anywhere with braze ons for accessories. It’ll just take a while for it to catch on.

If you can't bring your bike inside your building then no question steel is the way to go. NYC has some laws to encourage building owners to provide bike storage though, e.g.:

https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/bikesinbuildin...

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#43

Post by overlordalex »

sashk wrote: post #18

...if only there were dedicated bike lines. most of my commute on a bike takes those, but most of them are blocked by parked cars.

Someone recently made an app here in Germany where you can take a photo of offending cars and the app automatically forwards the information to the authorities. Perhaps someone can do something like that for NY?

Source in German: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/app-wegeheld-falschpark... Here's an English article: https://road.cc/content/news/258976-german-app-lets-cyclists...

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#44

Post by adrianN »

Alex3917 wrote: post #7
zck wrote: post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

Because the bike industry is currently switching over from rim brakes to disc brakes, you can get some pretty good deals on older (but still brand new) road bikes if you look around. A few months ago I bought a carbon road bike for less than $1,500 including tax. Granted expect to spend at least as much on accessories, but if you live somewhere where you can use it for both commuting and exercise then it still pays f…

Or you can buy a $500 no frills quality bike or a $200 bike shaped Walmart thing.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#46

Post by Scoundreller »

What I really want to know is if there's been a stairwell boom.

Stairwells usually have the freshest air because they have to be at a positive pressure.

And people with respiratory diseases will be taking the elevator. Possibly before they even feel other symptoms.

Not sure how often stairwells are cleaned though.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#47

Post by drocer88 »

peteradio wrote: post #36
ipnon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if we are wrong about global warming and this summer will be 5-10C warmer than average every day?

That is the wrong interpretation. It is a shift in the date of the turn on curve, not a bump in the plateau of 5-10C, that would be end of days bro.

FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesozoic#Climate

The climate of the Cretaceous is less certain and more widely disputed. Probably, higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are thought to have almost eliminated the north-south temperature gradient: temperatures were about the same across the planet, and about 10°C higher than today.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#48

Post by turdnagel »

overlordalex wrote: post #43
sashk wrote: post #18

...if only there were dedicated bike lines. most of my commute on a bike takes those, but most of them are blocked by parked cars.

Someone recently made an app here in Germany where you can take a photo of offending cars and the app automatically forwards the information to the authorities. Perhaps someone can do something like that for NY? Source in German: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/app-wegeheld-falschpark... Here's an English article: https://road.cc/content/news/258976-german-app-lets-cyclists...

In New York, the "authorities" park in the bike lanes: https://twitter.com/copsinbikelanes

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#49

Post by throwaway5752 »

peteradio wrote: post #36
ipnon wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if we are wrong about global warming and this summer will be 5-10C warmer than average every day?

That is the wrong interpretation. It is a shift in the date of the turn on curve, not a bump in the plateau of 5-10C, that would be end of days bro.

"that would be end of days bro."

That is why climate scientists have been trying to change the phrasing to "Climate emergency". It is not a shift in seasonal changes, summers will get warmer, also.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#50

Post by zck »

aqme28 wrote: post #38
Alex3917 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The basic issue is that in Amsterdam most trips are only a mile or two, whereas in NYC it's often a 10 or 15 mile commute between home and work. But yeah if you're only going a couple miles on mostly flat terrain then no question a commuter bike is a better choice.

I don't think that's right. Most of my bike rides are about 1-3 miles. When I commute to work it's about 6 miles and that's farther than most people bike here.

I think the statement is "most NYC commutes are longer than Amsterdam commutes, so chances are lower that each commute could be done by bicycle".

My commute would be almost six miles by bicycle. I'm not especially looking to replace the subway with a bike trip.

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