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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

#51

Post by mikestew »

uk_programmer wrote: post #27
Alex3917 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

As someone that used to be an avid cyclist. Disc brakes are almost completely pointless for commuter bicycles. Don't get me wrong they are great when mountain biking (I have cable discs on my mountain bike). On a commuter bike they are mostly just overkill IMHO. But I wouldn't buy a carbon road bike either (All my bikes are steel framed).

Disc brakes are almost completely pointless for commuter bicycles

Ignore this comment. Year-round commuting is the prime reason to buy a bike with disc brakes. Is it overkill not to burn through a set of rims each winter? Is it overkill to have decreased stopping distance in the rain?

Anyone want to go back to drum brakes on their “commuter” car? Yeah, didn’t think so.

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

#53

Post by wffurr »

amelius wrote: post #52
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.

Because of this, I wonder if cycling actually increases health risks for people.

No, the math for QALY benefits vs risks works out greatly in the cyclists favor, and there are common sense precautions you can take to reduce your injury risk below the population average.

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

#54

Post by rdiddly »

Scoundreller wrote: post #10

> The city’s Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it’s seen a 50 percent increase in bike traffic on bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens compared to last March. It's also been regularly 5-10C warmer than average each day so far in March: https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york/10007/march-weath... Almost entirely above freezing means no snow either. And bridges are the first pla…

Not sure what to make of your last line. If someone has a bridge somewhere on their trip path, for most people it's somewhere in the middle, and distant from the start point where the decision of how to travel takes place. Their street being ice-free is probably more meaningful than the bridge's being ice-free.

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

#55

Post by vikramkr »

Alex3917 wrote: post #25
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.

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.

And commuting even a couple miles on Philadelphia roads is basically like off roading at times - and San Francisco hills are legendary in their own right. I was rattling my brain out of my skull trying to deal with rough Philly roads in the winter and a proper carbon bike with good brakes/ability to stop on a dime if a crazy driver is cutting me off (I have heard legends of these things called "protected bike Lanes" - I hope to see one someday...) was a godsend.

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

#56

Post by fennecfoxen »

adrianN wrote: post #44
Alex3917 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The problem with the bike shaped Walmart thing is that it is absolutely irreparable.

Got a $200 bike shaped thing first thing when I got a job (technically Kmart but otherwise the same). Dumb mistake. The crank gear bent out of shape before too long, just from applying pedal power to climb a hill. On another bike, that’d be $20 in parts and $40 in labor maybe? On this one it was basically impossible as it was not designed to be replaceable or even serviceable and I had to throw the bike away.

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

#57

Post by thedance »

Alex3917 wrote: post #25
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.

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.

If you have further to go you’ll be even less happy with the sporting bike because it can’t carry your stuff. The solution to long distances is electric bikes, not sports bikes.

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

#58

Post by thedance »

vikramkr wrote: post #55
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.

And commuting even a couple miles on Philadelphia roads is basically like off roading at times - and San Francisco hills are legendary in their own right. I was rattling my brain out of my skull trying to deal with rough Philly roads in the winter and a proper carbon bike with good brakes/ability to stop on a dime if a crazy driver is cutting me off (I have heard legends of these things called "protected bike Lanes"…

On rough roads I’ve never been happier than on my longtail Xtracycle Edgerunner. With the seat post far removed from the axle, and a flexible steel frame, and Big Apple tires, it is ultra-comfortable.

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

#59

Post by the8472 »

Scoundreller wrote: post #10

> The city’s Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it’s seen a 50 percent increase in bike traffic on bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens compared to last March. It's also been regularly 5-10C warmer than average each day so far in March: https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york/10007/march-weath... Almost entirely above freezing means no snow either. And bridges are the first pla…

The bridges most likely have no causal relation here, they are simply a measurement artifact. They're a bottleneck so a preferred spot for measurements.

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

#60

Post by CydeWeys »

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...

We have this in NYC: https://reportedly.weebly.com/

But it only really does anything for Taxi & Licensing Commission-plated vehicles (taxis, rideshares, black car services, that kind of thing). For every other vehicle, it doesn't do shit, and the cops don't care. They largely don't even live in NYC and most of them commute to work in cars. There's a big culture of police not enforcing parking regulations on themselves, so you see rampant placard abuse and personal vehicles parked illegally all over sidewalks and such near police stations. The cops mostly have a windshield view of the city (they almost never patrol outside of a vehicle, and they don't live here), so they see themselves as drivers and the inhabitants of the city themselves, especially cyclists, are othered.

So it's a horrible combination all around and practically what it means is that cops rarely do shit about vehicle infractions but go after cyclists with a vengeance. And the mayor is too chickenshit to do anything about it; he's afraid of upsetting the police union, and the police union is terrible (it almost always sides with cops even when they are guilty of absolutely egregious abuses of power).

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