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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

#131

Post by grogenaut »

Alex3917 wrote: post #85
grogenaut wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who rides 2k miles a year in seattle for multiple years your attitude is why I had to pay through the nose and do all sorts of custom crap to have a decent braking solution that didn't eat my rims and worked well on steep hills and the oily wet on the rims. I'm glad that discs are finally taking over, even if it's 10 years after they should have because "they're not tour legal".

Yeah if you're commuting in the rain or with lots of hills then disc brakes are definitely worth it. But if neither of those apply to you, they're probably not a good use of money, especially considering it still costs quite a lot to get good quality hydraulic disc brakes.

Mechanical discs are pretty cheap now and quite effective. I've had both. They're all better than canti-s

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

#132

Post by ineedasername »

ajross wrote: post #97
ineedasername wrote: post #84

But they're bicycling to some place with other people, so it's not like they're out of close contact with others. Although I suppose it's still better than having that same contact and the additional contact of public transport.

No, but they're in less contact. While the infection rate is still low[1], we're not trying to eliminate the "possibility" of infection, we're trying to reduce the likelihood of a transmission event. So biking to a workplace and not sitting in a subway car is eliminating a bunch of transmission events. That reduces the R0 of the epidemic, which determines the exponent with which it will grow (or shrink). Enough measu…

Yes, and excellent point! Thanks for pointing that out. Considering we're not all able to completely stop all action outside the house, it's all about reducing & minimizing risk surface, just like with computer security where zero risk is not possible, risk profile can be reduced.

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

#133

Post by chachachoney »

turdnagel wrote: post #48
overlordalex wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They also joyride at reckless speeds around the borough of Queens blaring sirens and driving the wrong way down one way streets for fun. That's at night, while ON duty.

Inebriated police driving off duty are also a significant problem in the outer boroughs and are rarely prosecuted in any meaningful way for doing so...

If nothing is done about the above, seems like there's little chance that parking in bike lanes or on sidewalks in front of lunch/snack spots is going to be addressed.

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

#134

Post by wideasleep1 »

magicroot75 wrote: post #100
CydeWeys wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's for a different situation, though. The smoke particulates are very small and are omnipresent, so a mask definitely helps. Coronavirus, by contrast, is only airborne for a short while, so unless you're close to someone who's infected you're not going to be breathing it in anyway. That's why they're saying the masks have limited effectiveness outside.

When you say it's only airborne for a short while, what exact time range are you speaking about?

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v...

edit: Sorry, didn't realize that link was subsequently truncated, here is the .pdf: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v...

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

#135

Post by FrojoS »

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.

Kick off the side mirrors, that will teach them.

Im joking. But it sucks that the law is not enforced, despite this being a serious hazard.

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

#136

Post by megablast »

closeparen wrote: post #128
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.

I can pass parked cars in relative comfort, but stopped buses are way beyond my risk tolerance, and those are ~80% of the bike lane obstructions I meet in SF. Why bother cycling if you’re going to be limited to the bus’s schedule anyway? Well, I guess COVID-19 is a reason.

I worry more about parked cars, and people in them opening doors than I do about buses. Buses have the exit on the other side, so they are very safe.

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

#137

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

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...

There’s a 311 app that is technically run by the city but is effectively useless for actually effecting any sort of change

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

#138

Post by crazygringo »

jeffadotio wrote: post #112

> it was uncertain whether New Yorkers who aren’t used to cycling on the city’s inconsistent network of bike lanes —which are frequently clogged by parked or idling cars and trucks — would take the mayor’s advice The notion that New Yorkers use bike lanes is funny. I live on a major Manhattan avenue with a bike lane and there is at least three times as much bicycle traffic on the sidewalk right next to it. Even motor…

Honestly what you say doesn't make any sense.

Major Manhattan avenues are thronged with people. Bicycling on the sidewalk is going to be way slower than using the bike lane. Plus sidewalks are bumpier with more obstacles... what cyclist is going to choose the sidewalk?!

I use Citibike all the time in Manhattan. The only bicycles/scooters I see on the sidewalk are the ones pulling up to a building on that block. Everyone else is on the road because it's just faster and easier and safer.

The only blocks where you see cyclists possibly more often on the sidewalk are the handful of cobblestone streets left in the city, which are honestly just murder to bike over. Or a certain small number of roads that function more like highways where cycling in the road is unsafe period.

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

#139

Post by CydeWeys »

Alex3917 wrote: post #78
CydeWeys wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never mind that they're assembled by Walmart employees who have no idea what they're doing, and can be quite unsafe. You wouldn't buy a $10 airbag replacement for a car, and you shouldn't buy the cheapest bike possible. This is safety equipment; a failure at speed can be quite injurious to your body.

Exactly. Cheap bikes are made out of aluminum, which can fail at any time without warning and cause injury or death. Much better just to pay extra for carbon / steel / titanium. Carbon still fails, but there are more likely to be warnings first, and even if it does fail completely you're not likely to puncture a lung or whatever from it getting impaled through your chest. Steel and titanium shouldn't fail at all unle…

Where are you getting this from? Carbon fiber is more failure-prone than aluminum is. There are some very nice bikes made out of aluminum (up to the several thousand dollar range). Steel vs aluminum is more of a choice in ride comfort vs weight.

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

#140

Post by CydeWeys »

magicroot75 wrote: post #94
CydeWeys wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's true. People can get a lot better at it in a relatively short period of time. I have.

Face touching is literally unconscious in many cases. It's entirely possible you've been touching your face and not noticing it, but have just become more conscious of the times you attempt to stop yourself from touching your face.

Moving your arms isn't like breathing. It's not some autonomic nervous function.
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