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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

#151

Post by kqr »

CydeWeys wrote: post #139
Alex3917 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Aluminium is fatigued with use over time, so will at some point fail, even if it's not subjected to major trauma. (This is opposed to steel which is only fatigued by major trauma, and carbon fibre which cracks when you look at it wrong.)

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

#152

Post by uk_programmer »

mikestew wrote: post #77
justinfrankel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have short-reach dual pivot brake calipers on a bike which sees >2000 miles year-round each year in NYC, and my rims are still fine after 7 years. From my experience, stopping distance is usually dictated by road conditions more than the brakes. This is with 34mm wide tires, and properly adjusted brakes (a lot of times when people complain about rim brakes, the issue is that they are not working properly). Side not…

In Seattle, I’m not the only one on my race team that would eat rims every year or two. Fact is, rim brakes are inferior in every way to just about every alternative, save two: they’re inexpensive and lightweight.

> I’m not the only one on my race team that would eat rims every year or two.

This really says it all. When I am cycling to work, I am not trying out for the tour de france or trying to beat someone else's strava record.

> Fact is, rim brakes are inferior in every way to just about every alternative, save two: they’re inexpensive and lightweight.

It doesn't matter if they are inferior. My regular disc brakes on my Ford Focus is inferior in every way compared to whatever they put on a Ferrari. However they are perfectly is sufficient and safe for driving to work and back.

The best argument you can make for discs vs traditional rim brakes would be that the modulation is slightly better.

It really annoys me that a lot of cyclists seem to push very expensive kit that for the commuter is completely unnecessary.

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

#153

Post by CydeWeys »

GrassFedAltCoin wrote: post #145
CydeWeys wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 themselve…

Not being from New York, it was hard for me to comprehend how much political power the police union has there. Dating someone from there, and by extension taking a passing interest in the city's politics, it has been eye-opening to see how much influence their protests exert over the mayor's office/political process more broadly.

It's crazy. Most of them don't even live in the city, and yet they have an unbelievably larger amount of political power per capita than any other constituency in the city save for higher-up politicians.

Police unions are the only unions that people on the right like, and they're the only unions that people on the left dislike. It's a weird inversion.

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

#154

Post by CydeWeys »

kqr wrote: post #151
CydeWeys wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Aluminium is fatigued with use over time, so will at some point fail, even if it's not subjected to major trauma. (This is opposed to steel which is only fatigued by major trauma, and carbon fibre which cracks when you look at it wrong.)

This seems like an overblown concern. How often are aluminum frames actually failing? How many miles and how many years do you have to put on one before it fails? And how do these figures contrast with steel? And don't forget that steel is more susceptible to rust than aluminum is, so depending on climate and salting conditions the steel might fail first.

My aluminum road bike cost me $600 new and I have four years of daily commuting on it so far. It's still in good condition and I expect to get many more years of riding out of it. At this rate I'm gonna have it for longer than the average car ownership period in the US (which is about 7 years).

The fears are being blown out of proportion.

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

#155

Post by [deleted] »

lolc wrote: post #143
CedarMadness wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would get rim brakes over another set of cable disc brakes. I recently got a gravel bike as my "go anywhere" bike, and the cable disc brakes are absolute garbage, constantly going out of adjustment and rubbing, making noise, or just being ineffective. As a contrast, my hydraulics on my mountain bike are absolutely fine with minimal work, just a flush every year and changing the pads when they wear down.

I had shitty cable disc brakes before. With the same complaints. I Replaced them with TRP Spyke brakes and all of that went away. I'll never lose another perfectly good wheel to rim wear. But I can see how that is a secondary concern.

[deleted]

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

#156

Post by veggieburglar »

lolc wrote: post #143
CedarMadness wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would get rim brakes over another set of cable disc brakes. I recently got a gravel bike as my "go anywhere" bike, and the cable disc brakes are absolute garbage, constantly going out of adjustment and rubbing, making noise, or just being ineffective. As a contrast, my hydraulics on my mountain bike are absolutely fine with minimal work, just a flush every year and changing the pads when they wear down.

I had shitty cable disc brakes before. With the same complaints. I Replaced them with TRP Spyke brakes and all of that went away. I'll never lose another perfectly good wheel to rim wear. But I can see how that is a secondary concern.

TRPs are so good and so cheap. I rode Shimano XT for years, and the TRP is the only thing I’ve experienced that is better quality and more reliable while not being outlandishly expensive. Super happy with them!

Cable discs, while better than rims, still suck. I feel unsafe riding anything but hydraulics, even on the road.

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

#157

Post by erikbye »

newtoday wrote: post #141
erikbye wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is definitely a higher risk you inhale enough virus progeny indoors than outdoors, yes. We know from the flu that indoors the virus can stay suspended for many hours. Regular talking can project enough virus from an infected person for the air to become sufficiently contaminated, though shedding varies by individual. The more (longer) you breathe that air, the greater your chance of becoming infected. This migh…

Are you saying I could breathe in some, conveying a small amount of the virus, and not get infected? That seems to be the opposite of what highly contagious means.

Disclaimer: Not a virologist.

A virus has to achieve viral entry: it has to find a suitable host cell, and introduce its viral material.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_entry

Whether an aerosol hits your face, or you breathe air with suspended particles containing the virus, the virus has several challenges it needs to overcome (described in the link above). Its success is not guaranteed. An increase in virus particles improves its chance while a decrease improves your chance.

In theory, a single virus particle could achieve its goal.

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

#159

Post by agensaequivocum »

CydeWeys wrote: post #153
GrassFedAltCoin wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not being from New York, it was hard for me to comprehend how much political power the police union has there. Dating someone from there, and by extension taking a passing interest in the city's politics, it has been eye-opening to see how much influence their protests exert over the mayor's office/political process more broadly.

It's crazy. Most of them don't even live in the city, and yet they have an unbelievably larger amount of political power per capita than any other constituency in the city save for higher-up politicians. Police unions are the only unions that people on the right like, and they're the only unions that people on the left dislike. It's a weird inversion.

Nope, I dislike all unions within the public sector.

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

#160

Post by kqr »

CydeWeys wrote: post #154
kqr wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aluminium is fatigued with use over time, so will at some point fail, even if it's not subjected to major trauma. (This is opposed to steel which is only fatigued by major trauma, and carbon fibre which cracks when you look at it wrong.)

This seems like an overblown concern. How often are aluminum frames actually failing? How many miles and how many years do you have to put on one before it fails? And how do these figures contrast with steel? And don't forget that steel is more susceptible to rust than aluminum is, so depending on climate and salting conditions the steel might fail first. My aluminum road bike cost me $600 new and I have four years o…

It is definitely an overblown concern. I just wanted to present the steel man version of the grandparent's argument.
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