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France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

cyclingweekly.com

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Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#191

Post by djrogers »

jamil7 wrote: post #73

People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast. In Europe a huge amount of people just own a bike. Often some beaten up thing they probably paid €30-200 for at a flea market or bike shop and use to commute or meet friends. Maybe it's fallen into a state where it's unrideable. The €50 is just a simple nudge for all those people to get it roadworthy so they c…

> People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast.

I’m an American, and literally everyone I know owns at least one bike, and it’s rideable. I’m not even in a big city - in fact I live closer to cows and sheep than to anything resembling a skyscraper...

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#192

Post by touisteur »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #152
ViViDboarder wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m from America, but I visited Copenhagen a few years ago and was amazed by how many bikes there were. On top of it, most bikes were parked with only a wheel lock and not chained to anything.

You need a bike friendly road network. Where I am at in suburban Illinois, I have a 45 - 55 mph lane with no shoulder and no continuous sidewalk. There is no way I'm risking life and limb to commute on that with my bike. On the other hand there are multiple trails which I can and will use now that spring/summer is here. I think the reluctance to use bikes for basic transport is more to do with lack of space on the ro…

Theft plays a major role when you're thinking of buying an e-bike... When you're shelling 2+kEUR and you must put the fscking lock eeeeverytime you go somewhere, pause to buy bread, or whatever, and it's the same one or 2 minutes circus (first lock, then second lock, then don't forget the computer...). It gets tiring and discouraging.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#193

Post by FrojoS »

BurningFrog wrote: post #140
com2kid wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing confused me about this. In major American cities bike theft is incredibly common, to the point that the police won't help at all. I've had bikes repeatedly stolen out of locked garages at home! I'd never buy a bike that was worth any reasonable amount of money, my commute pre-covid was a good candidate for an electric bike, but no way would I spend more than a 2 or 3 hundred dollars on something that will g…

When I lived in Sweden, on average one bike would get stolen per year. My experience in California is similar. Once you accept that, it's not that much money. The bad part is that you can never buy that Really Nice bike you'd really want.

You seem to have incredibly bad luck. I got 2 bikes stolen in 20 years and I think its similar for my friends (all central Europe).

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#194

Post by akgerber »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #152
ViViDboarder wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m from America, but I visited Copenhagen a few years ago and was amazed by how many bikes there were. On top of it, most bikes were parked with only a wheel lock and not chained to anything.

You need a bike friendly road network. Where I am at in suburban Illinois, I have a 45 - 55 mph lane with no shoulder and no continuous sidewalk. There is no way I'm risking life and limb to commute on that with my bike. On the other hand there are multiple trails which I can and will use now that spring/summer is here. I think the reluctance to use bikes for basic transport is more to do with lack of space on the ro…

Bike trails aren't used in winter because they aren't maintained, just as roads that aren't maintained in winter aren't driven on.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#196

Post by akgerber »

loeg wrote: post #129
ogre_codes wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reasons I think people like the bike share programs. The bikes are burly and slow, but they get the maintenance they need where they usually don't end up truly horrible.

In my experience they mostly don't get maintenance; they're just built extremely cheaply and treated as disposable. Various parts that are easy to break (derailleurs) are elided by using Internally-Geared Hubs (IGH). The wheels are non-pneumatic and just a solid piece of rubber, so they never go flat.

Dockless bikeshare bikes are often built as you describe.

Docked bikeshare (as mostly operated by Lyft in the US, formerly Motivate/Alta) generally uses bikes built similarly to high-quality Dutch city bikes and maintains them.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#197

Post by stouset »

remus wrote: post #186
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I've learned while I lived in Amsterdam is that you want to invest ~30% of the value of your bike to purchase a bike lock. That advice predates the battery-powered angle grinder, which many bike thieves in Western Europe now use. Even the toughest, most expensive U-lock can be broken in about a minute with an angle grinder.

Having two locks can also be a good tactic, especially two locks in a different style e.g. a d-lock and a cable lock. The theory being that a thief would need to have two tools to steal your bike which means it's likely more hassle than other bikes that'll only have been secured with a single lock.

An angle grinder will get through a cable lock in a few seconds. It buys you nothing over a U-lock against someone armed with one.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#198

Post by AdrianB1 »

Pete-Codes wrote: post #15

Wow, really cool scheme! Would love to see it in Scotland. A friend nicely lent me his bike and I've been going for rides every day during lockdown. Really got the cycling bug now and a scheme like this would be great.

It is so easy to do: just ask your government to increase the taxes by 100 pounds and then give you back 50 pounds. Your loss, but you will be happy for the 50 pounds you get from the government, not thinking where the money come from.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#199

Post by FrojoS »

groestl wrote: post #139
com2kid wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing confused me about this. In major American cities bike theft is incredibly common, to the point that the police won't help at all. I've had bikes repeatedly stolen out of locked garages at home! I'd never buy a bike that was worth any reasonable amount of money, my commute pre-covid was a good candidate for an electric bike, but no way would I spend more than a 2 or 3 hundred dollars on something that will g…

> no way would I spend more than a 2 or 3 hundred dollars on something that will get stolen within 3 years. I'd neither, but a friend of mine did. He got his bike insured (replacement value), for a pretty reasonable amount, considering. And AFAIK most people with expensive bikes do, which is probably also the reason police is not too keen on acting.

Yes! Bike insurance is the way to go once you have a nice bike. I don't and carry a big lock. But I have friends with quality bikes (~1500 EUR) and they park at the train station with laughable locks because it's insured.

Re: France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

#200

Post by akgerber »

cultus wrote: post #69
ogre_codes wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bikes tend to degrade slowly over time if you don't do regular maintenance. Most people don't notice the slow decline until it's quite bad when suddenly it feels like an unreliable POS. Giving people who are just a little frustrated with their bike might go a long way to helping keep people from getting to that point at least once.

This doesn't get enough attention in cycling promotion. One of the absolute biggest reasons that people aren't on their bikes is maintenance. Wheels go out of true, shifting gets wonky, and it starts to look like an unreliable form of transport. Sturdier commuter bikes help a lot with this, but every commuter seems to think they need a bike with super-light wheels and a thin, weak 12-speed chain.

One challenge for the sturdy commuter bike in the US is that cities are built around the car and commute distances are large, rewarding faster bikes. But reliability for commuters is certainly a big part of the recent boom in single-speed road bikes, which have thicker chains, dishless wheels, and no shifter to fail.
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