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Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

forbes.com

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Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#141

Post by howling »

raphaelj wrote: post #87
jraby3 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had 5 bikes stolen and no cars stolen, so have to disagree about worrying about theft.

Well, my bike is insured, and I bought a recently released angle grinder-resistant lock [1]. My workspace is also fairly well located so that also helps. [1] https://eu.litelok.com/products/litelok-x1

This is the same company that creates the touted highly secure LiteLok Gold that LPL cuts in 16s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-On0DGcDlc

I'm skeptical of any bike lock's security that is not reviewed by LPL.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#142

Post by nonethewiser »

jerrre wrote: post #120
fipar wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About not killing someone if you ride after drinking, Obviously it is ver difficult for a bike to directly kill someone other than the rider (as opposed to a car, where this is very easy), but a drunk cyclist can still hurt other people directly or indirectly (causing a bigger accident by forcing someone to avoid them). Even on a city free of private cars, you’d still share the road with pedestrians, other cyclists,…

Don't most of you points also apply to drunk walking?

The damage is a function of mass and speed. Obviously walking < e-bike << car

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#143

Post by timeon »

sandworm101 wrote: post #81
alkjsdlkjasd wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - weather might make the ride unpleasant; As the Dutch like to say: there is no such thing as bad cycling weather, only bad cycling clothes. I would strongly recommond a pair of water/wind proof trousers to go over your regular trousers, if you don't already have some. This has lead to a much more pleasant riding experience, especially in winter. They aren't very practical on a regular bike as they make you uncomfo…

>> As the Dutch like to say: there is no such thing as bad cycling weather, only bad cycling clothes. Easy to say in a country famously flat, small, and with a relatively narrow weather window. I welcome any Dutch person to attempt a 15+km commute during a rocky mountain winter. I know of driveways in US/Canada with more vertical than any Dutch commute.

I'm not from Netherlands. What I have learned biking in snow blizzard is that it is good to have gloves and glasses. Everything else is just getting used to things.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#144

Post by DangitBobby »

tokai wrote: post #103
DangitBobby wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many places in the world riding a bike drunk is as illegal as driving a car drunk. Even if you assume the the risks outlined in your comment as relatively high likelihood (which I don't), it still makes 0 sense to think it's anywhere near as serious as driving drunk.

Riding a bike drunk is asocial and a danger to yourself and others. You might like to think of it as less serious, just like people thought of drunk driving as okay if you were careful. It's a judgment call you make, but it is objectively more dangerous than when you are sober.

All motion is more dangerous while drunk, but how drunk you are matters, how fast you're going matters, and how dense traffic is matters. I'm not convinced of how much more dangerous biking is while mildly drunk than walking, or biking very slowly while very drunk, especially at night when almost no one is walking.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#145

Post by pastage »

mrpopo wrote: post #53
raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

1 car/household is still entirely feasible with children (and the norm for many lower-class in Europe). We live with 1 child and no car and it's been working fine thus far. You have to be careful about where you live and work though, but I'd say the added quality of life of living car-free (in a car-free city) is all worth it.

Cars are a poor mans choice in Europe you only have to have a car if you are really poor. Europe is more mixed economicaly so this isn't true everywhere. Sure if you are rich you are also more likely to make life choices that make car ownership "a must", when you can buy cars like toothpicks it does not really matter.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#146

Post by acidburnNSA »

britzkopf wrote: post #131
raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

Don't have to worry about theft?! Wow, Europe must be so different than North America. I'm much more worried about my biker being stolen (has happened about a dozen times in my life) than my car. If the former happens you get absolutely zero support, while if the latter happens the police will actually try to do something.

This stood out to me too. I'm pretty sure that every nice e-bike left outside gets stolen within minutes in my city.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#147

Post by aisengard »

zimpenfish wrote: post #57
bartread wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whilst I'm overall in favour of promoting cycling as a way of getting around, in preference to motor vehicles, I'm not sure I entirely agree with "safer". I live in Cambridge and have lost count of the number of times I've had to contend with cyclists blowing through pedestrian crossings on a red light (or zebra crossings at any time) when I'm trying to walk over them, or cycling the wrong way down a one-way street -…

> "[whatabout cyclists who break the law]" I can stand at my local crossing on Old Kent Road and there'll be non-zero cars jumping the red light (often accelerating from a good ways back) or entering the junction without a safe exit blocking the crossing, a bus lane, and another junction (in peak time this will often get into double figures). Multiply that by all the crossings and you'll absolutely dwarf the amount o…

Or, you know, we can do both at the same time?

Also, once police are no longer occupied ticketing motorists, I hope cyclists are prepared for actually being held accountable to laws. The police budget isn't going to refill itself.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#149

Post by toss1 »

fipar wrote: post #96
raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

About not killing someone if you ride after drinking, Obviously it is ver difficult for a bike to directly kill someone other than the rider (as opposed to a car, where this is very easy), but a drunk cyclist can still hurt other people directly or indirectly (causing a bigger accident by forcing someone to avoid them). Even on a city free of private cars, you’d still share the road with pedestrians, other cyclists,…

Nice suggestion, but drunk-cycling is self-limiting in a way that drunk-cycling is not. Drunk-driving you are seated, and only need to be barely conscious. for drunk-cycling, you still must be sufficiently functional to balance on a bike, which puts a bit of a floor on the level of perceptual and cognitive function available, in addition to the far lower bike vs car ceiling on available momentum to do damage.

Not recommended, but cycling is a very substantially less-worse choice, absent getting another ride.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#150

Post by nonethewiser »

thinkindie wrote: post #139
raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

I live in Berlin, within the Ring (for those familiar with the city). I don't own a car, I have multiple carsharing subscriptions and I have two children, 1 and 4. We have a cargo bike to move them around and do groceries, almost in any weather (as long as it doesn't rain), otherwise we have public transport as a backup.

Where do you live for those of us unfamiliar with the city? Paris?

More on topic - Bikes make a lot of sense in the city but if you add kids to the equation the safety risk just becomes too high to stomach IMO.

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