Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

fastcoexist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 345 posts

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#331

Post by spacecowboy_lon »

kaybe wrote: post #300
spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So when its raining hard and you have to stop quickly and safely? will that 100$ bike be as good/safe as a sensible entry level MTB say 800/900$ with properly setup brakes?

The cheap ones are usually bought used anyway and might need repairs, you're free to upgrade the brakes. I'm usually limited by road traction, not my brakes, though, and they're as cheap as it gets. Proper maintenance is more important than expensive components.

That is assuming the frame isn't twisted - you woudl also want to replace the wheels with alloys.

Also not every where is SF with its balmy climate try riding where it rains a lot where stopping in the wet safely is probably more important

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#332

Post by kaybe »

spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #331
kaybe wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cheap ones are usually bought used anyway and might need repairs, you're free to upgrade the brakes. I'm usually limited by road traction, not my brakes, though, and they're as cheap as it gets. Proper maintenance is more important than expensive components.

That is assuming the frame isn't twisted - you woudl also want to replace the wheels with alloys. Also not every where is SF with its balmy climate try riding where it rains a lot where stopping in the wet safely is probably more important

Twisted frame? Do you mean damaged after accident? And isn't alloy the normal material for wheels?

I live in Germany; there is a lot of rain going on. And snow, occasionally. Icy roads are a serious problem, but I still think a bike is the best way to move about then, just sloooowly.

But seriously, the biggest problem is to react fast enough, and not kill yourself by flying over the handlebars or skidding due to traction problems. Using condition-adequate speed helps a lot, of course. I never heard of any well-maintained bike causing problems by not braking sufficiently around here.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#333

Post by Pxtl »

mcv wrote: post #328
Pxtl wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That approach works in cities that have established massive cycling communities - the Montreals and Copenhagens. The mid-step approach for North American cities is an extra-wide bike-lane clear of the door zone with dotted zones that require drivers to shift into the bike-lane if they want to turn right. Basically, the bike lane is effectively a "bike lane and right-only-turn-lane". It's less protected than the parki…

If you require cars to use the bike lane, it's not a dedicated bike lane anymore. You bring cars and bikes together, and risk collisions between the two. It works only if car drivers are very aware of the presence of bikes, and trained to watch out for them. I think this is more likely to work in cities with an established bike culture than in car dominated cities. When cars dominate, give bikes their own bike path.

You bring them together regardless at every intersection unless you give the bikes their own crossing signal every block.

The bike/turnlane makes turning into a two-step operation - first check for bikes, then second check if your turn is safe. That elevates the normal consideration bikes would get in a turn, which is none at all from most drivers.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#334

Post by sliverstorm »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #167
sliverstorm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many, many people: - do not have showers at work - do not have safe routes to ride - are not experienced cyclists - average more like 10mph The discussion is not "how do we get hardcore bike nuts to ride to work". That's not hard.

I find it hilarious that Americans made it to the moon but think that commuting to work by bike is practically impossible. Meanwhile millions of people all over the rest of the world, from school children to seniors, are doing just that every single day. I moved to southern California last year (from the UK) and of course I ride my bike to work. My colleagues think that this is a really strange thing to do and some r…

Who said it was impossible? It just has to compete with many other forms of transit. So, put simply, if biking to work means arriving at work late, dripping sweat, and getting grazed by cars doing 60, then people will take other options if they can.

And a lot of the US really is pretty f*cking dangerous to bike during rush hour.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#335

Post by joe_the_user »

ptaipale wrote: post #324
mcv wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to compare metro areas, you should do the same for San Jose: 6,979 km2. This is in fact even larger than the Randstad (4,300 km2). I'm not going to bike from Amsterdam to Rotterdam (in fact, I find that too far to commute no matter what method of transport I have). If the housing problem in Silicon Valley is really so big that it's hard to find a house within 10 km of the office, I can see how it's go…

Yes, of course, but anyway Copenhagen is not really quite as dense as the small area of the city proper would lead you to believe. (Looking at Wikipedia, the San Jose metro area actually seems to be very concentrated in the city proper, with almost 1.9 million in the city proper and only 56 000 outside it. )

Wikipedia is wrong if it means the effective metropolitan area surrounding San Jose is just San Jose. People live and work spread across the entire Silicon Valley area, that is indeed why that term is used most often for the region. Since housing is expensive and difficult to find and expensive, workers wind-up spread out at close to the maximum drivable to distance, putting them at far from an easily bikable distance.

"Geographically, Silicon Valley is generally thought to encompass all of the Santa Clara Valley, the southern half of the Peninsula and southern portions of the East Bay."

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#336

Post by joe_the_user »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #311
joe_the_user wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, I meant say "no easy", in fact I did: When where one's work is twenty miles or more from one's living space, one just isn't going to easily bike to work. I slipped and said "not possible" later so jeesh, sorry. I meant "It's possible for it to be easy enough for the average person". I've commuted further distances myself but the average worker isn't going to do it. Sad but there you are.

True its a stretch. But compare an hour on a bike, vs an hour in traffic. It might be a wash. As for the effort, the average person can do a whole lot more than they think. I ride with 20,000 Iowans in a weeklong 400+ mile ride every summer - aged 6 to 60 - 40 to 100 miles per day, pretty average people. The only thing that makes the average person unable to do this is, they think they can't.

"As for the effort, the average person can do a whole lot more than they think."

Sure, the average person can do a lot more than they think but most average people won't do that lot-more unless something fairly extreme compels them and that doesn't especially likely in any future moving forward.

"But compare an hour on a bike, vs an hour in traffic. It might be a wash."

One get fit enough to ride two hours/day on a bike everyday, sure. But I don't think one can get fit enough to not be tired after the experience. I recall years ago talking to a professional bike messenger friend - I asked her if she got used to it after a while. Her answer was that she got used to the experience but that she just always felt tired.

Most people wouldn't want that because it would mean life after work wouldn't exist.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#337

Post by rconti »

mgraczyk wrote: post #240
rconti wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to bike commute on rare occasions from near Levi stadium up to around where Oracle is in Redwood Shores. I don't remember a dedicated bike path along 101 at North Bayshore. I'd usually leave Moffet, cross under 101, go up Middlefield to Rengstorff, then ride past Google, turn left, past Intuit, then follow East Bayshore (the road) the entire way until I cut through EPA towards what is now Facebook HQ (used to…

I was referring to the Baylands trails, specifically the Adobe Creek Loop Trail and those that lead to EPA.

Ah. Yeah, I consider those trails to be far too circuitous to be useful for commuting.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#338

Post by rconti »

zurn wrote: post #304
rconti wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're welcome to your opinion. I bike 8 miles each way in Silicon Valley with a backpack on my back. I ride in a t-shirt and jeans (unless it's really hot, in which case I wear shorts). I ride moderately hard, so I arrive with a bit of sweat on my body and on my face. Sometimes I wipe the sweat off my face with a paper towel. 10 mins in my air-conditioned cube and I'm back to normal temp, all dried off, and merino t…

Just curious, why do you prefer a backpack to a pannier (or backpack-inside-pannier)?

I like having the mass attached to my body, as opposed to having an awkwardly-weighted bike. Reduced unsprung weight for more maneuverability :) Much easier to hop speedbumps and the like, which is pretty useful for urban cycling. I have a light 20L pack with an internal frame and mesh for my back so I still get decent ventilation.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#339

Post by Symbiote »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #131
JupiterMoon wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually most of the the trains (not the metro for some reason) in Copenhagen have lots of bike space and one can take one's bike for no charge. Lots of people use bikes and mass transit together.

Do mass transit companies charge for bikes? All the ones I've used have had it free.

The UK is unusual, as bikes are free on trains.

Most of Europe charges a reduced fare (e.g. same as child fare), and often restricts bikes to certain times of day. When trains are busy (often!) bikes take up a lot of space, and increase the time the train has to wait at a station (the "dwell time", usually under a minute).

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#340

Post by Symbiote »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #74
mc32 wrote: post #64

To my mind, one of the main issues, in addition to protected bike lanes is the spread. Bike friendly cities are more compact. Commuting to work via bike is not a strenuous fifteen mile commute one way. They tend to be leisurely few mile rides. Now, not to say it's not possible, but a one to five mile bike ride is not the same as a ten to fifteen or more miles bike ride. Now, I do like Copenhagen's above ground bike r…

I would like to see a mix of coach and bike - I live about 30 miles outside London in a typical commuter town, and the station is two miles away and the train takes an hour to drop me off in the wrong part of London and I need a 20 minute tube ride afterwards. Currently the totally commercial and private coach is half the cost of my tax subsidised train per month, and picks me up 40 yards from my door and goes past t…

> Currently the totally commercial and private coach

Your coach drives on a private road? Very nice!

Post reply on HN