Bicyclists on the road

And here's the other problem with our country. Any time someone has a minor "Accident" they always end up putting their hand out looking for more often than not "Easy" money. If your going to ride on the streets or bike path realize that it could be dangerous and if you fall and scrape your knee there is no reason to want to sue someone or the city etc. If someone purposely takes you out than yes but a kid rides into someone by accident and they are looking for compensation????? Please! Spend less time on your bike and work more if money is tight. Keep in mind I ride MTB and am not against cyclists just thought part of your comment was kind of ridiculous.

 

it looks like a convo has started up here, but i only read the first couple of posts. soo. . .

OP, you know how the saying goes (well maybe you don't. . . )

When your a pedestrian, you hate people in cars.
When your in a car, you hate pedestrians.
But no matter what, everyone hates bicyclists.

 

I was separating the casual bike user that populates the bike paths from the serious cyclist that covers lots of miles and the bike path ends long before their ride.

They travel at a much higher rate of speed, general they are very stealthy, like not carrying on a conversation while riding. The bike paths have lots of strollers, jobbers, little kids on bikes, those are serious hazards.

A bike on the road is a vehicle, it follows predictable guidelines for operation, traffic laws, ect. Much safer. Lots of studies have shown this to be true when I researched it for my local county road engineer.

 

I may have to find the link to the whole story, it came to me from a lawyer friend as an attachment, sorry. After reading it, you realize that the adult supervising the child was recklessly endangering everyone involved. The cyclist had serious injuries - no different than someone injured by a drunk driver asking them to pay for medical bills of your injuires. It was not a simple case or scrapes and bruises.

 

I am a serious mountain biker too ($13k) in mountain bikes in my garage right now. Your argument road bikes can't handle road debris shows a lack of knowledge on this subject.

Road bike tires are rock hard. 120 psi for normal pressure. Mountain bikes are around 30 psi. That small stone can cause a road tire to deflect abruptly, whereas the mountain bike tire can deform and roll over it. It has nothing to do with the expense of the bike component. It's physics.

 

Yeah, I got one of those 120psi road bikes too but I damn sure am NOT gonna swerve into traffic lanes to avoid getting a flat or even chance crashing. Either one of those things is better than being flatened by a 2 ton or bigger vehicle going 3 times faster at any given time than I am. I'd rather crash in the shoulder than swerving, not crashing and being hit by a car. If there is no emergency lane or shoulder and I am forced to share the road with motor vehicles then I am on the very edge of the pavement to the right of the stripe or as close to curb as possible. Not gonna ride road bike on sidewalks and not gonna ride it blocking any cars. Mostly it's a closed course or organized group ride thing for me. I much prefer the dirt,mud and forest with flexibility of fat tire bikes to go anywhere at any time for any reason. People need to just use common sense and leave their arrogance at home, regardless of being on a bike or in a vehicle.

 

Shit!@! why are all the biker packs so dumb!! I rode my motorcycle to work this morning and take a canyon road to avoid freeway riding and lots of dumb cars- but no there has to be a pack of 40 bikers in little groups taking up the whole other lane so every time a car comes i fear for my life when they are swerving around the dumbshit bikers!

Then about a minute after those packs there were some stragglers coming one by one - and wouldn't you know it they are in the very middle of the car lane around the tightest / sketchiest corners in ventura county.

Stay Single file and as far off the main lane as possible you dumb asses!

 

Where to ride on the road by Bicycling.com: http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadrights/2009/08/31/where-you-belong/

"In the Uniform Vehicle Code (a suggested standard for states; actual state laws may vary), cyclists are required to ride “as close as practicable” to the right if they are riding “at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing.” So if a cyclist can keep up with traffic, then he or she can legally ride in any lane. If a group of cyclists are the only vehicles on the road, then they are setting the speed of traffic. But for common courtesy and good public relations, they should ride as close to the right as is safe when cars would like to pass."

Why are cyclist in "my" lane? http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadrights/2011/01/26/take-a-pass/

"Narrow Road - When lanes are too narrow to safely share with a motorist, you are allowed by law to take the full lane. If, say, a driver in front of you is slowing to park or enter a driveway, you may make a legal pass to the left, just as if you were driving a car."

 

Whatever the laws are from state to state, they do not protect you from laws of physics that leave you dead from inattentive, road raging 2 ton + vehicles. This is the first law that I abide by if having to share pavement with vehicles........self preservation. Everything else is lower priority. Right and dead doesn't give anyone much to go on. Wrong or right and alive = winning. I try not ever have my life in anyone else's hands for any reason doing any activity as often as possible.

 

Ride of Silence next Wednesday guys. Yep, prepare now to be frustrated by all those cyclists hogging the road.http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php

 

Sorry dude but your info is way out of date. Low tire pressure is faster for mountain bikes according to this German study on tire pressure in mountain bikes. Basically, low tire pressure reduced deflection and allows you to carry more momentum; high tire pressure causes bounce and increases rolling resistance.

Here is the case study: http://www.mtbonline.co.za/info/mtb-tyre-rolling-resistance.htm

I run 22 front and 24 rear PSI in tubeless tires.

I think you're way off base with your cyclist on the road opinions and the facts don't back you up on your beliefs for mountain biking either.

BTW, I'm not an expert but I am deeply involved in the sport and feel I'm matching wits with an unarmed man. It's just not a fair fight.

 

I'm not buying any of that German psi study stuff. Maybe for Hans Rey doing some kinda extreme trials riding but not me. I'm not riding my 200# ass along with fat tires only having 30# in them. It'd be like riding in sand the whole time. Why? Pointless BS. The resistance of the peddling at that psi would overshadow any resistance that the fork and rear shock might generate having 50+psi in the tires. How can you possibly coast farther with low pressure vs. normal? Not. It'd be like riding a 75lb bike instead of 25. That "concept" might maybe apply to DH where no peddling is involved but smells like snake oil for XC. About a pinch flat bent rim walk it back to the truck festival is what that would amount to either way. Tubeless might have some play in that but I don't have tubeless wheelsets and I still wouldn't ride like that unless it was a trail fix and that's all the pressure your pump would put back in. If that was true, why shouldn't I ride my road bike with 50 lbs instead of 110? Nah, gonna keep my tires aired up to my liking.

 

Ppl in the valley apparently dont like bicyclists lol

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/ventura-suspected-drunk-driver-kills-bicyclist.html

 

i've always lived in places that are infested with road bikers. the worst is carmel valley. it's only a one lane road each way and there's no shoulder and these douche canoes are ALWAYS just cruisin in their spandex, holding up long lines of cars. i enjoy riding my bike as much as the next guy but come on. i know it's a pretty road but there are far more appropriate places to flaunt your shaved body.

 

Try living on a rural road where people drive 65. Then, as you go around a corner, you have to slam on the brakes because of two bikers on the road and a log truck coming at you in the oncoming lane.

They ride for pleasure on a rural road..... Stupidest effing thing I have ever heard.

I would be fine if biking was only legal if you had to commute to work, or the store. But putting someone at risk for an accident because you want to see the countryside is BS!

 

F*ck. It boils my blood. Even more than studded tire damage.

 

Every time I complain about bikers bringing two lane roads to a crawl during rush hour I always get responses like "Deal with it, bikers have the same rights as cars dur hur"
Bikers do have the same rights as cars as well as the same responsibilities. Since they have the same rights and responsibilities I'll treat them the same as cars.

If a car runs a stop sign, I get pissed
If a bike runs a stop sign, I get pissed

If a car drives 15 in a 40, I get pretty outraged
If a bike rides 15 in a 40, I get pretty outraged

Usually, most bikers don't run stop signs and it's usually not too much a big deal to pass.

However, in my city, there is about 3.? mile stretch of curvey 2 lane road with no shoulders and no passing allowed. This road is a busy road that is always used especially during rush hour. Typically it flows smoothly around 40 - 55 mph. It is the only road that gives access to the other side of the city lake. Around 4 and 5 pm, swarms of douchey bikers in their ridiculous outfits on their expensive bikers take to this road and the surrounding farm roads. They manage to make a line of backed up cars about a quarter mile long behind them. The cars can't pass because there is too much oncoming traffic, plus there is a double yellow line. When I would take pizza deliveries to the other side of the lake, I would often get stuck in a line of cars for at least a mile. This caused a typical 35 minute delivery to become a 40 to 45 minute delivery.

 

treating them the same as a car doing 15 in a 40 would involve blowing the horn until they either speed up to 40, or pull over.