Bicycles

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Welcome to !bicycles@lemmy.ca

A place to share our love of all things with two wheels and pedals. This is an inclusive, non-judgemental community. All types of cyclists are accepted here; whether you're a commuter, a roadie, a MTB enthusiast, a fixie freak, a crusty xbiking hoarder, in the middle of an epic across-the-world bicycle tour, or any other type of cyclist!


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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca
 
 

There was a NoStupidQuestions post about properly locking bikes to avoid theft and it got me thinking. I'm in a rural area so I never leave it anywhere. Any advice or rookie mistakes to avoid if I do plan to ride around a city?

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English translation (note has some errors):

The news was praised by several environmental groups and cycling associations. Vélo Québec welcomed the "ambitious" vision of the capital, a city where the car still stands at the top of the pavement.

“Last year, we welcomed an additional 12,000 citizens to the Quebec City Metropolitan Region. If we don’t find alternatives to help people move according to what they want, we’re cooked,” Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Today we need to act,” added the Mayor. Waiting for more deaths, more congestion, more trouble, waiting for even more sclerotics would be a lack of courage. We won't do that. ”

The City of Quebec gives itself 10 years to complete these 14 axes of its Cité Vélo Corridor (CVC). It estimates that 30 million dollars will be needed to set up this network. Half of the budget, or 15 million, is expected from the provincial government. Quebec wants to complete 90 km of the network within 5 years, and the 150 km by 2034.

The network will travel from the city centre to Val-Bélair, the airport or the east of Beauport. The mayor placed great emphasis on the scale of this cycle network inspired by the Montreal REV.

Opponents of his tramway project liked to repeat that the first phase did not go to the suburbs, a way of discrediting him. “More than 85% of the city’s 35 neighborhoods will be served by the HVACs,” insisted the mayor, who may expect another divide between centre and suburbs on this issue. The issue of transport is a sensitive issue in the capital.

The goal of City Hall is clear: to provide a safe and effective option for those looking for an alternative to the car.

In the capital, 50 per cent of travel of less than 1 km is made by car, as is 77 per cent of travel of less than 5 km. The city therefore believes that many citizens could choose to abandon the car if they had protected cycle tracks.

“When we combine the modal share of pedestrians and cyclists, we are at 12.5%. The best cities are 40%. We have a long way to go,” said Mayor Marchand.

“We start from nothing,” he added, promising to share with the public the figures on the evolution of the use of active transports in Quebec as they become available.

Exit the car?

The Marchand administration was not in a position on Tuesday to say whether car lanes will be entrenched. Planning is still in its infancy. The map presented to the media is still a draft, and the City wants to consult with the public to know in particular which streets the HVAC will pass.

Several questions from journalists focused on the impact of the project on the car area. “The aim is not to remove lanes or to say that they will not be removed. The goal is to find the best route,” said the mayor.

"I'm taking the car, and I'm going to keep taking it," added Bruno Marchand. “If you can’t do it [use active transport in your week because your reality prevents you from doing so, there’s no stake, I’m not going to judge you. The goal is to tell people that when it comes to your schedule, you will have a choice and you will have a safe choice. ”

The mayor assured that he did not expect a new beak with the Quebec Coalition's government. The town hall has 15 million provincially. But Mr. Marchand will move forward, whether Quebec’s money is there or not, he said.

Environmental groups reacted positively. Angèle Pineau-Lemieux, spokesperson for Sustainable Transport Access, saw the announcement as a “major turning point” for Quebec.

“For us, it is necessary. All cities around the world are making efforts for sustainable mobility, if Quebec did nothing, it would be incredible,” said Alexandre Turgeon, Director of the Regional Environment Council of the Capitale-Nationale.

“When I hear them say, we will not withdraw traffic lanes,” I even find them shy,” added Mr. Turgeon.

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Here we go. Autonomous vehicles are now mowing down cyclists.

I hope that Waymo's insurance is good!

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Seeing how incredible the transformation of Montreal has been for cyclists and pedestrians, I applaud Quebec City for expanding their active transportation system with this announcement, too!

Marchand says this project is not "a war on cars" but he does not have information about how existing roadways or lanes will be affected by the cycling network.

Well, data from every major city that has implemented a robust cycling network tends to show that traffic congestion will be reduced, people will be healthier, local businesses will benefit, and safety all around will improve.

Bravo, Quebec City!

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For those who don't know that area, there are multi-use paths (north and south side) separated from the road on Victoria St, where this cyclist was hit.

For a car to hit someone, they would need to be turning in or out of the business entrances without stopping/looking, which would mean they were at fault 100%.

No charges have been laid, but hopefully this will change.

Far too many cyclists being killed in Ontario. When are we going to take things seriously?

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So I live in the US and I have seen a few videos proclaiming the virtues of Dutch style bikes including NoJustBike's video. They all are saying that these bikes cannot be found in the US but couldn't one just buy a step through frame and just add the missing features themselves such as a chain guard and parallel handle bars?

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I plan on riding bike for often and while I have invest and will continue to invest in the typical security measures (D lock, wheel lock, etc.). However, in the extreme case that it should get stolen I want a way to track it down. I was thinking about getting a Tile tracking and place it within the frame of my bike but there's a better way please suggest it. Thanks in advance!

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Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.

The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.

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This winter, I decided that I needed to do whatever I could to protect my chain, downtube, and bottom bracket from all the salt and road spray.

So, I rigged up a DIY fender extender and have been riding with it for months now.

After every ride, I do tend to wipe my chain and any parts that got sprayed, but I'm blown away by how clean the bike stays simply by having that front fender extender.

The photo shows the fender extender, held in place using duct tape (didn't want to drill holes in the fender, although, some fenders are designed so fender extenders can be put on easily). It's held like this through numerous puddles and all kinds of weather, so "it works". Make it out of a plastic file folder, which I got from Walmart for a few dollars. I can probably make another 3 out of the single file folder.

The only downside I see, which can probably be tweaked by trimming the extender to mitigate it, is that it causes more drag as it acts like a mini sail that's always working against you. LOL I'm not racing with this bike, so it's a small sacrifice for keeping it clean! I'm sure someone more crafty could come up with a design that could be easily removed, although, my setup only requires you to pull the tape off. Easy enough.

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I have a 20 inch folding bike (406).. How much load can the wheel handle? I am an adult with 70 kg.. Sometimes i carry my kid sitting on the rear rack, worrying that the tyre will burst one day.

The maximum load on the tyre wall printed 65 kg max load though.

ಠ_ಠ

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Have you commute to work by cycling? My workplace is 17km per trip, is it consider a normal/doable distance for bicycle commute? Havent done it before

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Thanks to a new bill that went into effect in California on January 1, 2024, bicyclists will now enjoy greater safety from motor vehicles. At least, they will in theory.

The bill, titled California Bill A.B. 1909, states that bicyclists in the state are now permitted to cross whenever pedestrians are. This is an important development thanks to a technology called Leading Pedestrian Interval, or LPI, which gives walkers a head start on the right-of-way before traffic is allowed to commence.

In other words, signals that detect traffic in California are built to give pedestrians an extra three to seven seconds before any light in the intersection turns green, making pedestrians more visible to vehicle traffic. Several studies show that this seemingly minor head start can have major ramifications on the safety of pedestrians.

One 2016 study showed that the intersection in San Francisco that had the highest number of pedestrian injuries from left-turn incidences saw that number drop to zero once that intersection was armed with LPI functionality. Another study, performed in 2008, showed the LPI can reduce pedestrian strikes by more than 46 percent.

Before A.B. 1909 was passed, LPI applied only to pedestrian traffic. Cyclists had to abide mostly by motor vehicle traffic laws (as is the case in many cities around America).

But now, thanks to A.B. 1909, as cyclists are allowed the same head start pedestrians get, the hope is that there will be less vehicular strikes. In fact, in many cases, three-to-seven seconds will provide enough time for a person on a bike to completely clear an intersection, which, according to a study by the New York City Department of Transportation, is one of the most dangerous places for bike riders in urban settings. That study pointed out that 89 percent of cyclists involved in vehicle crashes in the city were struck at intersections.

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The only outfit associated with a significant change in mean passing proximities was the **police/video-recording jacket. **

Notably, whilst some outfits seemed to discourage motorists from passing within 1 metre of the rider, approximately 1-2% of overtakes came within 50 cm no matter what outfit was worn. This suggests there is little riders can do, by altering their appearance, to prevent the very closest overtakes

This is quite discouraging, but it seems to ring true in my experience. I've had quite a few drivers, who have come close to hitting me (even while walking at a crosswalk), claim that they "didn't see me" while I wore high-viz everything and had lights to further improve visibility.

How do we, as cyclists, even deal with “driver blindness”?

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Don't police cars have cameras in them? That should be the only witness you need.

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One thing to add, is that if you use those Podium bottles, it's quite easy to take the valve apart and really give it a deep clean.

I would strongly suggest doing that every once in a while, especially if you use sugary drinks.

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"Should We Tax Cyclists?" (www.youtube.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by governorkeagan@lemdro.id to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca
 
 

This video is specific to Canada but I constantly see similar comments from road users in Europe as well.

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Horrific. Very fortunate that there weren't any fatalities.

Can't wait to hear the excuse explaining this one.

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Don't you just love how the driver was "likely speeding and ran a red light", but the paragraph before blames pedestrians for not looking?🙄

I don't know about Quebec, but hit-and-run drivers in Ontario don't usually get anything more than a few weeks suspended license and no jail time.

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Catherine Steier, owns a business along Avenue C North, and was not a fan of the idea.

“Bikes lanes on Avenue C North are dangerous and unneeded. The amount of traffic and big trucks that drive down it will make it even more dangerous than it is when you add these unneeded bike lanes,” Steier wrote.

I don't know about anyone else, but bike lanes are needed specifically to separate cyclists from "traffic and big trucks".

But if people think that traffic and big trucks are the danger, then perhaps the City should put in bike lanes AND measures to restrict traffic and big trucks from those roads 😀

More specifically, speaking of "Avenue C North", much of it is residential (one lane each direction with parking on both side, so cars end up turning itnto one lane...😆). The more commercial/industrial parts don't even have sidewalks for pedestrians!

I think Saskatoon has a major car problem. And in the spirit of accessibility and safety, they absolutely should be addressing the car-centric infrastructure they've got on that road.

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The prosecution pushed for a $1,000 fine and a complete driving ban, while the defense argued for a higher fine ranging from $1,500 to $1,800 without any prohibitions. Along with the $1,150 fine the judge restricted his driving to work duties and picking up his kids.

Just imagine if your kid was killed by a truck driver, and the courts were battling over a few extra hundred dollars for the fine. No jail, and a very loose "ban" on driving for the person who killed your kid.

I just don't know why a cyclist (or pedestrian's) life means nothing in the eyes of the law.

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