Any cyclists on here?

[muddyfox]

Yeah, I've also heard rumors of them being less than reliable lately but didn't want to muddy the waters and just offered my experience with them.

[RobA]

Awww man! Sorry to hear about your wife, that is just horrible. Being (somewhat of) a cyclist, when in car I give all cyclists (and bikers as well) all the road I have to spare which sometimes prolly looks odd to the guy behind me but I know it feels good on the bike when you don't have your elbows banged up by car mirrors. 

Yep same here. I take wide arcs around bikes. We have enough cyclists around here that it's pretty common to see people doing this. Drivers overall are pretty good here. It's only a few that make it dangerous to ride.

I'm pretty paranoid about motorcycles. I used to ride and know how it felt to have people tailgating you on a bike. One of things that really pisses me off is when I'm behind a bike in traffic and someone in a car thinks the bit of extra room I'm leaving behind the motorcycle is enough space for them to squeeze into.

On the subject of eggbeaters, I agree it's a personal thing. I gave them a shot about five years back but they just felt wonky to me and had way more float than I was used to. I'm sure they shed mud better than spd's but I don't ride in that kind of weather so I just opted for the more locked-in feeling of Shimanos.

I started with Shimanos and I liked them too. The only reason I changed to the CB's was because when I needed new pedals on the cross bike they were on a really good sale, so I figured I'd give them a try. I've had the first set for about 3 years and they've been good. The set on the second bike's only been on for a few months.

I've seen comments about the Crank Brothers falling apart, also lots of comments about them taking more maintenance. I haven't had any problems yet and when I talked to the folks in the bike shops around here they didn't seem to think it was a big issue.

To me, how they feel and ride is a more important thing. Shimano makes great pedals and their system is really nice and does feel good and secure. The CB's do shed mud and debris really well, but the only time it would make sense to me to have that as a consideration in the buying process would be if you were going to race with them. My personal experience is that they are both really good.

[Droogie]

drivers who can share the road!

As someone who commutes by bike from the middle of Brooklyn to mid-town Manhattan everyday for work, I read these words but they do not make sense.

My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.

Very sorry to hear that! I have a close call almost every day—it's definitely dangerous. To be hit from behind must be awful—you don't see anything coming. Glad the person got popped for it at least, but small consolation for the pain and injury. Here's hoping for a full and speedy recovery!

Biking still can't be beat for staying in (something like) shape though and staying off the subway, which has it's own significant drawbacks.

[RobA]

Biking still can't be beat for staying in (something like) shape though and staying off the subway, which has it's own significant drawbacks.

Yeah, there are tradeoffs, but the advantages to being able to bike for your commute well outweigh the downsides. Just the positives on your mental outlook are worth the risks. I could definitely see going with a bike over the subway.

[davent]

My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.

That really sucks! Hope she's back at it soon!

The hard part is the mental recovery, physically you can be fine and ready to roll but there's that doubt,  even when you've done everything and are doing everything right to protect yourself, you still get blindsided by some idiot, so much totally out of our control.

[Droogie]

My wife was hit on her morning commute to work a week ago today. Luckily, she didn't get hurt too badly, but she's still pretty banged up and can't use her arm very well yet. The doc told her it would be about a month before she can ride again and we'll have to get her a new bike. The person that hit her was a just a bit too impatient and cut the corner before she had made it across the road and hit her from the rear. The driver of the car got ticketed for careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury, not a great tradeoff for about 2 seconds of impatience.

That really sucks! Hope she's back at it soon!

The hard part is the mental recovery, physically you can be fine and ready to roll but there's that doubt,  even when you've done everything and are doing everything right to protect yourself, you still get blindsided by some idiot, so much totally out of our control.

Yeah, that is scary. Sometimes it's other bikers who are acting stupid, which is really disappointing. I expect most cars drivers to not be aware and/or give a shit about bikes, but a bit more often these days I notice a slight improvement. I always give a shout out to drivers who actually cede the right of way when making turns across the bike lane. Although it should be axiomatic that they follow the law and do the right thing, I still want to give encouragement and thanks for being considerate.

[RobA]

...
That really sucks! Hope she's back at it soon!

The hard part is the mental recovery, physically you can be fine and ready to roll but there's that doubt,  even when you've done everything and are doing everything right to protect yourself, you still get blindsided by some idiot, so much totally out of our control.

I'm sure she will be. She was missing riding the day after the crash. The mental bit is hard, although I'm guessing it's going to bug me worse than her for a while. I was already nervous about the section of her ride that she got hit on. I'm trying to convince her to take a slightly longer but safer path. Overall though, this is a really safe place to ride. Most of the drivers are aware of the bikes because we have so many. Also, really large portions of the bike paths are completely off the roads.

It's not like I really feel safe in a car either. We had one here a few days ago where a truck full of sand lost control and tipped over. It crushed one car and buried a couple of others nearly completely. Three more cars were partially buried. Incredibly, everyone survived. Totally crazy! Other motorists and the people living around the scene ran out and started digging the people out. I think only one person ended up needing to go to the hospital. It's one of those things that just mentally trips you up because they were all just sitting at a light and really couldn't do anything about it. Still, you've got to pretty much ignore the possibilities and keep doing what you need to do.

...
Yeah, that is scary. Sometimes it's other bikers who are acting stupid, which is really disappointing. I expect most cars drivers to not be aware and/or give a shit about bikes, but a bit more often these days I notice a slight improvement. I always give a shout out to drivers who actually cede the right of way when making turns across the bike lane. Although it should be axiomatic that they follow the law and do the right thing, I still want to give encouragement and thanks for being considerate.

That cyclists around here can be really dangerous with each other. But this past Spring and Summer I've noticed a definite move to the cyclists themselves being much safer and more polite both with other cyclists and in their interactions with cars. I've had lots of instances lately where a cyclist will see me waiting for them at a stop sign and they'll signal to let me know they are turning and I'm safe to go. That was something that I rarely saw happening until recently. The cyclist also seem to be more aware that they can actually plow into each other if they both pull rolling stops. It's not like everyone has stopped with the rolling stops, but they at least seem a bit more careful when they start into the intersection. Overall, I'm really happy to see the increased awareness all around.