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Bonus points for what looks like the rear light that is mounted basically behind the back wheel and does little to nothing?

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@dasgeh 114883 wrote:

I don’t know where you are in FFX, but electric family/cargo bikes are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

We live walking distance to the Vienna metro on the south side. With the large amount of construction that is planned in the area combined with the new community center we have hopes the future of cycling here will be brighter. We are already pretty high density for FFX and are predicted to continue to grow in density.

But then again the Mosaic district nearish to dunn loring is supposed to be ‘urban’ and that is mediocre bike friendly at best. It is more of a half hearted, ‘we will give you some wider sidewalks but crossing Lee and Gallows will still terrify you because you don’t belong on the road’ kind of design.

*on point – I feed her ideas of dropping future children off at the two very close elementary schools via bike – speaking of –

Props to the kids/families I see leaving Marshall Rd Elementary nearly every day. Kids biking to and from school and generally be awesome.

Negative points to the speed signs on Marshall Rd. You say “School Zone, lower speed limit” but the speed limit on the road is always 25mph. Its not actually any lower at all. Although I appreciate that drivers tend to do it more when there are yellow lights that flash.

New idea – Speed limit signs now all require flashing lights and pictures of children.

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@ShawnoftheDread 114710 wrote:

Time to get him a friend.

The only bike I’ve ever received the thumbs up on getting in addition seems actually impossible to get. And is silly and even less versatile than my current bike… but its so pretty……………….. Trek District Carbon. A Madone with the carbon frame altered to accept a belt drive. My wife seems somewhat interested in one day going for an electric family/cargo bike. We need more infrastructure out here in Fairfax before she will get on the wagon, errr electric saddle? though.

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I didn’t mean to make the study sound like rubbish. It is an interesting idea.

For the forums eyes:

http://www.bhsi.org/walkerstudy.htm
http://www.bhsi.org/walkerfigs.pdf

For those who want to spend $42…
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457506001540

Just saying though..
The author was hit by a bus and a truck during the experiment, and was wearing a helmet both times.

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@hozn 114783 wrote:

I just find it hard to believe that most accidents (where cyclists could benefit from head protection) are caused by cars following *and* seeing cyclists — yet still passing too close. Was this demonstrated or otherwise asserted by this study?

The study was done in the UK by a university of Bath professor I believe? He took data on his commute daily swapping back and forth on wearing a helmet and not wearing one.

On average, cars passed closer when he was wearing a helmet vs when he wasn’t. Theres a lot of other factors in play there though. Perhaps he rides in a different location on the road with and without a helmet, sample size, repeatability, outliers (pretty sure he was hit twice.. both times with a helmet??? going all off memory here) etc.

The concept is ‘oh snap, look at that squishy melon head – i better give him room’ vs ‘plastic bucket, pass away at whatever speed’.

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Awww you’re one year old you beautiful two wheeled transportation machine.

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Despite what the website says, I picked up the Chrome Warm Vest at REI in Bailey’s last night for 50% off ($75). I believe there is a Medium and Large still left. I nabbed the last small I do believe.

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My wheels didn’t touch pavement this morning. I believe I arrived to work on the backs of crushed earthworms. R.I.P. I am sorry.

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@scoot 113334 wrote:

I think this alone would be a total game changer. How would we adapt to a 10x increase in motoring costs? (BTW seeing those numbers surprised me; is the hidden subsidy really that high? If anything I would expect the ratio to be higher in the USA than Canada…)

From a quick look at the source, the items are somewhat cherry picked. When you have quotes like

The Cost of Commute Calculator even assigns a value to the discomfort of riding a packed bus. After all, commuting on crowded public transit feels longer than the same time spent walking on a pleasant day.

But that aren’t then immediately followed by “and we say walking and cycling ‘costs’ more when its 35, raining, and windy because that feels worse than 72 with a light breeze.” you’re looking a bit biased.

There appears to be a lot of fuzzy feely stuff that is hard to quantify and hard to draw a line on when to stop piling on. The source talks about it in the externalities section but it appears they went with “pile on the negatives for bus and car, pile on the positives for cycling and walking and lets call that a day”.

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Whoa whoa whoa… as a west to east commuter, this morning’s real and measurable headwind was not ok with me. But you’d better stick around for my afternoon commute.

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Lovely.

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I look forward to the day I get on these boards and complain about how I am being held up by cycling traffic on Lee Highway in Fairfax. Damn if I didn’t get stuck behind that bakfiets at Gallows and Lee again today!

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Just using me as an example.

I have been wildly spendy in my mind on my bike. Like really – I’m HORRIBLE. I got fancy hipster headlights, I have a pretty bike with carbon belt drive bike with an IGH, I have fancy Chrome Industry shoes and jackets. I have super fancy Giro hipster shorts and undershorts. I have two amazing helmets, one a top of the line fancy pants bell. I have amazingly warm and technical Gore bike gear. I have purchased so many things since discovering Wiggle I already qualify for their 5% discount. I have purchased drop bars for my bike, new brake levers, new cabling, new stem, bar tape and filth prophylactic. I have a super fancy Timbuk2 backpack. I have a replacement set of tires and tubes just sitting around in my basement for when I need them. I bought fancy magnesium pedals! I needed a short pump, tire levers, full stand pump, multi-tool, wrenches, allen keys, tire repair kit, the list seems to never end of things I decided I wanted. Those are just the purchases that haven’t been mistakes. I purchased a Thule rack and bag and hated it. That ended up costing me about $15 in transaction/shipping issues. I have some shoe covers from Rivdale that are worthless to me. That was $30. I have two pairs of Tevas shoes that I don’t love/use (replaced by the Chromes), there goes $70. I purchased a non bike specific rain jacket super on sale for $50 and hated it, so there is another $50 wasted. Despite all these things. My total outlays on cycling is $2,400. Take away the bike and we are down to $1,300. Owning a car is property tax + insurance + maintenance + gas + registration + emissions/safety checks + depreciation. That can easily add up to more than even my crazy pricey first year stock up on gear. My guess is I’ll spend around $100-$200 next year. Although my wife says she will pay to have my bike repainted matte black….

side note – obviously I’ve been slacking on updating the most recent bike purchase thread. I’ve been on a spending spree! Also side note, gear got me to 3rd place on BAFS 2015 avg speed. Take that, haters of platform pedals and IGH!

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@bentbike33 112225 wrote:

I ride with a mirror and find I spend very little time actually looking into it, especially in traffic. I only use it when I want to know what’s going on behind me.

ELITE cyclists, however, assume I’m always staring into my mirror so they have no need to call their passes, apparently.

Inconsiderate behavior is not stifled by wheel count, it is true. You give them more credit than I would for even noticing you have a mirror.

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@Birdstrike 112194 wrote:

I hope I gain your courage with more experience. Seems like when I have taken the lane, I’m too preoccupied with the car way too close behind me, need to be able to block that out and act/ride like I know what I’m doing. I’m working on it, smaller roads first then building up.

This is a personal choice, and also one that can be limited by physical ability, but I ride without a mirror because I don’t want a constant reminder of how big of a jerk is behind me. I can hear them or see their lights etc. I know they are there and I check my rear regularly. I know my stress level would increase if I saw the idiocy that actually occurred behind me.

Call it willful ignorance.

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