[EasyRider]

@chris_s 148817 wrote:

For fastest resolution, the Traffic Signal Hotline: 703-228-6511
For ease of use, the “Report a Problem” Arlington App (available as an installable app on your smartphone or via the web) now has a “report a problem with a signal” option (Traffic Signals >> Signal Maintenance).

Thanks, I’ll remember this for future reference. As of last night, the signal was back to normal.

[EasyRider]

@Dewey 148828 wrote:

From this morning’s commute into work

Me: Cycling East on Arlington Blvd at the junction with Ft Myer Heights Park, closely followed by a MetroBus, we’re both going 20mph.
You & your buddy: Standing over your bikes on the sidewalk looking East then suddenly, without looking left, both of you enter the road and weave around at 3mph.
Me: Back wheel locking up, trying to steer my now out of control bike and remain upright so I don’t get crushed by the bus.

Please look behind you to see what’s coming when you enter the road.

Terrifying, I can sympathize. I used to live in that neighborhood and people often just step right into Arlington Blvd without looking from the park on their way to the pedestrian bridge over Route 50. The other scary part is a quarter mile further down the road, the curve just before the stop sign at Iwo Jima. If you don’t take the whole lane and ride near the centerline on that curve, drivers will try to pass you by going halfway into the oncoming lane. When an oncoming car comes around that blind curve, the driver in the wrong lane freaks and their instinct is immediately return to their lane. But that’s where the cyclist is …

[EasyRider]

Because carbon frames are themselves disposable/replaceable components?

[EasyRider]

Seems less pleasant to me, actually. Currently, I’m taking the lane and eliminating a dangerous one lane crossing from my commute. If I went down the Columbia Island and doubled back to Memorial Bridge on the MVT, I’d then have to cross two lanes of GW Parkway traffic to get back to the bridge.

Still, I’d rather do that than take the 14th street bridge to 15th St. across the mall. The sidewalks crowded with pedestrians around the Tidal Basin and Washington Monument?… no thanks. Taking 15th across the mall and through the intersection at Constitution? Not if I don’t have to. Sorry to sound grumpy, but I find the cycletrack that starts at 15th and Penn to be more trouble than it’s worth. It requires constant vigilance to avoid pedestrians who step out into it without looking both ways, not that the pedestrian crossing lights aren’t hidden by tree branches anyway.

[EasyRider]

I regularly take the right lane of Wash Blvd., the part that goes over the Boundary channel, between the on ramp from the Pentagon parking lot and the exit ramp to the southbound GW parkway. The reason I do it is because if I don’t feel safe crossing that second exit ramp when going northbound

It’s at a weird angle and you have to look almost behind you and uphill to see if a car is coming. 99 cars out of 100 headed toward Memorial Bridge don’t use the off ramp to the GW, but the ones that do are usually moving fast. Many seem to be tourists who don’t realize they’re in an exit lane until the last minute. The confusion uses up all their RAM and they can no longer see bicyclists and pedestrians as they shift into “fuggit I gotta take this exit now” mode. So I just hop into that merge lane on Wash Blvd for 200 yards to avoid this situation. Traffic is mostly at a crawl else I wouldn’t do it. Here’s a shot of the exit ramp crossing from a reverse angle.[ATTACH=CONFIG]12703[/ATTACH]

[EasyRider]

Hi cyclo, I didn’t use the words “legal responsibility,” I was speaking of “responsibility” in the plain sense — conscientousness, courtesy, etc. The things that make a “good” (e-)cyclist.

As for the comparison with roads, laws and regulations do exist in recognition that the consequences of inattentive use are greater for larger vehicles. Large trucks, trailers, and their tires are subject to excise taxes in recognition of their vehicles added wear and tear on roadways; these same trucks themeslves are often subject to weight and lane restrictions as well as lower speed limits that don’t apply to smaller passenger vehicles. Their operators require additional testing and licensing. If that 5500lb Chevy Suburban is hauling a boat, it’s subject to more regulation than the Mazda 2.

Not that I’ve called for any regulations on e-bikes in this thread. I’m just making the case that with more power, speed, weight, and effortless use — comes more personal responsibility. Just testing the waters to see who else thinks so.

As others have stated, today’s e-bikes aren’t really the problem, and the problem cases we’ve experienced are just anecdotal. The problem is a few years down the path … when they don’t cost $3,000 and every fourth or fifth bike on the path is a an e-bike capable of 20mph+. E-bikes are moving pretty quickly from being mostly cargo and kid movers to what the bike industry knows best: racy stuff marketed to 25 year old dudes. An e-bike is at the top of the food chain on a MUP and that’s a big part of it’s appeal.

[EasyRider]

I totally appreciate the care you take. I didn’t mean to single you out but I did want to note your ebike’s capabilities as an example. I’m just saying is that operating a heavy motorized vehicle at speed on a

MUP requires more responsibility than a pedal powered bike, because the consequences of inattentive use are more serious. Force is not about weighing 215 in any case. 215 + 45lbs traveling 20 mph, which very few cyclists can actually achieve for more than a minute or two, is much more force than 215 +30 pounds traveling 15 mph, which would be a fairly athletic pace on a pedal cycle.

[EasyRider]

@dasgeh 148372 wrote:

This is not generally true. They are most helpful to get from 0-12mph.

The OP of this thread says his bike is a Trek XM700. Here’s the marketing copy from Trek’s website:

This bike is fast! XM700+ is the commuting tool for bicycle commuters
who are looking for an electric bike that supports up to a whopping 45 km/h.

What do think of my larger point, that a heavy self-propelled bicycle requires more responsbility on the part of the rider than does a conventional bicycle?

Edit: forgot to mention Trek’s own site describes the bike as a quote “The Commuting Weapon.” http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city-bikes/urban-commuter-bikes/xm700/xm700/p/1982140-2017/

[EasyRider]

LOL. Thanks for the opening, I’ll bite!

At lunch I posted a reminiscience about the Puch Maxi moped, and the similarities with modern e-bikes: Puchs were no bigger, no faster, had operable pedals, etc. If “it’s the rider not the bike,” should responsibly, courteously-ridden gas mopeds be allowed on multi-use paths? I think most of us would say, “of course not!”

The MUPs here were built in the Puch’s heyday, and I’d bet the “no motorized vehicles” rule was adopted with them in mind. Back then, the distinction between a moped and a bicycle was one of kind, not degree. It was easy to see (and hear) that mopeds were different from bicycles — heavier, noisier, faster, ran on gas. The vehicle mattered, not the rider. Today’s e-bikes are still heavier and faster than bicycles, but the noisy, polluting two-stroke engine is gone, so it’s much easier to see the difference between them and bicycles as one of degree.

I think there’s still some difference in kind, though. E-bikes go really fast without any effort from the user, and that, plus their weight, means they require more responsibility from the user than does a conventional bicycle. At least in my book. If an e-bike user doesn’t call a pass or take care, the consequences of hitting another trail user on a 50lb bike at a speed rarely reached by pedal cyclists is not just unfortunate, it’s potentially grave. (Yes, I’m aware of the tragic accident on the 4MR run trail.) I’d hate to hear a noisy old Puch coming up from behind me at 25 mph on a quiet morning commute. But at least I’d hear it coming, responsible rider or not.

I’m not for banning e-bikes from MUPs, but I sure do think they have more responsibility than other trail users.

[EasyRider]

But I didn’t even mention that Puch was a bicycle manufacturer 😮

[EasyRider]

Most parts of Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church meet those criteria. This is a high-cost area, so I think you might find budget is the constraining factor, not proximity to parks and libraries, of which there are many.

For example, if you search Redfin for 3+ bedroom homes in Arlington with 2+ baths, the least expensive one is listed at $500,000, and the kitchen and baths are decades old. No garage.

[EasyRider]

E-bikes, e-scooters, e-carts … I can’t see one without thinking of the Puch Maxi moped. It was the the e-bike of 1980s, and ubiquitous in my hilly suburban subdivision. The mechanically-inclined boys who had Puchs usually had some homebrewed go-karts too, or strapped little motors to stand-up scooters. Everything was a work in progress.

The Puch was about the same size as today’s e-bikes, had operable pedals if you ran out of gas, I guess, and a top speed between 20-30mph. Heavier than an e-bike at 80-90 pounds, but aside from weight and power source, very similar to today’s offerings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puch_Maxi

[EasyRider]

@KLizotte 148306 wrote:

What about providing light high enough for drivers to notice you? Can you post some photos?

I think so. I use my cygolite’s partial strobe mode when I’m in traffic in the dark. It doesn’t flash full time. It’s steady for two seconds, then rapidly flashes for a second. Hard to miss, even mounted low to the ground.

[EasyRider]

No strobe effect. It’s mounted at the hub so you’d have to have the headlight pointed sideways to get that.

I have the wheel on the right hand side of the front wheel and I get full illumination to about 930/10 o’clock on the opposite side.

I’ve had it since 2013 and haven’t snagged it on anything yet. The end of the mount is about 5 inches from the centerline of my bike. The outside edge of my pedal is 8 inches out so it’d get hit first in close quarters. The peg itself is tough and screwed into a QR skewer. The skewer would break if you stepped on it with all you weight but everyday bumps and bangs? Nope. It’s just a chunk of aluminum. If anything, it’s protecting my bike from neighboring ones.

[EasyRider]

Preschool pickup will make me a no-show. Pictures of that headlight, please?

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