[LhasaCM]

@jrenaut 166867 wrote:

None of this helps my decision.

Not sure this will help either, but: from a size standpoint, the wheelbase on a triple tandem isn’t that much different from a Bakfiets or other similar cargo bike, though obviously the handling is quite different. I rode a Gazelle Cabby in Chicago a few weekends ago with my 6yo daughter in the basket up front. That bike has about a 9 foot wheelbase (it was similar in length to the triple tandem they also had to rent, and about two feet longer than my ‘normal’ bike with trailercycle setup). We were fine on both the Lake Shore Drive bike/pedestrian path, as well as riding through traffic in downtown; it was maneuverable enough to get around. I imagine if I had more than a day with it, I would’ve felt even more comfortable riding around town.

[LhasaCM]

@Judd 166794 wrote:

Social Bicycles also is the underlying platform for Jump bikes. I found using the membership number and pin on the keypad on the bike to be an easy process. For Jump Bikes, you can lock up the bike anywhere in the bounds of the District, but they have established “hubs” in certain areas, often times near Metro stations. If you lock up the bike in one of the hubs you receive a discount on your ride ($1 IIRC). Interesting that it’s a reward model in DC and a penalty model in Albany.

That is interesting. It looks like Albany’s setup is a bit of a hybrid; from their video, they have station locations with kiosks for folks to sign up separate from the website or mobile apps, with regular bike racks for the bikes to lock to. They do have a reward model for bringing an out of hub bike back to a hub ($1), and the annual subscription provides 60 minutes a day for free (compared to CaBi’s unlimited number of 30 minute rides).

For Jump!: right now, it looks like there is one hub per ward, but all of them are relatively close together. From a maintenance/balancing standpoint, especially with the e-bikes, it makes sense to try to have semi-centralized areas where you hope more bikes end up; makes it easier for them to recharge/etc. so reduces costs. It’s sort of like car2go’s model of incentivizing filling the gas tank in exchange for a time credit.

[LhasaCM]

@rcannon100 166782 wrote:

Stupid question

CABI you can use without a smartphone. You used a credit card or a CABI key.

Can you use a dockless system wo a smartphone? (my assumption is no?)

Dockless bikes are all over SW and The Wharf (and area that had been underserved by CABI)

The only one I’m aware of that works without a smartphone now is Jump; you need a computer or phone to sign up for an account (not necessarily their app, just a browser). You get an account number and establish a pin that you can use to unlock the bike directly. The problem is – those bikes are not readily available/easy to find. Right now, their app shows 2 available.

[LhasaCM]

@Harry Meatmotor 166673 wrote:

Judging by other cyclists’ clothing choices this morning, it was apparently -24F.

So you’re saying my daughter’s choice to wear snow pants, winter jacket, “ninja mask”, and ski goggles was excessive?

[LhasaCM]

@skins_brew 166586 wrote:

Mobike and jump let you reserve bikes (Mobike is 15min, unsure of jump).

I just tried an goo, and I think they byfar have the lowest seat. I am only 5’8″ and every other bike was OK, but I wanted a higher seat on the goo, but it was as high as it goes.

The ofo app also had a very hard time focusing my S7 edges camera enough to take a picture. They have a manual unlock too, but after fumbling with the camera for several minutes, it finally worked.

When I tried it, Jump’s reservation time was 1 minute before charges started (though you can reserve a bike up to 4 hours, I think, if you’re willing to pay during that time).

[LhasaCM]

@hozn 166470 wrote:

I take issue with the suggestion that bikes and cars treat stop signs the same now. If there are some studies that show that most cars do not stop at stop signs, I would be curious to see them.

My very, very brief research suggests that not completely stopping is a minority behavior at a stop sign. Certainly this is what matches my experience as a driver.

https://www.scribd.com/mobile/document/25779288/Observational-Study-for-Determining-the-Percentage-of-Vehicles-Completely-Stopping-at-an-All-way-Stop-sign-Intersection

This is quite different from the behavior of cyclists — at least of my experience of cyclist behavior.

To be clear, I’m all for Idaho/Delaware stops as I think that it would be in the interest of all parties to treat cyclists differently (cars don’t want to wait behind me at a 4-way stop to “miss their turn” to go, any more than they want to wait behind me when I take the lane). I just don’t think it is fair to say that drivers and cyclists are currently applying the same behavior when it comes to obeying stop signs.

My also very, very brief research suggests the opposite, which matches my experience as a driver and as a cyclist in DC – unless forced to do so by cross traffic or pedestrians, a large percentage of cars roll through stop signs. Maybe not as large a share as cyclists, but it’s pretty considerable.

You have an unscientific study of a random stop sign a few years ago by WTOP, where they found that only 6 out of 21 cars stopped. https://wtop.com/news/2013/08/wtops-stop-sign-experiment-how-many-people-make-a-complete-stop/ A similar anecdotal study can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpRfUh1Dzlw in Philadelphia, where most cars rolled through an intersection with multiple stop signs (including one overhead) and a flashing red light.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/transport/2010/05/stop.html notes a few rather dated but more rigorous studies: a 1968 Berkley study where only 14 percent of drivers stopped at stop signs unless forced to stop by cross traffic (i.e., you don’t get credit for stopping if there’s a car coming), and an annual survey done (for 9 years) at an intersection in the late 70s and early 80s where the survey found only 3 percent of cars came to a complete stop at the end of the period, suggesting a change in behavior from when he first started the survey.

Even the self-reported “click poll” on a Chicago Tribune website 10 years ago only had half of the respondents say they came to a complete stop. (http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/02/who_stops_for_s.html)

[LhasaCM]

@DCAKen 166207 wrote:

That is an ambitious goal of six figure daily riders

Not once we have 20,000 LimeBikes…

[LhasaCM]

@Judd 166183 wrote:

Anyone got a Physical Therapist that they recommend? I’ve been referred to PT for some pain/strain issues I’m having with my right trapezius.

It’s been a while (it was maybe 8 years ago?) but I had a good experience with the Select Physical Therapy location in Ballston for some shoulder issues. They are a large “chain” so I’m sure it’s like a lot of places where it’ll all depend on the person. Plus side – they have a fair number of pretty convenient locations to choose from in the area.

[LhasaCM]

@LhasaCM 166011 wrote:

In theory, Jump (the e-bike one) works by signing up through their website in a browser or in the app. Their inventory is still quite limited…

In practice: no phone needed once you have an account. You can unlike the bike to rent using your account number and pin. If you reserve with your phone (only one minute before charges start) you just need to enter your pin.

As far as the ride…when it works, the electric boost is pretty good…not too sudden. However, on my brief test ride this morning, the motor cut out quite often. From the GGwash review, that is meant to be a safety feature. For me, it ended up being an unsafety feature, as it cut out while going up the hill in 8th St NE near Monroe Street Market while a car was behind me. I went from going at a good clip to almost stopping in a non-PAL manner. Without the boost, it is a beast to pedal (looks like a 8 speed Nexus hub). I had to stop entirely and wait a few seconds for the motor to kick back in.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

[LhasaCM]

@rcannon100 166004 wrote:

Ah assume the answer is no – butt – can any of these bikeshare systems be operated without an App? Asking for a friend with a Blackberry.

(I know…. right??)

In theory, Jump (the e-bike one) works by signing up through their website in a browser or in the app. Their inventory is still quite limited…

[LhasaCM]

@dkel 165898 wrote:

My 8-speed hub needed service early because the clutch was pissing me off—it almost pitched me right off the bike when it jammed the drivetrain in neutral unexpectedly after a shift. Rather than spend $40 on the service (and eventually $80 on two services), I spent $70 on the stinky Shimano transmission fluid, and did the job myself (I’ll come out ahead the next time I do the job!). It wasn’t that hard except that it takes quite a while to get the thing apart (especially the damn snap ring!). The hub works much better since I did the service. Is there some other aspect of this that I’m missing that makes the job difficult? I think it would be pretty hard to mess it up (there’s only one way that the parts go together, as far as I can tell), and I don’t consider myself to be much more than average at the mechanical stuff.

I wouldn’t describe the operation on the Alfine 8 necessarily as difficult. However, since there are a lot of parts to keep straight, plus the joys of the snap ring, I would say that it is tedious, but not mindlessly so if you haven’t done it a lot before. And while it doesn’t quite work in the end (so it’s obvious something isn’t right), you can get some of the parts put back on backwards/out of order, which would be problematic. Because of all of that, I think that operation is something that it is easy to screw up, especially if it’s a busy environment where there could be frequent interruptions.

[LhasaCM]

@FFX_Hinterlands 165860 wrote:

I asked a bike shop to dip-lube by Shimano inter-3 hub (with coaster brake). They reassembled it wrong and ruined it, then blamed me for asking them to work on it. They ordered new internals and put it back together. So yeah, I don’t think I’ll have anyone here in Northern VA take apart my 8 speed hub.[/quote]

Seems like a lousy experience – and what I feared when it was time to service my 8 speed. When I thought about the cost (since it’s a lot of labor involved) and how long it might take or what could go wrong with someone who wasn’t familiar with it, I figured I may as well take my time and learn to do it myself. Did it once…then I went ahead and upgraded…

@FFX_Hinterlands 165860 wrote:

It’s great to hear pinion has a US service center. That’s what I was wondering. Thanks for all of the info.

The US service center is being run by/in concert with Gates (which makes sense). I think it just officially launched last week at Interbike, but they announced in a while back. A couple of months ago, Bicycle Touring Pro had a pretty comprehensive (if basic) interview with the Pinion NA program lead.

[LhasaCM]

@FFX_Hinterlands 165849 wrote:

Did you ask any bike shops if they’d touch it if you needed it to be serviced?

Not yet – I’ll cross that bridge if I get to it. However – there’s not a lot of servicing a bike shop can do with the gearbox. The box itself is meant to stay sealed and only opened for maintenance if necessary “at the factory” (Pinion has established a service center in Colorado, I believe, for US customers) – so that would mean taking it off of the bike and shipping it somewhere. The annual maintenance is a real simple oil change which I’ll do myself, and for everything else that may need to be done, it’s either something I’m very confident doing myself (changing tires, tensioning the belt, replacing the front thru-axle since the one that shipped with the bike can’t be removed when the front rack is installed, etc.) or something that isn’t too “special” about my bike that a good shop should be able to do if I don’t take it on myself (e.g., any headset maintenance that’s needed, if/when I need to replace the shift cables).

That being said – even with my previous bike (Breezer Beltway , I had to be mindful of who worked on it. For example, at the shop where I bought it, some of the mechanics were flummoxed (or just not familiar) with that particular setup, so when I was having bottom bracket issues, I had to schedule it for the owner to take a look at it. Partially based on that experience, and acknowledging that I was buying something online anyway, I went into this purchase knowing that I may have to be “on my own” as far as a lot of the maintenance goes.

[LhasaCM]

@FFX_Hinterlands 165843 wrote:

Pinion Gearbox! YES! I’ve been waiting for someone to mention here. Is it the magnesium model? I have a Shimano 8speed IGH with coaster brake on my dutch bike. I would welcome more pinion options here in the US, although they require a special frame and not suitable for upgrading an existing frame.

Nope – I got the P.18 (I figured if I’m taking the plunge and ordering a bike online from overseas, I may as well really go for it), so it’s the original machined aluminum block rather than the cast magnesium in the newer C-line models. Since I’m not the lightest to begin with, and I’m often pulling a trailercycle with a 6 year old, I don’t really notice the extra weight

[LhasaCM]

@hozn 165812 wrote:

To be fair, though, even the pricey options like Rohloff are not maintenance free. I only have one data point from a bigger and harder rider than I am, but this hub had similar maintenance/rebuild schedule to what you are describing and this was really expensive maintenance (IIRC $300-500 to rebuild?). Ultimately the Rohloff broke his Titus Racer X frame so that was the end of that experiment. He has never considered an IGH again for the MTB. But I can see the appeal for commuting, esp with the belt drive. I’d consider Alfine 11 with Di2 if it was lighter and performed better.

Now that we’ve got brakes and hub spacing sorted for the drop-bar bikes, it does seem like a drivetrain evolution is overdue.

FWIW – when I was buying my Breezer Beltway (previous bike), I was torn between the Alfine 8 and 11. At the time, the Alfine 11 had some sealing issues (i.e., the hub wouldn’t necessarily stay sealed properly and you’d have minor oil leakage), which could be an issue or at least obnoxious to deal with, but I from what I’ve seen, that’s gotten better. On the flip side – the Alfine 8 is much more annoying/labor intensive to perform its regular service (since you have to take the hub out of the wheel to give it a bath as opposed to having a service port). Having serviced my Alfine 8, I can honestly say that I’m shocked those gears withstood what I asked it to do.

And I agree that the pricey options are not maintenance free, nor hassle free, but the hope is that they are more durable relative to the cheaper IGH options. But all have their own little quirks. For Rohloff, for example: Soma had to tweak the Wolverine design to be able to withstand the load the hub can place on the dropouts (so the v.1 frames may not be able to cope and are not officially approved). Besides, in general it’s safe to say that the more expensive the thing is that breaks, the more expensive it’ll be to fix. (Says the person who just bought a bike with a Pinion gearbox. Here’s hoping I don’t need to worry about making a claim against the 5 year warranty…)

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