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At Jermantown Rd & Route 50 they don’t even slow down for the no right turn on red sign. Motorists just feel entitled to not have to stop.

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I’m no longer able to read about the ex-mayor of toronto without mentally inserting “the Robs Fords”. Thanks, Bike Snob.

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@DaveK 37212 wrote:

There are tons of requirements for lighting and reflectors on motor vehicles. Just to pick one, that’s why you see little red reflectors mounted in the bumpers of cars with clear taillamps like the newer Lexus RX SUVs.

Nobody’s questioning whether cars have lights, the question was whether colors matter. I think they do, but only during the day.

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@DSalovesh 37170 wrote:

There are no (well, few) laws about what colors cars can be painted, but tons of requirements around retroreflective markers and effective lighting.

Cars are bigger and harder to miss, they run into each other all the time anyway and nobody really cares because insurance fixes it magically, and they generate enough power to have lights that are bright enough to be seen during the day. Bikes are different animals. There are requirements for coloring non-car things so that they can be seen during the day (e.g., liferafts, highway barrels, toy gun tips, the golden gate bridge, highway workers, etc.). ANSI 107, EN471, and SOLAS all specify high-vis/fluorescent colors.

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@rcannon100 37148 wrote:

Well this is somber data. According to this, my high viz fluorescent shell is worth jack.

At night. During the day the reflectors are useless, and the bright clothing is visible. At least there’s support in literature that ninjas have a death wish.

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They come in “tweed ride”: http://www.hembrow.eu/dogtrailer.html

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With the newer lithium ion batteries you don’t want a full discharge (it will never charge again; the circuitry should shut down the device first, but it’s not something to try to do). They do have a limited number of charging cycles, so it’s better to charge it once after 3/4 than three times after 1/4. Don’t leave it on the charger when it’s done, it’ll discharge a bit, recharge, discharge, etc.

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@Brendan von Buckingham 36932 wrote:

Filtering is allowed, but the phrasing in the VA regs says something about traveling abreast in the same lane being illegal. You can overtake in the same lane, but you can’t travel abreast. I think that’s what they’d use to write a citation about make left turns with cars like that. Either way, I’d prefer the ticket over being forced over that Grate of Peril.

So that means cars can’t pass us, right?

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@rcannon100 36876 wrote:

Is that an ELITE Cyclist way of saying you’re staying at the hotel, not packing a tent :rolleyes:

ELITE cyclists have a support team, and can’t mount panniers on their carbon bikes anyway. But yes, the implication is that you’re not carrying a tent & a lot of food, you’re not going to be in a really hostile environment, and you’re probably not going to spend days in the rain.

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@rcannon100 36837 wrote:

That is an impressive price differential. That makes the Arkel 3.5x more expensive (comparing a 2 bag purchase) than the Transit EPIC DX that I have, and ~2x as expensive as the Ortlieb Back Roller.

Well, I think the key is the target market. Arkel’s commuter bag, they assume people will run singly and it’s optimized for that (carrying function, etc.). Their non-commuting panniers come in pairs: http://www.arkel-od.com/us/all-categories/touring-bike-bag/t-42-lite-touring-panniers.htm (you know you want all those pockets )

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@rcannon100 36828 wrote:

BUT! Looking at the specs, the Arkel has a capacity of 1400 cu in. My old Performance Transit EPIC DX had double that! The Ortlieb has a capacity of 2,441 cubic inches.

Oye. I fill my Transit EPIC bags all the time – well I run with just one bag – but its full. I wince at cutting the capacity so dramatically. So, thinking I was going for the Arkel, I am now veering back to the Ortlieb…. although I really would like it to breath. Shucks, maybe I will go back to the Transit EPIC back. Its not as good as the others – and it wore out – but it has capacity, it breaths, and it has pockets.

Make sure you’re not comparing single pannier capacity to pair capacity. (The arkel is sold as an individual, the ortlieb as a pair.) A single pannier with 2400 cu inch capacity would be unusually huge.

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This is nothing but a heartless scheme to put hardworking serfs out of a job.

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@jopamora 36693 wrote:

How do you find the willpower not to just give it to him now? Got my son a balance bike for his 2nd bday next month and it is killing me not to just see him try it out.

Pragmatism: I have three kids and a finite amount of space; if I give him the bike now, I’ll need to come up with something else for Christmas.

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As a motorist, I suggest putting the light on the bike and using a long strip of wide-angle reflective fabric/tape on the bag. A lot of the cyclists I see while driving have bag blinkers pointed at sky or ground, and aren’t really visible from a car. That’s hard to check on the bike, also.

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Yeah, that’s the usual reason, but shouldn’t apply to the cross check. You’ll probably be happier with eyelet mount the first time you need to change a tire.

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