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@vvill 20348 wrote:

“Hybrid” is a very broad term, at least to me, and covers everything from flat-bar road “sport/fitness” bikes to disc brake/belt drive/IGH commuters to utility and touring bikes.

I agree that often the ones with cheap front shocks that look basically like a 90s MTB with front shocks are not that great. They’re sort of “not good enough to be a bike of any particular purpose” hybrids.

“Hybrid” for me means the first part of the first sentence and the second sentence. Commuters, utility, and touring bikes I call “commuters”, “utilitity” and “touring bikes”. (This isn’t to knock hybrids for their intended purpose; I have a hybrid that’s like riding around on a barcalounger–extremely comfortable for tooling around with the kids, but I wouldn’t want to go far or fast on it.)

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@rcannon100 20320 wrote:

Hybrid urban bike! Takes a beating and is built to carry crap. I am riding a Cannondale Bad Boy. Not as elegant as some of those road bikes I see out there. But its my second hybrid and neither ever gave me trouble (well, when the first one got hit by a car, the fork did bend, the crank did crap out, the head went wobbly, and the wheels did go loopy). Good hybrids can also be very moderately priced.

The hybrids generally come with flat bars, which suck (IMO) for hours on a bike. Their ability to carry a load varies, depends on the particular bike whether they have the appropriate braze-ons, whether they’re geared low enough, and (to a previous poster’s point) most of them don’t have particularly strong wheels. A lot of them nowadays tend to have a bunch of blingy suspension stuff all over, etc. Depending on your needs they might suit, but it’s not the same as a bike designed to carry stuff over a long haul.

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@americancyclo 20314 wrote:

Everyone uses QBP and they have Salsa, Civia, and Surly bikes which all have great commuter options that are made for carrying loads. The problem is that they’re almost never on the sales floor, and I think most people would balk at walking in to a shop and asking the mechanics to order and build them a bike.

Yup. And if you’re not sure what you want, and are just looking to try things/buy something, you’ll never know about them. Definitely you’re unlikely to order 4 or 6 of them in different models and sizes to see what works for you. But there are like 200 road bikes on the floor, and that’s what everyone buys, so why waste time on something else?

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@washcycle 20309 wrote:

To answer the initial question I use panniers. It’s so much better.

But I’ll add that one idea is to bring less stuff. What are you bringing?

A lap top? Probably unavoidable, but worth asking if you really need to bring it home at night.
Clothes? I found a cleaners near work. On Monday I stop by and pick up clothes and store them in my locker all week. On Thursday evening I drop it off (except clothes for Friday).
Lunch? Here again, I go to the grocery store near work and store everything in the work fridge or my office.

Definitely worth considering. For myself, I don’t have any place practical for storing clothes/wet towels/etc at work. So mostly I bring clothes and towels back and forth. I recently switched to one of the topeak mtx bags, we’ll see how that works out. In general, everything I need will fit in the trunk, and the fold-out panniers will be there for anything unexpected. I was using some mid-size panniers, but they were mostly empty. I will not do a heavy pack for a couple of hours on a bike, my back is bad enough. I generally don’t need a laptop, but I need to look into one of those foam sleeve things for times when I do, and the MTX will still probably suffice. I do have a pair of shoes stashed at the office, which helps a lot, as does using one of those microfiber backpacking towels. If you need to carry the whole kit, including shoes, towel, laptop, food, emergency road gear, etc., and you need clothes that don’t easily compress, then you probably do need the full panniers or even one of those suit bag things.

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@off2ride 20310 wrote:

I use a medium size Timbuk 2 messenger bag in the winter months and a smaller back pack in the summer months. From what I’ve seen in our shop, some commuters go over board on the panniers and racks. I’ve seen a few broken axles in the rear hub and wobbly wheels due to the heavy weight. On car tires, there is an embossed “Load Limit” number on the sidewall. I think bike tires should have the same or at least fatter spokes to support the weight.

This gets back to that whole “it’s hard to find non-racer bikes/shops” meme. If someone’s commuting and wants to carry a bunch of stuff, they should probably not be getting a lightweight road bike (or a full suspension mountain bike). But the shops push what they have…

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@DismalScientist 20277 wrote:

BTW, have the folks at LBSs ever heard of touring bikes?

Not around here, in my experience.

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@rcannon100 20208 wrote:

Yup. Thanks for the suggestion. I have been scanning pedals for information about float and other specs – there is very little information out there. Do you have a rec for the SPD clip that allows unclip in any direction.

The ones that come with the pedals are SH-51’s, the others are the SH-56’s. The obvious caveat is that if you can yank them out any which way, they’ll also be less secure. Depending on your needs, the might suit.

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@rcannon100 20194 wrote:

Reviving an old thread – and reading through it, it is very informative but adds more questions.

Succumbing to peer pressure, I went clipless. I bought Pearl Izumi SPD shoes with pedals that are flat on one side and SPD thingy on the other. LOVE IT. Would definitely say I found another gear or two, and another few miles per hour.

BUT here is the thing – and someone mentioned it a few posts back. I have an old sprained ankle. Torquing my foot out of my pedal puts strain on the foot exactly on the spot of the old sprain. After BTWD I could barely walk. I read thru stuff, and am confident that it is not ankling (its in the front of the foot, not the back).

Is there a solution to this? Are Egg Beaters easier to get out of?

My solution is to by different shoes. If I cant get the shoe off the pedal; I could get the foot out of the shoe. Get velcro strap shoes and just take them on and off.

But reading through the posts, the comment about bad knees and float also concern me.

First, is there a solution to getting out of the pedal and the pain it is causing my foot? Second, is that the same answer for float and bad knees?

Gracious.

Have you adjusted the screw on the pedal that changes the clipping force? Try just turning that down. Alternatively, there’s a version of the SPD clip that allows you to unclip in any direction.

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hey, if the chair got leather, it must be a good deal

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@Brendan von Buckingham 19484 wrote:

Even though I will follow over dead when I see it, an NPS patrol car enforcing the speed limit just before these crossings will have an effect. No need to get NCPC approval for a signal or road redesign. No need to wait for a capitol budget. Just an officer assigned to protect and serve one hour every evening rush hour.

The only reason an NPS officer would be stationed there would be to ticket cars for stopping for pedestrians.

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@baiskeli 19469 wrote:

Thanks for this post.

I think part of the confusion is that it’s more complicated than either party having the right of way, as I’ve learned myself after thinking this through and reading about it.

In the absence of stop signs, a motor vehicle has the right of way when it doesn’t have time to stop. A ped/cyclist cannot just jump out in front in that situation. This is obviously common sense anyway. A ped/cyclist has the right-of-way when he/she decides it is safe, and goes into the crosswalk. Cars then must give way. This is also just common sense. It boils down to doing what’s safe anyway.

Or at least that’s how I understand it. I’m sure there are people here who know it better than I do. I hadn’t thought that much about it even after years of cycling. I can imagine many people who drive think even less.

I think you’re the one overcomplicating it. Yes, the pedestrian is not supposed to jump out in front of traffic. That does not negate the obligation of the car to stop and yield the right of way. I.e., the car is supposed to stop when there’s someone waiting to cross, not speed up and say, “hah, he’s not allowed to step in front of me!” Police won’t enforce anything there that might slow down traffic, but that doesn’t mean they’re right. Current situation is that cars feel no obligation to allow pedestrians to cross there, and the NPS tickets people who actually do follow the law. They should be ashamed of themselves, and held personally liable when people get killed there.

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@TwoWheelsDC 19434 wrote:

I saw a ped get struck here while I was riding my motorcycle and have almost been rear ended as well…it’s just a terrible intersection all around. I drive 1-2x a week and sweat this intersection every time. On one hand, I want to stop for peds, but on the other, I don’t want to get nailed when the person driving behind me is texting or whatever and can’t stop in time. Even just some of those squiggly white lines and maybe a flashing yellow light that says “crosswalk ahead, lookout for peds” or something like that. Right now, the crosswalk sign is located right at the crosswalk and, at 50mph, it’s difficult to see (I won’t even get into the speed issues on the pkwy…). A sign a bit further from the crosswalk would at least alert people that they need to keep their eyes up…many people now just don’t expect the crosswalk given the freeway-ish design of the road.

Something as simple as this…(if you want to see them in person, there is a set at the W&OD and Belmont Ridge Rd. just east of Leesburg)

Americans don’t know what to do with that. I recently made fun of the ones “protecting” people on the W&OD, as they certainly haven’t made people change their driving behavior there.

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@jnva 19260 wrote:

Forum: Commuters
Thinking about riding to work? Or maybe doing some errands around town? Figure out what to wear and how to carry your belongings.

Isn’t that what this means? Using a bike instead of a car to commute?

the question is whether it’s a good idea to have your preferred kind of vehicle on the trails. you obviously have your opinion, others obviously have theirs, and the thread is just looping at this point.

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@jnva 19258 wrote:

Yes, we do need more if we are going to get people out of cars. Isn’t that the whole point.

No, that’s your whole point. Others obviously have different points.

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@jnva 19247 wrote:

Not exactly. Most ebikes use dc brushless motors that require a controller to provide voltage at a certain rate to the motor (very basic description of how it actually works). Manufacturers are not allowed to sell ebikes regardless of the battery voltage that can propell a bike more than 20mph. Modding the controller is not as easy as some people on this forum think, by the way.

And the incentive to do so is low due to the limitations of battery technology. That’s not a voltage issue, it’s a question of how much capacity is practical to haul around on a bike.

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