People going to work on bikes.

[Halibut]

18 hours ago, makapaka said:

 Maybe so - doesn’t make the roads in the city any  safer though.

It completely and utterly does though.

[Cyclone]

On 13/05/2019 at 13:39, RootsBooster said:

I've been cycling across the city centre (most week days) for the best part of a year now, my input on a few of the subjects in this thread...

 

The hills- In the city centre there's nothing much of a challenge, coming out of it and into the suburbs there are some chuffs though. I think if you have a decent bike with decent gearing, it isn't all that bad.

 

The tram- Having been on the tram at peak times quite often, I doubt it would be possible to get a bike on there even if it were allowed, wheelchair users and parents with prams struggle enough as it is. The times when I've caught a tram in the morning, I've been stood almost cheek to cheek with the people around me, I wouldn't have been able to board with a bike. I like the idea of an external cycle rack though.

 

Hazards- I ride mostly on the cycle paths/lanes, so I'm mainly at risk of oblivious pedestrians and other cyclists. It's surprising how many pedestrians walk in the cycle paths/lanes and don't appear to realise what it is intended for (they also have a habit of not keeping in a straight line when staring down at their phones, adding a fun game of chance on your approach). With other cyclists I find that the 'inertia addicts' on two wheels are particularly dangerous when entering/exiting the underpasses without slowing down. The other regular problem is from bewildered -looking cyclists who don't know which side to move over to when approaching oncoming cycle-traffic (I always assume you should keep to your left, similar to road traffic flow).

I've only had one near miss with a car in the city centre, although when cycling out in the suburbs the cars tend to be the most common threat.

 

Weather- I find the weather doesn't matter too much, unless it's raining heavily. Light showers don't bother me.

 

There are a few hills that might give novice cyclists pause.  Up from Shalesmoor to the uni is a bit of a slog for example.  And to be fair, up from Shalesmoor to the city centre is also a considerable clime. 

 

I totally agree about pedestrians in cycle paths, I only use one cycle path, but it's a rare day that I don't find a pedestrian around a blind corner on it, bumbling along oblivious to the pedestrian pavement just 2 feet away (it's not shared space, they seem to be attracted to the slightly raised pink section painted with bike symbols instead of the boring tarmac coloured bit they should be on).

 

Spending a bit more time on the road, and following the tram track, I still find the greatest actual danger to be motorists.  A minority overtake with no care or attention, a very small number will overtake you and then immediately turn left, twice in 7 years I've had to take emergency evasive action to avoid being hit by someone doing that.  And once someone ran into the rear of my bike as we went through a Primrose view tram stop heading out of town.  They failed to stop and the police took so long to investigate that the CCTV on the tram coming the other way had been recycled.

[Guest makapaka]

30 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

Well, my "outdated" form of transport gets me to the office quicker than any other form available (unless you have a jetpack I can borrow).

It gets me 40 minutes of exercise a day instead of wasting 50-60 minutes sat down in a vehicle contributing to pollution.

The roads could be safer, that's true, it would take a moderate investment to make them so and that would encourage more cyclists.

They're not particularly busy though, being free to pass through Hillsborough corner and with quite a few pelican crossings that allow bikes to cross I can avoid the busiest roads, which also happens to make my journey slightly shorter.

It literally does make them safer.

 

Being hit by a meteorite isn't good either, but if the risk of being hit is lower then that's literally safer.

 

There are many urban areas with higher levels of cycle usage, take cambridge for example, fairly famous for the high level of cycling in the UK.

Ok crack on.

 

You seem to have taken my post personally - do what you want - I only said I wouldn’t do it because I wouldn’t feel safe.

29 minutes ago, Halibut said:

It completely and utterly does though.

The point I was making is that saying the cities roads are safer than rural roads wouldn’t make me feel any safer cycling around a busy city. 

 

Maybe i should have worded that better - apologies.

[Cyclone]

11 minutes ago, makapaka said:

I only said I wouldn’t do it because I wouldn’t feel safe.

 

You didn't though did you.

20 hours ago, makapaka said:

It's madness.

 

Totally outdated form of transport for a city.

That's what you actually said.

So anyone who cycles, you've just called mad.  You've also told them that what they're doing is outdated, with the implication being that they should catch up with the times and get in the much more up to date car presumably.

 

So, I didn't take it personally, I thought I'd just explain to you why it was neither outdated, nor madness.

 

And the feeling of it being unsafe, that's exactly what we've been talking about, address that problem through dedicated infrastructure that separates cycles from motor traffic (and ideally from pedestrians as well) and even someone like you might give it a try.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Cyclone

[Guest makapaka]

10 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

You didn't though did you.

That's what you actually said.

So anyone who cycles, you've just called mad.  You've also told them that what they're doing is outdated, with the implication being that they should catch up with the times and get in the much more up to date car presumably.

 

So, I didn't take it personally, I thought I'd just explain to you why it was neither outdated, nor madness.

 

And the feeling of it being unsafe, that's exactly what we've been talking about, address that problem through dedicated infrastructure that separates cycles from motor traffic (and ideally from pedestrians as well) and even someone like you might give it a try.

Outdated in the sense that the motor car has completely taken over and made it, for me, feel unsafe.

 

To the point where watching people tootle around busy roads on a bike with cars and buses flying past, sometimes with a baby sat on a plastic seat attached to the back seems pretty mad to me -yes.  Although I know the people are probably not literally "mad" if that has upset you.

 

And I agree  with your last point.

[Cyclone]

It's clearly not "completely taken over", you can see many bikes out and about in Sheffield and more in cities like Cambridge.

 

No, it hasn't upset me.  I'd be surprised if you weren't reactionary towards something you don't chose to do yourself.

[Guest makapaka]

26 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

It's clearly not "completely taken over", you can see many bikes out and about in Sheffield and more in cities like Cambridge.

 

No, it hasn't upset me.  I'd be surprised if you weren't reactionary towards something you don't chose to do yourself.

I think its a bit naive to think that cars haven't taken over our cities. Regardless of whether you see people riding bikes.

 

The number of cars on the road increase every year.

[Cyclone]

So you're going to try to "win" the point that cycling is outdated are you.  I don't know if you lack observational skills, reasoning capability or imagination, but instead of arguing about this for pages why don't you just accept that not everyone is going to agree with that, and I'll accept that it's your opinion.

[Guest makapaka]

1 hour ago, Cyclone said:

So you're going to try to "win" the point that cycling is outdated are you.  I don't know if you lack observational skills, reasoning capability or imagination, but instead of arguing about this for pages why don't you just accept that not everyone is going to agree with that, and I'll accept that it's your opinion.

its not me dragging it on or trying to win. I said what i thought and you’ve sought to discredit pretty much every part of my argument I presume because you don’t agree.

 

you could have just accepted my opinion in the first place but you got distracted again with trying to prove my opinion to be wrong. 

[Cyclone]

1 hour ago, makapaka said:

its not me dragging it on or trying to win. I said what i thought and you’ve sought to discredit pretty much every part of my argument I presume because you don’t agree.

 

you could have just accepted my opinion in the first place but you got distracted again with trying to prove my opinion to be wrong. 

It is wrong isn't it.  But feel free to prove cycling outdated and not be wrong...  Over to you.