D
Deleted member 4210
Guest
Wary of public transport, coronavirus-hit Americans turn to bikes
Add fear to the list of reasons people ride bikes.
www.reuters.com
www.reuters.com
Interesting article. I think it said the sweet spot was $1,500-2,000 and is now $500-800. That would make sense if more people are buying a first bike just to commute. If it takes hold there might be more people looking to upgrade in the future.
I have ridden the NYC subway system since the ‘70’s when things were really gritty! When I go back these days, prefer a cab to avoid them unless I am in a hurry and the subway is actually faster but I can understand why people are looking to bikes, far healthier except for dodging cars and pedestrians.
www.google.com
David Byrne (Talking Heads) seems to have mastered NYC cycling long ago.
I have ridden the NYC subway system since the ‘70’s when things were really gritty! When I go back these days, prefer a cab to avoid them unless I am in a hurry and the subway is actually faster but I can understand why people are looking to bikes, far healthier except for dodging cars and pedestrians.
Cycle killer: David Byrne on the joys of cycling
The former Talking Heads frontman and music pioneer explains his lifelong fondness for two wheels
www.google.com
David Byrne (Talking Heads) seems to have mastered NYC cycling long ago.
PatriciaK
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Pacific Northwest and Piedmont Triad
More people would make use of bikes if we had adequate infrastructure to support daily utilitarian riding. As long as bikes have to "share the road", the percentage is going to remain low. Once the roads are again filled with other vehicular traffic, bike use is going to plummet again.
Handlebars
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
In the city I'm noticing a substantial reduction in cyclists on the road. I go out every day 2 or 3 times, if it's raining then maybe once.
steve marino
Active Member
Odd, I'm noticing a big increase in bike traffic, but we're having beautiful weather right now, and Tucson is a bike friendly place. Lots of bike lanes, and tons of bike riders and bike shops (which all seem to be open, thank goodness). A public bus stops right outside my home, and it's nearly always empty or has one person riding it. No way would I get on any sort of public transportation until and unless a vaccine is found for this virus. Fear is not necessarily a bad thing. As the Dali Lama once said, fear can keep you from being bit by the barking dog.
Handlebars
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
Police state mode here with the fruitcake Mayor, after holding public get togethers in a month long food festival, now urging crackdowns and celebrating extortionary fines for basically nothing...and nearby, a family of 4 roller blading in an empty parking lot gets the $880 ticket.
FlatSix911
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Silicon Valley
Looks like Arnie is still getting out on his electric fat-tire bike... 
Last edited:
indianajo
Well-Known Member
I wish they would take 2 windows out of the city busses, one front, one rear. I never used to catch anything on open window school busses. Our classrooms had open windows & PhilRich Windmaker fans, too. Dead of winter with closed windows was cold/flu/pneumonia season for me. I've been healthy after riding on historic open window steam trains, too. Amtrak gave me a cold both times.
That fruitcake NM mayor is ignorant. I caught 3 viruses in March, was 30" from another person 42 hours earlier all three times. I ride bike outside nearly every day, don't catch anything. Virus detector, I'm so good at it I should be a professional.
That fruitcake NM mayor is ignorant. I caught 3 viruses in March, was 30" from another person 42 hours earlier all three times. I ride bike outside nearly every day, don't catch anything. Virus detector, I'm so good at it I should be a professional.
TMH
Well-Known Member
I remember back last century in the '70's when airfares got so cheap that many folks were flying for the very first time. We were in line for tickets or baggage check and the older woman at the counter in front of us told the agent that she did NOT want a window seat because she didn't want her hair to get messed up during the flight!
Your logic might also go a long way in eliminating much of the 'sick building syndrome' we often hear about. But whether it is in cars, buses, trains, planes or buildings, Western folk want to be coddled with conditioned air. They never think about the fact that such conditioned air may be quite contaminated, and is likely recycled to reduce heating or cooling costs.
Handlebars
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
Resting on a park amenity. $880
Infrastructure is part of the problem but so is the bike & ebike industry still pushing mainly thin tires and poor riding positions for urban mobility. Does anyone in the industry understand that a "transportation-grade" ebike is nothing like 99% of the ebikes being promoted. I see fat tire ebikes that could be configured well for urgan mobility but almost all are sold with knobby tires which just tells me they are clue-less and driven by the idea that bikes are still mainly recreational and end up on trails.
indianajo
Well-Known Member
Knobby tires last 2000 miles w/o flats. Street tires last 700 miles and have 1 or 2 flats in that period. Or do vehicles not leave shredded bits of tire with wires sticking out all over your bike lanes? Not to mention broken glass and odd bits of metal.
You must be talking about road bike tires that are paper thin junk. I'm talking about street tires like the Schwalbe Moto X and the Pirelli Cycl-E that are a step towards putting a moped tire on an ebike. In my opinion a good street tire would have like 5mm of tread depth and be at least 9mm thick overall with anti-puncture layer in the construction. This tire would like be close to 2000 grams which just freaks on the bike industry that has been living the "less weight is better paradigm" for 50 years. In reality the bike tire producers don't want bike tires lasting 10,000 miles but that is really what make sense for a transportation grade ebike and it's not some big technical challenge to achieve that - it's just adding a few mms of thickness/tread depth.
Riding knobbies on the street makes no sense to me unless you spend more riding time on dirt than you do pavement. A good street tire makes the bike handle so much better than some chunky knobby tire. There are some decent hybrid tires that try to be good at both but I don't think any are available in the tire volumes of the Moto X and Cycl-E.
Once you have ridden a class 3 ebike with great street tires you will donate your knobbies to a thrift store so they can resell for a couple $s.
I test rode the Stromer ST5 with the Pirelli Cycl-E tires and while the bike was impressive the tires were incredible. They allow that bike to handle like a much heavier moped. No way a street bike with knobbies could come close to cornering like those tires. Anyone thinking their ebike knobby tires are performing well on pavement just hasn't experienced what good street tires are like (have to be at least 2" wide so that rules out all the road bike tires that are almost exclusively foldable light tires that don't belong on a serious ebike.
Oscar56
Active Member
Is he selling popcycles?
indianajo
Well-Known Member
I don't like taking 60 lb of groceries out of the bike to turn it over & change the tube. The bike came with street tires. They don't ride that differently, IMHO. Except for changing tubes 3-4 times a year. knobbies cost $5 more than street tires. For cornering, my max is 35 mph downhill. About a 250' radius turn.
I only ride on dirt when run off the pavement by a vehicle.
FlatSix911
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Silicon Valley
Last edited:
troehrkasse
EBR Webmaster
- Region
- USA
- City
- Fort Collins
Similar threads
