cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16790112

> Just tried commuting on my bike from Santa Monica to downtown Culver City today. I took the Exposition bike path, which was fine until I needed to get off of it to head south. > > Google recommended I take National and--lo and behold--there's no bike lane with cars flying past at 55mph+ on blind hills. That's a death trap. > > On the way home I left early to avoid traffic. I took Venice Blvd, since it has a protected bike lane all the way until McLaughlin which Google Maps called "bicycle friendly." No bike lane, of course, with cars flying past leaving a foot of distance between me and death. One testy driver in a BMW didn't want to wait the 15 seconds for me to pedal into the left turn lane to get back onto the Exposition bike path, honking and then flying by nearly killing me. Jeez lady, I'm not the city planner. Don't kill me to save 15 seconds. > > How does Culver City put zero bike lanes going north to south connecting to the Exposition path? How do these drivers maintain their licenses? > > What's a cyclist to do?

As mentioned in the title, BikeForums.net is a treasure, and you should bookmark it

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/33429181

> The staggering health improvements from bike commuting (Shifter)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15958402

> Coal Rolling Is a Menacing Crime—And It's on the Rise > > Paywall-free link: https://archive.ph/3tLtL > > The crash occurred on September 25, 2021, the first crisp day of fall after a hot Texas summer. Claudius Galo intended to ride a hundred miles or more that morning. “There was a chill in the air. It felt so good. The energy was high,” he recalls of the small group that gathered to ride with him. > > Galo had moved to the Houston area from Rio de Janeiro, about 14 years prior. A calm and inquisitive engineer who works in the oil and gas industry, Galo had become unhealthy and overweight in his late thirties. He tried running but got hurt, so his doctor recommended adding swimming and cycling. Now 45, he’d lost 60 pounds and completed six Ironmans and almost a dozen half Ironmans. > Tamy Valiente, 45, had come to the United States from Costa Rica nine years before. Inspired by the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in her twenties, she’d dreamt of becoming a competitive bike rider, but first, “I had to raise my babies,” she says. After going through a divorce, she eventually saved enough money to buy a bike frame and slowly began building her first racing bike part by part. She would often wake at 4 a.m. to train on the narrow roads close to her home back near San José, where buses crept by within inches of her handlebar. To Valiente, the U.S. felt like paradise. “The roads seemed safe. The traffic laws were actually enforced,” she says. > > On the day of the crash, David Reynolds, a 45-year-old tattooed photographer with two teenage children, had ridden 11.5 miles to meet the group at Hockley Community Center, about 30 miles west of downtown Houston. Cycling was his “Zen time,” when he could zone out and let all his worries wash through him. Though he wasn’t training for an event, he had ridden for nearly 600 consecutive days. > “I just like to ride,” he says. > The group that rolled out that morning included three other experienced cyclists: Craig Staples, Brad Stauffer, and Keith Conrad. The six regularly met up to ride through Waller County, an agricultural and ranching community just outside the sprawling metropolis. The group would become known as the Waller 6. > > . . .

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/20850985

> The safest road, mountain bike and urban helmets as rated by Virginia Tech

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/18598001

> cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/18597997 > > > Been considering a belt driven commuter and wanted to see what you all thought. Thanks!

I would like to avoid exposing them to the cold/wind but I am concerned that they'd get crushed bungee'd into a basket and would not fit into my backpack.

Hi, I commute to work (7km each way) and somehow I feel that by bike could be more sporty.

Instead of buying a new bike, I'd like to know tips on how can I changey seat and handlebars to get this feeling.

Can any of you recommend a material to learn about this?

My bike is below !

Thanks

\#Germany, where #cycling is normalized, but marginalized.

An interesting point of view by youtube channel "Shifter": he reports that, on the one hand cycling has found its place in the country, ok the other #car domination is not questioned.

Still miles ahead of Italy!

ITA: Secondo il canale YouTube Shifter in #Germania la #ciclabilità è considerata, ma le #auto hanno comunque la priorità.

Comunque molto meglio che in #Italia!

On Lemmy: @bicycling

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjTx2ALomfc

Two men accused of driving up to cyclists in rural south-west France and pushing them into ditches for fun have gone on trial in Toulouse for organised violence and could face up to five years in prison.

The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested last year after a spate of cyclists being pushed off their bikes on quiet country roads. One victim told the newspaper La Dépêche: “It was April … I’d gone out on my bike for the afternoon. When I got to a little country road … I felt a car was following me silently. It was driving very slowly behind me when it could easily have overtaken me. Then after a few minutes it drove up beside me. The car’s passenger suddenly pushed me down.”

theGuardian👉

« Ce sont des faits graves mais surtout je tiens à le dire d’une stupidité affligeante », souligne la représentante du ministère public avant de requérir leur placement en détention provisoire. 👉 in french

"And what about grocery shopping?"

I'm still learning, and I still need a car for a lot of things, but this is still greatly satisfying!

ITA: "E come fai a fare la spesa in #bici"? "Così!"

Sto ancora imparando e posso migliorare, comunque non posso rinunciare alla macchina, però sono belle soddisfazioni!

\#bikeCommuting @bikecommuting

One less car 😉

Un'#auto in in meno 😉

@bikecommuting #mobilitaSostenibile By #drawinx

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php/?photo\_id=834318615371723

Hello fellow bike commuters,

I have the impression that my underwear doesn't last as long as it would without me cycling to and from work five times a week. My boxer briefs get holes too quickly between the legs. Since I can't remember a time where I didn't cycle, it's difficult for me to know if this is due to cycling or the normal way for them to die.

Can anyone here tell me about their experience? Is this related to cycling frequently? More importantly, do you know of special cyclist underwear which is not the sporty padded type but something you could wear all day and which would't rip so easily.

Love this website, the layout is great and the explanations are simple and straight-forward.

I've got a thick-ass rack on my Aventon Aventure 2 (probably larger than 2 cm), and many panniers simply do not have hooks that fit around it. Any suggestions for brands / products?

I'd prefer a rolling bag, but I'll take any!

Hello! I would like to share the route I made for myself and my story how I finished it recently. The route I will describe starts in Belgrade, goes along the Danube River, through Djerdap National Park to the border with Serbia, and returns to Belgrade through Kucaj-Beljanica National Park. The route is compilation from parts of different EuroVel routes.

Route Summary:

• Total length: about 700 km;
• Total elevation: about 5000 m;
• Highest climbing category: 2;
• Highest point: 960 m above the sea;
• Estimated days required: 6-7;
• Overall level: medium;
• Recommended lowest gear: 1:1
• Recommended tires: 35+ mm or MTB;
• Link to the routeplanner;
• Link to Kamoot;
• Total price, including hotels and food in restaurants: 385 Eur (Fall 2023);

I made a blog post with detailed information about every part and also additional photos inside.

I've recently started commuting via bike on a Trek FX-3 Disc. I just found out that it has a handlebar with some stupid proprietary "IsoZone" technology which makes it incompatible with a lot of stuff due to crimped bar ends. I want to replace it with a different handlebar. I just use the bike for commuting, other close-by travel needs and just riding for fun sometimes.

Anyone have any recommendations for which handlebar I should get?

Thanks

I have a surgery which will leave me unable to bike. I wasn't yet told how much, they will tell me after the surgery. I had major zoomies today and I'm sad I won't be able to zoomie for some time. I cycle everywhere, including to work, and I don't work remotely, so I hope I get back to health in no time. I'm extending my empathy to other people who may not experience the zoomies, especially after learning one of my colleagues is not allowed to bike again after a surgery he's had. :c

I just recently got into using a bike for commuting and I was wondering if this is a good way to secure my bike? I know, previously, people would recommend only needing to lock the back tire to a solid object, but I’ve seen videos of people easily cutting the back tire, breaking it and taking the frame/front tire. My method of locking is sort of similar, except I do lock around the splash guard. If this isn’t very secure, I’d have to get a longer ulock or chain, because there doesn’t appear to be an easy way for me to lock around the back tire, frame and solid object with my current ulock. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Shimano says 760,000 11-speed Hollowtech road cranksets will need to be inspected for signs of delamination. The affected cranks — Dura-Ace and Ultegra models manufactured prior to July 2019 — can separate and break; the company has received reports of 4,519 incidents of cranksets separating, and six reported injuries, including bone fractures, joint displacement and lacerations.The cranks were sold by dealers as aftermarket and OE components from January 2012 through August 2023 for between $270 and $1,500.

Norway’s Fyllingsdalen tunnel is a showstopping piece of urban cycling infrastructure — for a city where car-centric development still dominates.

...

Bergen’s most recent attraction is a unique one: In April, the city of around 270,000 opened the Fyllingsdalen tunnel, a three-kilometer bike-pedestrian pathway that was bored through a mountain. Local officials proudly declared Fyllingsdalen tunnel to be “the world’s longest purpose-built cycling tunnel.” (The Snoqualmie tunnel in Washington State is lengthier, but it used to be rail line.)

Fyllingsdalen tunnel is about as photogenic as an urban bike path can get. Inside, it offers art installations and creative lighting; at its exit, there are stunning mountain views. CNN and Smithsonian have lavished it with international attention, and visiting cycling advocates like the Netherlands-based authors Melissa and Chris Bruntlett have swooned.

Last month I hopped on a bike to traverse the tunnel for myself, and I can confirm that it is an ingenious piece of healthy, climate-friendly infrastructure; I have never seen anything remotely like it. The tunnel is also practical, providing a car-free connection between Bergen’s bustling city center and a fast-growing neighborhood on the other side of the mountain.

But — there is a big “but.” As awe-inspiring as Fyllingsdalen tunnel is, it is still only a Band-Aid fix for Bergen’s decades of car-oriented development. The tunnel reflects the city’s current efforts to shift local trips away from cars, but that goal clashes with a national government whose transportation policies still revolve around the automobile. In such an environment, even the most spectacular bike path can only do so much

The photo is just for the cover :)

Has anyone cycled through Bosnia and Herzegovina? I'm planning my next solo trip and I'm thinking of going from Belgrade to Sarajevo, crossing the border at Bajina Basta Water Power Plant one way, after visiting Sarajevo it looks like I can cross the border at Bijelina. Most of the videos on YouTube are about cycling back through Croatia, but this is not an option for me due to visa restrictions... The whole route (~700km with +-8500m of altitude difference) looks like an interesting challenge and a great opportunity to get to know BiH.

But I have a lot of general questions about road quality, driver culture in relation to cyclists, water accessibility, etc. I'm also worried about the mountains near Sarajevo: from the border to Sarajevo and from Sarajevo to Tuzla. How good are these mountain roads for cycling? Is it possible to zigzag on the most difficult climbs?

Thanks in advance!

A common frustration in my part of the world is that transit does not run very often, and there are only 2 spots for bikes on the front of buses. There have been many times when I've had to wait an extra hour just to see if the next bus happens to have a spot for my bike.

Every time this happens, I promise myself that I'm going to someday spend the money to buy a folding bike (which can be taken on the bus if it's folded).

In my head, riding a folding bike is a joyous experience, partly because of Dr Sharon riding a Brompton in Ted Lasso, but I'm curious what it's actually like.

My dream folding bikes are any model of Brompton, a RadExpand 5, or a Tern Link D7i.

As summer nears its end, I'm very curious to know what everyone does to handle the rain. For myself, I throw on a pair of rain pants over rubber rain boots with a GoreTex rain jacket.

At my work desk I have an old pair of Toms shoes that I bought at Goodwill that are super comfortable - I slip into them when I arrive and out of them when I leave.

I have a waterproof Timbuk2 saddlebag-style pannier, which I use to bring my lunchbox.

If you're intimidated by riding in the rain, give it a try! It's really quite invigorating and people will think you're either crazy, or a badass. Both seem fine to me!

Now, the Federal Highway Administration has finished drafting a new, 11th edition of the MUTCD. The document is being reviewed by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Once the OMB approves the new Manual–likely later this summer or fall–it will be published and go into legal effect, shaping the design of U.S. streets for years to come.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3356108

> My work recently renovated their bike room to have nicer bike racks and a locker room so I decided to try it out! Definitely looking forward to commuting by bike even if just a few days every week. > > I wouldn’t normally be hauling a cardboard box around but I had a package to ship.

When it's hot during the day and cold at night, I sometimes find myself under-dressed for late evening riding. I can pedal harder to generate body heat, but on flat ground that creates wind chill & doesn't help. Pedaling hard while lightly holding the brakes works really well to warm up!

But the downhill-biking folks warn about the hazards of overheating brakes (mostly disc brakes but also rim brakes / V-brakes). I have V-brakes.

I imagine just pedaling into brakes transfers heat into them much slowly than controlling downhill descents, since I can go down hills much faster than I can go up hills (it takes much longer to transfer one hill's worth of energy from my muscles into having climbed the hill than to transfer the same one hill's worth of energy into the brakes/rims while descending it).

Do I need to worry about this at all?

Hello, community! I saw in one video that tires and wheel weight are critical for the fast cycling. But how important is it for the tourism? For example, I'm using "hard" slick tires from Kenda (on the photo) that are great for asphalt roads and are very strong against small stones, plant spines and glasa pieces. The problem is weight about 600g (700x32c). I also have 700x32c soft and lightweight gravel tires with only 300g weight. But how important is it for cycling if I have about 10 additional kilograms of bags on top of my bike when I go into a long trip? Does it make sense to lose the durability and dril resistance of Kenda Kwest 700x32c for decreasing the weight of tires twice? Thanks in advance!

I recently found out that Racktime makes little snap-on bracks that let me turn anything I can drill holes in into snap-on modules for my bike.

The Bike is a rental so it took some time to figure out how to add a rear rack so that I can take it off if I need to return it but I am incredibly happy with the results!

I was going to upgrade my bike (Decathlon Triban 100) and ordered the whole new groupset (Shimano SORA). It will be delivered soon, so my question is how hard is the replacing process? It is not a problem to pay in local bike service for the replacement but I'm also interested in trying by myself. I have a repairment kit and all the things, I like to make some maintenance of bike by mysleft but I didn't do so complex maintenance before.

Today, I'm feeling a bit bad about myself. I'm new to cycling, and to be quite honest, I was going too recklessly and almost got myself hit by a car or two. I could absolutely learn how to check my turns better.

What are your favorite tips for learning how to cycle safely in the city?