The Inevitable Bike Argument Thread

[Azull]

Railroad crossings too.

Just so we are clear you DONT live in Tulsa, OK do you?

[Cadsuane]

So any time there are parked cars on the right side, its an open invitation to bike in the middle of the road, since you know, any asshole can just blindly open their car door and decapitate the cyclist...so lets bike in the middle of the road and hold up traffic instead.

makes sense?


I should NOT be on the road riding my brakes.

Yeah that's an excellent example of when a cyclist should ride primary. Makes a lot of sense actually... were you being sarcastic?

[NynJa]

Yeah that's an excellent example of when a cyclist should ride primary. Makes a lot of sense actually... were you being sarcastic?

I dont know where you live, but where I live, cars park on both sides of the street, all day erry day. I cant even THINK of a street back home in 3mil population montreal that didnt have cars parked on both sides of the street (excluding streets with bike paths)...oh wait, did I say excluding streets with bike paths? Because even streets with bike paths have cars parked on both sides, with the designated bike path right against the parked cars. I'd get a pic of the one that I know of, but google hasnt taken montreal street pics in atleast 2 years.

[Cadsuane]

I've been to Montreal before bro. Like I said, bikers have a vague common sense right as well as a very real concrete legal right to take up a lane when it's warranted. Whatever you're doing can be delayed by 45 seconds or whatever the fuck it takes you to get to the next intersection. I mean, the funny part is you even acknowledge that dooring is a real danger, but then you go on like this trivial incovenience it causes you is even worse, even when you compare it to the general fact that driving in downtown montreal is a shitshow anyway cyclists or no.

[NynJa]

I used to rollerblade extensively to all my locations before I had a car, not once have I ever been "doored". Considering a driver is supposed to check his rear view for oncoming cars before opening their door (because you know, a 25-50 mph car running into your open door will cause you to not have a door) they should notice the cyclist (unless its night time and captain brainypants is biking in all black attire). Anyone on the road, from drivers, to bikers to pedestrians, should be aware of whats going on around them. Unless you've just turned on to a street and the second parked car was just parked, you should probably notice a couple hundred yards ahead of you if a car is parking / has just parked, and should be able to anticipate which car may have a door opening into the road, and from there you can act accordingly.

[BaneTheBrawler]

yeah, but betting your life/health that people are going to do what they're supposed to is a losing proposition

[hey]

Considering a driver is supposed to check his rear view for oncoming cars before opening their door

[Tokitoki]

When there's a cyclist going against the flow of traffic and nearly hits me head on, I want to ram them off their bikes.

This is the largest problem I have with cyclists in NYC. You see this all the time, cyclists or food delivery guys going around on the wrong side of the road, coming directly at you. This gives you less time to react and annoys me to no end. They do this on One Way roads as well, ones that don't allow for much room since cars are parked on both sides.

The other is the people that pick up the Citi Bikes that clearly haven't ridden a bike in 20 years and wobble the whole time and decide to go on some of the busiest streets in NY.

Outside of NYC, up near my dad's up 30 miles north, they like to use the small local roads, but ride 2x2 which is annoying as fuck. Especially coming around a blind corner to find 2 cyclists taking up 3/4 of the lane and having to slam on your brakes.

[Cream Soda]

Only time I ride 2x2 is at like 3am where there's nobody on the road over here(and even then, when a car is approaching, we go back to single file until it passes). Other than that my friend and I go single file.

About as annoying as 2x2 pedestrians on the sidewalk (the times I do ride the sidewalk) where and they keep walking as if they aren't going to break that formation. As soon as eye contact is made and I start to speed up, one of them moves.

[NynJa]

I dont get why people are laughing at the notion of a driver checking their rear view mirror before opening their door...unless you're all rich fucks who dont give a fuck if another car rips your door off its hinges?

Bunch of affluenza up in this bitch it seems.

[SephYuyX]

I dont get why people are laughing at the notion of a driver checking their rear view mirror before opening their door

Because women and asians.

[Aksannyi]

People are laughing at the notion of it because most people are fucking irresponsible idiots. If I'm parked on the side of the road (rare), then I'm gonna look before I open my door because I'm not a dumbass ... but do you know how many people we just give licenses to who are fucking idiots?

It shouldn't be that way, but I am more cautious than is strictly necessary because there are so many fucktards with the ability to drive (especially here).

[Tokitoki]

About as annoying as 2x2 pedestrians on the sidewalk (the times I do ride the sidewalk) where and they keep walking as if they aren't going to break that formation. As soon as eye contact is made and I start to speed up, one of them moves.

Tourists walking 4 in a line taking up the entire width of sidewalk; I break through the middle of them.

I got stuck behind one guy lagging behind a pack of cyclists going up a long, but slight hill the day after I got my WRX on a local road near my dad's. I felt bad being behind him for a while, but I didn't have the opportunity to go around because of oncoming traffic and some blind spots going around a curve. I felt worse that I was still getting used to the power behind it versus the only other manual car I had driven for any length of time, a '96 Honda Civic DX with 100hp. I'm sure I annoyed the guy with the engine revving too high as I was shifting up and down behind him.

If anyone from the NYC area is familiar with Rockland County/Nyack/Piermont area they'll know what I'm talking about. Every weekend from sunrise to dusk cyclists are on every local road, no matter how tiny or how many blind areas there are on it.

[Wulfgang]

Does anyone else live in DC? Bike traffic volume here has to be top 5 in the U.S. I reverse commute from U St. area to Alexandria for work by car and I also bike on the weekends so I have both perspectives. Your average cyclist is an entitled asshole. If you want to act like a car and travel on roads, go for it and I'll even make room for you when construction shuts down the bike lane for a hundred yards and you need to merge into the road for a bit. But if you're going to act like a car, you can't just blow through stop signs / red lights CONSTANTLY. I would wager that 70% of cyclists in DC routinely ignore stop signs / red lights. Good example: I was trying to make a right turn on red on 14th street in DC a few days ago. I'm looking at the traffic coming from the left, see an opening, no pedestrians in the crosswalk to the right, and am about to turn when a biker comes flying down the bike lane on my right and burns through the red light. Guy is lucky I am well aware of shitty DC bikers and now check over my right should as well to double check the bike lane before turning, but it's a dangerous situation for all parties involved.

This doesn't even address the fact that a ton of bikers are just dicks. #angry but if you live and drive in DC / San Fran / NYC / etc., I bet you empathize to a certain extent.

Recent Atlantic OpEd about this:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...reatment/5565/

Example of what happens when you burn a red light (in a bike safety promotion event of all things...)
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/2261608...#axzz2nxJPE5Id

[NynJa]

So for fear of being "doored" by irresponsible assholes, you're going to bike in the middle of the road with these same irresponsible assholes driving 30-50 mph.

[Aksannyi]

Sure, if you don't have any other way to get around.

[Tokitoki]

But if you're going to act like a car, you can't just blow through stop signs / red lights CONSTANTLY. I would wager that 70% of cyclists in DC routinely ignore stop signs / red lights.

Happens in NYC as well. That is another thing that annoys me. Don't know how many times I've cringed as I see a bike speed by on my right towards a red light and almost get hit by traffic coming across.

Or I had one guy going down the center of 2nd avenue in lower Manhattan. the center of the entire road, not the center lane, or center of the southbound lanes. He wasn't making a left either.

[Tajin]

Roads are wide enough, unless you cant ride for shit, no way you end up in 'the middle of the road'.

[Cream Soda]

Roads are wide enough, unless you cant ride for shit, no way you end up in 'the middle of the road'.

Pretty much this. I've been known to bike with no hands, a box of pizza in one hand, and a slice of pizza in the other, eating while riding and still never coming more than a half inch off the line on the side of the road.

[Wulfgang]

Pretty much this. I've been known to bike with no hands, a box of pizza in one hand, and a slice of pizza in the other, eating while riding and still never coming more than a half inch off the line on the side of the road.

Haha would pay for a photo of this