I love bikes. An I’ve been loving this thread.
I’ve been cycling for most of my life. Fun fact: a bike was my sole 4 season mode of transportation for over twenty years until I decided that I could maybe afford a car. So yes, I am/was one of those cyclists that you see at places and times you don’t expect to see a human on a bike.
I now ride a Trek 520 with some quality of life upgrades (disc brakes, lighter rims).
You can find me following the rules of the road/Burke Gilman, and ringing my bell when I pass in Seattle most days now.
@mufosta That is a beautiful bike. I’m a little jealous that it only took $150 to put together.
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Hell yeah, Burke Giman rep!
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I am gonna go ride to work on the Burke Gilman in like 20 minutes here! I commute on a beautiful red Sekai 2500 which is the best bike I have ever owned.
Ride it! Love it! Have beverages at Gasworks and complain about the gap!
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I love the fenders on your road bike! I’m definitely going to add some when Fall rolls around.
Bikes were uncool when I was a teenager. Starting to commute by bike made me bummed I’d missed out on a decade or so that I could have been riding. I’m privileged enough to be married and able to share a car with my spouse, but I also can’t see us being a 2 car family again. Car ownership is incredibly stressful and was a huge source of anxiety for me. Now I can ride my bike, feel like a kid, be outside, and not have to worry about car maintenance. It’s wonderful!
I live in Florida, which has one of the highest rates of pedestrian/cyclist fatalities I’m the country (if not the highest…). I really enjoy riding my bike, however most other cyclists here are either ignorant of the rules (riding with instead of against traffic, riding against traffic in the sidewalk, no lights at night, etc…), And most of the city just wasn’t designed for non car use, so it’s tough to get around most of the time. It’s also really hot and humid, so if you don’t have a shower at your destination it’s mostly just miserable/uncomfortable. I do really enjoy it though, and need to get out more.
You should be riding with traffic not against it. Riding with traffic is the safer option and, unless Florida is an outlier, I know most states have laws requiring cyclists to ride with the flow of traffic.
edit: I am relying on Google and not bothering to confirm what the statute may say but the Florida Bicycle Association states that cyclists “must obey the same traffic laws as the drivers of other vehicles. These laws include stopping for stop signs and red lights, riding with the flow of traffic, using lights at night, yielding the right-of-way when entering a roadway and yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks.”
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Yeah, definitely don’t disagree/I knew that, but most people that don’t bike just subscribe to the “I’m the car I’m the king of road” mentality and are
“sarcastically” against cyclists. Most cyclists here just don’t follow the law, and it just causes a lot of problems on both ends.
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Thanks! My road bike has a ton of stuff from Velo Orange on it because it’s a fairly classic-looking frame aside from being welded, and those are their “Zeppelin” aluminum fenders, for wide tires (I run 38s). They’re not as safe as SKS fenders, as they have no breakaways, but they look great and I don’t really ride it in places where a thrown stick might be a problem.
I think everybody who rides a lot should have a fendered bike - it’s just so much nicer, even for just splashing through puddles.
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here’s my warhorse that carries me daily into battle in the war on cars. I think it’s older than me. I bought it six years ago for a song and I think I finally ran the wheels into the ground and got some new ones.
The bluetooth speaker on the handlebars is for bringing the good word of Waypoint to the rest of the world.
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I’ve fortunately never had a serious accident in London, but of the 10 or so that have happened over the last 10 years of riding, all bar two have been the drivers fault, which is really depressing.
Full mudguards are one of those revelations that once you’ve had, you can’t take back
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Since other folks are sharing, here’s my bike! I am due for new tires and someday would like a new seat someday.
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You, an intellectual : Full mudguards are one of those revelations that once you’ve had, you can’t take back
Me, a goodamn idiot: I wear shorts and sandals in Seattle weather with no mudguards year round
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Always nice to see a Pista that hasn’t been fucked with, like in the bad old days of the Fixie Craze.
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I happily commute to work on my banged up, second hand nag. As long as the moving parts move, and everything else sticks together, I don’t need to spend more on it.
I laughed inside as I passed a bloke using kit ten times what mine is worth on my way to work today.
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It used to have more, uh, flair because I was in my early 20s during that era and very susceptible to peer pressure and a desire to look cool and punx.
I will say I used to have a really great set of chopped handle bars that were absolutely perfect but I lost them at some point and have never found adequate replacements.
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Well I guess Waypoint now covers all my interests now, even bikes. Been both a mechanic and courier at some point. Wasn’t really fast enough for either in the long term. Still love riding and parts-diving at the local DIY.
It’s always great seeing everyone’s bikes. Here’s my old Surly, naked and loaded.
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bikes!
I have ridden to work my entire adult life, with the exception of the 3 months after i got hit by a van which totalled my old bike (a specialized awol that was pretty cursed tbh)
my current bike is a btwin triban 520, which is a decathlon own brand road bike, but it’s been serving me pretty well (no signs of a curse yet)
I also had the privilege of cycling the shiminami kaido this spring in japan, which was honestly life affirming.
mostly i ride to and from work, but I live on the south coast of england, so there are plenty of lovely routes I can go on if there’s a nice weekend.
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You guys are all so lucky. I’d love to ride my bike to work, but it is not possible. It’s a 25 mile trek over interstates, many of those miles don’t even have shoulders. The back way would take me over two and a half hours to do, if I was in shape. Once I get enough experience in this industry I’m going to look for a job much closer to home. I would love to ride my bike to work. I’d love to ride my bike more than just as exercise.
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Hey I’m in the same boat, but I’m thinking about changing that this summer. Anyone have any tips? A quick search tells me that all of the articles are either saying to find a class (I’m in a fairly small city and we don’t have any) or that this was the most humiliating possible experience and the author was absolutely miserable (I’ll be ignoring those ones)
