The all about Bicycling thread

By the way, here is the bike rack I made for my bike. Rather, here is the site that inspired me. It was dead easy to make and cost me less than $100.

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2008/02/stolmen-bike-rack.html

 

helmet... always wear except sometimes when it's hot on the local paved trail which is car free and lacking many obstacles to crash into. I'll keep it until it starts to fall apart, becomes ugly, or becomes damaged.

My bike gets a glorious space in the living room for all to admire

 

A bike rack that also can be used by a pole dancer!

Brilliant!!!

 

I try to always wear a helmet. Saved my head from being split open last year. I haven't replaced it since then. I store by bicycle in an mud/storage room at the back of my house. The city I live in has a ton of bike shops and I try to get as much stuff from them as I can. I usually order clothing online though.

 

Charlatan has the right idea. This thread is useless without bike pr0n.

Behold my trusty steed, utilitarian-Monstercross style.

 

One of the recent trends that I've been quite involved in (from a professional standpoint) is the trend of bike shares. More and more cities are buying into the concept where a private company buys the concession from the city, purchases a bunch of bikes and computer-locked kiosks and signs up members. It really only works in bike-friendly cities, but when it does work, it seems to REALLY work. There are about 20 cities that I know of that have these, and more are opening all the time. So you may not need to have your fancy bike rack anymore, just a hook to hang your helmet. You can have your fancy sports bike for weekend rides, but you'll have the local commuter bikes for weekdays.

 

Jazz how are they controlling for loss of the bikes?
I remember hearing about cities doing this and having vandalism, bikes dumped in lakes and rivers, yadda yadda yadda.
I love the idea and hope that it enjoys widespread success.

 

A couple of different ways - there's one company (of the 3 main suppliers) that equips their bikes with GPS units. Not only does that help with theft, but it also helps with maintenance. Operators with this kind of bike can confirm that every bike gets maintained every week.

All of the operators, by virtue of the way their systems work, know who has what bike at what time. All of these bikes are trackable, so if a specific one goes missing, they can track down the person that checked it out and either get it back or bill them. These systems aren't really intended for tourists or other one-time users - their target market is repeat users, and all of them have credit cards linked to the account. That gives you access to a chip or code that allows you to pull a bike from a kiosk and return it. That won't stop someone from vandalizing a bunch of bikes at a kiosk, but it will stop them from stealing them outright.

 

In Denmark there are at least 2 companies that offer "free" bike, basically the system Jazz describes. But in some of Denmark's cities are bikes available free to tourists or anyone that needs a bike for short time. One of those companies has now a program where students in Copenhagen can apply for a bike, and limited number of the applicants will get a bike to use for one year in exchange for adverisments on the bike.
In Copenhagen they are called "citybikes". They are limited to the towns central the only fee is deposit that is put in it's lock and is refunded when returned to a stand. Same system as is on trolleys in many airports. The bikes have solid wheels and frame to make it difficult for users to lock them, the wheels and frames are also used for advertisments to have some income for the program. Their English websiste is at http://www.bycyklen.dk/english/thecitybikeandcopenhagen.aspx.

 

Nowhere remotely safe to keep it outside, not that I would anyway since the humidity and rain here in Florida would basically eat it alive, so my bike sleeps in my bedroom right across the room from my bed. A bit cramped getting in and out but it motivates me to keep it clean and it's always readily accessible.

Also I wear a helmet universally. Waaay too many surprise potholes.

 

and this is why you should always wear a helmet when you ride....

 

I cant wait to start riding again soon on the many Ohio paved trails. I bought two US made Raleigh bikes about 4yrs ago to support a US company. BOTH bikes rims and spokes snapped apart after only a few months of rare riding. Was quoted $300 to replace rims never got around to it.
Severely disappointed in the quality and service. Am now looking at sub $150 Chinese made bikes, since I hedge they will last just as long and be 1/4 of the price.

Any recommendations on what bike to get?

 

Have you checked eBay or Craig's list for used bikes? I've seen some really great prices on eBay. However you need to know what size frame you need.

 

$300 to replace rims?! You can buy whole bicycles for that much, just replacing the wheels (rims, spokes, tires) should be closer to $60 per if you go high quality 0_o

 

You can't buy a high quality bike for $300 any more. You can buy a bike for that much but it will weigh a tonne and be of questionable quality.

 

I think we're getting into inflated values of "tonne" and "questionable quality" here. $300 won't get you a 12lb roadie, sure, but it shouldn't get you equivalent to a 50lb wal-mart schwinn either.

 

Raleigh made bikes in this country in the last decade? Very surprising.
If you're looking at $150 Chinese bikes they are essentially all the same. They may have different names but they will all be low quality and are coming from the same places even though there may be different finish and decals.
If you live in a city with an active Craig's List I would check there. You can get something nicer and more serviceable for your money.

 

Wearing a helmet is mandatory in Australia, so I wear one. I suspect you'd be crazy not to. I have a broken nose and scarred face that could have been much worse if I wasn't wearing a helmet, too.

 

I'm in the middle of creating an insurance something for bike manufacturers. We've been talking a lot about specific products and failure rates. Some of it has been surprising (the failure loads for aluminum BMX pegs, for instance is a lot higher than I thought) and some of it hasn't (don't put aluminum forks on a bike!). There's a pretty big cottage industry of bike manufacturers in the US. You Canadians, though, have kind of fucked up some of your bike production. There's a problem with one of the big bike producers, subsidies and quality control.

 

I can haz mtn bike now plz?



Thx.