Secrets of the City

Was that guy following that woman around with a camera? — looks like it.

Small Laws appears to complain about everything and is offering little in way of solutions.

There’s also this recent letter I found to some local biker: http://arthappyhour.tumblr.com/post/178399741/letter-to-the-self-righteous-biker-guy.

Antrobus from the tale of two cities has quite possibly my favorite comment of the year:
“A friend of mine tried that. 20 years later: CANCER. I’m just sayin’…”

“Running a red light or stop sign doesn’t actually save any time if you’re a real cyclist.”

Whether it’s ever appropriate or not, that statement is clearly not true.

The mountain bike being ridden by his target here is an indication she’s probably not a very experienced city biker. Perhaps she’ll improve.

Yeah I mean she doesn’t even have a fixie yet.

oh and it’s never appropriate. If you use the road, you follow the rules.

See more of those fixed gear bikes now.

Is bicycling devolving, for some reason?

no just in the firm grasp of the hipster.

I went to see the bicycle races at the Velodrome in Blaine for the first time this summer — they are all fixed gear, no brakes.

Makes for an interesting race…

what do all these open-letter-writing passive-aggressive bikers do in the winter?

I honestly think someone near the top of the Hipster Food Chain woke up one day and said, “I’ll start a trend that is clearly anti-Darwinian, but put it forward in the guise of hipster street fashion to see if anyone is dumb enough to follow along. I’ll call it a fixie”

There’s some space between mountain bike and fixie, and I didn’t mean to imply her lack of fixie was the tip-off. I don’t ride a fixie because I consider gears to be clever technology.

Mountain bikes are made for off-road. Hence the knobby tires. It’s the same as driving on SUV. It’s a vehicle that’s not optimized for the conditions under which it is being used. It has nothing to do with hipness. I resent the implication that pointing out riding a mountain bike on the rode is typical of an inexperienced biker makes me a bike hipster snob.

Ryanl: I wanted to leave that out of the discussion and simply point out the fact that that statement couldn’t possibly be true. But as usual, I will mention that strict adherence to stop lights on a bike is pretty pointless. Sensible adherence, on the other hand, is necessary. When I come to a light at 11pm and there’s not a car for miles, I will proceed; you can drive 5mph over the speed limit in your car and we’ll call it even.

yoshi: The solution is as it ever was: better infrastructure for cyclists, and awareness of the law on everyone’s part. Do you need that in smaller words or what?

And unless one “sells out” and installs a hand brake on one of the tires, MN Statute 169.222 indicates the fixed-gear bike is illegal for use in Minneapolis.

g rote: I imagine I’ll complain about fellow passengers on the bus for six months. Be sure to tune in.

jeffk: Integrity is who you are when no one’s around. Would you pull that stunt in a car?

No. The analogy between bikes and cars is absolutely false, it’s tired, it needs to die. Seriously. Your ability to injure another person when you’re operating a bike is about a billionth of your ability in a car. This is why 99% of the population will walk across the street without a signal in this situation – because if somehow a car appeared out of the blue, only they can get hurt. Insurance companies, masters of statistics, know this: this is why it’s peanuts to buy liability insurance for a motorcycle. Then there’s the practical matter of bikes not tripping the sensors in the road to change the light.

I have to agree with the improvement of the biking infrastructure. Right now a good portion of my route home is torn up with no alternative given. While I ride on the road, I fear the speeding cars will run me over. Nothing like a 3500 pound car speeding by at 35 mph and giving me all of 12 inches. Thanks!

This path is heavily used (mostly by recreationists), but what if we closed down a stretch University avenue for a couple of weeks? They would never do it because it would be an inconvenience. What about the 2 weeks this bike path has been closed? It’s not even given a second thought…

There is a useful parallel between cars and bikes, and also between cars, bikes, and pedestrians: Safety on the road relies, to a large extent, on being able to count on predictable behavior from others on the road. If people are disobeying the rules, or even making up their own, either because they consider themselves to be too good a driver to need to worry about rules or because they think they know better what is safe for them, they’re making the road less safe for everybody, because their behavior has become unpredictable. A bicyclist who passes cars on the right and blows through a red light and a car who is doing a rolling stop to make a right hand turn are a lethal combination, caused by their unpredictability, but both could probably justify their decision.

Jeffk: I ride a mountain bike (I think–mnblrmkr please confirm) in the city, b/c that is all I have. I bought it at a time when I did some off-road riding; now I don’t. It is a very comfy bike. Anyone who wants to call me inexperienced is free to do so. I have fancy clip-in pedals to add to my coolness, but even that is negated by my dorky but practical panniers.

Grote, like the fixie, I was thinking of trying to bring back the floppy disc. If I can just get a hipster or two to help lead the way… it’ll be hilarious!!!

Stop being an exception and ruining my broad generalization…

Panniers, by the way, are awesome and should be used by more people.

See jane, you think you’re kidding, but I was once invited to a party whose theme was exchanging mix tapes.

I ride a mountain bike (mostly to get McDonalds)cause it is better for doing wheelies (which is what a bike should really be used for).

Hee! Sorry Jeffk.

Forgot to mention my bike is gold, and so cool-looking it precludes all negative judegment. It’s also 12-13 years old, and is possibly cool retro by now.

No, I am not kidding! It would be hilarious to give some songs or photos to a friend on a floppy disk.

Jane there only 1.4 mb I think so your going to have to send some really short audio clips. Maybe just midi based sequences would do the trick

I’d give everyone the theme song from “Doom”.

I just loaded three photos and a short song on a floppy disk. Woo! Exciting.

In fact, it is a Jason DeRusha Day miracle!!

Is it this one?

If so you must be a heck of a rider.

Keep your hipster floppy disk away from me… unless it is 5 1/4 in floppy disk that the true hipster uses. 1.4mb in your dreams!

I believe you do Jane, I’d have to see it again to fully refresh my memory though.

I don’t recall whether you have the full knobby tires though, or a more sensible road tread. mountain, fixie, single speed, multi-speed road or touring bike is generally of less importance than the kind of tire you put on it.

With proper tires, a mountain bike (esp. hard tail) is a reasonable commuter bike. It may take more effort to get moving, (being heavier) but if you have to ride some pretty chewed up streets, that more than balances out.

Old men commuters always ride touring bikes with panniers, so I copy them.

I can confirm that Jane has a mountain bike with nobby (but skinnier than normal) tires. I ride my mountain bike to work because I never know when I’m going to hit a gravel patch (esp. with this unending construction) or want to hit the Wirth singletrack on the way home.

rat,

one reason (some) people like fixies or single speed bikes is their simplicity: No derailleurs to worry about aligning, no (or fewer, since you still need brakes to be street legal) cables to worry about.

If we’re going to go all retro now, that 5-1/4″ floppy needs to be accompanied by a monochrome 13″ monitor.

@noodleman: Which color though? Amber or green?

Well, that’s looking into the heart of human fear.

Somebody needs to take some pictures of the Jason DeRusha Day parade! I’ve got a long day today and won’t be able to partake in the festivities.

@DouglasG: Amber was the cooler color. The hoi polloi all had green.

jeffk: It’s not an analogy. Bicycles are a part of traffic, regardless of your opinion, and your rationalization will not hold up in court. Take some time to carefully read MN Statutes 169.18, 169.19, and 169.222 to learn what your responsibilities (and rights) are. The fact that cars have the capacity for greater destructive force does not alleviate cyclist responsibility. However, you’re right about the trip plates: after hours, when the traffic lights change from timed cycles to weight sensors, this can be a real nuisance for cyclists, and the answer to that is improved cyclist infrastructure. City planners need to be made aware of this legitimate concern.

Max: Hear, hear.

I’ll be there, noodleman, but as is my MO, I will leave before Jason arrives and the parade begins.

Ryanol, that bike doesn’t have pedals. Whoever rides it must be ONE HECK of a rider.

MO? at OM?

MO as in modus operandi, aka the way I roll. Come early, leave early, leave wreaked lives and broken furniture in my wake.

jane I think that bike cannot be purchased but instead is bestowed upon the winner of a series of races…er something like that.

In regards to its lack of pedals; simply affix a fore mentioned “fancy clip in” pedals.

Come early, leave early, leave wreaked lives and broken furniture in my wake.

It’d be a whole lot easier to just light one up, justpbob.

I may just do that, noodle. I may have a cigarette, too.

I ride a fixie… about five miles on a busy week. It has lights AND a sellout front brake.

I mix the other 80+ get split between a carbon fiber road bike and an “old man” steel framed bike with a rack, panniers, tools, a lock, etc. depending on my wants and needs for the day. The former doesn’t might save a minute or two over the 8 miles home, once traffic laws come into play — even with the entire ride across Minneapolis on the Greenway.

Bob, I assume you are at OM already, and will leave at 5:15, which is 15 minutes before the event starts.

sxoidmal, conversations about what a law IS are inherently boring, because this is information that can be looked up in two seconds. To that end, you are correct: biking through a red light is ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL.

Now that that boringness is out of the way, please reconsider my comment in the light that I believe it either shouldn’t be illegal, or nobody should care that it is.

Specifically, I suggest that the law for bikes should require they stop at a red light, and if there are no cars, can proceed as though it’s a stop sign.

People get so upset about bikes running red lights..What about jay walkers..I don’t see anyone out there snapping pics of them. Technically they are breaking the law.