Geekzone Cycling Thread

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#2946177 25-Jul-2022 12:31

bazzer:

Technofreak:

Anyone else who rides on the road think this is more than just dumb, it's out right dangerous. iMO the person who dreamed this up needs to be taken out and shot

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/129345252/auckland-community-furious-as-drivers-hit-new-cycle-lane-protectors

We've got similar things near where I live. I'm sure the designers don't ride bikes on the road.

I don't really understand what the problem is? Other that issues at the start of the section.

If drivers hit the protectors, then aren't they encroaching on the cycleway? I wonder if they also run into curbs. I'm not sure if they are an issue for cyclists, I probably don't ride enough to comment but they seem ok to me.

That's around the corner from where I live.

There's a lot of MAMiL's in Greenhithe and that road is very heavily used by cyclists. They're all dead against it.

The problem as I understand it (personally, I don't have a problem up there on bike or in car) is that the road is now far narrower and the raised concrete barrier is hard to see when driving and the road is now considerably narrower. A bus hit it the other day and munted its wheel.

The road had no recorded serious accidents involving cyclists in the 5 years prior, apparently (quoting the local councillor here), so it's been a large waste of money in what the locals believe is a failed experiment.

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bazzer

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#2946180 25-Jul-2022 12:53

Handsomedan:

That's around the corner from where I live.

There's a lot of MAMiL's in Greenhithe and that road is very heavily used by cyclists. They're all dead against it.

The problem as I understand it (personally, I don't have a problem up there on bike or in car) is that the road is now far narrower and the raised concrete barrier is hard to see when driving and the road is now considerably narrower. A bus hit it the other day and munted its wheel.

The road had no recorded serious accidents involving cyclists in the 5 years prior, apparently (quoting the local councillor here), so it's been a large waste of money in what the locals believe is a failed experiment.

Yeah, I get it, it just seems to me like maybe the barriers aren't the problem. Why would the MAMiLs not like them? I suspect because they like to move out of the cycle lane? Otherwise, surely it's a good thing for them.

MikeB4

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#2946182 25-Jul-2022 13:05

I haven't seen the entire road but would it have been better to replace the grass verge with a wider shared pedestrian/cycle way?

Technofreak

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#2946189 25-Jul-2022 13:26

bazzer:

Technofreak:

Anyone else who rides on the road think this is more than just dumb, it's out right dangerous. iMO the person who dreamed this up needs to be taken out and shot

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/129345252/auckland-community-furious-as-drivers-hit-new-cycle-lane-protectors

We've got similar things near where I live. I'm sure the designers don't ride bikes on the road.

I don't really understand what the problem is? Other that issues at the start of the section.

If drivers hit the protectors, then aren't they encroaching on the cycleway? I wonder if they also run into curbs. I'm not sure if they are an issue for cyclists, I probably don't ride enough to comment but they seem ok to me.

The problem is for the cyclists. You're effectively trapped in that lane area. If there's debris you need to avoid either A; you cannot move over or B; risk hitting the so call protector. Those areas are where all the broken glass, stones etc end up.

If you happen to drift off line accidentally and hit the 'protector' you're going to come a nasty cropper especially if you rode into the end of one, and most likely do yourself some real harm and/or end up lying on the road in front of the vehicles. I would refuse to ride in that area and instead ride on the main carriageway. I know that will annoy motorists but IMO it's still the safer option for a cyclist.

By all means mark a cycle lane but don't hem cyclists in to a potentially dangerous situation by putting in these stupid "protectors" because protectors they're not.

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djtOtago

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#2946193 25-Jul-2022 13:38

As pointed out already you are hemmed in, in what appears to be quite a narrow path. You have cyclists who are having a nice day out traveling along a 15 km/h, the people heading to work doing 20 - 25 km/h, then you have the fitter people trying to do 30 km/h and last but not least, Grandma on her e-bike doing 35km/h and no way for faster riders to get easily round the slower riders.

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#2947406 28-Jul-2022 14:09

So...back to the cycles themselves.

After much To-ing and fro-ing, a few false starts and a time waster or two, we finally managed to snag a larger bike at a reasonable price for my now far larger son.

So that (temporarily) means we will have a fleet of 8 bikes for the 4 of us again.

A couple are going on the chopping block once the new rig arrives and we have done the obligatory component swaps and finessing of the fleet.

I'm going to graduate from my Trail bike to my son's Enduro bike of the same vintage, then we'll all have "new" bikes.

So I'll be going from my (admittedly great) 2011 Giant Trance X (with many upgrades) to a 2011 Giant Reign SX (with many upgrades)

130/160 travel on the Trance to 170/170 on the Reign.

Looking forward to it, actually - having established over the last few months that I am more comfortable with gravity and freeride style riding than I am with traditional trail riding.

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elpenguino

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#2947458 28-Jul-2022 15:51

Handsomedan:

< SNIP about new bikes >

Looking forward to it, actually - having established over the last few months that I am more comfortable with gravity and freeride style riding than I am with traditional trail riding.

I'll have to have a look at the web to see what those bikes look like. And I'll need another look at the web to help decode that last sentence which has English words in it but .......

I've been out a few times lately, just repeat runs of my neighbourhood track to get some saddle time. It's been a very wet month and even tho my local tracks are mixed (walking) tracks and haven't been chewed up by numerous bikes, they're waaaaay more slidey and slushy now.

My track has got a stream crossing at the end and normally the water's half way up to the axle but now it's all the way up to the axle = soaked sneakers.

And speaking of bikes, I also need to get one for my lad who outgrew his extra small. I just wish he would stop growing (or rather hurry up and do it).

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

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#2947482 28-Jul-2022 16:26

elpenguino:

And speaking of bikes, I also need to get one for my lad who outgrew his extra small. I just wish he would stop growing (or rather hurry up and do it).

Yeah I am luck, I guess - the last two bikes I bought for the boys should be the last ones I ever buy for them as they are both nearly fully grown and their "new" bikes are both large.

Also: https://www.bikeperfect.com/features/gravity-mountain-biking-everything-you-need-to-know

"What is gravity mountain biking, and how is it different from downhill? After all, downhill riding is pretty self-explanatory. The term gravity is a bit broader than simply downhill riding. It can be used to describe any type of mountain biking that is mostly focused on using gravity to propel you downhill, from enduro all the way to freeride. "

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Handsomedan

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#2947710 29-Jul-2022 09:41

No riding for us this weekend - winter sports getting in the way and weather doesn't look too flash, but looking forward to the season ending and a bit more riding happening as it starts to dry up a bit.

Spent some time away this weekend and dropped into Rotorua and rode the luge. Saw all the work that's going on at Skyline ready for Crankworx in November. Man, there's a lot of work underway!!

Should be pretty epic though, with crowds being allowed back and international visitors coming back to the country.

https://www.crankworx.com/festival/rotorua/

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#2947711 29-Jul-2022 09:42

Weird...double post

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elpenguino

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#2947727 29-Jul-2022 10:28

The last time I was in Rotorua I was getting a big feeling I should have brought the bikes(s) with us. There's so many tracks and trails and every second car had bikes on the back. Then I heard that cycling is the number one reason people visit the area now, surpassing the plop plops.

We took the kids on the luge and I saw how cycling down the hill has become a big thing and the gondola takes the work out of it.

lapenguina would enjoy sitting in a hot pool of water while I was off on a trail so I'll do that next time.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

Handsomedan

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#2947828 29-Jul-2022 13:36

elpenguino:

The last time I was in Rotorua I was getting a big feeling I should have brought the bikes(s) with us. There's so many tracks and trails and every second car had bikes on the back. Then I heard that cycling is the number one reason people visit the area now, surpassing the plop plops.

We took the kids on the luge and I saw how cycling down the hill has become a big thing and the gondola takes the work out of it.

lapenguina would enjoy sitting in a hot pool of water while I was off on a trail so I'll do that next time.

Yeah, MrsDan likes to chill elsewhere while we go down the trails at Skyline.

It's pretty hairy the forst time, but if you're confident and don't mind the odd "off the bike" incident, you're golden.

When we went up this time (no bikes) there were heaps of people getting back on the gondola with bikes that were definitely not made for that kind of terrain. Nobody looked terrified.

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#2950660 4-Aug-2022 13:00

So...son's new bike arrived, so as he'd outgrown his bike and it was better than mine, I have now taken possession of that beast and am selling my old one.

The new (old) steed:

Much more suited to the type of riding I do nowadays. Long travel, burly beast of a thing.

Love it.

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#2950696 4-Aug-2022 15:22

Very cool 👍

Technofreak

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#2950730 4-Aug-2022 17:21

Handsomedan:

So...son's new bike arrived, so as he'd outgrown his bike and it was better than mine, I have now taken possession of that beast and am selling my old one.

The new (old) steed:

Much more suited to the type of riding I do nowadays. Long travel, burly beast of a thing.

Love it.

Looks far too heavy. Anything much over 10 kg is heavy in my books. 😎

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