Specialized Aramadillo–Available only at Specialized dealers (Towner’s, Park Ave Bike). Had nearly 4,000 miles flat-free before the bike was stolen. Armadillos are known for a harsh ride, though. I can confirm this.

Continental Ultra Gatorskin–Available all over the web, but I haven’t found anyone locally who carries them. I have 3,500 miles on a set with one flat per tire. Each time it was glass when riding in the wet. The wet lubricates the glass helping it penetrate more easily. Nice ride, and plenty grippy.

Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase–Available only at Trek dealers, (Full Moon Vista, Towpath Bike, and others I haven’t visited). These are on my primary bike. 6,200 miles on the front with no flats so far. 3,500 on the second rear tire, with no flats so far. The first rear tire flatted once, and began shedding tread shortly thereafter. It was replaced under warranty. These tires also ride nice and are plenty grippy.

I have thought about going to one of those clinics. I really should stop making excuses and just go. :)

A wonderful post.

For the east coast,
Philly is worth the trip,
the first year Philly had the
largest attendance.
I think it caught everyone off guard.
car pool & hope to see you there!

When I’m in by best frame of mind, I manage to remember to go out of my way to be nice to car drivers. Being someone who is trying to green my scene… When I’m riding, rather than smugly thumb my nose at car drivers, I like to think, “How can I help these drivers use those hydrocarbons more efficiently?”

Often the logical answer is to show them some courtesy, let ‘em get on their way and try to share the road as safely as possible. I almost never have the kinds of run ins that cyclists describe of rude, dangerous car drivers.

We’ve all inherited this system that’s ours to improve, destroy or ignore. Ultimately, it just ain’t right to have such mismatched vehicles sharing a roadway. It’s a recipe for trouble and in a more perfect world we’d have separate roadways. (Or, ok, yeah, no cars at all, but we’re a long way from that.)

I’ve had different results with the gorilla pod in the past. I don’t know if it was because I cared more if it jiggled around or if I just had it wrapped on the handlebars differently. It still never fell off but I had to correct the camera position fairly often.

Check out what that set up allowed me to do from a video:

http://www.rudybang.com/images/bikeridepano_take2.html

(Incidentally, 90% of the people I see wearing helmets don’t have them on tightly enough to help in an accident anyway. For most people they seem to function as talismans.)

We all make risk assessments depending on our priorities. The tiny reduction in risk I might obtain from a helmet is not worth the costs to me. Your assessment will be different based on your perception of risk and your personal costs, which will be lower than mine if you don’t find helmets uncomfortable and don’t feel as strongly about encouraging bicycles as an alternative form of transportation.

Remember the billboard with a huge scary picture of a glowing electric stove burner and the caption. “Stoves are no place for children.”?

Have you stopped putting children on red-hot stove burners? I know I have.

A century from now, if people are still allowed to write, they will write about this time that we live in as the Era of Cowardice. I won’t go down the driveway on my motorcycle without the helmet, but putzing around at jog speed on my 30-year-old bike? If I am ever mandated to wear a helmet for that, I -want- to die.

A

PS I anticipate a bitter response from the coward community. Bless you all.

Which bridge is the issue you’re talking about? I ride under the Ford Street bridge regularly, and have never had an issue there. Occasionally the people playing craps on the trail near the apartments there are a problem (I’ve ridden through the middle of a couple games, but I’ve made sure to not run over the dice themselves!), but even they hop out of the way sometimes. I don’t bike under any other bridges personally.

Also, I hate to say it Sarah, but cycling is dangerous. So is driving a car. I ride about 6000 miles a year and drive about 4000, and I always wear a helmet and always buckle my seatbelt. Neither is as comfortable as taking a nap on the couch, but I’m not willing to risk head trauma to make a pretty obscure point.

I thought, “Wearing a helmet prevents domestic violence?”

The helmet and the shiner just don’t go together, since the one won’t prevent the other. Unless it keeps you from getting a loser boyfriend.

I have a growing collection of busted helmets. After getting hit by that car in April, I’m now up to three. Despite my taste for the freakin’ expensive models, they’re far cheaper than metal plates in the head.

And so far, no loser boyfriends either!

I’d like some clarification on the “wishing well” for Dr. Berk. If it’s for sending well wishes, fine. But a guy who pulls in an income well into the six-figures, and has free medical care, doesn’t need charity.

I’d add “wear something bright and reflective” to Adam’s list.

som e upstaters should be there, it’s not THAT
far away. I did the first ride in philly, and I’ll be doing this one!

@Dottie. Most of our buses don’t have luggage areas but I’m about 30 miles out of the city and they always send a greyhound style bus out there. (Which is good because we usually have 4-5 cyclists trying to use the bus simultaneously and there’s only one bus that comes out in the morning & one in the evening.)

Don’t ever expect motor vehicle operators to treat you with equal consideration. I think the aggression and general callousness behavior of typical motor vehicle operators has something to do with the anonymity of being shrouded behind a steering wheel (and all that steel plastic and glass).

I’ve got some Axiom LaSalle’s, they’re not as big as I have found I would like, but they’re still pretty awesome, and of intermediate price (+/- $100 for a set). I use one or both every single day. For big stuff I bust out an Xtracycle. I used to use a cheap Dakine messenger bag, but it’s a lot more comfortable to ride without it I find.

and then i get to ’share the road’
with these same idiots,
who seem to think that since you ride a bike,
you are somehow a second class citizen,
worthy of abuse,
and not a person,
with a life just as important as theirs.

i think this is the year i yank someone
from their car…….

I’m a helmetless, scofflaw who also doesn’t have a mirror. I evaluate the safest and best way to get around on my bike and sometimes it’s breaking the motor vehicle laws. I have jumped stop signs, ridden on sidwalks and even on the wrong way on streets. What ever it takes to keep me out of harms way.

I can’t remember ever wondering what people in cars think, but I do like to post stuff like that in forums to stir things up. (Occasionally) 8>)

Keep it up!

MY POINT:
I am not allowed a lane.
I am continually ‘overtaken’ (within 2 feet)
in the lane.
But when traffic stops,
I must stop?
Well, since I’m not being recognized as a
legitimate user of the road, and no one is
enforcing MY RIGHTS, then I WON’T recognize
what ‘they THINK are the rules of the road’.

I still think some people need to be pulled
from their cars…..
Too many little people become bullies when
behind the wheel, another great part of the
book “TRAFFIC”.

MY POINT:
I am not allowed a lane.
I am continually ‘overtaken’ (within 2 feet)
in the lane.
But when traffic stops,
I must stop?
Well, since I’m not being recognized as a
legitimate user of the road, and no one is
enforcing MY RIGHTS, then I WON’T recognize
what ‘they THINK are the rules of the road’.

I still think some people need to be pulled
from their cars…..
Too many little people become bullies when
behind the wheel, another great part of the
book “TRAFFIC”.

The motorist wasn’t at fault.
The street isn’t that busy.

There is no rage associated with this,
just undescribable sadness,
that no parent should ever have to bury
a child.

I wouldn’t even bring up
’should have done this’
or
’should have done that’.

We all know.
Now its about a family that needs support,
and understanding.

The cyclist running stop signs
and red lights?
We all have an opinion on that one!
I say it’s a discussion on another post.

Stephen, obviously you should just run that red light. Everyone does it. The cops won’t ticket you. Don’t sweat it.

Everyone. Please. This post was supposed to inform people about what’s going on, specifically the death of a bicycle rider and the Ride of Silence. Instead, everyone’s decided to lecture me on how inconvenient red lights are for cyclists. All anybody ever does anymore is WHINE.

Turn around and find another route?
Get off your bike and go to the crosswalk?
Wait for 10 minutes for a car to show up?

It sounds like you’re collapsing cyclists who obey every law (however inappropriate) with those who ride safely and respectfully while tweaking the law (such as by going through the red light in front of Albany Academy when there’s no one else present; I do this regularly) and with those who ride recklessly, endangering themselves and others.

Keep in mind that when drivers drive recklessly, they seriously endanger a lot of people. Cyclists are putting far fewer people at risk- the main risk is to themselves. That’s one reason why I don’t get angry about cyclists breaking laws if they’re doing so sensibly.

I also think that an Idaho stop law would make the folks in the latter two groups I mentioned feel a little less victimized by the laws (which are currently inappropriate) and thus feel less of a need to go the anarchist route.

b) i think it’s pretty obvious cyclists ARE endangering themselves and others by running stop signs and red lights.

c) cyclists should be ticketed. we aren’t. we are not held responsible as street users and we should be. if police would ticket cyclists for riding against traffic, or running stop signs and red lights, people would shape up.

today, on the ride of silence, we were headed down central ave. some guy on a kid’s bike tore through a red light into four lanes of oncoming traffic to join us. he was not wearing a helmet or anything visible in the fading sunlight. you think we’re ready for an idaho-stop law? i think we’ve got a long way to go before cyclists have earned any special rights.

Ethan, the reasons to make it legal for cyclists to do what they’re already doing safely is (a) so drivers don’t get annoyed at cyclists breaking the law, (b) to publicly acknowledge that cyclists are not endangering others by doing these things, and (c) to protect cyclists from the risk of ticketing. I also believe that if the law was more rational then cyclists who currently ignore ALL traffic safety laws might be more likely to admit that SOME of them have a purpose and self-police. Right now it’s too easy to say “none of that should apply to me” and ignore it.

Here’s some background on the law that Sarah’s talking about. I don’t think it relates to this fatality – traffic laws are generally not written to account for 10 year old operators anyway.

I run red lights all the time, generally when there are little or no motor vehicles around anyway so my chances of getting ticketed are low. I started running lights when certain intersection control systems failed to detect my bike. I say, if you run red lights or stop signs, do it carefully!

In NY, most people don’t know the laws. Including the police, and cyclists. Nobody enforces them.

I just wanted to add some more Rochester bike news that I thought would have been covered already here at Rocbike:

Late tuesday night the Monroe county legislature voted to pass the Tryon/West Bay park Master Plan. I think this is a great victory for local cycling enthusiasts. I understand the reservations the opposition had, but I feel confident that the off road cyclists will assuage those concerns through their sustainable stewardship of the trails.

D&C had at least one article on it, and the local “news” channels also “covered” the topic. You can get some more info at:

http://www.victormtbc.com/

Cheers!

Red Light Go is available through Netflix.

A lot of the movies I’ve been seeing lately, I wouldn’t know how to find them. I’m glad some people are connected and dedicated enough to bring them to us poor slobs.

my vent was towards the people who some how think that things will just magically happen without them having to do more than complain.
that albany will turn into portland overnight,
and they won’t have to get involved.
be heard
be seen
be part of the community

So true and so Zen. With a ROCBike logo, it could be seriously cool. Any graphic organizers out there?