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[Mr Trout]

Also in regards to not getting hit by cars, check out this site. Those are the 10 most common ways to get his while riding in traffic. Learn them. Also, realize that most people put too much emphasis on helmets and not enough on learning defensive riding skills.

A few I'll emphasize:

Don't be afraid to take the entire lane if you are riding next to a row of parked cars. Running into a door that a driver or passenger just opened is an extremely common way to wreck.

DO NOT sit beside large vehicles at a red light. Stay behind them and in view of their mirrors. They have very large blind spots, and can turn without warning not giving you time to get out of the way:
 

Be assertive and predictable. Ride with multiple lights at night. Never assume that a car sees you.

[theinevitable]

Mr. Trout: mine are friction shifters, but are not on the down-tube. they are at the point where the handlebars meet the body of the bike, like in that picture I linked to. I just went on a ride for a few miles around the park, and it was very nice. That bike collective you linked to is the place I got my bike from. And it wasn't $10, it was $160. I got a rear light, and they were out of front lights. I do not plan at biking at night anytime soon, considering how nerve-wracking biking during the day was. Even just crossing a street to get to the park, and then riding along a 2 lane road on the way back was a little more than I wanted to deal with at this point in my biking career.

I think my highest gear isn't high enough, but that might just be that I'm not used to riding a bike.

also: STL drivers being really unassertive and wishy-washy is even worse when it is difficult to accelerate/decelerate quickly.

[Mr Trout]

Oh! I think I misread your previous post then.

$160 is a good price since the collective will have pretty much overhauled the bike and it is almost certainly going to be in better shape than a craigslist purchase.

Try and bike every day for a week or two and you'll be amazed at how much more comfortable you'll be in traffic. I remember the first time I biked around the block I white-knuckled the handlebars the entire time. After 2 weeks I felt fine on all but the busiest streets.

Asherdan: you're right, it's really not common at all to be crossing an intersection in the crosswalk like that. I feel like it's covered by #3 The Crosswalk Slam. Most people don't realize that riding on the sidewalk and crossing at intersections on a bike is more dangerous (and depending on your city it could be illegal too) than riding in the street. Cars just don't expect a fast-moving vehicle in the crosswalk so it will catch them off guard and many will not even see you due to "inattentional blindness". One more reason to be predictable in your riding, and to act like any other vehicle on the road.

[smick]

Yes.

Ride big.   Act like a car.

If you're in downtown stop and go traffic, fuck the gutters.  Take the lane.

Hey... here's a rad animation that might help with vehicular riding!

http://commuteorlando.com/ontheroad/animations/narrowlane/narrowlane.html

[Nabubrush]

Watch out, drivers are dicks - but please, please, please follow the rules of the road.

[theinevitable]

I thought I hated that STL had a 4-way stop at every intersection before. Wow. And of course the way people deal with this frustration is just to cruise through stop signs. My friend recently gave me a guide to the city from 1966... and it mentions that no one in the city stops at stop signs. Have any intersections been turned into 2-way stops? No.

[Carlos del Vaca]

My oldest daughter discovered the third grade online message board on her school's web site, and now she's hooked, all postin' up a storm. Some things are genetic, I guess.

[greenkoolayd]

My oldest daughter discovered the third grade online message board on her school's web site, and now she's hooked, all postin' up a storm. Some things are genetic, I guess.

three weeks later:

"tyler, that was a great post!


for me to poop on!"

[smick]

Asherdan: you're right, it's really not common at all to be crossing an intersection in the crosswalk like that. I feel like it's covered by #3 The Crosswalk Slam. Most people don't realize that riding on the sidewalk and crossing at intersections on a bike is more dangerous (and depending on your city it could be illegal too) than riding in the street. \

The only time I've ever been hit by a car, and the only time I've ever run into a cyclist has been because I/they were riding on the sidewalk.

Watch out, drivers are dicks - but please, please, please follow the rules of the road.

I don't know if it is proximity, but was this because you felt like the flash video or my advice were outside of the rules of the road?

[Nabubrush]

Oh hells no. No, we are good. I am just thinking about my actual experiences with PDX cyclists. Mostly good, sometimes extraordinarily bad. Coming up to an intersection where I have the right-of-way (they have a stop or a light against them) and a lidless cyclist just blasts straight through. "Hey, I'm glad I was alert otherwise my fuck*ng life would have been ruint - and theirs too!"

[Choop]

i'm all about sharing the road (i have a scooter) and last week i almost hit a dude on a bicycle because he jammed out into the intersection against the light - my green, his red. why are so many bike types all about share the road but all against share the rules?

[greenkoolayd]

maybe its hard for some cyclists to think of their cycles as in the same category as a car? 

[wombat]

maybe its hard for some cyclists to think of their cycles as in the same category as a car? 

Then don't ride in the goddam road.

[Nabubrush]

Then don't ride in the goddam road.

Simple. Ride in road and follow rules or ride in the fuck*ng mountains or something. Don't fuck with the people on the sidewalk.

[smick]

There's a huge dichotomy there. 

I suck for local cyclists to ride with, because at every stop sign I stop and put my foot on the ground.   It signals to everyone in sight of me that I stopped at the stop sign.   Mostly it is for protection from tickets (which bike traffic tickets go on my DMV record and can cost me my job!).

Most cyclists treat stop signs as yeilds, because it sucks to get back up to speed.   A lot of times the cyclist has enough visibility or is turning to a protected bike lane where stopping wouldn't have given them any benefit.   Other times, they're just entitled and roll right into the intersection.   There was a time where local biking interest groups were lobbying for an "Idaho Stop" law, allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yields.    That action failed pretty hardcore.   Largely because people who don't understand the law felt "WHY SHOULD THEY GET A FREE PASS?!"  The law works because of the differences in the modes of transportation...when done properly.   Most cyclists ride that way already, and there isn't a huge mortality of them.   It irks me though that people ride like that without the legal support.

It sucks and it makes it more likely for me to be called a "faggot" and/or "asshole" when I have to take the lane because the bike lane has debris or glass in it.

The sad reality is that biking is seen as a political/protest act by some (in and out of cars) and traffic scofflaws (in and out of cars) electrify both sides of the argument.  It just makes it harder for people who just want to get where they're going.