Bicycle Safety?
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at
10:35 pm
In the evening I ride my bike to work to save gas, I ride my bike as close to the curb as i can, but cars still keep blowing their horn at me and yelling mean things out the window. So I ride my bike on the side walk and than I almost get hit by a car making a turn when I cross from one side walk to the other. I just got a bike its a 21 gear Specialized Cross Roads that I bought used for $100 but I have know idea how to shift gears, any help would be appreaciated
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most bikes that have gears are mountain bikes. there are usually 3 numbers on the left handlebar, and 7 numbers on the right handlebar. the lower you have the numbers set to, the easier it will be to pedal, vise versa. ex. 1 one the left and 1 on the right will be alot easier to pedal then 3 on the left and 7 on the right. the numbers on the left are the main gears( like the 7 in 7:20 pm). the numbers on the right are gears that only change a little of the bike (the 20 in 7:20 pm) the higher numbers are better when trying to go fast. hope it helped. any questions email at wavedave3@aol.com
You are an accident waiting to happen my friend. No way you should be riding anywhere near traffic if you cannot perform a simple task like shifting. I hope you wear a helmet and body armor.
Most bike shift with a lever on the left side for the ‘up front’ rings(you have 3, located near the pedals). The biggest ring is the hardest to pedal, the smallest ring is the easiest. The gear cluster in the back is the cogset(usually referred to as the ‘cassette’), and you control shifting from the lever on the right side of your handlebars. In the back, the smallest gear is the hardest to pedal, while the largest is the easiest.
You should stay off the side walks. Bikes are considered vehicles. Side walks are for pedestrians. If mean people say some thing say some thing back. You have as much right to use the streets as well as other vehicles.
First I want to discuss your road position. Riding as close to the curb as possible encourages the motorist to pass you unsafely. You should ride about 18″ – 24 ” from the edge line or the edge of pavement. You will will still get yelled at but you’ll have less chance of getting hit. You have already discovered one of the difficulties of riding on the sidewalk and there are more: your chance of getting into a crash with car when you ride on the sidewalk increase dramatically from riding in the road. In a nut shell most crashes happen at intersections and every driveway forms an intersection. Motorist exiting or entering a driveway generally don’t stop at the sidewalk. Also, if you ride against the flow traffic motorists don’t look in your direction. You are better off in the road.
Since you are riding at night, be sure you have lights: white in front and red in back. The front light is to light the road in front of you and more importantly for the motorist who is crossing your path or whose path you are crossing to see you. Don’t rely on reflectors. Make sure your rear lighting is very visible. Use blinking red lights and wear retro-reflective clothing.
Now for your gears. Play with them and find a gear that you are comfortable pedaling at about 75 rpm. When you play with your gears keep in mind that moving the chain closer to the bike makes pedaling easier and moving the chain away from the bike makes it harder.
Lastly, I have put together a two and half hour course for novice and intermediate bicyclists and it is available purchase at http://www.learntobicycle.com. It goes into covers what you need to know to safely use your bike and keep it in good working order.
The first thing I would do is take your bike to a good shop and have them give it a THOROUGH tune-up. That may be the source of your shifting dilemma (I hope). As far as safety is concerned, ride as if everyone on the rode is trying to hit you (some of them actually are), or imagine that you are invisible (which isn’t that far from the truth). When you turn or stop, SIGNAL. My attitude when cycling on the road is assertive, but not cocky. You are traffic. You have all the rights and responsibilities that a motorist does. Please be careful. I read about cycling fatalities almost every day. Good answers here so far, especially Mark H.
Mark and Rusth gave good answers. A couple of things I would like to add:
1 – Look for DMV regulations regarding bicycle travel for your state/province/community. In Washington and Oregon, bicyclists are opertaing moving vehicles and are entitled to use the road as a motorized vehilce is concerned. But there are exceptions as to when you can be on a road (Interstate for example).
2 – DO NOT respond to taunts/comments with nothing more than a wave. DO carry a cell phone with you in the event you encounter a particularly nasty motorist.
One final word: BE PREDICTABLE! Signal your intent and ride in such a way that you are visible to motorists and other cyclists. Wear bright or light collored clothing, use a light (front and back). Dont rely on reflectors, as they can cause confusion to motorists as a number of sign posts/street signs/barricades are marked with reflectors also.
As far as your shifting, get thee to a bike shop and have them inspect your bike period. You may find that there are other issues that are preventing the bike from operating properly. At the very least, they can show you the proper way to use your shifters.
Good luck and be safe!
I feel for you my friend.
Having ridden my bike to work for almost twenty years and been a serious cyclist for longer than that here is some advice:
Look for a route that has low traffic intensity. This route may be a little longer, but give you a more happier experience going to work. Save the large arterial street for when you are running late. A lot of cyclists think you should ride your bike exactly like a car, but I think that just asking for a visit the emergency room due to a careless driver. Use the road/sidewalk/bike paths/gutter to your best advantage and plan out your moves. All traffic has a pattern to it. Try to discover the pattern and ride with it.
There are special challenges going through busy intersections on a bike that are not applicable to cars. In your head try to plan how you are going to cross each major road. At intersections think like a car, and try to predict what the cars are going to do. (Who is not going to stop to turn right on red, who is turning left and looking for the smallest opening to zip across. etc.) Right turning and left turning cars are looking for openings in traffic and tend not to see bicyclists. Never assume that they see you, and ignore all the “make eye contact with the driver advice” because today it doesn’t mean that they actually see you as drivers are so distracted they will still pull out right in front of you even as they are staring right at you.
The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) vehicular-cycling principle is based on John Foresters 1975 book “Effective Cycling”. An excellent place for a beginner to start. However, the vehicular approach has big problem on today’s roads. It exposes you to driver error (and they make a lot of errors). There are nearly 2-3x as many cars on the road as there were in the 70’s when “Effective Cycling” was written and drivers are more aggressive and more distracted than ever. I don’t know anybody (including the local LAB chapter president) who actually follows the principle to the letter. Almost all experienced cyclists use a mix of techniques to stay safe in heavy city traffic.