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Cycling in Waterloo Region - Printable Version

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RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - clasher - 07-16-2018

(07-16-2018, 06:32 AM)Canard Wrote: My challenge for the other bike is to find a KMC X10.93 chain at 118 links - seems to only comes on 116 links, which is too short for my largest gear.

I don't know where you buy stuff but a lot of kmc's 11 speed chains come with 118 links and Leonard Zinn says it should work fine on a 10 speed drivetrain. At a local retail level the pricing on 11 speed chains might be more expensive than just buying two 10 speed chains and joining them together. A shop or another cycling might also have some new extra links from installing chains that you could have and splice into the chain with another master link. I don't know if I have any right now or not.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 07-16-2018

(07-16-2018, 10:51 AM)clasher Wrote:
(07-16-2018, 06:32 AM)Canard Wrote: My challenge for the other bike is to find a KMC X10.93 chain at 118 links - seems to only comes on 116 links, which is too short for my largest gear.

I don't know where you buy stuff but a lot of kmc's 11 speed chains come with 118 links and Leonard Zinn says it should work fine on a 10 speed drivetrain. At a local retail level the pricing on 11 speed chains might be more expensive than just buying two 10 speed chains and joining them together. A shop or another cycling might also have some new extra links from installing chains that you could have and splice into the chain with another master link. I don't know if I have any right now or not.

Generally different speed chains will differ in more than just the number of links (links actually matter for the size of cog, derailleur, and chainwheel you have, more than the number of speeds).  Usually higher speed chains are narrower and more speeds are more specialized, 5, 6, 7, 8, maybe 9 speeds all use the same chain, but I'm not sure if a 10 speed chain would work on an 11 speed drive train.

Definitely though, if you need more links a local bike shop may have spare ones, often chains are too long, so they'll often have spare links.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Chris - 07-16-2018

A chance to offer feedback to Catherine Thompson at the Waterloo Region Record.


https://twitter.com/ThompsonRecord/status/1018859133204946944

Catherine Thompson
‏@ThompsonRecord

Do you #cycle in #waterlooregion? I'm working on a feature about getting around on two wheels in #kitchener, #Waterloo #cambridge. Let me know what works, what doesn't Call 519-895-5649 or email  cthompson@therecord.com


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 07-16-2018

Thanks for the feedback - my setup is a bit unusual I guess, as for the 2nd bike it has a Shimano STePS Middrive, so I need a really strong 10-Speed chain (for the width). At 118 links, the existing chain has the derailleur jockey wheels very far forward - a little too far for my liking. 116 would be impossible (I checked). I’d actually prefer to lengthen it to 120 links to have the derailleur a little more relaxed.

From a geometry standpoint, the chain is under tremendous additional load by having the jockey wheels near horizontal - it takes very little downward pressure in that configuration to apply tensile forces. When the jockey wheels are vertical, the opposite is true.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - clasher - 07-16-2018

(07-16-2018, 11:37 AM)Canard Wrote: Thanks for the feedback - my setup is a bit unusual I guess, as for the 2nd bike it has a Shimano STePS Middrive, so I need a really strong 10-Speed chain (for the width). At 118 links, the existing chain has the derailleur jockey wheels very far forward - a little too far for my liking. 116 would be impossible (I checked). I’d actually prefer to lengthen it to 120 links to have the derailleur a little more relaxed.

Ah okay, sounds like you need one of the e-bike specific chains that KMC makes, like the KMC X10e EPT with 136 links. I dunno if KMC distributes them in Canada or not... I've ordered from bike24 in the past but the 20 euro flat-rate shipping is hard to swallow for ordering just one chain. I've also been dinged the exorbitant "brokerage" BS that DHL will pull. I'm a big fan of KMC chains and have never had an issue with

Cassettes can wear out from running a worn chain for too long but catching it at 0.8 likely saved you that trouble, but it'll usually slow up as slippage when you're in a low gear standing up... I don't have any experience riding an e-bike so I don't know if they would make it worse or better.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 07-16-2018

My regular bike is the one I caught at 0.8%. The one with STePS was at 0.4%, so I’m less concerned but will still replace it. Gears has the one you list for $99 - pricey, but local. Two other coworkers just replaced their chains this weekend, too, and laughed when I said I only spent $16 on the one for my regular bike. They both paid over $100 for their fancy road bike chains!


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 07-17-2018

So I've had another bad experience in the bike lanes in Uptown. A vehicle drove straight into the bike lanes without looking, when I was right there. I hauled on the brakes and managed to avoid being knocked, but the fact remains, it's clearer than ever that roll curbs were a mistake.

As a result, the one plus side of the bike lanes being constructed a block or two at a time, is that we can now use the failure of roll curbs to provide adequate protection as a lesson in building the next block.

How do we lobby the city/region to make this change to the design to a barrier curb. It should be minimal, but I'm sure their contract will still make a fuss, but it's probably worth it, given the roll curbs do not do much more than a painted line.

Also, what is this region's obsession with roll curbs...it's not just active transportation, it's the LRT, and now they've built even more roll curbs in uptown...some...immediately beside barrier curbs. Seriously...


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - bgb_ca - 07-17-2018

(07-17-2018, 08:36 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Also, what is this region's obsession with roll curbs...it's not just active transportation, it's the LRT, and now they've built even more roll curbs in uptown...some...immediately beside barrier curbs. Seriously...

It's probably some designer that thinks they look nicer. And it won't likely change until someone is killed.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Viewfromthe42 - 07-17-2018

The colour (unobtrusive brown instead of either a brighter red as many european countries do for bike-only lanes, or our green) was a design choice at the behest of UpTown BIA beauty advocates. The roll curb was, I believe, in part to allow for two lanes to part so that an ambulance, fire, or police vehicle could go up the middle, and also for snow clearing budgets I expect. I would certainly advise for more obstacles to make it seem less like a weird turning lane or parallel parking, namely making it impossible to drive on near the intersections, and probably taking the triangle of pavement that occurs as parallel spaces start to appear (but aren't at full width) and turning that into greenery or bike parking.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 07-17-2018

(07-17-2018, 09:17 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: The colour (unobtrusive brown instead of either a brighter red as many european countries do for bike-only lanes, or our green) was a design choice at the behest of UpTown BIA beauty advocates. The roll curb was, I believe, in part to allow for two lanes to part so that an ambulance, fire, or police vehicle could go up the middle, and also for snow clearing budgets I expect. I would certainly advise for more obstacles to make it seem less like a weird turning lane or parallel parking, namely making it impossible to drive on near the intersections, and probably taking the triangle of pavement that occurs as parallel spaces start to appear (but aren't at full width) and turning that into greenery or bike parking.

The argument of providing for emergency access breaks down when you consider the section of the lane beside parked cars (emergency vehicles cannot scale parked cars, and if there aren't parked cars, they don't need the bike lane.  We have plenty of roads that are only 2 lanes wide, yet still expected to allow emergency vehicles to access, that don't have roll curbs.  I see that as a flawed justification.

As for snow clearing, you might be right, I believe the city things it can clear the bike lanes at the same time as the roadway by using the plow's wing.  So they should either make that work with a barrier curb, or commit to funding extra snow clearing budget to clear the bike lanes separately.  Because "compromising" by putting in a roll curb is a waste of money, it doesn't work.

As for the colour, I doubt it would matter.  It might make it more obvious to pedestrians, but no car driver thinks they're supposed to drive there, or rather, anyone who does shouldn't be driving.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - ijmorlan - 07-17-2018

(07-17-2018, 08:36 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: How do we lobby the city/region to make this change to the design to a barrier curb.  It should be minimal, but I'm sure their contract will still make a fuss, but it's probably worth it, given the roll curbs do not do much more than a painted line.

Totally agreed with your whole message. Comment about the contract: some changes are easier than others. This one should be pretty easy — just use a different slipform than previously planned, and obviously slightly more concrete will be required. The plan layout remains exactly the same, and labour should not be significantly different. So I would consider “it’s in the contract” to be an invalid objection in this case to implementing your suggestion.

Going back and installing some form of bollard would be a way of fixing the already-completed parts, although real bollards would be much more expensive than knock-down ones.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - clasher - 07-17-2018

Yeah roll curbs are a poor choice, fire engines and ambulances can hop a normal curb pretty easily. Ottawa put regular curbs on the bike lanes I saw and they have more snow than we do and similar emergency vehicles.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 07-17-2018

While emergency vehicles can hop the roll curb, regular vehicles can't. And I think that's the issue - normal cars can't get out of the way of emergency vehicles by pulling over to the side.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Bob_McBob - 07-17-2018

I wouldn't count on local ambulances being able to hop curbs like the region keeps claiming they can for LRT infrastructure. It's fairly common for ambulance purchase contracts to specify ground clearance that would meet this requirement, but that doesn't seem to be the case for at least some of the region's fleet. A paramedic in the Facebook group measured his rig for me and discovered the exhaust was too low to safely clear most curbs.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - plam - 07-17-2018

(07-17-2018, 12:05 PM)Canard Wrote: While emergency vehicles can hop the roll curb, regular vehicles can't.  And I think that's the issue - normal cars can't get out of the way of emergency vehicles by pulling over to the side.

The ability to hop the curb for emergency vehicles is directly contradictory to the non-ability to hop the curb to run over cyclists, though. Which do we prioritize?