Cycling in Waterloo Region - Printable Version +- Waterloo Region Connected (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com) +-- Forum: Waterloo Region Works (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=14) +--- Forum: Transportation and Infrastructure (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25) +--- Thread: Cycling in Waterloo Region (/showthread.php?tid=186) Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
|
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-03-2018 Nice! Very tempting...although honestly, I fully expect I'd be sitting in a police station in a day or two, because putting a sticker on an illegally parked car is serious business, unlike continually endangering my life which is like really f***ing meh who cares right. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Section ThirtyOne - 12-04-2018 (12-01-2018, 05:46 PM)Spokes Wrote: Not crazy at all. One more thing I would add if you're going to be swapping wheels on a regular basis or doing any sort of bike maintenance: invest in a decent bike stand. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Spokes - 12-04-2018 (12-03-2018, 08:14 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: So the uptown bike lanes continue to be an utter joke. That's brutal. Going through Uptown this morning, seeing how much the bike lanes bob and weave around parking spots, they don't seem all that effective to me. Admittedly, I haven't rode on them, but I feel like I'd be annoyed if doing so. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Spokes - 12-04-2018 (12-04-2018, 10:25 AM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote:(12-01-2018, 05:46 PM)Spokes Wrote: Not crazy at all. Seconded!! RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Viewfromthe42 - 12-04-2018 The bike lanes are intended for slower moving bicycles, not anyone trying to go 40kph. Flat bar, I have no real problem with the curves, but with pedestrians and cars walking in them. Side note, what's our current bike theft environment like? About to buy myself a lock, and I'm wondering what gear marks (or, hopefully not but still, successful attacks) others have witnessed, so I might inform my decision? RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-04-2018 (12-04-2018, 03:42 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: The bike lanes are intended for slower moving bicycles, not anyone trying to go 40kph. Flat bar, I have no real problem with the curves, but with pedestrians and cars walking in them. The corners are a little tighter than ideal, but they're not too big a problem if cars aren't encroaching them, when cars encroach it would be a problem, even just for someone with a big wide cargo bike. The other direction has no such weaving however....but plenty of weaving is required. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - clasher - 12-04-2018 (12-04-2018, 03:42 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: The bike lanes are intended for slower moving bicycles, not anyone trying to go 40kph. Flat bar, I have no real problem with the curves, but with pedestrians and cars walking in them. Anything will be stolen if it's not locked down... people will steal lights and bells if they unclip easily. Saddles will get taken off posts too. Anything "locked" with a cable lock will likely be stolen if it's worth 5$ to someone. For my crappy urban single speed I use a kryptonite chain lock to secure the frame and rear wheel to a solid post and a small u-lock to secure the front wheel to the frame. It's also a bit of an ugly duckling and probably over 30lbs so it's not really the first bike thieves would look at. If you have quick release skewers I'd get pitlock skewers. I bought my kryptonite chain from black arrows, it's the smaller of the two... the bigger one might be more useful depending on the size of the bike and what you have to lock it to. Downtown Kitchener is especially bad for thieves but I've heard of a lots around the universities and even people stealing bikes out of condo lockers and parking garages. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-04-2018 (12-04-2018, 04:48 PM)clasher Wrote:(12-04-2018, 03:42 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: The bike lanes are intended for slower moving bicycles, not anyone trying to go 40kph. Flat bar, I have no real problem with the curves, but with pedestrians and cars walking in them. Certainly we have a bike theft problem, but it's mostly overnight, people I know lock bikes during the day in DTK and uptown without any issues. For locks, no cable locks, that's the easiest thing to say, a high quality U-lock or hardened chain lock will do fine, I've used them for years, I also have a cable that I occasionally use to secure my rear wheel, but not usually. Like I said, overnight is the biggest issue, and for that, I bring it inside. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Viewfromthe42 - 12-04-2018 My outdoor parking is usually around DTK for shopping in the evening, maybe UpTown morning or night for coffee or movies, or Grand River Rocks for climbing. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-04-2018 Bike Stand - Nah, I don't like those things. I hate the idea of supporting the entire bike by one point - the seat post... they just bounce all over the place and stress the post. I'm far happier just flipping my bike over and having it nice and stable, resting on three points (seat and bar ends). Bike Lanes in UpTown - I like riding on them, I always add a rip up and back when riding along the Spur Line Trail. Gotta add one to the counter, too. Bike Theft - Having had my Trek Y5 stolen out of our shed within a month of moving into our house and seeing the number of people riding around in our area with frames, gear and full bikes over their shoulder... yeah, bike theft is bad in our area. Really bad. So much so I won't even consider taking the Bus+Bike option to work anymore because I don't like the idea of sitting inside the bus with my bike unlocked on the rack in the front. Anyone could just run up and take it. Will GRT allow you to quickly lock your bike to their rack? RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-04-2018 (12-04-2018, 09:11 PM)Canard Wrote: Bike Stand - Nah, I don't like those things. I hate the idea of supporting the entire bike by one point - the seat post... they just bounce all over the place and stress the post. I'm far happier just flipping my bike over and having it nice and stable, resting on three points (seat and bar ends). The seat post supports your weight, it shouldn't be a problem supporting the weight of the bike. There is some risk with crushing some of the thinner tubes on high end light racing bikes, but the seat post is main to handle the stress. But I'm cheap so I also use the flip over method, it's also great on the road. A tip however, sometimes you might want to adjust what's on your handlebars, obviously lights and bells and such should be removed (I smashed my bell once), but I've also ended up scratching up the window on my shift lever. Obviously depends on your bike. Heh, I do the same thing, only very often of the time I end up side tracked calling bylaw, but I don't think I'm going to waste my time anymore, as far as I can tell, bylaw doesn't ticket, I'm just going to post to twitter instead. That's a great question, I've never asked, but I imagine if you were quick, they probably couldn't stop you before you did it. I have no idea what happens if the person behind my bike needs theirs, I guess they'd have to remove theirs, that I'd probably go help with anyway, I always sit or stand at the front where I can watch it carefully, it would take long enough to get off, I suspect I could catch someone doing it, so I've never really worried about it. I do have a (I suspect entirely irrational) fear of it falling out of the rack while hitting some bumps. Of course, feel a lot better about the GRT racks on city streets than I do about the GO racks on the highway. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-04-2018 See, the thing I'm so conflicted about is the rule says you should go to the back of the bus... but at the same time, I want to stay at the front to keep an eye on my bike. So I'm like.... ahhhhhhh what do I do! So I just avoid the situation and drive to work Your fear is absolutely not irrational. Bikes pop out of the racks all the time, one of my husband's closest friends' mom is a driver and she says it happens regularly. The bike pops out and then they drive over it... RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - KevinT - 12-04-2018 (12-04-2018, 03:42 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Side note, what's our current bike theft environment like? About to buy myself a lock, and I'm wondering what gear marks (or, hopefully not but still, successful attacks) others have witnessed, so I might inform my decision? I recommend looking up The Lock Picking Lawyer on YouTube. Ultimately he gets into every lock he's ever tried, but its good to see which ones were easy attacks that can be quickly carried out in the field, and which required some studying and the exact right tool(s). This will suck up hours of your life, but it's highly educational (though moderately depressing). RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-04-2018 I left my bike locked exactly once to run into Rexall to get something, but I can't imagine leaving a bike locked up in KW for anything more than like 3 minutes. I guess I need to buy a third bike which is literally nothing more than a frame and wheels and resist the urge to bolt things onto it. RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - jamincan - 12-04-2018 Seriously, a single-speed beater. Great for winter riding, and not particularly attractive to thieves. |