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Cycling in Waterloo Region
If they're only going to pick one (which would not be great) it should be Erb. I think it would help drivers coming into Uptown become more familiar with sharing the road with cyclists.
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Bridgeport is the one that goes towards Uptown.
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(12-06-2018, 03:53 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: If they're only going to pick one (which would not be great) it should be Erb. I think it would help drivers coming into Uptown become more familiar with sharing the road with cyclists.

Drivers that come into uptown, generally also leave uptown.

Erb is more central.

But at the end of the day, both would be good--kinda the meaning of "grid".
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(12-06-2018, 04:57 PM)timc Wrote: Bridgeport is the one that goes towards Uptown.

Crap. Thank you. Complete brain fart.
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Wait. So the separated cycling lane pilot they announced in April of 2017 is only going to result in 650m on Bridgeport or 500m on Erb? It took two years to come up with that? Holy incramentalism Batman.

I thought that the pilot would at least result in a lane from King to the expressway or Caroline to Ira Needles; you know actually connect destinations people might want to go between with a new direct route.

Maybe with the new councils staff will get permission/direction to be bold and throw caution to the wind and build a whole kilometre in less than 6 months.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(12-06-2018, 07:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Wait. So the separated cycling lane pilot they announced in April of 2017 is only going to result in 650m on Bridgeport or 250m on Erb? It took two years to come up with that? Holy incramentalism Batman.

I thought that the pilot would at least result in a lane from King to the expressway or Caroline to Ira Needles; you know actually connect destinations people might want to go between with a new direct route.

Maybe with the new councils staff will get permission/direction to be bold and throw caution to the wind and build a whole kilometre in less than 6 months.

That piece didn't say that those 650m are the only segregated bike lanes that are going to be added. I don't quite think it's quite in the pilot area either. So I'm going to continue to be optimistic that we'll see more. Sometimes I'm wrong about these things.
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(12-06-2018, 10:08 PM)plam Wrote:
(12-06-2018, 07:14 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Wait. So the separated cycling lane pilot they announced in April of 2017 is only going to result in 650m on Bridgeport or 250m on Erb? It took two years to come up with that? Holy incramentalism Batman.

I thought that the pilot would at least result in a lane from King to the expressway or Caroline to Ira Needles; you know actually connect destinations people might want to go between with a new direct route.

Maybe with the new councils staff will get permission/direction to be bold and throw caution to the wind and build a whole kilometre in less than 6 months.

That piece didn't say that those 650m are the only segregated bike lanes that are going to be added. I don't quite think it's quite in the pilot area either. So I'm going to continue to be optimistic that we'll see more. Sometimes I'm wrong about these things.

Those sections are being considered (I hear they are leaning towards Erb) but are only a small portion of the Pilot.  Most of the Pilot route is including King between University and possibly as far north as Weber, University from King to the Laurel Trail or Seagram, Columbia the same, and Albert North from Columbia to ... somewhere.

Originally, it had planned to continue down King to Uptown, but they feel with the construction, it wouldn't be a good choice, but frankly, I think they're making a mistake, Uptown is one of the biggest destinations, they should have made it work with construction.  Alas, I am not the planner.
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(12-06-2018, 10:52 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(12-06-2018, 10:08 PM)plam Wrote: That piece didn't say that those 650m are the only segregated bike lanes that are going to be added. I don't quite think it's quite in the pilot area either. So I'm going to continue to be optimistic that we'll see more. Sometimes I'm wrong about these things.

Those sections are being considered (I hear they are leaning towards Erb) but are only a small portion of the Pilot.  Most of the Pilot route is including King between University and possibly as far north as Weber, University from King to the Laurel Trail or Seagram, Columbia the same, and Albert North from Columbia to ... somewhere.

Originally, it had planned to continue down King to Uptown, but they feel with the construction, it wouldn't be a good choice, but frankly, I think they're making a mistake, Uptown is one of the biggest destinations, they should have made it work with construction.  Alas, I am not the planner.

That would be good. But a bit lacking on the "grid" part.
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Well that is good that more is also planned. There has been so little update on that pilot project.

Of the Erb vs. Bridgeport options I think the Bridgeport is the marginally more useful route.

For Erb there is a pretty direct alternative already available that only produces a 130m penalty (660m vs. 530m) and avoids the slight hill on Erb to King - even less of a penalty if you are continuing on/from the SpurLine:
   

The Bridgeport option would be more useful if it at least stretched to Albert instead of King otherwise Young provides about as much utility.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(12-06-2018, 10:52 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Originally, it had planned to continue down King to Uptown, but they feel with the construction, it wouldn't be a good choice, but frankly, I think they're making a mistake, Uptown is one of the biggest destinations, they should have made it work with construction.  Alas, I am not the planner.

Isn’t the construction on King supposed to give us segregated lanes from University to Uptown? I mean, as we’ve seen, it actually won’t, but they will at least be marked off clearly as being bicycle lanes, and are probably the same as what will be installed elsewhere. So there actually should be a continuous route on King from up north down through (although not past, as we know, due to the botched LRT detailed planning process) Uptown.
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(12-07-2018, 07:21 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(12-06-2018, 10:52 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Originally, it had planned to continue down King to Uptown, but they feel with the construction, it wouldn't be a good choice, but frankly, I think they're making a mistake, Uptown is one of the biggest destinations, they should have made it work with construction.  Alas, I am not the planner.

Isn’t the construction on King supposed to give us segregated lanes from University to Uptown? I mean, as we’ve seen, it actually won’t, but they will at least be marked off clearly as being bicycle lanes, and are probably the same as what will be installed elsewhere. So there actually should be a continuous route on King from up north down through (although not past, as we know, due to the botched LRT detailed planning process) Uptown.

Yes, but still with 2 years (minimum) construction.

The planners want to avoid the construction.
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Seeking advice:

My winter beater needs new forks. It has suspension forks, with like, about an inch of travel, they do move, but I'm not sure if I'm getting any real damping from them. The real problem is they're quite lose, so regardless, they need replacing.

I'm trying to decide what to replace them with. This is mostly a winter beater/cruiser bike, I'm hoping to get something with a longer stem to raise the handlebars even more. That aside, I don't know if I care for suspension, the city has plenty of bumps and curbs, but I'd rather a tighter put together feel (the current ones are obviously floppy as anything), but I've never ridden a really good suspension fork, is it worth it? Or should I just stick with a cheaper rigid fork (I've also hear that a good rigid fork will provide some damping).

Thoughts? Experiences?
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I have really nice older forks on my mountain bike and they are great off-road. I dunno that I'd want to ride anything nice around town in the winter, salt seems to kill things quickly for me. My experience with cheaper forks that use springs is that they tend to seize or get sloppy like you're experiencing. For a winter beater I'd check out recycle cycles for a used fork, you'll need to know how long your current fork is and what kind of headset you've got, along with wheel size. They have way more 26" forks than 700c hybrid forks but I couldn't say what current inventory is like, haven't been in a while. Buying one from r/c you can just hold the fork beside your current one to see if it will be different or not.

A good rigid fork that has some "spring" to it will likely have thinner fork blades than what you'd find on almost any production fork, most of the nicer steel forks people opine about online are either older models or newer custom ones. I have a bike from the sixties with some seriously skinny fork blades and it's a dreamy ride.
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My first bike has a suspension fork, and I ride it year-round. I make sure to wipe it down after every ride, including cleaning and lubricating the chain. It takes about 5-10 minutes, and nothing rusts.

My second bike has a rigid front fork... and I can safely say it will be the last bike I ever get without front shocks. I miss them terribly. My arms and upper body chatter like mad on the broken pavement in the city and I cringe over every curb and trail transition.

I bought (1) Thudbuster LT seatpost and was swapping it from bike-to-bike, but in the summer I ride both nearly equally so decided to just buy a second one. Zero regrets there, highly recommended.
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At work and at home? What is your process regarding chain and drivetrain each ride? Looking for habits to form.
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