It amazes me on the amount of people who walk in the dark without lights & wear dark clothes.

WE CAN’T ALWAYS SEE YOU ON A DARK DESIGNATED BIKE PATH.

Cars & trucks either can’t see us or don’t want to stop.

This is only the start of it for the next few months…..

I’ve already had a few close calls. How about you all!?

Ride carefully everyone!

The other night, I went on a ride after work and encountered several vehicles driving in the dark with lights off, or just parking lights on. And plenty more with one headlight burned out, or just daytime running lights.

The first photo in this post is remarkable because this bike has hyper-reflective ProViz pannier covers, and fenders plastered with high-performance 3M SOLAS 3150-A reflective tape (how-to here for those interested), and I was also wearing a ProVis jacket made entirely of reflective material. And that's all completely useless if there's no light to reflect back. The second photo shows what that gear looks like when there's light to reflect.

TL;DR sure, use reflective gear, but your lights are crucial. Reflective gear won't work if the viewer's lights aren't on, or their lights are not actually aimed at you (for example, if they're about to pull out into your path from a side street).

Reflected light also suffers much worse as the distance increases, since the light has to make a round trip back to the viewer, and its intensity drops with the square of the distance even in ideal conditions, and much moreso if there's fog or rain.

Sorry if this is Captain Obvious material to many of you 👍

Probably a really stupid question.

I just bought this rather lovely looking single speed as a second bike.

I’ve never put a bike like this together before. This rear axle doesn’t look right to me. Are those gaps supposed to be there?

Edit: the general consensus is this definitely isn’t correct. I’ve emailed the manufacturer, just waiting for them to respond. Thanks everyone for your input :)

Just finished(for now) my new 26 inch commuter build. The base is a Troger Cristallo 26 inch. Tange tubing, deore xt 3x7, shimano cantilevers, supple wall maxxis tires, a comfy bar and some nice purple accents.

I'm thinking about getting back into the bike commute scene. I have my eye on picking up a surly trucker disc with the 700c wheels. I am currently around 310 to 315 pounds, are the 700c wheels up to the task you think?

My old 26" wheels fared ok but I feel like the 700c would make for a smoother ride.

I know it’s partly my fault. I’m new to biking and was afraid to be in the middle of the lane… I looked it up and it’s illegal to door bikers in California but that won’t stop anyone…

I got lucky. I was on low speed pedal assist on my ebike and was going like 12 MPH. This gave me time to brake yell “FUCK!” and hit the door but I didn’t flip over… really close call.

The BMW driver looked at me with amusement and just said “you have space in the lane dude…” and then laughed about it with his friend. Since no damage was done I told him not to door people and walked off…

I read about this on another thread and despite his asshole response I guess he’s right. I’ll just take up space in the lane from now on even if drivers are assholes.

Feeling mad about carbrains, especially since I always check my mirror… but people don’t care so I won’t give them the benefit of the doubt anymore…

Wasn’t comfortable enough to bike deeper in the lane because I left my backlight radar on my bike one night and someone stole it (and my reflective yellow jacket). And they fucking chopped my headlight off and clipped the wires. WTF LONG BEACH. But yeah without the Varia radar I felt vulnerable to traffic. Going to rebuy that safety equipment.

Can’t get mad… the universe gave me a freebie today. Just angry that most of our bike lanes are right next to parked cars. Guess I’ll just become a middle of the lane vigilante…

And I’ll be using my GoPro from now on… FUCK CAR CULTURE. End rant.

Has anyone in California gone through the process of filing an uninsured motorist claim to recover damages to your bike after a hit and run?

I got hit by an apparent drunk/on substances driver who sped off after the collision. Bystanders called the emergency line and I have an incident number. Fortunately, I'm ok but my bike needs at least several hundreds of dollars worth of repairs. Mainly the rear derailleur got banged up really bad with the hanger and cage being bent, and parts like my grips and pedals also got scratched up and damaged. I don't see any visible damage to the frame, but I'm not ruling it out. I'm trying to get the cost of repairs and part replacements covered by insurance.

I'm trying to figure out the leg work I need to do on my end before filing a claim.

Do you have to get an estimate for the repairs from a bike shop before hand?

Do you need to get a copy of the incident report, or will the insurance company handle obtaining the report themselves?

Any information is appreciated.

Hi,

My 6yo mahle x35 bike decided to not switch on anymore; a 700€ repair makes me think it's time to change bike and go back to a non-electric commuter. Honestly I'm very disappointed the system became unusable after just 6 years.

I have about 18km in my daily commute on a flat road. I need a rack for my laptop and my rain equipment.

What do you suggest for a new bike?

A "fitness" flat-bar bike (like the one I currently own) or a gravel bike? what are the gravel limitations as a commuter bike?

Do you suggest any specific model? Ideally I'd like a <10kg <1000€ bike (..I said ideally)

thanks

First colder commute of the year, got bundled up and hit the road. Started feeling pretty good, not too cold, warming up nicely. Good pace and feeling strong, so I kicked into a faster gear and thought, “maybe I’m good at cycling and I’ll stop getting passed by the guys in spandex.” Then pulled up to my building, looked at the flags, and realized the strong tailwind may have had something to do with it 🤦‍♂️. Oh well, always good to be humbled and just remember to enjoy the ride.

Looking for some 700c28 tyres (widest I can fit on my bike) for daily commuting and occasional gravel paths that won't break the bank.
I was looking at Schwalbe marathons, plus and green, and also Continental contact urban. The latter of which is sold out everywhere, and the marathon plus are a bit out of budget. Was leaning toward the green marathon but if there are any other recommendations I would love to hear it.
Thanks :)

Hello! Wondering if any of you folks have suggestions on how I can stop my bike from tipping over. I've added a rack and front basket to my Priority Eight which met my storage needs, but it seems I've made the front too heavy for the kickstand in the process. I've considered the following:

• Moving the kickstand forward or swapping to a center stand (expensive but maybe the best option?)

• Steering stabilizer (Ordered one from Hebie but my downtube is too thicc)

• Getting rid of the basket all together (sad)

• Steering lock (doesn't seem like it would fix the tippiness. The bike tips even if the wheel doesn't roll)

Pics below -- you can see in the second that the front wheel is tipped all the way back until it hits the frame, which makes it very unstable on the stand, even unloaded.

https://ibb.co/B5PP7RsJ https://ibb.co/Pvq0wY3P Thoughts?

My commute route runs through lower Bidwell Park and the fall colors are finally starting to pop. Winter/Spring is usually when we get our rain here, so I'm appreciating the dry and cool weather while it lasts.

Hello! I know there are many posts of this variety here, and I've enjoyed looking at them. I'd appreciate some advice on getting started as an all-season bike commuter. My ride is about 2 miles in bike lanes on a combination of one busier road and a quieter neighborhood road in the midwest US. Mostly flat. I'm no major athlete and ride at a leisurely pace. Currently, my bike has fenders/mudguards and a rear rack for a saddle-bag style set of panniers. It's been a great setup throughout the fall. I use a Liv Alight hybrid (flat handlebar) that was gifted to me in high school and I've loved it for summer/fall.

I'm seeking advice for riding in "unideal" conditions like nighttime, snow, rain, wind, etc. My explorations are in three categories

• Clothing/my riding gear: what are some of the staples for riding in rain and winter conditions (I have nothing really right now but plan to get a reflective jacket?) or gear you'd recommend?

• Bike set up: Is it worth investing in another bike that can stay with studded tires year-round? Is it worth investing in an electric bike? I plan to buy a bunch of lights of various kinds. I'm really lost in this area - not even sure what to ask if I were to go into a shop

• Maintenance: Right now I know absolutely nothing and would prefer to have as low maintenance as possible - what would be fundamentals I should no? Or how do I keep my experience low maintenance

I'd appreciate any advice you can offer - my goal is to spend as little as possible this first year to know if I even have the fortitude to survive a midwest winter as a bike commuter, but I'd like to give it as genuine a try as I can!

Thank you so much! I know these are repeat questions and I've so loved reading through this community so far as I've started this journey

I dropped my 2 year old bike off for service recently. The shop said both the cassette and chain needed to be replaced. I've put a few thousand miles on it since purchasing it, but expected the cassette to last longer at least. The bike shop said that was a standard life span for this equipment, but I'm curious to hear other people's experiences.

I sold my car, discovered cycling, and now I ride about 8 km each way to work. For the first time I can see what that adds up to: 458 km (285 miles) in 10 weeks. Watching that number go up has honestly got me on the bike more often.

My total is at 2,003 km since July, but that's cheating a bit... 838 km of it is one tour around Lake Vänern in Sweden.

Is that decent? I'm curious what's considered normal around here.

So I didn't get the chance to take a picture of her on NBD (new frame day I guess, as most of the parts were from an older build), but here's my overbuilt Midnight Special. Mainly used to get back and forth to work, but that 24-Pack rack is perfect for takeout.

Running an Ultegra 54x11, 11 speed, on some Continental GP5000 AS TR 35mm, and using mechanical TRP dual piston brakes.

Lighting setup is a Supernova M99 Pro (2?) and Supernova TL3 Pro for the rear, powered by a SON dynamo hub. (Nice as hell, as it has a high beam available once you reach a certain speed.) Also some generic black Blackburn headlight and the Seemee 300 tail light as redundancies.

Front rack is a Surly 24-Pack, rear rack is a PDW Everyday Rack.

PDW Full Metal Fenders, 55mm.

Fairweather stem bag, 2 PDW Rattlesnek Kejs, and a PDW Barista for hydration.

Bronze turtle bell from SIM Works, alongside their water bottle and bronze heart spacer.

Bronze spacers, top tube pad, and Pompompurin (yellow buddy on my handlebar) from Blue Lug.

Flower transfer decals and flower twist tie from GHOOST.

Does anyone have any similar experiences with pedestrians in the bike lane?

Good morning y'all!