Biking it to the office?

TenLeftFingers

Might have a new job soon. Suit is a must, and I'm thinking of buying a Bandit. Is anyone else in this situation and how does it work out?

Cake Fiend

I've seen a few people pegging it around town on bikes in suits. I'd imagine as long as you have water resistant leathers and boots you'd probably be ok.

spockety

I use a Bandit for commuting and it's great.
I don't have to wear a suit for work though!

You're going to want a good pair of waterproof and thermal lined trousers. I wear mine over my jeans/trousers, but I'm not sure if a pair of suit slacks would crease badly. You can put your jacket neatly folded in a rucksack as well as your shoes. Your shirt and tie should be ok under a bike jacket too.

I'd almost suggest just leaving your suit in work and getting changed into it in the jacks when you arrive or something..

HTH,
J.

fenris

Suit for work is no problem.

Best option is leave it in work and put it on when you get there, this allows you to wear the best protective bike gear and still look sharp in work. Bear in mind that the time saved by biking it gives you loads to spare when you get to work.

If this is not practical, then you just need to find the right balance of bike / suit stuff.

Depending on the length of your commuter, you may be better off leaving a suit jacket in work.

A light scarf makes a difference as it protects your shirt collar from the bottom of your lid rubbing - doesn't happen often - just before your yearly review when you are wearing an ultra-while shirt. A light top for underneath your jacket saves a multitude of problems and keeps you warm.

Wear proper bike boots, either leave your work shoes in work or bring them wirth you. If this is not possible then bringone of those quick shine sponge thingys to get rid of road dust and that shiny bit on your left instep (gear change)

Kevlar leggings are the best option for wrinkle free trousers and a level of protection.

Thermal leggings are a must in winter if you are wearing just a suit trousers and ordinary raingear.

Finally get some training - reduces stress levels and increases your chance of arriving.

PS I wear a suit and ride a GSXR1100.

an_taoiseach

"Finally get some training - reduces stress levels and increases your chance of arriving."

Fenris is so right

The M/C accident stats are terrible

Also, grow eyes looking back over each shoulder and develop extra nerves in your backside to help you judge road surfaces

Stay Lucky


An T ( ex Biker )

Victor

Originally posted by an_taoiseach
The M/C accident stats are terrible

Motorcyclist (incl. Pillion Passengers) deaths up 40% on last year Pedal Cyclists down 33%. One sixth of people killed on the roads are motorcyclists. Go spend €200 on a mountain bike.

TenLeftFingers

Thanks folks. Thats food for thought. I'm not actually from dublin, but thats where the job is. The traffic is a little more crazy there than here in Galway allright, maybe I'll sus out the bus routes when I find out where I'll be staying.

Thanks again, good advice!

Regards,
merlin_bar

Victor

Originally posted by merlin_bar
maybe I'll sus out the bus routes when I find out where I'll be staying.

Use the "Search by Map" and "Search by Place Name" functions here: http://www.dublinbus.ie/home/

fenris

Re: motorcycle stats

The absolute number of accidents is up, but so is the number of motorcycles. so if the number of bikes double and the number of accidents increase by a quarter, are bikes safer or more dangerous than the previous year ?

How many were mopeds ?

How many were caused by the motorcyclist ?

So when you see a percentage quoted try

asking what it is a percentage of ?
what does it mean if anything ?
who produced the statistics and why ?

In simple terms, think for yourself, decide based on what you see, not what you think you see and act accordingly.

This applies equally when you are riding your bike !

Victor

Are you contending that one sixth of road users are motorcyclists?

Originally posted by fenris
How many were caused by the motorcyclist ?

Blame is rarely reassuring to the dead. I am extracting the figures form the garda website (updated daily). And apoligies the figures I indicated are relative to total deaths (one would have expected the penalty points dividend give something to motorcyclists).

http://www.garda.ie/angarda/statistics98/nroadstats.html

Last 	This 
			year	year
			total	so far
Pedestrians		  85 	 59
Drivers			 158 	131
Motorcyclist		  42 	 49 ****
Passengers		  73 	 62
Pedal Cyclists		  18 	 10
Pillion Passengers	   3 	  3 ****
Total			 379 	 314

seamus

Originally posted by merlin_bar
Thanks folks. Thats food for thought. I'm not actually from dublin, but thats where the job is. The traffic is a little more crazy there than here in Galway allright, maybe I'll sus out the bus routes when I find out where I'll be staying.

Thanks again, good advice!

Regards,
merlin_bar

Unless you live in the city centre or south east Dublin, and the job will be in the city centre or south east Dublin, I wouldn't waste your time with busses. They're a farce for reasonable commuting.

TenLeftFingers

The job is in the Airways industrial estate, Cloghran, Dublin 17. It's near the airport so I should be okay for buses (unless theyre jammed with tourists). Until I see what the traffic is like. I havent definately got the job yet, but it's quite possible.

Victor, thanks for the link.

merlin.

fenris

Sigh - we didn't go to school on statistics day did we, and we definitly skipped on critical thinking :-)

What your statistic shows is 7 more deaths that for the whole of last year, this is an absolute number relative to what (numerical) population ?

What does it mean ?
That bikes are more dangerous ?
That bikes are safer ?
That car drivers are more careless ?
That not wearing a helmet is bad for you (balanced on top of your head, or not fastened is not being worn), 14 of the fatal accident victims had no helmet.
What other factors are there ?
Daytime running lights ?
Proportion of sunny to wet days ?
Sunspots ?

What I am saying is that all the statistics show is a 7 death increase on last year, this is meaningful only in the context of an identical year in every other respect. Everything you do to torture the numbers to make them fit your preconception further distorts the value of the statistic.

Just because a statistic is widely used doesn't make it useful.

This applies equally to all statistics, you have to ask what does it mean !

e.g.
you are not being ripped off says the survey commisioned by the shopkeepers !
Concrete houses are better than timber said the concrete makers !
9 out of 10 cats SAY that they prefer cabbage ! etc. etc.

Don't let someone else do your thinking for you and expect that they will not take "commision" !

Think for yourself, reduce it to simple number and see does it still stack up.

Look out for distortions of the data, under 25 male drivers = higher single car accident rate, under 25 male highest suicide rate, is there a correlation ? when the death is investigated is there a verdict of suicide or accident, if it is suicide the insurance doesn't pay out, does that affect the verdict ? maybe it does maybe it doesn't but before you flame me, do YOU know or just THINK you do ?

Imposter

Originally posted by merlin_bar
The job is in the Airways industrial estate, Cloghran, Dublin 17. It's near the airport so I should be okay for buses (unless theyre jammed with tourists). Until I see what the traffic is like. I havent definately got the job yet, but it's quite possible.

Victor, thanks for the link.

merlin.

If you're living in town don't even think about bussing it. I did it for a summer (when no schools) and the mornings were ok as the bus generally came at the same time every morning. The evenings were a different story. Usually 3 or 4 would pass you full and then eventually you'd get a bus. Waits of over 30 minutes were common in the evenings especially if it was raining.

Get a flat in Santry or somewhere near there and get a bicycle. Otherwise stay outside of the centre and get a car. Don't even consider buses as an option because they're not.

an_taoiseach

Imposter,

Clearly these would be the Quality Buses that use the Santry Quality Bus Lane ( Northside term - called Quality Bus Corridor on the Southside )


An T

Victor

Originally posted by fenris
Sigh - we didn't go to school on statistics day did we, and we definitly skipped on critical thinking :-) What your statistic shows is 7 more deaths that for the whole of last year, this is an absolute number relative to what (numerical) population ? What does it mean ?

It means that when all other categories are falling and motorcycle deaths jump form high to unsustainable, something is wrong, yes car drivers probably kill more motorcyclists than motorcyclists kill themselves of others, but the fact remains that it is the motorcyclists are dying. Motorcyclists perhaps represent perhaps 4% of traffic, but 16% of deaths. I know last years figures for motorcyclists were lower than the year before's and we are going back to where we were in 2001 with motorcyclist deaths, but if the rest of transport has moved on .....

And I did lots of thinking until 6:30am this morning - something like 13 out of 29 female pedestrians killed in urban areas were over 65 (well disproportionate to their composition in the population). Watch out granny! Also male pedestrians are much more like to die than female pedestrians - is this drink, risk taking, suicide?

And I concur with the point on muppets with no helmet.

Cake Fiend

I thought it was only idiot kids on scooters that wore their helmets perched on top of their heads (WTF, like you're going to look any less lame on a scooter by wearing your helmet like that? :rolleyes: ) - then I saw a moron courier on a Bros doing the same thing in Rathmines.

Imposter

Originally posted by an_taoiseach
Imposter,

Clearly these would be the Quality Buses that use the Santry Quality Bus Lane ( Northside term - called Quality Bus Corridor on the Southside )

An T

QBC's are all well and good on that route if you're getting on before or at the airport but anywhere after that forget it. It's like an express bus as it'll only stop if someone wants to get off. Also are the port tunnel works delaying the buses much?

Silent Bob

Victor, from a statistical point of view the numbers as quoted are far too low to be able to draw proper conclusions.

What is the standard deviation of the data? What about the confidence interval? Do we have any kind of mean at all? Has any hypothesis testing actually been done on the data with regard to whether the likeliness of being killed on a motorbike has increased?

You would probably find (after going through the rigmarole of calculating all these things) that you can draw no firm conclusions from that data as to the likelihood of death on a powered two wheeler having increased.

a_ominous

don't have my rules of the road on me now, nut I do remember reading and being told by trainer that not closing the chinstrap on the helmet is classed as not wearing the helmet. I've had a look on [URL http://www.irishstatutebook.ie]Irish Statute Book[/URL] to verify but it doesn't seem to be there.

On a related point, there was a big spread in the Irish Independent in May 2003. A Hibernian report was given to the government and the civil servants went off half-cocked on the report. One item in the report said "10% of pillion fatalaties weren't wearing a helmet". That was ONE unfortunate person. One person, but say it as 10% and readers think it's a large number.

The best way to reduce deaths and injuries is through education of road users. I did a bicycle safety course run by the National Safety Council I think (it was a looonnnng time ago). Get kids to do some basic training during their doss year in school before they get out on the roads. Show them photos of crash scenes, bodies if you have to. We are all vulnerable on the roads, but in a car/bike scenario, the bike will at least be injured if not killed.

Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) for all, not just bikers. Hibernian say 75% of accidents involving bikes are caused by the car driver. They should know becuase they're writing the cheques for compensation.