Hi vis discussion thread (read post #1)

07Lapierre

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Seriously, it doesn't take 13 years experience to realise that cycling up between two buses is a very, very dangerous thing to do.

Just a thought...maybe the buses on the left are parked and the cyclist was cycling past them when the traffic lights ahead turned red? An experienced cyclist would move to the right and "take the lane" to prevent a bus from squeezing past. we call it "taking the lane" while motorists call it "bloody cyclists cycling in the middle of the bloody road!"

Macy0161

The buses on the left will be going left, and the ones on the right going over the bridge? Taking the lane would only work if the traffic was flowing, which it often isn't if it's where I think it is.

tomasrojo wrote: »

Apparently vehicles that strongly cajole the driver into obeying the speed limit are already completely feasible. There's no will to impose them though.

Speeding is so normalised it's not even seen as law breaking. All these motorists in threads, such as the current after hours thread are keen on enforcement and extra rules on cyclists, but speed enforcement is "shooting fish in a barrel", "perfectly safe to x kph, on y road" etc bloody etc.

Tenzor07

07Lapierre wrote: »

Just a thought...maybe the buses on the left are parked and the cyclist was cycling past them when the traffic lights ahead turned red? An experienced cyclist would move to the right and "take the lane" to prevent a bus from squeezing past. we call it "taking the lane" while motorists call it "bloody cyclists cycling in the middle of the bloody road!"

Take the lane and still end up as a Bus sandwich, you can't stop a wall of steel from driving up along side you as you pass the parked buses, there are no provisions to stop it from happening, if the buses don't do it, you can move out into the middle of that wide street and take the chance of being sandwiched between a line of buses and taxi's. Very intimidating for a cyclist with 3 years experience to come up against..

Now of course that street has the Luas, however there's still a number of bus routes which travel that street.

Chips Lovell

Macy0161 wrote: »

The buses on the left will be going left, and the ones on the right going over the bridge? Taking the lane would only work if the traffic was flowing, which it often isn't if it's where.

In that case you wait for the traffic to move. What you don’t do is go squeezing between two buses.

07Lapierre

Tenzor07 wrote: »

you can't stop a wall of steel from driving up along side you as you pass the parked buses,

Yes you can, but it takes confidence to do and I admit a lot of people don’t do it. If your on a heavy bike it’s also harder to do but if you move over far enough and move at a reasonable pace, traffic will stay behind you.

eeeee

There is no need to be where that cyclist is in that pic.
You either take the lane as mentioned, or hang back, wait behind the buses and move when they do in front.
You do not, under any circumstances try and squeeze up between them. The cyclist pictured should have pulled out in front of the bus to the right if they were caught, and stayed there until all moved around them.

In all my years and many thousands of km around the city I have never found it necessary to be in that position. I have been close, but I take the lane when it's busy and tight like that.

That said, the more inexperienced/bereft of any modicum of self preservation may do it. It is an indefensible way to get through that situation on the road.

eeeee

07Lapierre wrote: »

You can, but it takes confidence to do and I admit a lot of people don’t do it. If your on a heavy bike it’s also harder to do but if you move over far enough and move at a reasonable pace, traffic will stay behind you.

My commuter is 16kg, weight is no impediment to road positioning!

Every day I do wish I had a lighter commuter though for pleasurable reasons. If anything the heavy bike makes me feel more solid on the road, as he is a tank.

07Lapierre

nee wrote: »

My commuter is 16kg, weight is no impediment to road positioning!

Every day I do wish I had a lighter commuter though for pleasurable reasons. If anything the heavy bike makes me feel more solid on the road, as he is a tank.

My commuter bike is 10kg ! Jealous?

eeeee

07Lapierre wrote: »

My commuter bike is 10kg ! Jealous?

Green with envy!:pac:

Ray Bloody Purchase

Hurrache wrote: »

Westmoreland Street heading to O'Connell Street apparently. ****ty street for driving, never mind cycling, which I've always avoided doing.

I find it ok for the most part. As long as you look over your shoulder when changing lanes.

On different occasions i've seen people squeeze in between buses like that at the lights (going onto OCB). I'd fill my trousers trying that move.

No fuppin way. Getting squashed to death slowly by a bus is not one of the ways i'd like to go out.

tomasrojo

My main bike weighs about 50kg, and it often has about 40kg of children in it. I have to say, I find a more timorous riding style is required. It's quite hard to get rapidly into position, and quite hard to take evasive action if someone decides you shouldn't be allowed to get into that position (and that includes other cyclists).

eeeee

tomasrojo wrote: »

My main bike weighs about 50kg, and it often has about 40kg of children in it. I have to say, I find a more timorous riding style is required. It's quite hard to get rapidly into position, and quite hard to take evasive action if someone decides you shouldn't be allowed to get into that position (and that includes other cyclists).

It's a cargo bike you have isn't it? That's a whole different animal.
Heavy and old though my old man is, he still handles like a normal bike. He's not in cycle-y HGV territory like your beast.

If I had the space and the money I'd love a Bullet. I saw a courier trackstanding on one of them yesterday in town. I didn't know that was possible with them!

50kg though :eek: I didn't know they were that heavy. Can you put a child in a harness on the front bikejoring style to help with the pedalling? :pac:

tomasrojo

It might be 35kg. I don't have a weighbridge at home! I just did a search and a Dutch site claimed 50kg, but I just saw another site say 35kg. It's way heavier than a normal bike, that's for sure!

EDIT: and another site says 45kg. So I'll go for that.

I'd imagine they aren't bad once you get going but having to constantly stop start in traffic or junctions must exhausting surely?

tomasrojo

Hills are the only thing that are really tiring. Journeys are longer and more tiring generally -- not very surprising -- but pretty ok. And it means that when you get on a more standard bike, it feels completely effortless.

magicbastarder

what sort of gearing does it have?

tomasrojo

7 speed hub gear (Shimano Nexus). Gear 1 is very low; that is all you need to know!

AndrewJRenko

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Here's the thing I drive a van. No back windscreen so no rear mirror. I have 2 good side mirrors. I constantly glance in both. However it's easy to miss a cyclist with a split second glance. As I say at times I'd have several cyclists weaving either side or both sides of me no hand signals yet it's my fault if I hit them.

Do you really need someone to tell you the solution?

Statler

From the article below...

“All clubs have an etiquette for cycling in a group and while most people and motorists are respectful of cyclists some feel cyclists are not visible enough,”

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/now-you-see-us-rural-irish-cycling-club-gets-highviz-built-into-gear-37001427.html

Fighting Tao

Statler wrote: »

From the article below...

“All clubs have an etiquette for cycling in a group and while most people and motorists are respectful of cyclists some feel cyclists are not visible enough,”

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/now-you-see-us-rural-irish-cycling-club-gets-highviz-built-into-gear-37001427.html

It doesn’t matter what they wear. If someone ain’t looking, they won’t bee seen.

check_six

Statler wrote: »

From the article below...

“All clubs have an etiquette for cycling in a group and while most people and motorists are respectful of cyclists some feel cyclists are not visible enough,”

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/now-you-see-us-rural-irish-cycling-club-gets-highviz-built-into-gear-37001427.html

I feel uncomfortable with this precedent. They're imagining that a group of cyclists on a club spin in daylight are invisible without hiviz? Surely the article should be slanted differently. Here is a group of people looking to take part in a sport that feel so threatened by poor driving that they have been frightened into getting a magic shield of colourful jerseys. Rather than "it's our fault you can't be bothered to look out your windshield".

CramCycle

First in Ireland to do it?!? Absolute rubbish, Lucan have been wearing hi vis for as long as I can remember.

conkennedy

CramCycle wrote: »

First in Ireland to do it?!? Absolute rubbish, Lucan have been wearing hi vis for as long as I can remember.

Yup! And it's bloody awful looking kit!

thesimpsons

CramCycle wrote: »

First in Ireland to do it?!? Absolute rubbish, Lucan have been wearing hi vis for as long as I can remember.

Loads of clubs have this for a long time now. What addles me is the cyclists who head out top to toe in black or similar dark colours. Are they just blind to their own need to be seen ?

I agree though that u can be head to toe in flouro yellow, pink and orange and still where people arent looking out they will not see you.

Eamonnator

CramCycle wrote: »

First in Ireland to do it?!? Absolute rubbish, Lucan have been wearing hi vis for as long as I can remember.

Yes, and people have gotten so used to it, that they don't notice it any more.

CramCycle

thesimpsons wrote: »

Loads of clubs have this for a long time now. What addles me is the cyclists who head out top to toe in black or similar dark colours. Are they just blind to their own need to be seen ?

I agree though that u can be head to toe in flouro yellow, pink and orange and still where people arent looking out they will not see you.

It really does depend on the scenario though. In daylight without obstruction, there should be very little you can wear that would make you harder to see. At night time in the country, Hi Vis will make you more visible if you have no other visibility aid (such as a decent set of lights), in the city, where you should be driving with dims, hi vis has little effect and many times it would be one of the last things noticed under sodium yellow lights.`

The two biggest things that will make a cyclist visible to a driver are 1) the driver paying attention 2) decent lights. The second only works if the first one is adhered too although on occasion it can wake them up enough to start.

CramCycle

Eamonnator wrote: »

Yes, and people have gotten so used to it, that they don't notice it any more.

Nothing could get me used to that and I have seen some pretty horrendous things in my day.

Macy0161

thesimpsons wrote: »

I agree though that u can be head to toe in flouro yellow, pink and orange and still where people arent looking out they will not see you.

Which is really the main issue on the roads, not what cyclists (or pedestrians) are or aren't wearing.

Pretty much all my gear has reflective detail on it anyway, and if it's dark enough to matter, I'll have my lights on.

daragh_

conkennedy wrote: »

Yup! And it's bloody awful looking kit!

It's not cool. But it's cooler than you pretending to be Larry Warbasse.

eeeee

CramCycle wrote: »

Nothing could get me used to that and I have seen some pretty horrendous things in my day.

Longford cycling club also willingly choose the same gear.
My eyes.

The only thing that stops you being seen I thy light of day as a cyclist on the road by other traffic is if that other traffic isn't looking. No amount of high viz can combat inattention and carelessness.
Night time lights are the best answer. By the time you see reflective strips it's too late.
I'd like to see minimum output light legislation.